After Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, the army composed of purely Qin people was about a million or so, which could be roughly divided into three parts, one was the Qin army that marched south to Baiyue, the second was the border army stationed in Shangjun, and the third was the garrison in Guanzhong and various places. So, in the late Qin Dynasty, where did these armies go?
The Qin army in the land of Baiyue: The Southern Expedition to Baiyue suffered heavy losses, and the chaotic era at the end of Qin did not appear
According to the Chronicle of Wang Qi, the Qin general Wang Qi led an army of 600,000 to destroy the Chu state, and "the king of Jingjing was in charge of the sword, and even pingjingdi was a county", and then "because of the southern conquest of the King of Baiyue". That is to say, after the fall of the State of Chu, the 600,000 troops of the State of Qin attacked the State of Chu quickly threw themselves into the war against Baiyue.
What is the Land of Hundred Yue? Mr. Lu Simian pointed out that "from the south of the river to the Yue", that is, the Baiyue area at that time, referring to the vast area south of the Yangtze River, mainly referring to Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, so there are many ethnic groups living in the area, so it is called "Baiyue". The Book of Han and Geographical Chronicles notes that "from the toe to the huiji seven or eight thousand miles, the hundred and more miscellaneous places, each has its own caste", and Luo Bi's "Road History" says "Yue Chang, Luo Yue, Ou Yue, Ou Yue, Ou Yue, Ou Yue, Xi Ou, Ren Ren, Mu Shen, Destroyer, Poultry Man, Cangwu, Yue District, Gui Guo, Loss Zi, Chan Li, Hai Dec, Nine Fungi, Ji Yu, BeiDai, Servant Sentence, Ou Wu, the so-called Bai Yue Ye".
However, although there is still controversy in the historical circles about the timing of the outbreak of this war (qing dynasty historian Qiu Chishi believes that it is 222 BC, the Ming Dynasty guo shi and the Frenchman Oruso believe that it is 221 BC, the Guangdong scholar Yu Tianchi believes that it is 219 BC, the Vietnamese historian Tao Weiying believes that it is 218 BC, Cao Luning believes that it is 217 BC, and Lü Simian believes that it is 214 BC), but regarding the military strength used by the Qin state, various historical sources point to the Qin state using at least half a million people.
According to the orders of Qin Shi Huang, 500,000 Qin troops, under the command of the commander Tu Sui, pounced on the land of Baiyue in five routes, one marched eastward from present-day Jiangxi to capture Dong'ou and Minyue; the Chinese army captured South Vietnam in two ways, one passing through present-day Nanchang, and the larger Yuling into northern Guangdong, the second passing through present-day Changsha, following the Qitian Ridge to Panyu; the other two roads into Guangxi, attacking Xi'ou, one passing through MengzhuLing into Present-day He County, and the other passing through Yuecheng Ridge into present-day Guilin. ("Huainan Ziren Training": "Make Lieutenant Tu Sui send 500,000 soldiers to the fifth army, one army to the collar of the city, one army to guard the nine doubts of the plug, one army to the capital of Panyu, one army to guard the boundary of the southern wilderness, one army to balance the water of the surplus")
However, the progress of this battle was not smooth, according to historical records, except for the first road that captured the Dong'ou and Minyue regions that year, the other four Qin troops who attacked Lingnan were all affected by the dangerous mountains and high roads, the longitudinal and horizontal rivers, and the unsatisfactory water and soil, and they all fell into the quagmire of the war, with heavy deaths, especially the non-combat attrition. Coupled with the stubborn resistance of the two Cantonese troops, the Qin army made slow progress.
According to the Huainan Zi, the Yue people, under the leadership of Yi Wusong, made full use of the geographical advantages to negotiate with the Qin army, causing great casualties to the Qin army. After the death of Yi Wu Song, the two Guangdong armies in Lingnan even launched a counterattack against the Qin army under the leadership of the new leader Ji Jun, who "ambushed the corpses and shed hundreds of thousands of blood", "and attacked the Qin people at night, destroyed them, and killed the lieutenant Tu Sui", and even the commander of the Qin army, Tu Sui, was killed by a night raiding force of the Baiyue Army (near present-day Guilin, Guangxi), forcing the Qin army to "stay in a useless place, and then not to retreat", so that "three years of unraveling the crossbow, so that the prison Lu could not be paid".
