Recently, there have been 500,000 Qin troops defending southern China and 300,000 Qin troops defending the Xiongnu, and if these Qin troops return, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang will not be able to destroy the Qin state. But you know what? It is true that the Qin army guarding southern China did not return to the Qin Dynasty, but most of the people guarding southern China were criminals and prisoners of the Six Kingdoms; and the Great Wall Army defending the Great Wall of the Xiongnu actually returned to the aid, but the battle record was not as good as that of the Lishan criminals led by Zhang Handan, who were completely annihilated by Xiang Yu in the Battle of Julu.
1. Three points for Qin soldiers, 300,000 for the Great Wall Army
After Qin unified the six kingdoms, the total number of troops reached one million, but these millions were not all Qin troops, there were many miscellaneous armies, the elite of the Qin army was about 600,000, and the other 400,000 were all troops from various countries.
After the unification of the Six Kingdoms, this million army was divided into three parts, one part guarding the old land of the Six Kingdoms, this part had the largest number, but the combat effectiveness was not strong, the total number was about half a million, the real Qin army was only about 100,000, and the rest were the troops of the original six kingdoms; the most elite part of the Qin army remained in the old Qin land of Guanzhong, the number was nearly 400,000 in more than 300,000, and there were about 100,000 people who followed MengTian to conquer the Xiongnu, and this part was the later Great Wall Army. After the success of the conquest of the Xiongnu, Meng Tian built the Great Wall, and Qin Shi Huang transferred troops from the Guanzhong Army, so that the total number of the Great Wall Army reached about 300,000.
2. Meng Tian died, and the king left to lead the Great Wall Army
After the death of Qin Shi Huang, Zhao Gao and others secretly supported Hu Hai of Qin II to ascend the throne, and then forged a holy will to let Meng Tian and Gongzi Fusu commit suicide.
The suicide of Meng Tian and Fu Su was fatal to the Qin state, and from the perspective of the time, it did not have much impact, but from a historical point of view, the death of these two people can almost be said to have broken the inheritance of the Qin state. After Meng Tian's death, the Great Wall Army was handed over to Wang Li, who was the grandson of the Qin general Wang Qi, after the famous door, but Wang Li did not have much military talent, and was weaker than Meng Tian.
The Great Wall Army changed hands, Hu Hai ascended the throne, and Fu Su died, which happened in 210 BC, why emphasize this time? Because only a year later, the huge Chen Sheng Wuguang uprising broke out.
3. Zhang Handan used Lishan criminals to break the rebel army
The most brilliant army of the late Qin Dynasty should be Zhang Handan's army, but this army is not a real Qin army, but an army composed of Lishan criminals.
After Chen Sheng's wuguang uprising, Hu Hai did not pay much attention to the peasant uprising, which led to the rapid growth of the rebel army, and Chen Sheng's general Zhou Wen even led hundreds of thousands of people to Xianyang. Because it came too suddenly, and Qin II had not paid attention to it, there were only 50,000 people in Xianyang at that time, and these 50,000 people were still an army formed after Qin II ascended the throne. Using 50,000 people against hundreds of thousands of people was nothing more than hitting a pebble with a pebble, and in the chaos of the DPRK, Zhang Handan stood up and asked Qin II to use Lishan criminals to fight against the rebel army.
After that, Zhang Handan began to rise, defeated Zhou Wen with more than 100,000 Lishan criminals, and then began to march south to the north to quell civil unrest for the Qin state, and overall it was a smooth wind, the rebel army was extinguished one by one, and Xiang Liang was killed in Dingtao. But after killing Xiang Liang, the turning point in the fate of the Qin state also arrived.
