The Battle of Changping, as the largest war in the Warring States period on the mainland, involved more than one million people, and this war also let us know the grandeur of the power of the Qin State.
At the same time, this war can be called a very rare and terrible war in history, in this war, the famous general of the Qin state, Bai Qikeng, killed nearly 450,000 soldiers of the Zhao state.
Even in today's technologically advanced world, this war is very shocking, let alone distant antiquity?
Battle of Changping, defeat of the State of Zhao
Since King Huiwen of Qin, the State of Qin has vigorously trained soldiers, and if the prince is noble and has no military merit, then he will also be exiled. If ordinary people have excellent combat ability, even civilians can be allowed to be high-ranking officials.
In this way, under the efforts of successive Qin kings, the Qin state finally rose from a small country in the north to one of the seven heroes of the Warring States, and the ambition of the ruler of the Qin state was very huge, and he was not satisfied with his identity at this time, so he vigorously annexed other countries around him.
By the end of the Warring States period, only the State of Zhao could match the Qin army at this time.
In 270 BC, the State of Qin sent troops to fight against the State of Zhao, but failed. In the same year, a Wei man named Fan Yu came to join the Qin state. He advised the King of Qin to "make friends and attack from afar". After King Qin heard this, he felt that it was very reasonable. Therefore, the King of Qin chose to cross the state of Zhao and attack Korea and Wei. How can a small South Korea be an opponent of Qiang Qin?
Unsurprisingly, Korea was defeated in this war, and in order to pray for peace, Korea promised to dedicate Shangdang County to the Qin state. But the county guards of Shangdang County and the local people were not happy. They were originally Korean subjects, but they were to be sacrificed to the Qin state, just like dogs who lost their families, so they then prayed to the state of Zhao, hoping that the state of Zhao could send troops to help fight the state of Qin together.
King Cho was originally skeptical, thinking that this could be a Korean conspiracy? However, his ministers tried to persuade him, so he finally chose to accept the request of Shangdang County, which offered seventeen cities in exchange for military support from the State of Zhao. Subsequently, the State of Zhao divided these seventeen cities into Huayang County and included them in the territory of the State of Zhao.
But how could Zhao Guo not have imagined? This angered the Qin state, which in turn led the Qin state to the state of Zhao. In 216 BC, the largest war between Qin and Zhao broke out.
The State of Qin sent the general Wang Gong, while the State of Zhao sent the veteran general Lian Po to fight against the State of Qin. Lianpo built three fortifications in Changping to resist the Qin army, such as the Kongcangling Line, the Dan River Line, and the Baili Shi Great Wall behind.
In the first battle, the State of Qin killed the scouts and generals of the State of Zhao, and Lianpo was defeated. In the second battle, Wang Gong led the Qin army to prepare to march to the hinterland of the Zhao state, and the 300,000-strong Qin army attacked for two months, finally crossing the Empty Cangling Line. The state of Zhao lost four lieutenants, as well as two cities, which were originally important strongholds of the state of Zhao.
After losing two wars, the veteran Lian Po did not dare to fight again, but kept increasing the Gaodan River defense line. King Zhao was very dissatisfied when he heard this, feeling that Lian cherished his reputation, so he did not dare to fight. Qin Guo was also anxious to scratch his head, Qin Guo was afraid that Zhao Guo and others would come to foreign aid, then it would be unknown who this war would end up with.
At this time, the conspirator Fan Yu thought of a strategy, he took a carriage with ten thousand taels of gold to Zhao State to meet Lianpo, of course, he did not really go to see Lianpo, but just released smoke bombs to the people of Zhao State, so that everyone in the world thought that he had a close relationship with Lianpo, and thus thought that Lianpo would defect to the Qin State.
King Zhao was already very dissatisfied with Lianpo's avoidance, so he credulously believed Lianpo to cooperate with the enemy, which led to many defeats. In a fit of anger, King Zhao decided to temporarily replace Lianpo with Zhao Guo's general Zhao Kuo. Changing generals before the battle is the most taboo. But at this time, King Zhao was already carried away by anger.
Before setting out, King Zhao asked Zhao Kuo if he was sure of fighting against the Qin State this time, and Zhao Kuo replied confidently. "If it's Bai Qi who fights me, then I'll be very cautious. It was Wang Gong who fought against me this time, and Wang Gong could only fight against Lianpo, and it was not a problem for me to defeat Lianpo. After King Zhao heard this, it was like eating a scale, and he was very relieved.
As soon as Qin Guo heard that Zhao Guo had changed generals, out of caution, he secretly replaced Wang Gong with Bai Qi. Bai Qi was arriving with 300,000 Qin troops. Zhao Kuo formed a "pincer offensive" from the direction of Changping Pass to encircle the Qin army and cut off the communication around the Qin army.
In order to make Zhao Kuo feel fluttering, Qin Guo pretended to be invincible, retreated while fighting, and retreated to the vicinity of the first line of defense, Empty Cangling.
At this time, Zhao Kuo ordered his subordinate Zhao troops to take a "backward attack". The "upward attack" was already very physically demanding, and it was the height of summer, and the soldiers were too hot to wear more than a dozen pounds of armor. At this time, the fighter plane belonging to the Zhao State had passed, and Bai Qi had already reached the vicinity of the second line of defense.
Bai Qi sent 20,000 soldiers around Zhao Kuo's rear. In a surprise attack on Zhao Kuo, he led 5,000 elite soldiers to block and cut off Zhao Guo's camp and block Zhao Guo's grain and grass supply. When Zhao Kuo reacted, the Zhao army had no way to retreat, and Zhao Kuo was in a hurry and asked his soldiers to quickly build war fortifications to fight the Qin army.