According to historians, before 214 BC, the casualties of the first phase of the Qin army's offensive were as high as 300,000 people, and the remaining more than 100,000 Qin troops all retreated to the northern border of Liangguang. Although the two Guangdong armies repelled the Qin army, the population was also sharply reduced by about half, unable to pursue the Qin army, and the two sides fell into a confrontation situation. After Receiving the report, Qin Shi Huang believed that the defeat of the Qin army was mainly due to the long supply line, so he recruited soldiers and civilians to dig the Ling Canal, and it was not until the Ling Canal was completed in 214 BC that the Qin army launched another attack, and the war entered the second stage.
After the completion of the Lingqu, Qin Shi Huang once again gathered 100,000 troops, together with the remaining 100,000 Qin troops, appointed Ren Hu as the main general and Zhao Tuo as the deputy general to march into Baiyue again, because the Baiyue army suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, so this time the Qin army did not encounter major resistance and occupied the entire territory of Lingnan, and set up three counties such as Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang County.
Judging from the above records, in order to conquer the land of Baiyue, the Qin state has successively mobilized an army of up to 600,000 or so, but due to the heavy losses of the first attack, only about 300,000 Qin troops remained in Baiyue in the end. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, because the land of Baiyue had not yet been completely pacified, coupled with the unpopular behavior of Qin II, the Qin army stationed here did not return to help.
The Qin army stationed in Shangjun: After Meng Tian's death, he was led by Wang Li, and the Battle of Julu was lost
According to the "Chronicle of Meng Tian Lie", after Qin Shi Huang unified the world, "it was to make Meng Tian drive 300,000 people from the north to Rong Di and take Henan", and then established Jiuyuan County, and Meng Tian led this army to garrison Shang county for more than ten years, while building the Great Wall, to deter and defend the Xiongnu.
In the thirty-seventh year of Qin Shi Huang (210 BC), Qin Shi Huang died of illness on the way back from his eastern tour, and Hu Hai took the throne as Qin II. After that, Hu Hai sent emissaries to fabricate the crime of killing the princes Fu Su and Meng Tian, and Fu Su committed suicide, Meng Tian had doubts in his heart, and asked for a retribution, and as a result, he was imprisoned in Yang Zhou, and the command of the Soldiers and Horses of Shangjun was transferred to Wang Qi's grandson Wang Li.
In the third year of Qin II (207 BC), due to the great chaos in the world at the end of Qin, the princes of various places were self-reliant, so Qin II ordered Wang Li to lead an army to attack the Zhao state. Wang Li then led the Shangjun border army to attack Zhao from Jingxing Pass, defeated the Zhao army, and besieged Zhao Xie, the king of Zhao, in Julu City.
After that, King Zhao asked for help from the princes, and Xiongxin, the king of Chuhuai, with Song Yi as the main general, Xiang Yu as his deputy general, and His father Fan Zeng as the last general, led 60,000 Chu troops north to rescue. After that, Xiang Yu launched a fierce attack on the Qin army with the strategy of "breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat", besieging and destroying Wang's army.
However, there has always been controversy about the number of border troops in Shangxian County, with the saying of 300,000 and 100,000. Although the "Biography of Meng Tian Lie" explicitly mentions the number of "300,000", the "Biography of the Xiongnu" records that "after Qin Shi Huang destroyed the Six Kingdoms, Meng Tian attacked Hu in the north and took over the henan land." Because the river is a plug, the forty-four county towns are built to the river, and the migration is suitable for filling it."
Therefore, according to these two different records, the Shangjun border army led by Meng Tian did have 300,000 troops, but it contained two parts, one part was the 100,000 troops led by Meng Tian when he conquered the Xiongnu, and the other part was about 200,000 "suitable border men" who were added later.
In addition, the "Chronicle of the Xiongnu" contains that "after more than ten years of death, the princes of Banqin, China was disturbed, and all those who were suitable for the Qin dynasty were returned", that is to say, after the death of Mengtian, due to the chaos in the world, the original "suitable bordermates" fled again. As a result, the Qin army led by Wang during the attack on Zhao was only about 100,000 people, and was eventually annihilated by Xiang Yu in the Giant Deer Battlefield.
