The state of Wei has been repeatedly bullied by the state of Qin since King Hui, defeated, sought peace, and cut off land, and has fallen into an endless cycle, but the state of Wei has not fallen into a weak state; the capitals of Qi, Chu, Zhao, and Yan have all fallen, but the Wei capital Liang has always been in danger, which is inseparable from the clever use of the successive Wei kings to combine vertical and horizontal. Combining vertical and horizontal not only strives to maximize profits when winning, but also strives to minimize losses when losing. At the beginning of his reign, King Wei An (reigned 277 BC - 243 BC) tried to change the pattern of the nations, uniting the weak and resisting the strong, but the reality of inferior strength made him face an unprecedented and severe test.
Wei An's film and television image
The battle between the weak and the strong and the unsealed
The Title of King of Wei'an (魏安僖王) was written in the Records of History as "King of An", which was changed from "僖" to "釐" in order to avoid the name of his grandfather Sima Xi. King An of Wei also had a very famous younger brother, Prince Xinling, one of the Four Princes of the Warring States.
In 277 BC, King An of Wei succeeded to the Throne of Wei. Ambitious, he aspired to make the country rich and the army strong and regain his status as a great power. At that time, the situation of the nations was quite favorable to the State of Wei: the once-prosperous State of Qi was almost destroyed under the joint attack of the princes, and although it was restored, it was also seriously injured. The old power of chu in the south was also severely damaged by the state of Qin, the capital was lost, the ancestral tombs were burned, and half of the rivers and mountains fell. The weakness of Qi and Chu led to a rapid rise in the international status of the State of Wei, and when a strategist of the State of Chu analyzed the situation of the nations, he regarded Qin, Zhao, Wei, and Yan as strong powers, followed by Qi, Lu, Han, and Wei.
In this situation, king Wei an decided to unite the weak against the strong, and he successively allied with Chu and Qi, plus his old ally Korea, and formed a four-nation alliance centered on the state of Wei. At that time, Qin was attacking Chu and Zhao was fighting Qi, and the actions of King Wei an were tantamount to directly challenging Qin and Zhao, which naturally could not be tolerated by the two countries. In the first year of the reign of King An of Wei (276 BC), King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent the general Bai Qi to attack Wei and take two cities; King Huiwen of Zhao sent Lou Chang to attack the Wei state of Jiyi (in present-day southeast of Daming, Hebei), but failed to conquer it; in December, King Zhao sent the general Lian Po to attack the Wei state of Jiyi, and eventually captured it. The joint attack of Qin and Zhao put a lot of pressure on the State of Wei, but in the southern battlefield, the State of Chu won a great victory and recovered a large area of land along the Yangtze River from the Qin army. This made King Zhaoxiang of Qin and Xiangbang Wei Ran very angry, and the next year (275 BC), Wei Ran personally led a large army to attack Wei, ready to teach this new Wei king a lesson, and the State of Zhao also sent troops to echo each other.
Wei Ran film and television image
At that time, the State of Qin laid an enclave between the Wei capital Daliang and the Han capital Xinzheng, which was the cumulative result of the Qin army for decades, and this enclave had a great threat and deterrent effect on Wei and Han. This time, Wei Ran chose to attack the city of Kaifeng (启封, northeast of present-day Weishi, Henan), which was adjacent to this area, less than a hundred miles southeast of Da liang.
The State of Wei had also made preparations, and the Wei army engaged in a fierce offensive and defensive battle with the Qin army at Kaifeng. King Wei learned the lesson of last year, it is difficult for the Wei army to fight alone to win the Qin army, so this time he took the ally Korea and promised to cut off several rich cities in Korea after breaking the Qin. The elderly King of Han also wanted to curb the expansion of the Qin state, and after the decline of the two great powers of Qi and Chu, he seemed to see a glimmer of hope in the young King of Wei to balance the Qin state.