Bai Qi asked his 600,000 Qin troops to divide the Zhao army into several sections, and at the same time sent troops to occupy Changping Pass and Guguan. Formed a siege of Zhao troops. The Qin army passed the news of Zhao Kuo's trap to the king of Qin, and the king of Qin ordered people to recruit troops near Changping, and even made many local residents officials, and these people were very happy, and even spontaneously went to intercept the food and grass of the Zhao army.
In this way, Zhao Kuo and his troops fell into a situation of isolation. When people were very hungry, they could do everything, and when they were besieged by the Qin army for a month, there were already riots within the Zhao army, and there were even signs of cannibalism.
Zhao Kuo thought that he could not be trapped here, so he led the remaining soldiers to break through the siege many times. But it is a pity that Zhao Kuo was finally killed by the random arrows of the Qin State.
After being besieged for forty-six days, the Zhao army lost its backbone and prepared to surrender to the Qin army. However, the general of the Qin state, Bai Qi, believed that Zhao Guoren had no faith in his words, and that he should kill all the Zhao army to ensure that there was no follow-up. Therefore, Bai Qi killed all the soldiers of the Zhao State, and none of these Zhao soldiers were spared.
After killing the soldiers of the State of Zhao in the pit, the families in Handan City wept bitterly, wearing linen and wearing filial piety, as the god of war famous for slaughter, Bai Qi knew very well that this was the best time to annihilate the State of Zhao. Bai Qi led his army into the territory of the State of Zhao and destroyed Shangdang County, and in this battle, Bai Qi killed a total of 450,000 people of the State of Zhao.
Under the long flat, blood flowed like rivers, boiling like thunder. Since then, Zhao's national strength has suffered heavy losses, and he can no longer stand among the seven heroes of the Warring States, and this war can be called the largest battle in the era of cold weapons.
Who is responsible for the fiasco
Some people believe that the main responsibility for the defeat of the Battle of Changping lies with the generals who commanded the battle, but is the grievance of these 450,000 people only the responsibility of Zhao Kuo alone? Non also.
The reasons for the defeat of the Battle of Changping can be mainly divided into strategic and tactical flaws. First of all, Zhao Guo adopted a back-up battle method on top of tactics, which put Zhao Jun at a disadvantage.
But Zhao Kuo himself, his approach was originally fruitless, he was not good at fighting unexpected battles, but good at fighting decent battles.
He adopted the method of back-up battle, which can only be said to not give full play to the advantages of the Zhao army, but did not drag the Zhao army to the bottom, and the main reason for the defeat in the Battle of Changping was the strategic level.
The first was the war between the State of Qin and Korea, which did not involve the State of Zhao, but in the process of Shangdang County asking the State of Zhao for help, King Zhao put a country at war for a small profit for a county. Moreover, Zhao Guo did not make any preparations for this war in advance.
The Qin army did not immediately attack the State of Zhao, but continued to attack Korea and hoarded a large number of soldiers around Korea to deter the State of Zhao, and during this time, the State of Zhao did not heed the advice of the State of Qin. Two years later, the State of Qin turned to attack the State of Zhao.
Secondly, in the second phase of the war, Lianpo and Wang Gong confronted each other, and Lianpo even erected high walls to protect the Qin army. Although it is common for two generals to face off in war. However, it cannot be ignored that the economic strength of the State of Zhao is not as good as that of the State of Qin, and Lian Po of the State of Zhao wants to exhaust the food and grass of the Qin army here, so that the Qin army fails.
However, the territory within the borders of the Zhao Kingdom is small, and there is no suitable place for growing grain and grass. On the other hand, the State of Qin, which sits on the Guanzhong Plain, the Chengdu Plain, and the land of Xirong. Even there are water conservancy projects such as Dujiangyan in the territory of the State of Qin, if there is really a long-term war of attrition, the State of Zhao may not be the opponent of the Qin army, and Lianpo may not be the opponent of Wang Gong.
King Zhao clearly knew that the Qin army would not give up and not break the oath of the Zhao state, so King Zhao came up with a faint trick in the aftermath, that is, to seek peace. At this time, the Wei State, Korea and the Chu State were all watching the situation of the Zhao State and the Qin State.
If the Zhao State fails, then these countries will definitely side with the Qin State, and the face that the Zhao State has accumulated over the years will disappear.
His ministers all advised King Zhao not to negotiate peace, but King Zhao was so disillusioned that he did not listen to the advice of his ministers and insisted on asking the King of Qin for peace, and the King of Qin made the news of his request for peace public. When the countries see Zhao Guo showing weakness, they will not hold a helping hand. In this way, the kingdom of Zhao was isolated among the nations.
In desperation, King Zhao found that there was no panacea to save Zhao Guo at this time, so he temporarily replaced the general, but he didn't know that he had fallen into the treachery of the Qin State, and the State of Qin had already released the wind, and the only one who could fight against Wang Gong was Zhao Kuo of the State of Zhao, and when the State of Zhao listened to the rumors and replaced the main general with Zhao Kuo, the State of Qin replaced his main general with Bai Qi, who was good at fighting tough battles.
In general, the defeat of the Battle of Changping of the State of Zhao could not attribute most of the responsibility to Zhao Kuo, who was purely behind the black pot for King Zhao, and due to the huge loopholes in the strategy formulated by King Zhao, the enemy army penetrated deep into the hinterland and suffered a crushing defeat.
Therefore, the war crime of Changping is not in Zhao Kuo.