The State of Zhao (403 BC – 222 BC), a princely state during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, was one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. The monarch of the State of Zhao is surnamed Zhao. After Ji Sheng, the second son of the famous Shang Dynasty minister Fei Lian (蜚廉), was the first father of the State of Zhao, he was enfeoffed with Zhao Cheng for his meritorious conquest of the State of Xu, and thus became the Zhao clan. The Zhao clan has lasted for more than 20 generations, passed down to Zhao Jianzi Zhao Martingale, Zhao Xiangzi Zhao Wuzi. Zhao Martin broke the pattern of the Six Qings of the Jin Dynasty, Zhao Wu fought the sieges of Zhi, Han, and Wei, and Jian Xiangzhi established the territory of the Zhao State. In 403 BC, the three families of Han, Zhao, and Wei were officially divided into Jin, and King Weilie of Zhou ordered Zhao Liehou Zhao to be the Marquis. By the time of King Wuling of Zhao, the State of Zhao claimed the title of king, performed Hufu riding and shooting, built the Great Wall of Zhao along the Yin Mountains, and destroyed the Zhongshan State in 296 BC. The territory of the State of Zhao included most of Hebei Province, most of Shanxi Province, and the part south of the Yin Mountains in Inner Mongolia.
Therefore, after Hu Fu rode and shot, the State of Zhao became the most powerful state in the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, and waged a decades-long war for hegemony with the State of Qin. Among them, as far as the monarch of Zhao Xiaocheng is concerned, during his reign, it was the most fierce stage of the competition between the Qin state and the Zhao state. For example, the Battle of Changping in 260 BC was not only a military encounter between Bai Qi and Zhao Kuo, but also a cross-cutting relationship between King Zhaoxiang of Qin and King Xiaocheng of Zhao. Of course, the final result was that Zhao Guoyuan was seriously injured and went downhill since the Battle of Changping. However, for King Xiaocheng of Zhao, he also completed the transformation from fainting to misleading the country to saving the society, thus continuing the life of the Zhao state for more than 30 years.
One
First of all, King Xiaocheng of Zhao (?) –245 BC), courtesy name Zhao (赵氏), courtesy name Dan. Son of King Huiwen of Zhao, eighth monarch of the State of Zhao during the Warring States period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He reigned in 266 BC and reigned for 21 years. For King Xiaocheng of Zhao, at the beginning of his reign, he faced the constant pressure of the Qin state. At that time, among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, the State of Qi had already declined due to the Five Kingdoms, and as for the State of Chu, it was also severely damaged by the State of Qin in battles such as the Battle of Yanying. As far as Korea and the State of Wei were concerned, naturally they could not pose a threat to the State of Qin. Therefore, for the Zhao state at that time, it became a key target for King Zhaoxiang of Qin.
In the forty-second year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (265 BC), the State of Qin attacked the State of Zhao and captured three cities, and the Left Division of the State of Zhao, Touch Dragon, persuaded the Empress Dowager to send her younger son Chang'an Jun to the State of Qi as a hostage. The State of Qi then sent troops to rescue the State of Zhao, and the Qin army began to retreat. Of course, this attack was only the king of Qin Zhaoxiang testing the strength of the Zhao state, that is, the real decisive battle, which had not yet arrived. In the forty-fourth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (263 BC), Wu'an Junbai of the Qin state attacked Korea, captured Nanyang (west of Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo, Henan), and occupied and cut off the Taihang Mountain Road. In the 53rd year of the Reign of Zhou (262 BC), the State of Qin attacked and occupied Yewang of Korea (present-day Qinyang, Henan), completely cutting off the connection between Shangdang County and the mainland.
Two
Shangdang County Shou Feng Ting was reluctant to surrender to Qin, and the people of Shangdang County plotted to use the power of the Zhao State to resist qin, and dedicated the seventeen cities of Shangdang County to the Zhao State. Zhao Xiaocheng, the ruler of the State of Zhao, and Zhao Bao, the prince of Pingyang, discussed the matter, and the monarch of Pingyang, Zhang, did not accept Shangdang County, believing that Feng Ting did not hand over Shangdang County to the State of Qin because he wanted to marry the State of Zhao, and accepting the disaster it brought was much greater than the benefits received. In this regard, judging from the final result, there will be no pie in the sky, and if there is, it must be a trap. As far as King Zhao Xiaocheng was concerned, because he coveted the city of Shangdang County, he ignored the advice of Pingyang Jun and others and insisted on accepting the Shangdang County of Korea.