After Kaifeng was besieged, King Han immediately sent the general Tyrant Tou to lead an army to help. He is a famous general of a generation, and more than twenty years ago, he was already one of the top generals in South Korea. At the Battle of Chuisha (301 BC), he and the Qi general Tian Zhang and the Wei general Gongsun Xi broke the Chu army, and the three became the brightest stars of the nations at that time. Today, although the heroes are old, they are still the backbone of the Korean army. The fact that King Han sent the Tyrannosaurus on a campaign demonstrated the importance he attached to the war. The "Records of History" and the "Warring States Policy" only record the name of the storm kites for the battle of Kaifeng, and as for who the wei army is the main general, the popularity of the violent kites can be seen.
However, the strength of the Qin army far exceeded the imagination of the Wei and Han armies, and the military ability of Wei Ran and his staff was not much inferior to that of the violent kite, and the Wei and Han combined forces that had originally planned to cooperate with the outside world were completely defeated after a fierce battle with the Qin army, and the Qin army "beheaded forty thousand" ("History of Qin Benji"). The tyrannical kites are worthy of being the generals of the battlefield, and they successfully escaped with the remnants, you know, Long Jia, Zhao Zhuang, Gongsun Xi and other three Famous Jin Generals were all destroyed and died on the battlefield after a bitter battle with the Qin army.
Korean "Seven Years of Lu's" Bronze Ge (now in the Collection of Ya'an City Museum, Sichuan)
After conquering Kaifeng, the Qin army surrounded Daliang. At the same time, the Zhao general Lian Po also launched an attack on the northern border of the State of Wei, capturing Fangling (衛陵, in one fell swoop) (in present-day southwest of Anyang, Henan). The siege of the tomb was also fierce, and the city walls were severely damaged. Lian Po led the soldiers to carry out a comprehensive repair of the city defense system before returning to China.
The Battle of Qin, Zhao and Huayang was dismantled
The double pressure of Qin and Zhao, especially the Qin army under the city, made the young King of Wei have a deep sense of powerlessness. He had to ask the former courtier Mangkuo to clean up the mess. Mangkuo was known for his deception and served as chancellor of the State of Wei. Faced with the dilemma, Mang Di decided to design a plan to provoke the relationship between Qin and Zhao, to unite With Zhao and suppress Qin, and to make plans to sacrifice the ally who could not help, the State of Qi. Of course, all this will take time, and at present, if wei wants to tide over the difficulties, it can only cut the land and seek peace. The lion of the Qin state opened his mouth wide and asked Wei and Han to cut off the land of eight counties, and Mangkuo agreed with a full mouth. However, Mangku proposed that the State of Wei first cede Wen County (wen County, southwest of present-day Wen County, Henan) to Qin, in exchange for the State of Qin to immediately withdraw its troops from Daliang, and the rest of the cities were handed over one after another. The State of Qin agreed to Mang's plan. WenXian was a famous city at that time, with a developed economy and a large population, and the Wei royal family also built a palace annex on the outskirts of Wenxian County, creating a large-scale and beautiful riverside garden. This garden alone can produce eighty catties of gold every year. Wen County was once occupied by Qin forces, and twelve years ago (287 BC), the State of Wei participated in the joint attack on Qin, and Qin returned Wen to the State of Wei. At this point, the King of Wei endured the pain and was once again ceded to the State of Qin.
