<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > killed Chen Sheng, Tu Qiwei, And Xue Xiangliang, "accountant and housekeeper" Zhang Handan, was he a military genius? </h1>
In the history of the late Qin Dynasty, at the same time as the Chen Sheng Wuguang Uprising, there was a famous figure, Zhang Handan.
This man has appeared in a very famous historical allusion, that is, the ship is broken. According to legend, on the eve of the Battle of the Giant Deer, Xiang Yu, in order to show his determination to win, chiseled the marching iron pot through and sank the ship into the river.
At this time, Xiang Yu was facing opponents who were his "father-killing enemy" Zhang Handan and the Qin general Wang Li!
Wang Li was a great man at the end of Qin. After the death of Fu Su and Meng Tian, the 500,000 nine original army (some say the number is 300,000) in the northern Shubian came under his jurisdiction, and he was also the commander-in-chief of the northern army of the Qin Dynasty during the time of Qin II.
Sculpture: Monty
Zhang Handan was originally an insignificant figure. Before leading the Qin army to suppress the uprising, his official position was Shaofu. The Shaofu was mainly responsible for two things, one was to collect taxes and charge the national treasury, and the other was to use the money in the treasury as the expenses of the court.
That is, he served as both chancellor of the exchequer and steward of the palace.
The first half of Zhang Handan's life was spent in such an orderly manner. It was not until July of the first year of Qin II that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted.
At that time, Chen Sheng sent a strange army led by Zhou Wen (also known as Zhou Zhang) to attack Xianyang. By the time it reached the "drama" (place name) near Xianyang, this army had expanded to hundreds of thousands of people along the way, and at the same time had thousands of cars.
At this time, the total number of troops near Xianyang was only tens of thousands, so the whole dynasty was suddenly panicked.
Xianyang, Shaanxi - Qin Straight Road
Why was Guanzhong, the political center of the Qin Dynasty, so few troops?
The reason is that the Qin Dynasty had a million troops scattered across the northern and southern borders. On the northern border, Chen Bing 500,000 (also known as 300,000) was led by Fu Su and Meng Tian; on the southern border, Chen Bing 500,000 (Ping Baiyue) was led by Tu Sui.
A million troops are outside, and there are naturally no soldiers available in Guanzhong.
It was also at this time that Zhang Handan, who was still an "accountant and housekeeper" at the time, proposed to pardon the Lishan prisoners, who numbered up to 700,000, as an army to resist Zhou Wen's army. The composition of the Lishan prisoners is complex, basically the craftsmen responsible for building the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang at that time.
With such a large number of strong laborers filling the army, Zhang Handan took the king's order, quickly pacified the Zhou Wen army, and won a major victory in the Qin Dynasty to suppress the peasant uprising!
And this was not enough, after which Zhang Handan took advantage of the victory to pursue, quickly defeated Chen Sheng, and destroyed the restored Qi Wei. In this regard, Zhang Handan's reputation became famous.
Daze Township - the former site of Chen Sheng's Wuguang Uprising
In this military assault, it seems that Zhang Handan is really a military genius. Having never been in charge of the military, he was able to suppress the peasant revolt like a wildfire at once, and it seemed quite relaxed, which was really amazing!
But at the same time, Zhang Handan's victory also seems to have some meaning of winning by number, and there is also some meaning of surprising victory. Presumably, before this, neither Zhou Wen nor Chen Sheng Wu Guang should have considered that the Qin Dynasty could still mobilize such a large-scale army.
Of course, it seems premature to belittle Zhang Handan at this time.
Shortly thereafter, Zhang Handan ushered in a real battle of fame, in which he killed Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Liang!
At first glance, it sounds remarkable.
But unfortunately, the main force is not Zhang Handan.
The story of Zhang Handan's killing of Xiang Liang is as follows:
Zhang Handan fought with Xiang Liang, and after losing, he ran back, just at this time, the commander-in-chief of the Northern Army, Wang Li, came to support with a large army. So the two of them combined, taking advantage of the night to turn around and sneak up on Xiang Liang. Xiang Liang was defeated without realizing it, and he himself was killed on the battlefield.
From this point of view, the main force of the Qin army at this stage should be Wang Leaving the army.
Qin Terracotta Warriors
The army led by Wang Li was an elite and well-equipped Qin army that conquered the north and conquered the north and unified the Six Kingdoms, so this was entirely possible.
The history of the Battle of the Giant Deer also proves this.
The "History of Xiang Yu Benji" contains:
Therefore, Zhi Ze besieged the king and left, encountered the Qin army, fought nine battles, absolutely destroyed the Yong Dao, broke it, killed Su Jiao, and captured the king.
