The only thing that the State of Zhao can confront the State of Qin is a military contest, but militarily, the State of Zhao is slightly better than the State of Qin.
However, with the development of the world, the princely states all want to unify the world, relying not only on the means of force, but also on the level of soft power in addition to their respective hard power.
The Warring States, an era in which princely states exposed their absolute ambitions and overtook the liturgy.
Countries have changed their laws one after another, some at the military level, such as King Wuling of Zhao's "Hufu Riding and Shooting", which directly makes the combat effectiveness of the Zhao State the first in the world, while some are at the core of politics, such as the "Shang Martingale Transformation Method" of the Qin State.
However, because the Qin state changed the law earlier, during the Qin Xiaogong period, the Defender Shang Martin carried out the change of the law, and the thinking of its law collectors carried out a series of changes such as "heavy agriculture and suppression of commerce" and "centralized power" in an environment based on "Guanzhong", and the Qin state also improved the "soft" and "hard" strength of the whole country because of the change in the political system.
Militarily, Shang Martin encouraged "joining the army" and gave full play to the meritorious knighthood system of the Qin state, which was an acquired factor of the Qin people's "belligerence", and the later Qin army was so fierce that it was related to this soft power culture.
Economically, shang martingale fixed the model of small peasant economy, cracked down on the exploitation of the people by the nobility, with the central government as the largest "landlord", the economy of the Qin state can accumulate so rapidly in Guanzhong, which is related to the system of shang martingale, which is carried out from top to bottom and can be called a "machine".
The strength of the Qin state is obvious to all, and the countries under the world are very jealous of the Qin state.
Especially in 316 BC, the State of Qin destroyed the State of Ba and the State of Shu, and the land of Bashu fell into the hands of Great Qin, a southwest region with abundant products, giving the State of Qin a solid rear foundation, and since then, the State of Qin has had the power of "invincibility".
And it is also this era that Hebei has produced a talent that makes the world more amazing: Zhao Yong.
Zhao Yong took the throne at a young age, because the location of the Zhao Kingdom was an important strategic area where the princely states of the world were all hot-eyed, and as long as Zhao Yong was not careful, he would be eaten to the point where no bones were left, and in this context, what Zhao Yong could do was to "unite" a batch and strike a batch.
However, unlike the Qin State, the folk customs of the Zhao people belong to the "Biao", and because they are close to the nomadic people, in terms of style, they more or less have the meaning of vigorous and vigorous behavior, and unlike the World of Guanzhong Xu Xutu, Zhao Yong pursues rapid annexation, and under this atmosphere, he began to "change the law".
Because of the perennial invasion of nomads, Zhao Yong valued the high mobility of the Hu "cavalry", and the cavalry needed "horses", and this strategic "material" was not a problem for the Zhao state in Hebei.
After arguing with the conservatives within the Zhao state, Zhao Yong got a chance and began to cultivate combat units of "Hufu" and "Riding and Shooting".
In fact, the historical "Hufu Riding and Shooting" did not see so much scenery on the surface, because of the sacredness of the Central Plains etiquette, Zhao Yong's idea of "Huhua" was opposed by almost all people, and everyone felt that Zhao Yong was taking the road of civilization regression.
Zhao Yong wore Hu costumes to the court every day, training a group of troops who were clearly Zhao Guo boys, but looked like Hu people.
The emperor did not pay off, Zhao Yong's decision played a great role, after the Hufu riding and shooting of the Zhao State, the combat effectiveness soared at once, the leader of this Hufu riding and shooting army, it was Zhao Yong, the King of Zhao, so the cohesion was extremely strong, with high mobility, supplemented by the terrain of Hebei, the Zhao State was unstoppable.
Not to mention sweeping the world at once, but at the very least, almost no one could go to the territory of the Zhao Kingdom to defeat the Zhao State's cavalry.
The reason why Zhao Guo's Hufu riding and shooting is strong, it is because Zhao Guo has a better foundation for combat readiness, from equipment to horses, armor and grain, are built in accordance with the mature system of the Central Plains, although The Hufu riding and shooting is "Huhua", it is actually a fusion of the Central Plains culture and the fierce nomadic combat style.
It is also because of this factor that militarily, the Zhao and Qin states can fight back and forth.
However, the strength of the Zhao state is "lame", and it can be seen from the style of doing things in the later period of Zhao Yong, the king of Zhao Wuling, that the Zhao state is destined to stay at the level of military reform, and it is difficult to reform from the inside out.
First of all, we must know that the strength of the Qin state comes from the change of the Shang martingale law, all aspects of society, and the changes in all aspects of politics, this change is universal, the domestic production has a special system, there is a special system for war, and the political comprehensiveness makes the development of the Qin state also move towards comprehensiveness.