Qin and Wei spoke alone and annoyed the State of Zhao, and Lian Po once again led the Zhao army to attack Wei and capture Anyang (安陽, in modern Anyang, Henan). Mang Di cleverly used the rift between Qin and Zhao to cause Zhao guo to fall to wei. The Warring States Strategy Wei Ce III contains an example of Mang's breaking up of the Qin and Zhao alliances, although exaggerated, but it can also be seen in the means of Mang's: Mang's first sent people to promise the King of Zhao to cede the wei important town of Yicheng to the Zhao state, and after the emissaries who delivered the city of Yicheng arrived at Yecheng, urged the Zhao state to sever diplomatic relations with Qin, but then refused to deliver it. Later, Mangdi designed to further deteriorate the relationship between Qin and Zhao, and at the same time made the illusion that Qin and Wei wanted to unite, so that Zhao Guo had to take the initiative to cooperate with Wei guo to resist Qin. Mang's superb deception allowed him to handle the relations between the nations, and in the end, Wei and Zhao reconciled. The State of Wei generously betrayed the State of Qi, and the following year (274 BC), with the support of the State of Wei, the Zhao general Yan Zhou led an army to capture the Qi state of Changcheng (present-day northwest of Jizhou, Hebei) and Gao Tang (southwest of present-day Yucheng, Shandong), which was a military stronghold used by the State of Qi specifically to deal with the State of Zhao, and its fall was a great loss to the State of Qi. With the support of the State of Zhao, King An of Wei and Mangdi refused to hand over the city to the State of Qin again, and smoke rose again between Qin and Wei.
Speaking of Qin Xiang Wei Ran, he was heavily rewarded for his merits in the Battle of Kaifeng, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin gave him one of the richest commercial cities in the Central Plains, Taoyi (present-day northwest of Dingtao, Shandong), and Wei Ran, who was already over the age of Huajia, began to expand his fiefdom centered on Taoyi, and the main target of plunder was the State of Qi. However, unexpectedly, the State of Wei actually broke the treaty, and Wei Ran was furious, and recommended to the King of Qin that The Guest Qing Wei Hu wounded and led troops to attack the State of Wei, and to destroy all the cities that the State of Wei had promised to cede before.
Inferred from the surname, this Wei Hu injury may be after the Wei Guo Sect. Many historical sources, including some scholars, have mistaken his name, the "History of the Marquis of Yong" mistakenly wrote his name as "HuYang", and the Warring States Policy Zhao Cesan mistakenly wrote his name as "Wei Huyi". "Hu wound" is a common personal name used in the pre-Qin, Qin, and Han dynasties, also known as "no injury" and "He wound", such as Liu Bang's left Sima called Cao Wu injury, which means to remove disasters. However, Wei Hu's wound was a great disaster for the State of Wei, and in 274 BC, Wei Hu wounded and led his army to capture the four cities of Wei Guojuan (present-day Lou Village, Yuanyang Circle, Henan), Zhongyang (present-day ZhengzhouDong, Henan), Changshe (present-day Changgedong, Henan), and Cai (present-day Caizhuang Town, Weishi, Henan), beheading 40,000 people.
Schematic diagram of the Battle of Kaifeng and the Battle of Huayang
These four cities are on the border of Han and Wei, Wei Hu wounded the successful capture of the four cities can not be separated from the support of South Korea, South Korea's betrayal is expected by Mang, but Mang Ou still wants to win Korea over, when the time comes to join the forces of Wei, Zhao, Han, and Chu to jointly resist Qin, the odds are greater. However, this time, it is not enough to rely on strategists to persuade South Korea, and it is necessary to coerce by force. In 273 BC, Mang di personally led the combined forces of Wei and Zhao to attack Huayang (present-day Huayang Village, Xinzheng, Henan). Huayang is the birthplace of the legendary Yan Emperor, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty Hua Kingdom, located in the north of Huashui, not more than forty miles from the Han capital Xinzheng. Huayang's city defense facilities are quite simple, and there is only one trench outside the low city wall. The Korean defenders here desperately resisted the attack of the combined forces of 130,000 Zhao and Wei. The battle was extremely fierce, the arrows were raining down, the killing sound was tremendous, the scattered clusters of arrows, arrow poles, armor pieces, and wood chips were laid on the ground in a thick layer, and in some places in the trenches, the broken clusters of arrows and arrow poles were piled up by 15 centimeters, and the low-lying areas were even filled with wood chips, and the entire city wall was destroyed by the war...