The main force of the Qin army in the Battle of Julu was naturally the Jiuyuan Army led by Wang Li according to the records.
So, is Zhang Handan a military genius?
I'm afraid I'm going to discount it.
Can he be called the last famous general of the Qin Dynasty?
If he can fight so well, then what else would wang li do?
To rank according to the force value, he is at least after the king leaves. Then, Wang Li was the last famous general at the end of Qin. In fact, he does fit that title. He is not only a famous general himself, but also the grandson of the famous general Wang Qi and the son of Wang Ben, and a famous general for generations!
Relief: Battle of the Giant Deer
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > Why can't Zhang Handan save the dying Great Qin Empire? </h1>
There has always been a saying that Zhang Handan almost saved the Great Qin Empire and allowed the Qin Dynasty to continue.
The root of this statement, I first saw in Yi Zhongtian's writings. Because Yi Zhongtian described Zhang Handan as "the last generation of famous generals at the end of Qin", and he was very appreciative.
But the truth is that I think the most insurmountable threshold in front of Zhang Handan is Xiang Yu.
Compiling the historical trajectory of Zhang Handan's counterinsurgency, it can be found that every victory of Zhang Handan relied on the support of friendly troops.
In the first battle, Ke Zhouwen relied on 700,000 Lishan prisoners. But at that time, Guanzhong was not without a regular army. There are, but not many, lieutenant armies of just a few tens of thousands (similar to the Forbidden Army).
If he only led the lieutenant army of tens of thousands of people, Zhang Handan would probably not be able to defeat Zhou Wen, who had hundreds of thousands of troops. But Li Shimin can, tens of thousands of people defeat hundreds of thousands, this is a military genius!
Only with the support of an army of up to 700,000 men could Zhang Handan suppress Zhou Wen and kill Chen Sheng, the (new) Qi king Tian Dan, and (new) Wei wang Wei with a surprise posture.
Lintong Museum
If Zhang Handan's attack at this time can still reflect the strategy of blitzkrieg and the military technology of partially using encirclement points to provide reinforcements (all of this is based on the superiority of numbers, in the era of cold weapons, the number of troops is an important parameter), then after this he completely retreated to the second line and assumed an auxiliary position.
Why?
Because with the addition of the real famous general, Wang Li, and the real elite, the Nine Origin Army.
Therefore, in the killing of Xiang Liang, and later in the Battle of the Giant Deer, Zhang Handan's appearance rate was getting lower and lower. It was not until Xiang Yu surrendered and was killed by 200,000 soldiers that Zhang Handan returned to the public eye.
To pacify Chen Sheng, Zhang Handan relied on the newly joined Lishan prisoners; killing Xiang Liang, Zhang Handan relied on the ace force Jiuyuan Army.
When facing Xiang Yu, did Zhang Handan still have reinforcements?
Yes! And the last fresh force!
In the south of the Qin Empire at that time, there were still as many as half a million elite troops. It was originally led by the Qin general Tu Sui, and after Qin pacified Baiyue and established Nanhai County in the south, it was under the unified jurisdiction of the governor of Nanhai County (Nanhai Wei).
However, as early as the beginning of Chen Sheng's Wuguang uprising, in order to avoid the peasant revolt spreading to the south, the last Qin Dynasty's Nanhai lieutenant Ren Hu left a last word, cutting off the passage from the Central Plains to the south!
In this way, it was difficult for the peasant rebel army to go south, and it was difficult for the Qin army in the south to go north to support.
In this way, yes equals none.
From this point of view, Zhang Handan was absolutely difficult to defeat Xiang Yu, and naturally could not talk about saving the Qin Kingdom.
The demise of the Qin state is the trend of the times! How likely is it that the faint-hearted Hu Hai, like Qi Jinggong of Shi Xian and Shi Yong, is deceiving himself and escaping from reality?
In my opinion, it is difficult to say.
Note: When Zhao Gao established Hu Hai's usurpation of the throne, Hu Hai sternly refused on several grounds for loyalty and filial piety.
Zhao Gao and Li Si Dune conspired
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="78" > references</h1>
Li Mingxuan. On The Prisoner Army of Zhang Handan[J]. Journal of Xianyang Normal University, 2018, v.33;No.186(03):54-58.
WU Tao. Zhang Handan: The Last Famous General of the Great Qin Empire[J]. All Walks of Life, 2019, 000(011):56-58.
Yi Zhongtian. Yi Zhongtian Chinese History, Qin and the World[M].