The coldness of the lips and teeth is an unbreakable truth throughout the ages, but Qi and Chu, who are great powers, did not wake up to this truth when the country was destroyed.
The State of Qin adopted the strategy of "long-distance and close attack", successively destroyed the four kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Yan, and Wei, and wanted to unify the world, leaving only the two great powers of Qi and Chu in the southeast.
Qi Wangjian was a faint and incompetent man who only wanted to be at peace. This kind of person was very easy to deal with, and the King of Qin sent Li Si to bribe Qi Xiang Housheng with heavy money, and Housheng helped the Qin state to open up all the joints, so that Qi Wangjian came from the distant Shandong to Xianyang to worship and claim his subjects.
The Qin Palace held a grand reception banquet, and the King of Qin raised his wine glass and said to the King of Qi: "Qin Qi has not been jieti since ancient times, may we never move." If I were to go on a crusade against another country, I would not be able to alarm your country, right? ”
Qi Wangjian understood the meaning of the King of Qin, and quickly expressed his position: "Qin and Chu are at war, and Qi will never aid the State of Chu!" ”
"Well, King Qi deserves to be a good ally of my Great Qin."
The King of Qin saw that he had encircled Daqi and decided to destroy Chu. The next day, the King of Qin consulted with everyone at the Hanyuan Hall about the expedition.
The young general Li Xin volunteered and played: "Great King, the last general is willing to go, and it is enough to lead 200,000 soldiers and horses." ”
King Qin nodded happily, looked at the veteran general Wang Qi again, and thought of the old horse in his mind, so he asked, "What does the old general think?" ”
Wang Qi leaned forward and said, "600,000 square meters is enough." ”
600,000? This is the strength of the country! The King of Qin was not too worried about handing over the entire country's troops, so he shook his head and said, "The old general is too timid. ”
Therefore, the King of Qin announced that Li Xin and Meng Tian would lead 200,000 troops to Cut Chu.
After the dispersal of the dynasty, Wang Qi sighed and thought, Is it Li Xin who is a light enemy, or am I timid? Am I really old? In that case, give the opportunity to young people. So Wang Qi went back to his hometown to retire.
The State of Chu has always been a great power, with a long history and a vast land, and was an independent country as far back as the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, king Zhuang of Chu, one of the five hegemons, was listed as the top three of the Seven Heroes alongside Qin and Qi during the Warring States period.
Originally, the State of Chu was fully capable of contending with the State of Qin, but it was seriously injured because it suffered three national disasters: one was during the reign of King Huai of Chu, because he did not listen to the advice of Qu Yuan's doctor and listened to rumors, which resulted in a military defeat and the death of King Huai of Chu at the hands of the State of Qin; the second time was a few years later, Li Yuan's brothers and sisters rebelled, resulting in the killing of Xiangchun Shenjun; the third was a palace coup d'état in the current dynasty, killing the King of Chu and seizing the throne.
The decline and infighting of the Chu state provided an opportunity for the annexation of the Qin state, otherwise the chu state would not have been so easily destroyed. "Where there are great powers in the world, it is not Qin or Chu, and it is not Chu but Qin." Qin paid a huge price in order to destroy Chu.
In 224 BC, the 200,000-strong army led by Li Xin and Meng Tian suffered a major setback in the Chu state.
The young and vigorous Li Xin thought that he was invincible, as if he had entered no man's land, but who knew that he was dizzy by the two young generals of the Chu State. The other side engaged in a three-day and three-night campaign, they skillfully trailed behind Li Xin and Meng Tian, and after dragging the Qin army tired, they then took advantage of the familiar terrain to suddenly attack, killing Li and Meng in all directions, fleeing in all directions, and driving them out of the Chu Realm with a single blow.
Li and Meng Er sneaked back to Xianyang, and the King of Qin already knew that they had lost the battle, but did not blame them. The King of Qin asked Li Si for his opinion, and Li Si said, "If you want to lower Chu, it is none other than the veteran general Wang Qi. ”
The King of Qin hesitated for a moment and said, "Alas, last time Li Xin only needed 200,000 soldiers and horses, but he wanted 600,000 troops, and he was laughed at by the widows, and he did not want him to hand over his resignation, and told the old man to return to his hometown, and the widow also approved him." Now I'm going to ask him again, only to be afraid of people..."
Li Si advised, "This is nothing, didn't King Wen of Zhou also take care of Panxi three times before he asked Jiang Ziya to come out of the mountain?" ”
The King of Qin listened, and only then did he dispel his worries and immediately rushed to Wang Qi's hometown of Pinyang day and night. When he saw Wang Qi, he was dancing his sword in the courtyard.
After the kings and courtiers met, after some cold noise, the King of Qin went straight to the subject: "General Wang, today the widow is here to invite you out of the mountain." ”
"Didn't the great king have young generals?" The old minister has achieved fame and does not want to take risks anymore, so let them have more opportunities for meritorious achievements. ”
The King of Qin said, "When the widow saw you dancing with your sword just now, he knew that your strength was undiminished and that your sword was still bright." The widows have made mistakes in blaming you, and they also hope that the old generals will not bother with the juniors. ”
"The great king has tormented the old minister, and since the great king still looks up to the old minister, the old minister is willing to serve the great king again, and this time he will destroy the chu country before he comes back to see you." However, the great king, the old minister has one condition. ”
"Old general, please speak."
