I have read many articles on the Battle of Changping, and they have reproduced the grand situation of that year from different angles, and also showed the real situation of the Battle of Changping from different angles. Recently, many people have rehabilitated Zhao Kuo. Roughly speaking, the defeat of the Zhao Kingdom was in the great instrument of the country, and Zhao Kuo was only a back cooker. The author does not want to discuss the big strategic question first, but first of all, from the perspective of the battle itself, we will only discuss the tactical problem of fighting a single war. Let's really see how the Battle of Changping was fought. And when fighting a war, the specific tactics can be very clear whether Zhao Kuo should be rehabilitated. To clarify Zhao Kuo's tactics, I think we should look at the following four questions.
First, the issue of troop strength
First of all, how the strength of this great war is, it is an important factor to explore the strength of the battle, it is generally said that Qin Zhao invested a total of more than 1 million troops, and the key to the source of the troops lies in the population. At that time, the total population of the Warring States was about 20 million, Qin accounted for one-third, that is, more than 6 million people, Zhao more than 200,000 square kilometers, the population was about 3 million, the total population of the two countries was about 9 million, according to the regular war state of the Warring States, it was still normal to draw one out of ten, so it was still possible for the total military strength of Qin and Zhao to be around one million.
Let's first look at how many troops Zhao Guo has?
According to Su Qin, there are 70,000 households in Linzi, each household can produce three men, "not to be sent to the county, and linzi's pawns are already 210,000." Linzi and Handan have always been called together. Equally, Handan can produce at least 100,000 people, which is a conservative number. In addition, Zhao Guo also has five counties, Nameng Dang County, Taiyuan County, Yanmen County, Yunzhong County, Dai County, and Anping County, of which Shangdang County has twenty-four counties, Taiyuan County has thirty-seven counties, and Dai County has thirty-six counties, which is clearly recorded in the history books. According to the twenty counties per county, the total of the six counties of Zhao Guo is 120 counties. Each county sent 3,000 troops, for a total of 360,000 people in 120 counties. Coupled with at least 100,000 people in the metropolises such as Handan, it is possible for Zhao Guo to put together 450,000 people.
However, how many troops could Zhao throw into the Changping Battlefield? According to later records, Li Mu killed more than 100,000 Xiongnu, except for most of them, Li Mu's troops stationed in northern Xinjiang were at least 50,000 or 60,000; in addition, the State of Yan, as a confidant who always harassed the State of Zhao, also had troops to guard against him, plus Zhao Nai had to have troops stationed elsewhere in the land of the Four Battles, and it was estimated that the garrison was about 50,000 or 60,000; and from the perspective of the whole process of the Battle of Changping, it was not considered from the beginning to the end that when the Battle of Changping was over, the State of Zhao would not invest the troops of the State of Zhao, so it was reasonable to estimate the amount of troops to invest in the Changping Battlefield
for 3/4 of the total strength; If it is reluctantly estimated that the Zhao State will recruit more troops and garrison the local areas more, then the Zhao State will invest about 400,000 troops, or it is still possible, for the time being, accept the historical record of Zhao's total troop strength of 450,000.
So how many troops did the Qin state invest?