And this not only gave King Zhaoxiang of Qin an excuse to attack the State of Zhao, but also prompted the generals of the Qin Army to be more indignant, thus strengthening their confidence in fighting a decisive battle with the State of Zhao. Of course, in the Battle of Changping, Zhao Xiaocheng's mistake was obviously not only to accept the Shangdang County. In the early days of the Battle of Changping, Lianpo's stubbornness, although it did not achieve much, did not cause major losses. In this context, in order to expand the results of the battle, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent people to use thousands of gold to carry out counter-plots, and trumpeted in the State of Zhao: "The most nerve-wracking thing in the State of Qin is that he is only afraid that Ma Fujun's son Zhao Kuo will serve as a general, and it will be easy to deal with, and he will surrender." In this regard, King Xiaocheng of Zhao believed that this was true, so he planned to send Zhao Kuo to Changping, thus replacing Lian Po, one of the four famous generals of the Warring States.
Three
Lin Xiang heard the news and said to King Xiaocheng of Zhao: "Zhao Kuo can only read the military books left by his father, and does not know how to be flexible. King Xiaocheng of Zhao did not listen, but still ordered Zhao Kuo to be a general. As a result, in the Battle of Changping, Zhao Kuo was defeated by Bai Qi, and the State of Zhao lost more than 400,000 elite soldiers and soldiers, and since then lost the qualification to compete with the State of Qin for the world. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the defeat in the Battle of Changping is undoubtedly the best embodiment of Zhao Xiaocheng's dimwitted and misguided country. In the Battle of Changping, King Xiaocheng of Zhao could have avoided such a heavy loss, but because of his stubbornness and other reasons, it brought irreparable consequences to the Zhao state.
After the Battle of Changping, King Zhaoxiang of Qin saw that Zhao had defaulted on not cutting off the six cities, but instead joined forces with the princely states of Shandong to deal with the State of Qin, so in October 259 BC he ordered the Fifth Master Wang Ling to lead an army to directly attack the Zhao capital Handan. In this regard, in the author's opinion, although he lost the Battle of Changping, Zhao Xiaocheng, who had suddenly awakened, finally found the right way to deal with the Qin state in the Battle of Handan, that is, to unite with other princely states instead of fighting against the Qin state alone. In the Battle of Handan, King Xiaocheng of Zhao sent people to contact the great powers of Wei and Chu, thus obtaining the support of these two great powers. In the ninth year of King Xiaocheng of Zhao (257 BC), the armies of Wei and Chu successively entered the outskirts of Handan and attacked the Qin army. The Defenders of the State of Zhao cooperated with the Wei and Chu armies outside the city to go out of the city to counterattack.
Four
In the end, under the internal and external attacks of the Three Kingdoms army, the Qin army was defeated and suffered heavy losses. Wang Gong fled back to Fencheng with the remnants, and the Qin general Zheng Anping's army of more than 20,000 people was surrounded by a coalition regiment, so they had to surrender to Zhao, and the siege of Handan was lifted. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the victory in the Battle of Handan not only delayed the process of Qin's annihilation of the Six Kingdoms, but also continued the life of the Zhao State for more than 30 years. If in 257 BC, the Zhao state did not achieve victory, then the Zhao state would probably be immediately destroyed by the Qin state, and once the Zhao state was destroyed, the other five kingdoms would be significantly earlier. At the same time, in the Battle of Changping, King Xiaocheng of Zhao replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo, but in the subsequent battles, King Xiaocheng of Zhao finally realized the value of Lian Po as a veteran general and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility.
In the sixteenth year of King Xiaocheng of Zhao (250 BC), the State of Yan sent troops to attack the State of Zhao, and King Xiaocheng of Zhao sent Lianpo to fight back, and as a result, Lianpo instead besieged the capital of the State of Yan, and the State of Yan used generous gifts to ask the State of Zhao for peace, and the State of Zhao withdrew to break the siege. As a result, Zhao Xiaocheng became the king of Fengle as Wu Xiangjun. After this, the Yan Kingdom basically stopped behind Zhao Guo. In this regard, in the author's opinion, King Xiaocheng of Zhao severely damaged the State of Yan, undoubtedly solving the worries of the State of Zhao, which helped the State of Zhao to concentrate on countering the State of Qin. In the twenty-first year of King Xiaocheng of Zhao (245 BC), King Xiaocheng of Zhao died, and the crown prince Zhao Yan took the throne as a tribute to King Xiang of Zhao. In general, for King Xiaocheng of Zhao, who reigned for 21 years, the early behavior can be described as a dimwitted mistake, but when the State of Zhao was in danger, King Zhao Xiaocheng chose the best and the best, and finally saved the society and helped the State of Zhao continue to live for more than 30 years. In other words, King Xiaocheng of Zhao naturally had both merit and deeds for the Zhao Kingdom, which needed to be viewed in two.