From the moment they learned that Zhao and Wei had sent troops, South Korea sent emissaries to the Qin state for help, and the Qin army also assembled on the border on a large scale, and Wei Ran personally sat in the town, but it was delayed in sending troops. The elderly King han was ill, and the Korean xiangbang was in a hurry, so in desperation, he had to ask the old minister Chen Xiao, who was also on the sickbed, to come out of the mountain. Chen Xiaode was highly respected and resourceful, and was a minister of Korean stocks, and had a deep friendship with the qin monarchs. When the country was in trouble, Chen Xiao disregarded his personal safety and helped him into Qin. But unlike the previous Korean emissaries who were in a hurry, Chen Xiao hurried slowly and leisurely. After arriving at Wei Ran's army, everything was settled down, and then he did not rush to see Wei Ran. Wei Ran pretended to be surprised and opened his mouth to ask, "South Korea is almost unable to hold on, right?" It all alarmed your old man. Chen Xiao returned lightly: "Xiang Bang said with a smile, the rescue is not in a hurry." Wei Ran's face turned sullen, "Your emissary is too unqualified, the previous emissaries were eager to let the Qin state send troops, but you said that you were not in a hurry, what is the reason?" Chen Xiao replied, "If Korea is really in a hurry, it will directly fall to the State of Wei." It was precisely because I was not in a hurry that I was sent. I plan to go to Xianyang to meet the King of Qin after meeting Xiang bang. In fact, Wei Ran's original intention was also to let Korea fight with Zhao and Wei xian, and after both defeats were lost, the Qin state would send troops to save Han, but Wei Ran did not expect that Korea would not be able to hold back so quickly. Listening to the meaning of Chen Xiao's words, South Korea is afraid that it will soon turn against it. Thinking of this, Wei Ran hurriedly said, "Sir, there is no need to see the King of Qin, so I will send troops to save Han." Bai Qi led the Qin army day and night, rushed to Huayang in eight days, and caught the combined forces of Zhao and Wei by surprise, and hundreds of thousands of allied troops were defeated, and The Emperor Manghuang fled.
Bai Qi led a large army north to capture the Wei state of Zhaoyang (present-day Xingyangdong, Henan), which was an important stronghold on the artificial canal gap at that time, and the Qin army used this as a material transfer station, and the rear materials could enter the gap through the Yellow River to reach here. With sufficient logistical support, Bai Qi led his army to encircle Daliang again. Zhao and Chu successively sent reinforcements to rescue Wei.
Timely stop loss: Qin, Wei and
Although King Wei an was looking forward to the early arrival of reinforcements, the successive defeats made him realize that taking advantage of the opportunity of Zhao and Chu to save Wei and make peace with Qin was the right choice, and if the reinforcements were defeated in the future, he would have no more chips to bargain with Qin, and there would be more land to be cut at that time. As a result, King Wei sent his chancellor Xu Jia to lobby Wei Ran. Xu Jia said to Wei Ran, "Now most of the Wei courtiers suggest that the King of Wei should not make peace, because the Qin state is insatiable. The year before, the Qin army defeated the old general and cut off the land of eight counties, but before the land was fully received, the Qin army invaded again. The Qin army defeated Mangdi this time and occupied Zhaoyang, the purpose of which was obvious, that is, to claim more land. Moreover, Zhao and Chu had already sent troops to rescue Wei, and if the State of Wei made peace with Qin behind their backs, the two countries would probably be unfavorable to the State of Wei. Therefore, the Qunchen believed that either they should not talk about peace, but if they wanted to talk about peace, they must cut less land and get the prince of Qin as hostages, otherwise the State of Wei would definitely be deceived. Personally, I think it's good for you to talk about it now. The Book of Zhou says that 'only fate is not constant', that the mandate of heaven is fickle, and that the heavens will not always take care of the Qin army. Although the State of Wei was defeated, the counties could still send 300,000 soldiers to defend Daliang, and the city of Daliang was high and deep, and the Dun army was strong under the city, and once the qin army was tired, it was inevitable that it would be defeated, and you might not even be able to save Taoyi at that time. If you now promise the State of Wei to cede a small amount of land to make peace, Zhao and Chu will inevitably hate the State of Wei, and then you will be free to choose allies between Wei, Zhao, and Chu to expand the territory of the Taoyi feudal state. Although Wei Ran felt that most of the reasons why Xu Jia asked him to withdraw his troops were far-fetched, it was true that the Qin army could not defeat Da Liang in a short period of time. However, Wei Ran still wanted to ask for more land.