The Qin army stationed in various places: the garrisons in various places were exhausted in the early stage, and Zhang Handan commanded the main force to surrender and was killed
In addition to the main border troops of the Qin army in Lingnan and Shangjun, after the Qin state unified the world, there were also some Qin troops stationed in Guanzhong and various parts of the world, and the number of this Qin army should not be small, but it was difficult to play a role due to the dispersion of the stationing.
Li Si's son, Li You, led an army of 25,000 Qin
For example, Li You, the son of The Chancellor Li Si and the defender of Sanchuan County, when Chen Sheng Wu Guangjun killed Guanzhong, he once wrote to Li Si, "The 100,000 thieves army has arrived in Xu County, day and night to Xingyang, and 25,000 soldiers and soldiers in the city forge weapons day and night, strengthen the city walls, dig the city river, and guard against sentry." There was a huge disparity in troop strength, and the grain storage could only be used for a few months. Hope to quickly send reinforcements. It can be seen that Li You commanded 25,000 Qin troops at that time, and later the rebels attacked the city, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. After that, Li You commanded this part of the Qin army to fight with Zhang Handan, responsible for garrisoning Yongqiu, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang led the troops to attack the city, Li You was still desperately commanding the battle despite being seriously injured, and was eventually killed by Liu Bang's subordinate Cao Shan, Xiang Yu witnessed Li You's tragic situation, was deeply moved, and li You's body was sent back to his hometown of Shangcai for burial. And this part of the Qin army led by Li You was also depleted.
Because the Qin army garrison was relatively scattered in various places, coupled with the fact that Hu Hai did not care about the rebellion in the world in the early stage, the Qin army in various places was always in a situation of fighting for each other, and it was impossible to effectively form a joint force, and then it was exhausted in the attack of the rebel army in the early stage.
In addition to the above Qin troops, the remaining Qin army was the main force of counter-rebellion commanded by Zhang Handan, and some people said that the troops used by Zhang Handan to suppress the rebellion were the lishan prisoners after pardon, but this was not the case. In the early period, Zhang Handan commanded an army hastily formed by the Lishan prisoners, but with the development of the counter-rebellion, there must have been Qin troops from all over the country to join in, and the "History of Qin Shi Huang Benji" contains "the second Yi sent the chief Shi Sima Xin and Dong Yi Zuo Zhang Handan to fight the thieves", that is, Hu Hai sent the chief Shi Sima Xin and Dong Yi to support Zhang Handan, and as li You's army mentioned above, he joined the ranks of Zhang Handan in countering the rebellion.
In addition, Zhang Handan was defeated by Xiang Liang twice, and Qin II urgently dispatched all his troops to reinforce Zhang Handan. When Zhang Handan led an army to attack Tian Rong, Xiang Liang led an army to rescue and defeated Zhang Handan at Dong'a, Zhang Handan retreated to the west, and the Chu army defeated Zhang Handan again at Puyang East. The Zizhi Tongjian contains that "the Second Emperor raised the army to attack the Chu army", that is to say, after Hu Hai learned of Zhang Handan's defeat, he launched all his troops to reinforce Zhang Handan, and Zhang Handan defeated and killed Xiang Liang in the Battle of Dingtao.
To sum up, the Lishan prisoners commanded by Zhang Handan in the early period must have been exhausted after a long conquest, and the Qin army led by Zhang Handan after that must have been a regular army composed of the remnants of the Qin army and the newly formed Qin army in various places, and this was also the only remaining strength of the Qin state. Unfortunately, in the Battle of Julu, due to the turmoil in the domestic situation of the Qin state (Li Si was killed), Zhang Handan was eventually forced to surrender, and the 200,000 Qin troops under his command were killed by Xiang Yukeng in the Xin'an area on the way to Guanzhong with Xiang Yu.
The above is the movement of the main forces of the Qin state at the end of the Qin Dynasty, in addition to the remaining Qin army in the southern expedition to Baiyue, the Shangjun Border Army that was subordinate to Mengtian and the Qin army stationed in various places of the Qin State were all depleted during the great chaos in the world.