In 226 BC, the "Jing Ke Assassination of the King of Qin" personally directed by Prince Dan of Yan ended in failure, and the Qin King, Yingzheng, was furious with Tianzi and sent the famous general Wang Qi to attack the State of Yan. King Xi of Yan fled to Liaoning in defeat, and because the Qin soldiers were in hot pursuit, King Xi of Yan killed his own son Prince Dan and took Prince Dan's head to ask the State of Qin for peace. To no avail, the State of Yan was still destroyed by the State of Qin, and Crown Prince Danbai died.
Since ancient times, history books have recorded many kings who have fallen into ruin, and at the time of the destruction of the country and the death of the family, the last monarch will generally send his son away in secret, keeping the blood of the zongmiao temple, in order to make a comeback. However, the fact that the Yan King liked to kill his son and ask for forgiveness was indeed rare. I think that when King Xi of Yan had just inherited the throne, he was also ambitious, and 32 years had passed, why did he become so timid? This article is to tell you the story of Yan Wangxi.
Among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, the State of Yan and the State of Qi are the oldest princes, but the State of Qi in the late Warring States period is not "Jiang Qi", so there is only one Of the Seven Heroes of the True Lineage. As early as 1044 BC, after the Battle of Muye destroyed the Shang in Western Zhou, King Wu of Zhou's younger brother Ji Yi was sealed in Yandi by King Wu of Zhou for his merits, which was to summon the Duke of Yan and open the line of the Yan clan surnamed Ji. "History of the Family of Yan Zhao Gong" was written from the beginning of Yan Zhao Gong. The State of Yan was 823 years old, 33 years longer than the 790 years of the Zhou Dynasty.
During the Warring States period, the State of Yan was almost destroyed by the State of Qi, and later returned to the State of Yan as a proton prince of Yan as the King of Yan Zhao. King Yan Zhao recruited talents and soldiers, "buying bones with thousands of gold", and attracted many famous courtiers. At that time, Le Yi, Zou Yan and other famous courtiers came to the State of Yan to help the reform of the State of Yan, and King Zhao of Yan accumulated more than ten years of strength, defeated the State of Qi in one fell swoop, recovered the lost land, and defeated Lou Fu and Dong Hu, ranking among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States.
However, after the death of King Yan Zhao, the State of Yan deteriorated. And the Yan WangXi mentioned in this article is the great-grandson of King Yan Zhao.
In 255 BC, King Xiao of Yan died, and his son Yan Xi succeeded to the throne of Yan. At that time, the State of Yan had long ceased to be strong during the time of King Zhao of Yan, and the State of Yan was bordered by the Hu people (who had built the Great Wall) to the north, the State of Zhao to the west, the State of Qi to the south, and the Bohai Sea to the east. When King Xi of Yan succeeded to the throne, he was ambitious to revive Great Yan, however, he looked around and saw that the Hu people in the north were blocked by the Great Wall; the State of Zhao in the west and the State of Qi in the south both had a vendetta against themselves and were very defensive of themselves, and with the national strength of the State of Yan, it was very difficult to expand. Yan Wangxi waited and waited, and finally waited for a perfect opportunity.
In 251 BC, the king of Qin Zhaoxiang, the lord of the Qin dynasty, died, which was of great significance, because King Zhaoxiang of Qin had always wanted to "go east", and now that he had died, the Six Kingdoms finally breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, King Xi of Yan sent the minister of state, Li Belly, to the State of Zhao, on the pretext of making an alliance with the State of Zhao, to test the falsehood of the State of Zhao. Chestnut belly circled around Handan, secretly stealing joy, he returned to the Yan kingdom and said to Yan Wangxi:
"King Zhao is strong and dead, and his loneliness is not strong, but he can also be cut!" (From the "History of the Yan Zhao Gong Family" below)
This means that the Zhao Kingdom has experienced the Battle of Changping, killing 400,000 people, and also experienced the Handan Defense War, and there are countless deaths and injuries, and now the remaining men in the Zhao Kingdom have not grown up, which is a good opportunity to attack the Zhao Kingdom and take advantage of the fire.
When King Yan heard this, he was excited and immediately summoned a hundred officials to prepare for zhao. The famous general of the Yan kingdom, Le Jian (le Yi's son), believed: "The Zhao kingdom is a place of four wars, and he has many soldiers and cannot be easily attacked. King Yan said happily, "If I send five times the strength of the Zhao Kingdom, I will certainly be able to destroy the Zhao State." Another famous courtier, Holding King Yan's thigh, strongly opposed the dispatch of troops to attack Zhao, the King of Yan was furious, kicked open the general canal, and publicly announced that 600,000 troops would be sent to attack Zhao.
King Yan was ambitious and wanted to annex the State of Zhao. Unexpectedly, King Xiaocheng of Zhao sent Lian quite a general, and Lian Po was worthy of being one of the four famous generals of the Warring States, and he only used 100,000 troops to beat the chestnut belly fiercely. After a great defeat and the yan army collapsed, Lian Po attacked the territory of the Yan state and directly approached the capital of the Yan state, Jicheng, and the king of Yan was so dismayed that he hurriedly sent his generals to zhao to negotiate peace, cut the land and pay compensation, and after a meal of operation, the Zhao state only withdrew his troops and returned to China.