Qin Zhao fought before, the Battle of Huayang 150,000, the Battle of Yimin 240,000, as a strategic significance and the size of the enemy are larger than these two battles, Qin will not be less than the previous troops, from many aspects of the description, Qin is also the best to send the country's troops; Qin invested 600,000 in the later war of annihilation of Chu, and the national strength at that time should be stronger than when Changping, so it should not be too much; plus most of the people in this war think that Qin besieged and killed 450,000 Zhao troops, "Sun Tzu's Art of War and Conspiracy to Attack" has a saying, "Ten sieges, five attacks", Ten times more than the enemy can consider besieging the enemy army, and no matter how cattle Bai Qi is, it is impossible to go against the sky, so qin's troops are not more than 450,000 but not more than 600,000. In addition, the soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, judging from the grain and grass that supported the war
More than 600,000 Qin troops needed roughly 5 million stones of military food from June to September. All counties in Qin have county warehouses for grain storage. When the Battle of Changping broke out, the Qin army came out of Wuling from hedong to the east, only more than 200 miles, and could reach Changping. At this time, the work of grain and grass transportation was immediately carried out in the rear, and the mode was to supply the army with grain from the counties closest to the front line, while the rear counties were replenished in the order of the warehouses. During the Qin Dynasty, the roads between various places were recorded through official surveys, forming a "simple route" with clear mileage. In the Qin Jian excavated in Hunan Province, there are such Jian Mu, and its recorded journey even crosses several counties. When the grain transportation work began, the Qin Dynasty could most widely requisition manpower and ox carts for transportation. This can be seen in the Warring States Juridical School's book "Book of Shangjun", in order to ensure the speed of transportation, it is forbidden to carry grain trucks after reaching the destination and then bear the private transportation to collect commissions, and it is necessary to return quickly in empty cars in order to go again. The "Two-Year Law" of the early Han Dynasty clearly stipulates that grain transport vehicles traveling fifty miles a day when fully loaded, returning with empty cars for seventy miles a day, and transporting grain on foot for eighty miles a day, and if they miss the time, they will receive legal sanctions. Because the distance between the county and the county is more than 200 miles, so whether it is a person or a car, you can bring your own rations, day and night, without spending the military food supplied by the official warehouse, in the Qin and Han Dynasties, this kind of grain truck is generally carrying 25 stones of millet, and at the same time can carry six people, transport 10,000 stone grain, only 400 vehicles can be. The cycle of transporting grain once is 7 days, about 12 cycles of 5 million stones, 420,000 stones per cycle, and the fastest time transporting military grain is 16,800 vehicles and nearly 100,000 people. Sun Ziyun's so-called armor is 100,000, thousands of miles of grain, and daily expenses are thousands of gold, so we must not check it. From this, we see that the consumption of the Qin army should be in line with the reasoning of 600,000.
Therefore, the < Battle of Changping, written by Jin Shenghe and Xie Hongxi: A Study of the Greatest Battle in Ancient China> the inference of Zhao 450,000 and Qin 600,000 written in the book is still very convincing, and many of the views in this book are recognized by the mainstream.
2. The question of the surrender of prisoners and the killing of prisoners
The history books record that Bai Qi pit killed 400,000 zhao soldiers, we want to discuss Zhao Kuo's technical and tactical level, one of the key points is to find out how many casualties the Zhao army suffered, if the casualties are less and defeated, there may be many reasons, such as because there is no food, there is no much to lose. Then there are no tactics to speak of. If there are many casualties and defeat, it is certain that there has been a fierce confrontation, and tactics can be discussed when there is a confrontation.
According to Chang Silong's argument in the book "Vicissitudes", the theory that 400,000 Zhao Pawns in Baiqi Pit was false is false. "From gaoping city to the north, to the area around Yonglu, including Wang Bao, Sizhuang, Arrowhead, Siege city and other places, the Dan River Valley between the east and west mountains should be the main battlefield of the Battle of Changping in that year, and also the place where Zhao Pawn surrendered, so it should also be the place where Bai Qi pit killed Zhao Pawn." It is very likely that the Qin army killed zhao jun in the pit was not buried alive, but after killing the violent corpse in the wilderness, it is also a huge project to dig a pit to bury 400,000 people. Later, Tang Xuanzong passed by and still felt the fierceness of the battlefield that year, so he built the Skull Temple, and judging by the construction of the Skeleton Temple, there should be some dead and wounded, or some said that only 200,000 people were killed, or some said that there were not so many corpses in this area, or that many of the 400,000 were actually civilians who were not all Zhao Jun, and the 400,000 numbers were not used by Qin to deter the Six Kingdoms, but it was very likely that the Six Kingdoms reported out to encourage the living people to know Qin's tyranny, and to fight to the qin with the idea of abandoning surrender with the enemy. Therefore, in general, 400,000 should not be the last remaining Zhao Jun, and the 200,000 people are more reasonable to be accepted by everyone. Then the casualties of the Zhao army are about 250,000, and this number must be after a fierce battle.
In addition, according to Bai Qi himself, "more than half of the Qin soldiers died, the country was empty", first of all, this was said when Qin Jun wanted to use Bai to destroy Zhao again, Bai Qi did not want to go, a bit of an excuse, exaggerated casualties, then if in response to Changping said, the Qin army casualties of more than half of the 600,000 troops 300,000, considering the exaggeration, may be more than 200,000, if not only refer to Changping, Qin has been fighting after more than half of the dead and wounded, the country is empty, then Changping casualties can not be calculated by 600,000 and a half. But it should be true that Bai Qi meant that the Battle of Changping had a large number of casualties. The Zhao army, with the combat effectiveness of the Qin army and bai Qi's consistent battle record, should also suffer heavy casualties, and these casualties mostly refer to the time of the decisive battle with Zhao Kuo, and from a certain point of view, it is also shown that there was a fierce confrontation with Zhao Kuo.
