The Battle of Jingxing, the detailed history of the Battle of The Backwater

Han Xin and Zhang Er led tens of thousands of horses and horses to break through the Jingxing Pass and attack the Zhao State. King Zhao and Chen Yu of Cheng'an heard that the Han army was coming to attack the State of Zhao, and gathered troops at Jingxingkou, claiming to be 200,000 troops. Guangwu Jun Li Zuoche presented a plan to Cheng Anjun and said: "I heard that the Han general Han Xin crossed the West River and captured Wei Bao, and Sheng Xia said that he had recently washed his blood and was now assisted by Zhang Er, and was planning to capture the State of Zhao. This is an expedition to leave the country with the vigor of victory, and its sharp edge is unstoppable. However, I have heard that when grain is transported thousands of miles, soldiers will be hungry, temporarily cutting wood, cutting grass, burning fires to cook, and the army will not be able to eat enough often. At present, on the road of Jingxing, two chariots cannot be parallel, the cavalry cannot line up, the marching army is hundreds of miles away, and the procession transporting grain and grass is bound to fall far behind, I hope that you will temporarily allocate thirty thousand odd soldiers to intercept their grain and grass from the hidden path, and you will dig deep trenches and build high fortifications, so that the camp will become strong and will not engage in battle. They could not fight forward, could not retreat backwards, and I had the surprise of my men cutting off their back roads, so that they could not plunder anything in the wilderness, and in less than ten days, the heads of the two generals could be sent to the general's tent. I hope you will consider my strategy carefully. Otherwise, he will definitely be captured by the two of them. Cheng Anjun, a stereotypical scholar who believed in Confucian doctrine, often declared that the righteous army should not deceive and trickery, saying: "I heard in the book of soldiers that ten times the strength of the enemy can be encircled, and more than twice the enemy can be engaged." Now Han Xin's army claims to be tens of thousands, but in fact it is only a few thousand. It was extremely exhausting to travel thousands of miles to attack us. Now that such a dodge does not attack, how to deal with the arrival of powerful follow-up troops? The princes will think I am timid and will easily attack us. "Do not adopt Guangwu Jun's plan."

Han Xin sent someone to secretly inquire, learned that Guangwu Jun's plan had not been adopted, and returned to report that Han Xin was overjoyed before he dared to lead his troops into the Jingxing Narrow Road. Thirty miles away from the mouth of the well, stop and camp. In the middle of the night, two thousand light cavalry were selected, each holding a red flag, and going up the mountain from the hidden path, hiding on the mountain to observe the Army of the Zhao State. Han Xin admonished: "When the Zhao army sees that our army is defeated and fled, it will definitely rush out to chase after our army, and you will rush into the camp of the Zhao army, pull off the flag of the Zhao army, and erect the red flag of the Han army." Then he asked the deputy general to convey the order to open the meal. He said: "Today I crushed the official dinner of the Zhao Army." The generals did not believe it, and replied falsely, "Good." Han Xin said to his officers: "The Zhao army has already occupied the favorable terrain and built a camp, and they can't see our general's flag and honor guard, so they refuse to attack the vanguard of our army, for fear that we will retreat to a dangerous place." Han Xin sent ten thousand people as the vanguard of the troops, out of the well mouth, with his back to the river to swing the battle queue. Zhao Jun looked at it from a distance and laughed incessantly. As soon as the sky was bright, Han Xin set up the banner and honor guard of the general and opened the well with great fanfare. The Zhao army opened the camp to attack the Han army and fought fiercely for a long time. At this time, Han Xin pretended to abandon the flag and fled back to his position by the river. The troops in the riverside position opened the camp door and let them in. Then he fought fiercely with Zhao Jun. The Zhao army really rushed out to compete for the banner of the Han army, chasing Han Xin and Zhang Er. Han Xin and Er Xin had already entered the riverside position. The whole army fought to the death, and the Zhao army could not defeat them. The two thousand light cavalry sent out by Han Xin in advance, when the Zhao army rushed out to chase the booty, rushed into the empty camp of the Zhao army, pulled out all the flags of the Zhao army, and erected the two thousand red flags of the Han army. At this time, the Zhao army could not win, and could not capture Han Xin and others, and wanted to return to the camp, the camp was full of red flags of the Han army, greatly shocked, thinking that the Han army had all captured the generals of the King of Zhao, so the army was in chaos, and they absconded, and even if the Zhao generals killed the deserters, they could not be prohibited. Therefore, the Han soldiers attacked back and forth, completely destroyed the Zhao army, captured a large number of people and horses, killed Cheng Anjun, and captured the King of Zhao.

All the generals offered their heads and prisoners, and after the end, they all congratulated Han Xin and took the opportunity to say to Han Xin: "The art of war says: 'The marching formation should be on the right and back of the mountain, and the front and left sides should be facing the water.'" This time, the general actually made us line up behind our backs, saying ' I crushed the official dinner of the Zhao army', I was not convinced, but I actually won the victory, what is this tactic? Han Xin replied, "This is also in the art of war, but you just don't understand it." Doesn't the art of war say, 'Fall into the land of death and then live again, and leave the place of death and then survive'? Moreover, I have not been able to get well-trained soldiers, which is what is called 'rushing the people of the market to fight', according to this situation, the soldiers are not put to death, so that people cannot fight for their own protection; if they are left with a way to live, they all run away, can they still get their support and use them? The generals all said admiringly, "Good." The general's strategy is not something we can catch up with. ”

This article is adapted from the translation of the history of Marquis Of Huaiyin