Regarding Zhang Handan, there is always a saying, that is, the famous generals of the Qin Dynasty did not exist, and it was Only when it was Zhang Handan's turn to take the throne. This statement obviously underestimated Zhang Handan, and its corroboration was that Zhang Handan was defeated by Xiang Yu in the Battle of Julu, which led to the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. Of course, it is a fact that Zhang Handan was defeated by Xiang Yu, but this did not mean that Zhang Handan was not a good military general. In fact, without Zhang Handan's bitter support, without Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, the Qin Dynasty would have collapsed long ago when Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted.
Zhang Handan was a general who was born at an inopportune time, although the old Qin people had suffered for a long time, and Zhang Handan was not necessarily facing the most dangerous situation, but Zhang Handan did not have the two things that bai qi, Wang Qi and other famous generals of the old Qin state had, that is, the Ming Jun and the people's heart. In the past, Hangu Pass once displayed the combined forces of the eastern countries, which looked much more dangerous than the rebel army in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, but at that time, the monarch of the Qin State was wise, the people were united, and the old Qin people were not afraid of sacrifice in order to build a meritorious career and defend the country. Therefore, the Qin state can always win more with less, and win many battles and victories repeatedly.
However, Zhang Handan was different, the monarch above him was the faint-hearted Qin II, and the ruler of the dynasty was Zhao Gao, who was a deer as a horse and a plague on the chaogang, while his men only had a group of prisoners who had just been sent.
Even the idea of using prisoners to resist the enemy army was conceived by Zhang Handan, who was then a young man. Hu Hai was not Qin Shi Huang's favorite heir, and The original intention of the First Emperor was probably to let his eldest son Fu Su go to the frontier to train and inherit the throne in the future, and Meng Tian would be assisted by him, as for Hu Hai, he was placed by his side as a beloved son and let Zhao Gao take care of him. However, the sudden and violent death of Qin Shi Huang disrupted his plans, Zhao Gao and Li Si jiao, Fu Su and Meng Tian were forced to commit suicide, and Hu Hai ascended the throne.
Qin Shi Huang never intended to hand over the throne to Hu Hai, so he did not restrain Hu Hai as the crown prince, which led to Hu Hai's violent and arrogant personality, and he fainted after becoming emperor. Hu Hai not only did not reverse the policy of building a large number of civil engineering projects during the Qin Shi Huang period, but on the contrary, he became more impoverished and extravagant, laboring and hurting the people's wealth, which made the people of the world boil over. Zhao Gao took the opportunity to control the government of the dynasty, causing chaos and wrongfully killing many ministers. The dark rule of Hu Hai and Zhao Gao completely collapsed the Qin Dynasty, which was already out of tension, and with the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the people of the world who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Qin Dynasty rose up one after another, and the Six Kingdoms that had perished in the past also rebelled against Qin at this time.
The smoke of gunfire suddenly filled the entire Great Qin World, but Hu Hai only knew pleasure, Zhao Gao only cared about unauthorized power, and no one knew what to do. At this critical moment, Shaofu Zhang Handan stepped forward and suggested: "The theft has arrived, and the crowd is close to the county. Lishan has many disciples, please forgive them, and give them troops to strike at them. (History Volume VI, Qin Shi Huang Benji No. 6)
In fact, the Qin Dynasty was not without a regular army, whether it was a large army stationed in the north or hundreds of thousands of Qin troops led by Zhao Tuo in the south, the combat effectiveness could not be underestimated. However, the uprising occurred suddenly and was numerous, with hundreds of thousands of rebel troops led by Chen Sheng's vanguard Zhou Wen alone. Moreover, the rebel army had already entered the water, and the soldiers were pointing directly at the capital of Xianyang. At this time, it was too late to transfer the large armies from the north and the south or from the provinces and counties. The only people who can go to the battlefield are the prisoners in Lishan.
Hu Hai had already been frightened and broke his guts, and when he heard Zhang Handan say that prisoners could fight, he immediately pardoned the world. Zhang Handan gathered the prisoners and distributed weapons and equipment, totaling 700,000 people.
Despite the large number of people, this group of Lishan prisoners was still slaves of the Qin Dynasty before, not only was the combat effectiveness low, but they would not fight for the Qin Dynasty, fighting for the Qin Dynasty, nothing more than more grain in the army, where they could eat enough. However, such a unit was led by Zhang Handan into a division of constant victory.
Zhang Handan led a large army of Lishan prisoners and set out from Tongguan to engage Zhou Wen's army. Zhang Handan commanded Ruoding and led a large army of criminals to defeat Zhou Wen, who committed suicide in defeat. After breaking Zhou Wen, Zhang Handan led his army to Hangu Pass and defeated the Qi-Chu coalition army. The Chu general Xiang Liang was beheaded by Zhang Handan at Dingtao.
After beheading Xiangliang, Zhang Handan personally led his elite troops to the west to meet the Qin army, defeated the Xingyang general Tian Zang, attacked the city of Xingyang, and killed Li Gui. After that, Zhang Handan broke down one by one, killing Chen Sheng's men and then besieging Chen Sheng. Under The offensive of Zhang Handan, Chen Sheng was defeated in successive battles, and he was eventually killed by the coachman, and The Chen Sheng uprising was suppressed. From Zhou Wen to Chen Sheng, Zhang Handan defeated millions of rebels and destroyed countless enemies.
Under the attack of Zhang Handan, the King of Qi was killed in battle, the King of Wei committed suicide, and almost all the famous generals in the land of Qi Chu were killed, leaving Only Xiang Yu alone. For a time, the rebel soldiers were in danger, worried that Zhang Handan would attack them. It can be said that without Xiang Yu, Zhang Handan may really be able to save the Qin Dynasty.
Unfortunately, at the last moment, Zhang Handan did not seize the opportunity to completely destroy the Chu army. With Xiang Liang and others killed in battle, Zhang Handan believed that Chudi was no longer a threat, so he led his troops to attack the Zhao state, preparing to annihilate the Zhao army first.
At this time, only the remnants of the Wei army were left, the peasant rebel army was almost lost, and the King of Zhao was besieged by Zhang Handan in an isolated city, and no one felt that anyone had saved the King of Zhao. Xiang Yu didn't have a bottom in his heart, and he took the initiative to ask for help, mainly to avenge the Qin army's killing of his uncle Xiang Liang.
In the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu broke through the cauldron and defeated the Qin army. In this battle, the Qin army suffered heavy losses, but Zhang Handan was not without the strength to fight with Xiang Yu again, and if the imperial court could reinforce Zhang Handan at this time, it might be able to defeat Xiang Yu. Unfortunately, the imperial court was still fighting for power and profit, and the faint-hearted Hu Hai pit Zhang Handan at this time.
Hearing that the Qin army had retreated, Hu Hai rebuked Zhang Handan, who sent someone to ask the emperor for instructions, but was stopped by Zhao Gao. This chilled Zhang Handan's heart, and Zhang Handan was worried that Zhao Gao would do something to him, and began to hesitate. As a general, once you lose the will to fight, you naturally can no longer win on the battlefield. As a result, the Qin army was defeated in successive battles, and Zhang Handan was forced to defect to Xiang Yu.
Without Zhang Handan, the Qin army had no main backbone, and Xiang Yu and Liu Bang entered the no-man's land and soon invaded Xianyang. In this way, the efforts of several generations of old Qin people and the hegemony established by Qin Shi Huang sweeping the world were all burned.
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