Taking advantage of the unsuccessful fire and robbery, and being humiliated by the Zhao State, the first major military operation after King Xi of Yan succeeded to the throne ended hastily.
In 245 BC, Zhao Dan, the king of Zhao Xiaocheng, died, and the veteran general Lian Po was forced away by Zhao Yan, the king of Zhao, who was happy to hear about it and planned to attack the state of Zhao again. Unexpectedly, King Xiang of Zhao was also a man of "great ambition", and when he heard that the State of Yan was going to do things, he sent Li Mu to attack the State of Yan in advance, and in one fell swoop captured the two cities of Wusui and Fangcheng of the State of Yan. After Yan Wangxi was taught a lesson by Li Mu, he was honest for a while.
In 242 BC, King Xiangxiang of Zhao sent Li Mu back to the north to defend against the Xiongnu, and then appointed the veteran general Pang Yan as a general in charge of the military of the State of Zhao, which made the Yan general Ju Xin very happy. At that time, both Ju Xin and Pang Yan were generals under King Wuling of Zhao, and later in the "Change of the Sand Dunes", King Wuling of Zhao was starved to death, Pang Yan lived in seclusion, and Ju Xin defected to the Yan Kingdom. According to Ju Xin, Pang Yan is a person who is "easy to deal with". After Listening to Yan Wangxi, once he was about to move, he asked Ju Xin, "Are you sure you can beat Pang Yan?" Ju Xin said confidently, "Must be able to fight!" As a result, Yan Wangxi's self-confidence was once again provoked, and he wanted revenge! King Xi of Yan sent Ju Xin to lead an army of 20,000 to attack the State of Zhao.
At this time, Ju Xin and Pang Yan were both veterans in their early eighties, old colleagues met, directly knife and gun to each other, a few rounds down, Ju Xin was hacked to death by Pang Yan, and the 20,000 soldiers and horses of the Yan State were lost. King Yan was glad to hear the bad news and wanted to cry without tears.
After 3 major wars with the Zhao Kingdom, Yan Wang Xi changed from an ambitious teenager to a middle-aged man with all his thoughts, his self-confidence was completely destroyed, and throughout his life, he never sent troops to attack other countries.
However, the fact that King Yan likes not to hit others does not mean that others do not beat him. In 226 BC, after the Qin state destroyed Zhao, Chen Bing was on the banks of the Yishui River. Yishui was the border of Yan Zhao, and the reason why Ying Zheng let Wang Qi station on the banks of the Yishui River was actually to force Wang Xi of Yan to surrender on his own initiative.
King Xi of Yan had already lost confidence, but his son Crown Prince Dan did not accept his fate. Prince Dan sent Jing Ke and Qin Wuyang into Xianyang and staged a famous assassination case for a thousand years, but unfortunately, Jing Ke failed to complete the task. Yin Zheng originally planned to "peacefully absorb" the Yan kingdom, but after this assassination, Yin Zheng became angry with Tianzi and ordered Wang Qi to destroy Yan.
Wang Qi led the Tiger and Wolf Division into the territory of the Yan Kingdom, and captured the capital of the Yan State, Jicheng, and the Yan King Xi and Crown Prince Dan, where Wang Qi's opponents, abandoned the city and fled. The father and son fled with the ministers of the Yan state to the northeast of Liaoyang, and the army of the qin state was still in hot pursuit. At this time, King Yan listened to Wang Jia's advice and planned to kill his son and ask for forgiveness.
Wang Xi of Yan believed that the reason why the King of Qin wanted to destroy the State of Yan was because Prince Dan wanted to assassinate the King of Qin, and if he handed over the head of Prince Dan to Yingzheng, Yingzheng might be able to calm his anger and let the State of Yan go.
When Prince Dan heard that his father was going to kill himself, he had already gone into hiding. King Xi of Yan sent troops to find Prince Dan's hiding place, and without seeing the last side of his son, he had prince Dan's head cut off and presented it to the State of Qin.
"History" Cloud:
In the twenty-ninth year, Qin attacked and pulled out thistle, Yan died, migrated to Liaodong, and beheaded Dan to sacrifice Qin.
As everyone knows, King Yan's move has become the laughing stock of the world. After Yin Zheng got the head of Prince Dan, he still did not let go of Yan Guo. In 223 BC, King Xi of Yan was captured and the State of Yan fell. King Xi of Yan reigned for 32 years and became the king of the yan kingdom.
The author believes that at that time, the general trend of the unification of the six kingdoms of the Qin state was unstoppable. Jing Ke's failure to stab the King of Qin only accelerated the pace of the fall of the Yan kingdom. Even if Crown Prince Dan did not send Jing Ke into Xianyang, Yingzheng would also destroy the Yan state.
From Yan Zhaogong to Yan Wangxi, the State of Yan lasted for 822 years, as the king of the fallen state of Yan, King Xi of Yan had long been maimed by the State of Zhao, facing the tiger and wolf division of the State of Qin, he killed his son and begged for forgiveness, but he was only ill and rushed to the hospital.