In addition, many archaeological excavations in later generations have confirmed that the confrontation between Qin and Zhao in the Area of Gaoping DanHe at that time was tragic. The strength of the Zhao army should be in the northern grasslands, and in the central plains should not be enough to destroy a large number of Qin troops with small casualties. It should be known that the Qin army had already run rampant in the Warring States from the military system to the armament at that time. There was no miracle like the Wei wei saving Zhao and the Qimen Dunjia, so the casualties of the Zhao army should be comparable to the Qin army, it could not be only 50,000, and the final regular army of the Zhao army that was killed in the pit should be less than 400,000.
Third, the problem of encirclement
On Zhao Kuo's biggest tactical failure lies in the problem of being besieged by the Qin army, can Qin really encircle the 400,000 zhao army with 600,000?
Looking at the above two pictures, Qin took 25,000 thousand horses to seize the section from Changping Pass of the Great Wall of Zhao Baili to Guguan, and then used 5,000 horses to cut off the connection between Zhao's main force and the large troops, even if it only took 30,000 people to take advantage of the terrain to surround the eastern and northern sides of the Zhao army, then it was difficult for the south, the west and the east behind the Zhao army's large army to surround 400,000 by 500,000, and it was difficult for Qin Zhao to fight hard in the area of the Empty Cangling Mountains of the Guangqin Army. According to various theories, the main force of the Qin army should be west of the Dan River, that is, at the barrier of the Qin army, and the east of the Large Army of the Zhao Army was also stopped by the young and middle-aged people over the age of fifteen in Hanoi, the King of Qin Zhaoxiang. In ancient times, when fewer people won more wars, most of them relied on killing and scattering enemy troops in the wilderness, killing the fighting spirit and military strength of the other side, or using water, fire, mountains and stones to borrow terrain to fight ambush battles. And the siege lasted for 46 days, relying on the hard-hitting siege and annihilation battle, the Qin army could use 5,000 horses to intersperse between Zhao's 400,000 armies, a bit of Zhao Zilong killed Cao Ying's seven in and seven out of the meaning, or these 5,000 people are flying generals with extraordinary skills, otherwise don't say that they dare to do it in vain, and they don't even dare to think about it. However, Zhao Junwei was definitely surrounded, and it was impossible for some Zhao Jun to escape, not run, and then wait for the surrender, and then inexplicably be buried. Qin Zhao was a sworn enemy at that time, and the Zhao army was fierce, so the battle was killed, and the battle must be dead, and it must have been surrounded and had no way to choose before surrendering. At that time, Zhao Guo's rescue could not go in and would not be unfounded. Therefore, 450,000 will be destroyed but will pass through a deadly battle, but it will not be so unbearable to be wandered by 5,000 riding gods. So either these records are wrong, the Qin army is more than this, or it is just the vanguard troops. Either that there aren't as many people being surrounded. As mentioned earlier, there are only so many Qin troops, so it is very likely that the Qin and Zhao armies have not had much left after fierce confrontations before the Zhao army has been surrounded by the Qin army, and then until they starved to death.
In this way, Zhao Kuo's casualties were actually very large, and in the confrontation with the Qin army, it was not 50,000 to destroy Qin 300,000, but it was very likely that 300,000 people were destroyed by Qin 50,000, and finally the remaining 200,000 plus some heroes who transported grain were sent to Qin Baiqi's butcher's knife.
Fourth, the problem of tactics
Finally, let's focus on the course of the battle, and the tactical level shown by Zhao Kuo in the middle.
As soon as he arrived at the battlefield, "he was more restrained and changed his military officials" (Shi Ji Lian Broke Lin Xiang Xiang As a Legend), that is, he completely abandoned the strategy and tactics of Lian Po and arbitrarily replaced the generals, and the famous anecdote that the eight generals of the Zhao Army told each other with their deaths happened. This should be a big taboo for soldiers, king Zhao has been criticized for not being able to change the general, and Zhao Kuo has more than enough. There is no tactic.
In addition, the main force of the Zhao army led by Zhao Kuo finally determined that the main force of the Qin army and the odd troops were surrounded by the main force of the Qin army and the strange troops in a triangular area of about 50 or 60 kilometers of the Yan clan centered on Han Wangshan; this area was surrounded by mountains and three rivers, and it should be a dead place, and the terrain should be not perceived as a place without tactics.
