What is history: it is the echo of the past to the future, the reflection of the future on the past. - Hugo
The Warring States, in the name of war, naturally have many military talents. Bai Qi, Wang Qi, Lian Po, Sun Zhen, Zhao Hao, Li Mu... These are all famous people who have been in the limelight for thousands of years. However, around this group of military geniuses with real talent and practical learning, there is also a "farce" and a "paper talk" and laughs generously, so that thousands of years later people still remember his Zhao Kuo.
In the fifty-third year of the Zhou Dynasty (263 BC), in order to compete for the Shangdang region of Korea, a large-scale war broke out between the Qin state and the Zhao state in the area of Changping, the "Battle of Changping". In this battle, the State of Qin first sent Wang Qi's father, Wang Gong, and then sent the famous general Bai Qi. At first, Zhao Guo sent the veteran general Lian Po, and later changed it to Zhao Kuo.
This fierce battle, which lasted for several months, ended with Zhao Guo's loss of 450,000 elite soldiers, including Zhao Kuo.
As for the reason for the defeat of the Zhao state, the most famous point is that Zhao Kuo "talked about soldiers on paper", that is, he applied the theories in the military book to the battlefield of the Battle of Changping without flexibility, and the foundation laid by Lianpo was completely destroyed.
In fact, the idiom "talking about soldiers on paper" only existed after the Ming Dynasty. The Ming dynasty Liu Rusun once wrote an epic poem on the Battle of Changping, "Xiangjiang Miscellaneous Songs", which contained a sentence to illustrate Zhao Kuo- "The government and the wilderness are likely to praise the paper soldiers". Later, the poem was abbreviated to the idiom of "talking on paper". As for the "Lü Shi Chunqiu" or "Historical Records" that are closer to the Zhao Kuo era, the words "talking about soldiers on paper" are completely absent.
So how much does Zhao Kuo have to do with "talking on paper"?
Judging from the situation before Zhao Kuo took over Zhao Jun, what Zhao Kuo took over was actually a mess
Because the Qin army attacked Shangdang in Korea, a large number of Shangdang people fled to the neighboring Zhao Guo Changping. When the Qin Zhao army first fought against the Qin Zhao army in the fifty-fifth year (260 BC) of the late Zhou Dynasty, the Zhao state had to face not only the menacing Qin army, but also the unorganized fugitives. Therefore, in the midst of chaos, in the first two months, even if Lian Po sat in the seat, the Zhao army still retreated in defeat and retreated, losing two important military strongholds of Erzhang City and Guangwolf City.
Because of the unfavorable start, the Zhao army then chose a conservative combat strategy and began to build defensive measures, intending to attack with defense. Wang Gong, on the other hand, was naturally more willing to take advantage of the victory to pursue, forcing the Zhao army to retreat for several miles, and the fight was so incorruptible that he could not continue to adopt a conservative strategy and insist on not attacking.
Lian Po's strategy at this time was completely forced by the situation, and the ruling class of the Zhao State thought that Lian Po was afraid of the Qin army, and repeatedly sent people to the front to condemn him. Moreover, it was not enough to scold Lian po, and King Xiaocheng of Zhao also decided to send someone to negotiate peace with the State of Qin to minimize the loss. The State of Qin, on the other hand, insidiously dragged on the surface not to cease war with the State of Zhao, and behind the scenes, conveyed the message of Qin and Zhao's friendship to other countries, blocking the opportunity for the State of Zhao to cooperate with other countries.
Blocking the retreat route of zhao guo, the next step of the qin state is naturally to catch turtles in the urn. In order to completely suppress Lianpo, the Qin state spread the rumor that Lianpo was easy to deal with, and the Qin people were most afraid of the rumors of Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao Hao. Zhao Xiaocheng Wang and others were also in a hurry to go to the hospital, and they actually believed these nonsense and decided to replace Lian Po with Zhao Kuo. So Zhao Kuo rushed to the front line of the Battle of Changping in this situation where the Zhao army was shrinking and the central government was confused.
Judging from the situation after Zhao Kuo took over the Zhao Army, Zhao Kuo's talent was indeed not enough to bear the heavy burden
Before King Xiaocheng of Zhao decided to send Zhao Kuo into battle, Zhao Kuo's mother met with the monarch and made a detailed comparison between Zhao Kuo and his father to prove that even if Zhao Kuo had some talent, as a person who lacked practical combat experience, he was not enough to take on this heavy responsibility. Even if Mother Zhao did not know the political situation, she also knew that Zhao Kuo could not do a good job even in lianpo. It's just a pity that she is a little soft-spoken, and in the end she can only watch her son go and not return.
As the son of Zhao Hao, Zhao Kuo still knew military things to some extent. Zhao Guo could not be crazy enough to let a true layman face the Qin army. However, Zhao Kuo had some strategies in his mind, but he forgot that the large army he had taken over from Lian Po was a large army that was already demoralized, weak soldiers, and uncertain because of Lian Po's departure.
After arriving at the front line, the arrogant Zhao Kuo did not make any effort to unite the hearts and minds of the army. He was as high as ever, giving orders to his soldiers and paying no attention to the state of the soldiers. And such a detachment of soldiers naturally cannot win any victory.
And the strategy given by Zhao Kuo to deal with the Qin army is indeed problematic. Since the two armies began to fight, Lian Po had adopted a conservative strategy, confronting the Qin army while ensuring the safety of the main force of the Zhao army. Zhao Kuo did the opposite, insisting that the soldiers who had been defending for months take the initiative to attack.
If Zhao Kuo could really kill the Qin army by surprise, this strategy would not be a big problem. However, at the same time that Zhao Kuo went to office, the Qin army once again insidiously and secretly replaced the general Wang Gong with Bai Qi. Therefore, as far as Bai Qi was concerned, Zhao Kuo's initiative was simply to doze off and someone sent a pillow. As soon as the Zhao army left the barracks, Bai Qi sent people to cut off the supply route of the Zhao army and surrounded more than 400,000 Zhao troops.
Zhao Kuo, who was besieged, then had to follow the old path of honesty and conservative defense. It's just that the Zhao army lacks military food and the military morale is turbulent, while the Qin army has a white seat, morale is high, and the offensive is fierce, so this defense is extremely difficult. After several days of stalemate, the Zhao army had fallen into the point of killing each other for food.
Therefore, dragging it out to the last moment when it could no longer be delayed, Zhao Kuo decided to fight to the death and personally lead the elite to break through. However, as soon as he left the military camp, he faced the Qin army, who was brave and brave, and it was difficult to fly with wings, and he was eventually killed by arrows. His army of more than 400,000 people, except for more than 200 who were still young, was also killed.
However, in this war, the Qin state also lost about 200,000 main forces. More than 200,000 of these were killed after Zhao Kuo took over the Zhao army. Therefore, as a victor, even if Bai Qi looked down on Zhao Kuo, he generously admitted that he had given the Qin army a heavy blow.
Therefore, the defeat of Zhao Kuo was not that he only knew that he was blindly commanding with a military book, but that the Battle of Changping was a dead end for him. Zhao Kuo lacked actual combat experience, and at the beginning he could only "talk on paper" on the battlefield. But his opponent is to defeat Bai Qi, not to mention Zhao Kuo himself, that is, to let Zhao Hao out of The Horse is a fierce battle. Moreover, Zhao Kuo's generals, because of Zhao Kuo's own uninhabited personality and the increasingly difficult situation of the whole army, their combat effectiveness was also greatly reduced.
Therefore, the four words of "talking about soldiers on paper" are far from enough to summarize the real Zhao Kuo.