Zhao Guo, on the other hand, has been lost in the cognition of military strength, Zhao Wuling King "Zen Rang" incident, and then repeatedly wanted to regain power, came up with a way to split the Zhao State, not only did not think to make zhao Guo strong, Zhao Wuling King also fell into the strange circle of power and profit, and finally obtained the sad end of being starved to death.
Regardless of whether King Wuling of Zhao succeeded or failed, without a qualified and powerful legal reformer to help zhao guo reform, the strength of zhao guo was destined to be only a flash in the pan, perhaps the zhao state could conquer the left and right in a short period of time, but with the growth of time, it was never better than the stability brought by the system of the qin state.
The first famous battle in which the State of Zhao defeated the State of Qin was the "Battle of Fuhe" by Zhao Hao, the King of Mafu, which temporarily extinguished the ambition of the State of Qin to invade the Central Plains, and also reflected the unique fighting style of the State of Zhao after Hufu rode and shot.
During the Warring States period, the most respected combat method of the generals was not "blitzkrieg", but a confrontation duel with a large army, and finally transformed into a "logistical" battle method, such as Lian Po, such as Wang Qi of the Qin State, who has always fought in this way.
But the soldiers are not tired of deception, but Zhao Hao played a "yin and yang change" in the "Battle of Fu and He", in fact, Zhao Hao is not a very powerful military general, what really makes him famous is his understanding of the military spirit behind Hufu riding and shooting, luring the enemy to go deep, with a small and broad, and finally use his unexpected measures to kill the enemy.
The Battle of Fuhe was seen as an important battle in which the State of Zhao suppressed the State of Qin, but after this battle, Zhao Suo fell ill and died, and the State of Zhao returned to a state of "conservative fighting".
That's why there was the Battle of Changping.
During the Battle of Changping, the preparations of Both Zhao and Qin could be seen, and the Qin State had begun a large number of preparations, dispatching troops and dispatching generals, and the attractive "Meritorious Lord" system, so that the Qin soldiers were destined to gain as long as they could kill an enemy, and the benefits they would receive would not be less than ten years of conscientious work.
Therefore, on the eve of the Battle of Changping, the spirit of the Qin army was fanatical.
And the State of Zhao, in fact, has lost the sharpest opportunity after the Hufu riding and shooting, if the Hufu Riding Shooting is regarded as a reform of the Central Plains fighting style, then the most important thing for the Zhao State to do after the military reform is to quickly conquer the world with the help of the advantages of cavalry and terrain, and take the rich areas as the basic disk, just like the Qin State took Bashu.
Because Zhao Guo had removed the terrain convenience of Hebei for cavalry to attack, there was no advantage in the issue of resources, and once it was blocked at the door of the house, it was in danger.
In the Battle of ChangPing, the conservative tactics of honesty seemed helpless, but it was the best way, because the Zhao state had lost the sharpness brought about by military reform, while the Qin state was able to adjust this sharpness, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin immediately summoned a group of men over the age of fifteen to fight in Hanoi County with the system of "meritorious lords", and the speed was extremely fast.
Coupled with the fact that the Qin army is the real player of "soldiers who are not tired of cheating", the divisive plan makes the magic fascinating, and the King of Zhao is eventually tempted to use Zhao Kuo to fight, strategically and organizationally, the Zhao state has already lost a mess, and the fiasco of the Battle of Changping is actually the exposure of the weak nature of the Zhao state after Hu Fu rode and shot.
The last "glory" of the Zhao state was the Zhao general Li Mu.
Li Mu was the last famous general in the Zhao State to integrate tactics such as "defense" and "surprise attack", because he was stationed in the Xiongnu defense line for many years, Li Mu was very proficient in guerrilla tactics and also made good use of soldiers and horses for defense.
Therefore, in the later period of the Zhao State, after experiencing the great damage to the Vitality of the Battle of Changping, the Zhao State could still be defeated by Li Mu in the "Battle of Fat" and "Battle of Fanwu", but the final Battle of Fanwu also exposed the nature of the internal supply problems of the Zhao State, and there was no longer the ability to provide the army with the ability to completely annihilate the Qin army.
The strength of the Zhao state has become the past, and this lame strength, after all, there is no suitable political system as a support, and greatness has become the yellow flower of tomorrow.
However, the Zhao State was once able to shock the Qin State with its own strength and slow down the pace of the Qin State into the Central Plains, this kind of achievement is still very amazing, because some people in later generations said that if after the King of Zhao Wuling, the Zhao State also had a reformer similar to the Shang Martingale, a lawyer who believed in the Law, then the pattern of the world might be different.