Moreover, compared with Lianpo, which is also the area around the Great Wall and the DanHe River, Lianpo was not attacked by the Qin army and lost the Hundred Mile Stone, while Zhao Kuo should have been empty Of the Hundred Mile Stone and the Great Liang Mountain was occupied by the Qin Army, and he ran into his pocket, but in all battles, he should not think about victory before defeat, and he should have a good preparation for the key points of military struggle, which is where there are three no tactics.
Looking at Zhao Kuo again, "The Qin army was defeated and left, and Zhang Erqi's soldiers robbed it." Zhao Army won one victory after another, chasing after Qin Bi", his offensive route is to first attack the Danhe Qin army must defend the place, and then cross the river to attack the Qin army's barrier, it is also a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, to cross the river to break the fortress, are all hard bones to gnaw in battle, is it a narrow road to meet the brave to win? If you just play this tactics and don't see any shrewdness, right? Bai Qi can use the odd soldiers to copy the back road of your Hundred Mile Stone Changping Pass, you can take the Xiaocang River to intercept the back road of your heavy troops, won't you also use the terrain to copy a few roads to surprise the soldiers, this is the four no tactics.
Look at Bai Qi's garrison in the area of strategically rushing through Wolf City (present-day Kangying). First, zhaishang village in the northwest of present-day Kangying is a natural high fu, a highland center, with a famous attraction of Anzhen Fort, which is mounted on it, and the view is vast and abnormal. This move is the way for the general, and the more important thing for the large army to fight is to control the overall situation and strategize, and Zhao Kuo gave up the area of the three armies in the western foothills of the Han Dynasty. According to local documents, the three armies have been named after the "Zhao Three Armies Headquarters Garrison" (Gaoping County Chronicle, p. 317, China Map Publishing House, 1992). This place belongs to the front of Hanwang Mountain, backed by Hanwang Mountain, you can ascend to the enemy; in front of the Yonglu River, Danhe Open Land, can be a long-drive assault. Instead, the charge was in front, and finally he was shot by random arrows at Taniguchi. This is where there is no courage and no tactics.
Just as the Zhao army troops that had broken through the defensive line of the Western Qin Army on the Dan River were advancing in a long drive, and when the large troops gathered on the Dan River to cross the assault, they successively found that the front assault on the deep-seated Qin camp was frustrated, and their own rear roads were covered, the grain road was cut off, and the connection between the upper and lower levels was lost, and the Qin army began to counterattack. In the rapid deterioration of the war situation, the Zhao army was forced to abandon the attack and retreat to the above triangle, and the pawns built barriers to hold on to them, waiting for rescue. Judging from this result, it is also a phenomenon that the Qin army has set a trap for you to drill, if you are smart, why can't you think of what to do if you can't attack after breaking through the Dan River, and what if the back road is copied? Where should I retreat and how to deploy when I am blocked? There is no strategy first, and this is the sixth no tactic.
When the great war is about to be fought, military food should be paid great attention to, we look at Guandu, see that Zhuge Zhuge's Northern Expedition May Day did not lose on military food, and Zhao Kuo's main force was lightly armed, with a rare military grain assault, the rear heavy troops were isolated, you are not a Xiongnu, you also learn the tactics of running attacks, and you do not attach importance to armaments and trap yourself to death.
Sun Tzu also had a battle plan on the clouds, and the siege of the city was the next, and Zhao Kuo lost the only feasible conspiracy to attack Qin at that time and chose the technique of strong attack that had no chance of winning, in fact, there was no famous general or famous marshal. Coupled with the above seven no tactics to speak of, the Zhao army led by it suffered heavy casualties, and finally fell into a shameful end of being surrounded and annihilated, which should be regarded as a well-deserved paper soldier. There should be no more words to rehabilitate, with 50,000 casualties and 300,000 losses, that is nonsense. After 46 days of bitter fighting, it is the flesh of your Zhao Jun boy or the white Qingming, and not doing a vicious fight with trapped beasts is to let you starve to death.
Therefore, judging from the combat tactics of the Battle of Changping alone, Bai Qi should be a god, the only undefeated, often victorious and killing god proudly ascended to the throne. Zhao Kuo had no record, and the annihilation of the First World War was helpless and inevitable.