Just when Wei Ran hesitated, Zhao Guo's reinforcements reached the north bank of the Yellow River. Wei Ran immediately ordered Bai Qi to relieve the siege of Da Liang and concentrate his forces to deal with the Zhao army. Bai Qi fully exerted his military talents and the strong combat effectiveness of the Qin army, and severely damaged the Zhao army in the Battle of the Yellow River. According to the Chronicle of Bai Qi, Bai Qi "fought with the Zhao general Jia Yan, and Shen (Tong "Shen") and his pawns were 20,000 in the river" ("Shen").
In the early Warring States period, the bronze inscription of the wrong land and water offensive pattern is related to the part of the water warfare
Just when the Qin army was rejoicing, Wei Ran was not carried away by the victory, and he couldn't help but think of the phrase that Xu Jia quoted, "Only fate is not normal." Even though the Qin army has achieved more victories now, once it loses in the future, it will lose all its previous achievements. The war is full of variables, victory or defeat is unpredictable, and the reinforcements of the Chu state are still on the road. Therefore, Wei Ran decided to ask Wei for peace, and The King of Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief and sent Duan Ganchong to handle the peace talks with full authority. As a result, Duan Ganchong was scolded by the main war faction of the State of Wei, who also shouted the slogan of "treating Qin with the land, holding the salary to fight the fire, the salary is not exhausted, and the fire is not extinguished" to oppose the peace. Slogans are shouted by everyone, but they cannot come up with a realistic plan of action. In the end, under Duan Ganchong's vigorous efforts, the State of Wei only ceded a piece of land from Nanyang (an area south of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Yellow River) to Qin, and the two sides withdrew their troops. Zhao and Chu also made peace with Qin one after another, and the strategy of the Wei emperor to unite the weak and resist the strong ended in failure.
In the final analysis, the strategy of the Wei emperor to unite the weak and resist the strong was still overconfident, and he lacked a correct understanding of the comparison of the military strength of Qin and Wei. Changing the entire warring states political structure with the strength of one country is not something that a country like the State of Wei can do, and barely doing so will only lead to disasters. The idea that the new monarch wants to make a difference is understandable, but it is more appropriate to use it for domestic reform, and the foreign side should be mainly focused on holding the weight. Fortunately, King Wei An can adjust his strategy in time and stop losses in a timely manner. Of course, the most important gain was the experience of political struggle accumulated in the process of the game of the nations, which also enabled him to win back a round from the Qin state in the battle between Qin and Zhao Fu a few years later. By the end of the reign of King An of Wei, the State of Wei had been able to "spread its troops in the world and exercise prestige in the country of the crown belt" ("Han Feizi Youdu"), which can be regarded as a person with lofty ideals.
bibliography
Yang Kuan: Chronicle of the Warring States Historical Materials, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2001 edition.
Zhu Zugeng: Notes on the Warring States Policy Collection, Phoenix Publishing House, 2008 edition.
Zhengzhou Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Xinzheng Municipal Bureau of Tourism and Cultural Relics: "Investigation and Excavation of the Remains of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty at the Huayang City Ruins in Xinzheng City, Henan", Archaeology, No. 9, 2013.
Suo Quanxing, "Searching for the "Huayuan" Sacred Site of Chinese Civilization - The Ruins of Huayang City in Xinzheng, Henan", Popular Archaeology, No. 12, 2016.
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