The history of the mainland for more than 5,000 years is a history of wars, and the wars of all dynasties have continued, including some classic battles in which less wins more, and this article will take a look at 10 classic battles in history that won more with less.
1. The Battle of Baiju
30,000 Wu VS 200,000 Chu, commanders: Sun Wu, Wu Zixu, Shen Yinxu
In 507 BC, Cai Zhaohou, the monarch of Cai, and Tang Chenggong, the monarch of Tang, betrayed Chu in order to repay the extortion of Yin Zichang (Nangwa) and the revenge of being detained for three years, and formed an alliance with Jin and Wu, so that the northern side of Chu lost its barrier. In the following year, at the invitation of Cai Guo, 18 vassal states met in Zhaoling to conspire against Chu. In the same year, the Jin State instructed the Cai State to send troops to destroy the Chu vassal Shen State. In the autumn of the same year, the state of Chu sent troops to besiege the state of Cai, and the monarchs and ministers of the state of Wu thought that the time had come to attack the state of Chu with all their might, and decided to attack Chu in the name of saving Cai.
Battle of Baiju
In this attack on Chu, Wu Wang Lu personally took command, with Sun Wu and Wu Zixu as generals, and his brother-in-law as the vanguard, leading 30,000 land and water divisions to attack Chu. In the war, the Wu army was flexible and mobile, because of the enemy's use of troops, with the tactics of roundabout attack, retreating and exhausting the enemy, seeking opportunities for decisive battles, and far-reaching pursuits, and finally attacked Yingdu, and King Zhao of Chu went into exile in Suiguo.
2. The Battle of the Giant Deer
Xiang Yu 20,000 VS Qin army 400,000, commanders: Xiang Yu, Zhang Han, Wang Li
After the chaos in the world at the end of Qin, Xiang Yu and his uncle Xiang Liang also pulled up a team to join the war against the tyrannical Qin. In October 208 BC, Xiang Yu led the Chu army to the Yellow River in the south of Julu County, and immediately sent Yingbu and Pu generals to lead 20,000 righteous troops to cross the river to rescue Julu, Xiang Yu ordered the whole army to break the cauldron and sink the boat, burn the houses and tents, and only bring three days of rations, in order to show the determination to die if not victorious, and went straight to Julu with lightning speed, defeated the Qin army of Zhang Han to protect Yongdao, cut off the grain route of Wang Li's department, and surrounded Wang Li's army.
Battle of the Great Deer
Xiang Yu besieged Wang Li's forces and forced another 200,000 Zhang Qin troops to surrender eight months later. Xiang Yu defeated 400,000 Qin troops with 20,000 people, which is a very rare record in history.
3. The Battle of Pengcheng
Xiang Yu 30,000 VS Liu Bang 560,000, Conductor: Xiang Yu;
In 206 BC, after Xiang Yu divided the princes of the Eighteen Roads, he returned to Pengcheng to become his overlord of Western Chu, but Xiang Yu's distribution was uneven, and many people had different ambitions and planned to rebel. A month later, Tian Rong, the former prime minister of Qi, and Liu Bang, the king of Han, rose up at the same time in the east and west, opening the prelude to the Chu-Han War.
Battle of Pengcheng
In 205 BC, taking advantage of Xiang Yu's pacification and the emptiness of Pengcheng, Liu Bang led the army of the five princes to march to Pengcheng with a total of about 560,000 people, Xiang Yu led the elite to Qidi, Pengcheng only had thousands of old and weak to defend the city, and when they heard the arrival of Liu Bang's army, they fled one after another. After Xiang Yu learned that Liu Bang had attacked Pengcheng, he led 30,000 elites to defeat the 560,000 Han army in half a day, annihilating Liu Bang's main force, and plunging Liu Bang into a crisis situation of "the old and weak in the pass", creating a model of a quick decisive battle in ancient wars.
4. The Battle of Jingcheng
30,000 Han troops VS 200,000 Zhao troops, commanders: Han Xin;
In 205 BC, Han Xin first pacified the Wei land, and in order to further open up the northern battlefield, Han Xin proposed to Liu Bang the battle plan of eliminating Dai, Zhao, and Yan one by one, attacking Tianqi in the east, cutting off the grain route of the Chu army in the south, implementing a flank detour to the Chu army, and finally joining Liu Bang in Xingyang.
Battle of Jingcheng
In October 205 BC, Han Xintong led the Han army, crossed the Taihang Mountain, advanced to the east, and launched an attack on the Zhao State. In this battle, Han Xinqi was using both, backing up the formation, changing banners, using troops flexibly, winning by surprise, and winning quickly, and finally winning more with less, defeating 200,000 Zhao troops with 30,000 and capturing Zhao Wang Xie.
5. The Battle of Kunyang
The Han army was less than 20,000 VS 420,000 Xinmang, commanders: Liu Xiu, Wang Xun, Wang Yi
After Wang Mang seized the world of the Western Han Dynasty, he began to implement his new policy in a big way, but unexpectedly the world was in chaos, and various places rose up, and Liu Xiu and his brother Liu Xiu also pulled up a team to join the war. In 23 AD, in order to completely eliminate the Lulin Han army, Wang Mang gathered an army of 420,000, known as one million, and marched towards Kunyang. However, there were less than 20,000 Han troops guarding Kunyang.