4. The Great Wall Legion has not disappeared
After the outbreak of the domestic uprising, the Great Wall Army had begun to return to the aid, and Wang Li returned to the country with 200,000 people. However, by the time of Xianyang, Zhou Wen had already been pacified by Zhang Handan, so Zhang Handan's army and Wang Li's army were divided into two routes, Wang Li marched into Hebei and Zhang Handan marched into Henan. In the "Chronicle of Zhang Er Chen Yulie", it is recorded that at the beginning of the second year of Qin II, Li Liang, a general of Wuchen the King of Zhao, led an army to capture Zhao Land, but was stopped by the Qin army at Jingxing. This part of the Qin army should be Wang Li's Great Wall Army.
The Great Wall Army belonged to the elite of the Qin Army, but for a long time it was unknown, and the wind and water of Zhang Handan in the south were flourishing, but Wang Li had not made much military achievements. One of the main reasons is that Wang Li's own ability is not strong, followed by the Great Wall Legion has just experienced the death of the commander, and morale is low, so the strength of the Great Wall Legion in this period is very limited.
5. In the Battle of the Giant Deer, Xiang Yu broke the chapter and defeated the king
The Battle of julu was a battle with a lot of cattiness, and on the side of the Qin army, after a period of polishing, Wang Li finally came together with Zhang Handan. The Battle of Julu was a war that took place after Zhang Handan beheaded Xiangliang.
After Xiang Liang's death, Zhang Handan believed that Chudi had been pacified, so he returned to his division to attack the State of Zhao, at which point Wang Li followed suit. When it came time to really attack the State of Zhao, Zhang Handan ceded the main attack to Wang Li and took 200,000 troops to carry grain and grass. Wang left the game and played very well, but with the arrival of Xiang Yu, he completely collapsed. Xiang Yu killed Song Yi and made himself a general, followed by the Battle of the Giant Deer. The Battle of the Giant Deer is a very important turning point, if the King of the Giant Deer is victorious, Xiang Yu may die, and the rebel army will also lose, but if the King of the Battle of the Giant Deer is defeated, he will also die, and the Qin State will also die.
In the end, Wang Li still failed, and the Yongdao that Zhang Handan had given him to transport grain was attacked by Xiang Yu, and Zhang Handan was also defeated by Xiang Yu with fewer victories, while Wang Li was even more miserable, and was crushed by various princes and Xiang Yu's uprising, and the Great Wall Army was also destroyed.
This battle is a lot of cats, such as Zhang Handan escaped why Wang Li was not able to escape, Wang Left the army 200,000, Zhang Handan army 200,000, if together, Xiang Yu is no way to fight through the 400,000 troops, why zhang Handan is not in one place? Moreover, Wang Li's final defeat was largely due to food shortages, and if Zhang Handan's efforts to protect Yongdao were not lost, Wang Li would not have no chance to turn defeat into victory. What is more crucial is that Zhang Handan surrendered to Xiang Yu soon after, and whether Wang Li's death Zhang Handan was a pusher is really debatable.
summary
The Great Wall Legion was named after the border pass, so that the Xiongnu did not dare to go south for more than ten years, but they did not achieve anything when they calmed the civil war, which was really incredible. Among them, there must be a reason for the departure of the main general Wang, compared to his grandfather Wang Qi, wang's ability to leave is really average, or he cannot command an army of 200,000 at all. The second is the reason for morale, Mengtian's death casts a shadow on this large army, it can be said that after Mengtian's death, the Great Wall Legion has changed, and it is no longer the tiger and wolf division that makes the Xiongnu feared.
After the Battle of Julu, the Qin state had no possibility of turning defeat into victory, especially zhang handan's surrender. After Zhang Handan surrendered, the Qin army had less than 200,000 troops to fight, some of which were outside, some of which were on the Great Wall, and xianyang had less than 30,000 troops. The Battle of julu was a turning point in the fate of the Qin Dynasty, before that, due to Zhang Handan's southern conquest and northern war, the whole situation can be described as a good one, and if the battle of julu is won, even if Xiang Yu is against the sky, he will not be able to turn the tide of the war. However, in the end, the Qin army was defeated, and even the most elite Great Wall Army in the country was annihilated, and the Qin Dynasty was really exhausted.