"The old minister wants to command 600,000 troops, and if there is less, he will not dare to guarantee it, because the Chu kingdom is vast and powerful, and it is difficult to take it without pouring all its strength, and I hope that the king will think twice."
The King of Qin pondered for a moment and said, "Well, the widow promised to give you 600,000 troops, but this is a national army, in case there is a mistake, the Qin state will not recover in those years." ”
Wang Qi had a serious face and showed understanding. In fact, he understood better that the King of Qin was also worried that the whole country's military strength was in hand, and if he plotted rebellion, it would be enough to destroy the Qin state. Therefore, in order to reassure the King of Qin, he thought of a way.
After Wang Qi sent troops, every few hours, he sent a man back to Xianyang to ask the King of Qin for a reward, "If you win the battle, please ask the king to be sure to reward the fertile land." ”
The King of Qin felt very funny, and after receiving the reward one after another, he understood: General Wang was afraid that I would not trust him, so he deliberately confessed to me that he did not value power but only family wealth.
Thinking of this, the King of Qin married his 15-year-old daughter Princess Huayang to Wang Qi, and directly held the wedding on the battlefield. Regardless of whether Wang Qi was embarrassed or not, he could only accept it, and could only say that the King of Qin was too capable of enveloping people's hearts.
At this time in the State of Chu, Chun Shenjun had been killed by the conspirator Li Yuan, and the evil qi of the State of Chu prevailed. Now there is civil strife again, usurpation of the throne, and the political situation is in a period of turmoil. Therefore, it is a good time to attack Chu.
The King of Chu exhausted all his national forces to hand over to the great general Xiang Yan to defend qin troops. Xiang Yan led his soldiers and horses to the border and challenged the Qin army every day. Wang Qi learned the lesson of Li Xin, never deceived, just stuck to the wall every day, and raised soldiers well.
Xiang Yan and the Qin army held out for many days, worried that it was a plan, so they dispatched their troops to the east and prepared to leave. Who knew that at this time, Wang Qi attacked in all directions, and the Qin army, which had enough strength, defeated the Chu army, the Chu army fled, Wang Qi took advantage of the victory to pursue, and after Xiang Yan's death, the Qin army directly approached the capital of the Chu state, Shouchun.
The king of Chu did not defend the capital, the city was destroyed, and the negative blade was captured alive.
When the King of Qin received the good news, he was overjoyed and personally inspected the capital of Chu. After the King of Chu was escorted, the King of Qin threw a short sword at him and said to him, "You little man who kills the king, you also deserve to be called a king?" Cut yourself! Kill you stained my knife. ”
Negative Jiao sneered, "Didn't you also kill Cheng Yu and his two younger brothers?" What king are you worthy of? ”
The King of Qin was furious and drank. So several samurai rushed up and cut the Chu king to the ground.
After the fall of the Chu state, another general in the Chu army, Xiang Yan, who had the same name as Xiang Yan, crossed the Yangtze River and came to Lanling, where he supported ChangpingJun as the new King of Chu.
In 223 BC, Wang Qi led an army of 100,000 men to cross the Yangtze River in 100 warships and surrounded Lanling. Xiang Yan and Changping Jun closed the city and held on, Wang Qi built a fortress and was level with Chenggao, the city was finally breached, Xiang Yan was killed, and Changping Jun was captured alive. Wang Qi's army triumphantly returned to Xianyang.
When the King of Qin saw Changping Jun, he sneered and said, "Long gone, Changping Jun." I think that in those years, you were also for Qin Xiang, but you did not think that you fled to the Chu Kingdom and made enemies of me, do you know the fate of betraying the widow? ”
Chang Pingjun slowly said, "Tyrant, I was once Qin Xiang and loyal to Qin, but I am a Chu national, and I don't want my homeland to suffer the disaster of innocence, I don't want to see the tragedy of the fall of the country, and I don't want to see my countrymen killed by you like the Zhao people." ”
King Qin said coldly, "Well, if you don't want to see it, I won't let you see it, now the widow only pits and kills you, not a tyrant." ”
Before his execution, Chang Pingjun swore to heaven: "The Chu kingdom has been destroyed for no reason, even if there are only three people left, we must take revenge!" ”
Sure enough, it was the Chu people who first rebelled and overthrew the Qin state.
The trajectory of history is sometimes Xuanzhi and Xuan, and in the end there were three people who died in Qin, namely Chen Sheng, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang.
Chen Sheng was a native of the State of Chu and established a regime called Zhang Chu; Xiang Yu was a general of Chu, who established a regime called Western Chu and defeated the main force of the Qin army; Liu Bang was also a Native of the State of Chu, and he finally put an end to the Qin regime.