Battle of Kunyang
The new army relied on the large number of people, the Kunyang city inside and outside the periphery of 10 floors, the Han army in the city with the city wall stubbornly resisted, under the command of Liu Xiu, the Han army killed Wang Xun, the new Mang army quickly collapsed. The Xinmang army was originally a poor people forcibly recruited, and they had long hated Wang Mang's regime to the extreme, and naturally abandoned the battle and fled after being attacked by the rebel army inside and outside. The reckless soldiers who fled pushed each other, "those who walked walked on each other, and ambushed the corpses for more than 100 miles". It happened that there was a strong wind and a heavy thunderstorm, the roof tiles were blown away by the strong wind, the heavy rain poured down and the water swelled, the tigers and leopards accompanying Wang Yi's army were trembling with fear, the new sergeants fell into the water and drowned more than 10,000 people, and the river was blocked by corpses and almost cut off. Wang Yi, Yan You, Chen Mao and others only took a few Chang'an elite horsemen and crossed the river with dead corpses to escape.
6. The Battle of Guandu
Cao Jun 20,000 VS Yuan Jun more than 10 thousand, Commander: Cao Cao;
In June of the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Yuan Shao selected 100,000 elite soldiers and 10,000 war horses to attack Xudu in an attempt to attack Xudu, and the Battle of Guandu kicked off. When the news of Yuan Shao's army moving south reached Xudu, Cao Cao gathered 20,000 troops to meet Yuan Shao.
Battle of Guandu
In the fifth year of Jian'an (200 years), Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's two armies held each other in Guandu, where a strategic decisive battle was launched, Cao Cao attacked the granary of the Yuan army in Wuchao, and then defeated the main force of the Yuan army, annihilating more than 70,000 Yuan troops. Yuan Shao's defeat in this battle laid the foundation for Cao Cao's unification of northern China.
7. The Battle of Red Cliffs
Sun and Liu combined army 50,000 VS Cao army more than 20 thousand, commander: Zhou Yu;
In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao led an army of 200,000 people down the river. Sun Quan ordered Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to be the left and right governors, and Lu Su to be the captain of the Zanjun Academy. Zhou Yu led 30,000 elite troops along the river to Xiakou, and united Liu Beijun stationed in Fankou to trace the Yangtze River westward, and the Cao army met in Chibi, the two sides confronted each other across the river, Zhou Yu took advantage of Cao Cao's pride to underestimate the enemy, and the Nabu general Huang Gai's proposal was attacked by fire, Cao's army was defeated, the boats were burned, and the Cao camp on the shore suffered heavy casualties, Cao Cao ordered the remaining Cao army boats and ships to be burned, and then retreated, and most of the people died because of the starvation of the soldiers. This battle laid the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms.
The Battle of Red Cliffs
8. The Battle of Huangshui
80,000 in the Eastern Jin Dynasty VS 1.12 million in the former Qin, commander: Xie Xuan;
In August 383, Fu Rong led a vanguard army of 250,000. Fu Jian led 600,000 infantry and 270,000 cavalry, a total of 1.12 million troops (in fact, only 300,000 arrived on the battlefield). The Eastern Jin Dynasty, with Xie An's nephew Xie Xuan as the vanguard, led 80,000 "Beifu soldiers" with strong combat effectiveness after 7 years of training to the west of the Huai River to meet the main force of the Qin army, and the two sides confronted each other at Huishui.
The Battle of the Rivers
The result of this battle was that Xie Xuan's 80,000 Beifu army defeated the Former Qin army with absolute strength, and more than 700,000 former Qin troops were annihilated and scattered. Only the 30,000 horses of the Xianbei Murong Vertical Department were still intact. Not only was Fu Jian's hopes of unifying the north and south completely shattered, but the temporary unification of the north also disintegrated, once again splitting into more local ethnic regimes, and other nobles such as Murong Chui of the Xianbei and Yao Chang of the Qiang re-emerged and established new states, and Fu Jian himself was captured and killed by Yao Chang two years later.
9. Battle of Suiyang
The Tang army is about 7,000 people VS the Anshi rebel army is about 130,000, commanded by: Zhang Xun;
In the fourteenth year of Xuanzong Tianbao of the Tang Dynasty (755), An Lushan and Shi Siming launched a rebellion, and the rebels went all the way south, and soon captured Luoyang and Chang'an, and Xuanzong fled to Shu. In the first month of the second year of Tang Suzong's reign (757), the rebels sent the general Yin Ziqi to lead 130,000 troops to capture Suiyang in order to open up Suiyang and go south to Jianghuai. Suiyang Taishou Xu Yuan turned to Yongqiu (now Qixian County, Henan) for defense Shi Zhang Xun. Zhang Xun led 3,000 troops from Ningling into Suiyang, with a total of 6,800 troops, and with the support of the people of Suiyang, began the arduous Battle of Suiyang. Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan held on to Suiyang, which lasted 10 months, hundreds of battles before and after, and a total of 120,000 enemies were annihilated, so that the rebels could not go south to Jianghuai, preserved Jianghuai, and made great contributions to quelling the "Anshi Rebellion".
10. The Battle of Poyang Lake
Zhu Yuanzhang 200,000 VS Chen Youliang 600,000, Commander: Zhu Yuanzhang;
After the chaos in the world at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the rebels rose up in all places, Zhu Yuanzhang, Chen Youliang, and Zhang Shicheng all became relatively powerful rebels. In 1360, Chen Youliang led a powerful naval army to attack Yingtianfu from quarrying along the east of the river, intent on annexing the territory occupied by Zhu Yuanzhang, and the two sides launched a battle at Poyang Lake.
Water battle at Poyang Lake
The battle lasted 37 days, and the length of time, the scale of the battle, the number of troops and ships invested, and the intensity of the battle were unprecedented in the history of ancient Chinese water warfare. In this battle, Chen Youliang's troops were completely lost, and he himself was killed by random arrows.