In 262 BC, the Battle of Changping broke out, and Qin and Zhao sent a total of 850,000 troops to launch an unprecedented decisive battle in Changping. The war lasted more than two years. King Zhao replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, leading to the defeat of the war. In the end, Zhao Guo was defeated, and 450,000 soldiers were killed. Since then, the Six Kingdoms have been unable to compete with the Qin State, laying the foundation for the Qin State to sweep away the Liuhe.
The Battle of Changping, bloody and drifting, was so tragic. As the military commander of the Zhao State, Zhao Kuo thought that "the world can not be done", but the result became "paper talk". The Southern Song Dynasty literary scholar Xu Jun once had a poem:
The young Rui liked to talk about soldiers, and although his father had not yet mastered the art of transmission. Whoever can escape the mother material in a defeat, poor four hundred thousand cangsheng.
This poem satirizes Zhao Kuo's talk on paper, which eventually killed more than 400,000 people, and also mentioned one thing, that is, "who can escape the mother material once defeated", Zhao Kuo's mother had long anticipated the outcome of the war, but unfortunately, the King of Zhao at that time did not listen.
When it comes to Zhao Kuo, we must start with his father Zhao Hao, who is one of the "Eight Generals of the Six Kingdoms of the East" in the Warring States. During the reign of King Wuling of Zhao and King Huiwen of Zhao, Zhao Hao and Lian Po were the two most famous generals of the State of Zhao, and Zhao Hao was even more courageous than Lian Po. During the reign of King Huiwen of Zhao, the State of Qin attacked Korea, and Zhao Huiwen sent Lian Po to rescue Korea, but Lian Po refused: "The road is far and narrow, and it is difficult to save." King Zhao Huiwen was helpless and could only look for Zhao Hao, but Zhao Hao said: "The road is narrow, like two rats fighting in a hole, which is brave and which can win." Therefore, King Huiwen of Zhao sent Zhao Hao to send troops, and finally defeated the Qin army at Fuhe, making Lian Po willing to bow to the wind.
Zhao Hao was scheming, good at formulating strategies in light of the actual situation, and treated soldiers very leniently, and the soldiers were willing to fight for Zhao Hao's lives. However, Zhao Kuo's son Zhao Kuo was completely different.
Zhao Kuo, surnamed Zhao, Zhao. As the son of Zhao Hao, he was familiar with the art of war from an early age, and even in the face of his father, he had no fear. Once, Zhao Hao and Zhao Kuo talked about the art of battlefield deployment, and Zhao Kuo talked in an orderly manner. Unexpectedly, Zhao Hao said: "War is a major matter of life and death, but Zhao Kuo said these things too easily, which is not a good sign." This sentence was remembered by Zhao Kuo's mother.
In 260 BC, the Battle of Changping was still in the stage of stalemate, the famous general Lian Po of the Zhao State against the famous general Bai Qi of the Qin State, both sides were battle-hardened people, although Bai Qi was brave, but Lian Po was firmly rooted in the fence, and the defense was not leaky. However, King Xiaocheng of Zhao was anxious to win, and repeatedly sent people to urge Lianpo to attack, and even had the intention of replacing Lianpo.
The State of Qin also knew that Lian po was not easy to deal with, and in order to prompt King Xiaocheng of Zhao to replace Lian Po, Fan Sui, the chancellor of the State of Qin, used a counter-plot to spread rumors to the outside world: "Lian Po is easy to deal with, and the most feared person in the State of Qin is Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao Hao." ”
King Xiaocheng of Zhao believed it to be true and summoned Zhao Kuo into the palace, Zhao Kuo was excited, and in the face of King Zhao Xiaocheng's inquiry, Zhao Kuo gushed out his views and threatened: "If you replace Lian Po with me, it is not a problem to defeat the Qin state." King Xiaocheng of Zhao was overjoyed and sighed: It seems that Zhao Kuo's ability is indeed above lianpo, so he rewarded Zhao Kuo and decided to send Zhao Kuo as a general in order to quickly defeat the Qin state.
Hearing that Zhao Kuo wanted to replace Lian Po, the old generals under Zhao Hao came to congratulate Zhao Kuo one after another, and some sent heavy gifts, and Zhao Kuo was also very proud, all the gifts were accepted as ordered, and they did not have much respect for these subordinates. Zhao Kuo's mother (referred to as Zhao Mother) looked at it and was very worried. Before the army set out, Mother Zhao made a decision to enter the palace to meet King Xiaocheng of Zhao, hoping to stop her son from becoming a general.
Mother Zhao entered the palace and wrote to King Zhao, saying, "My son Zhao Kuo must not be a general, and ask the king to take back his life." ”
King Xiaocheng of Zhao was very puzzled and wanted to hear more about it, and Mother Zhao explained:
"When Zhao Kuo's father, Zhao Hao, was alive, he gave all the things that the monarch rewarded him to the soldiers, and whenever the leaders were outside, they never asked about the affairs of the family. Therefore, the officers and men of the three armies all respected Zhao Hao very much and obeyed Zhao Hao's words. Now that Zhao Kuo had become a general, he had collected all the gifts given by the monarch at home, and when the generals came to visit him, he did not look at him squarely, the expedition was imminent, and he was still thinking about buying a farmhouse. It can be seen that Zhao Kuo and his father Zhao Hao's mentality are different, his father has repeatedly won battles in those years, if zhao Kuo is sent as a general, I am afraid that Zhao Guo will be defeated. ”
The Chronicle of History records:
"Now that he is a general, and is facing eastward, and the military officials do not dare to look up to him, the gold veil given by the king will be hidden in his home, and the nichishi convenient farmhouse can be bought by those who can buy it." Father and son have different aspirations, may the king not send them. ”
King Xiaocheng of Zhao listened with some impatience and said to Mother Zhao, "I have already made up my mind, you don't need to say more." ”
Mother Zhao saw that King Zhao did not listen, and finally said:
"When the king finally sends it, that is, if there is no title, the concubine will not sit."
This means: If the king has to send him as a general, if he is defeated, you cannot implicate me.
In 260 BC, Zhao Kuo ordered the main force of the Zhao army to attack the Qin army, and the plan was white, the Zhao army's grain road was cut off, the grain was cut off for 46 days, and countless soldiers starved to death. The Zhao army was leaderless and surrendered to the Qin army. In the end, almost all of the Zhao army was killed by Bai Qi, and only 240 younger soldiers were released back to the Zhao state.
Changping was defeated, and Zhao Guo was shocked, and from then on, Zhao Guoyuan was seriously injured. It was only a matter of time before the Qin army stood tall and unified the six kingdoms.
The author's point of view: Recently, many people have overturned the case for Zhao Kuo, believing that Zhao Kuo also has wrongs. In fact, combined with the historical data, Zhao Kuo did have the characteristics of greed and arrogance, and these characteristics happened to be incorruptible. Coupled with the fact that King Xiaocheng of Zhao was anxious to win and Qin was cunning, the defeat of Changping was contributed to by many reasons.
It is undeniable that the biggest turning point in the Battle of Changping was that King Zhao Xiaocheng replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, and in the final analysis, it was Zhao Xiaocheng King's mistake in employing people. Zhizi Moruomu, the mother of Zhao Kuo, had personally entered the palace to prevent her son from becoming a general, but the King of Zhao did not listen. As a result, the outcome of the war was just as predicted by Mother Zhao, which was the saddest part of Zhao Guo.