In the late Warring States period, there was an unprecedented battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, under the leadership of the Zhao general Zhao Kuo, the Zhao state suffered a disastrous defeat, and 450,000 Zhao troops were ordered to be killed by Bai Qi. After the Battle of Changping, the Six Kingdoms were no longer able to resist the footsteps of the unification of the Qin Dynasty. As the main participant in the Battle of Changping, Zhao Kuo was saddled with historical infamy and was labeled as a "soldier on paper". Today, the author re-read the "Records of History" and found that Zhao Kuo's ability is actually not so bad, saying that he will only "talk on paper", which is actually a misunderstanding of his ability.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Zhao Kuo, and "talking on paper"</h1>
Before saying "talk on paper", the author first corrects a misunderstanding. The Battle of Changping ended in 260 BC, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun made paper, and Cai Lun lived from about 61 AD to 121 AD, that is to say, more than 300 years after Zhao Kuo's death, there was only "paper" in the world, so the statement of "talking about soldiers on paper" is not accurate.
The Chronicle of Lian Po Lin XiangRu Lie records:
Zhao Kuo learned the art of war since he was a teenager, and he was unable to do anything in the world.
This means that after Zhao Kuoxiao's death, he was familiar with military books and talked about the military, and others could not say that he could not be said, and he thought that he was invincible in the world.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the famous minister Liu Sanwu wrote a poem called "Shonan Miscellaneous Songs", in which one of the sentences said that Zhao Kuo was "a soldier on paper", and from then on, there was a saying of "talking about soldiers on paper". That is to say, although there was no paper in the Zhao Kuo era, the idiom of "talking about soldiers on paper" was circulated from the Ming Dynasty, so later generations used "talking about soldiers on paper" to describe Zhao Kuo's empty military affairs, which is not a word mistake, because we can't always dwell on the problem of "paper".
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > II, Zhao Kuo, and his father Zhao Hao</h1>
Zhao Kuo (赵括), a general of the State of Zhao, was originally surnamed Ying (嬴), of the Zhao clan.
Zhao Kuo's father, Zhao Hao, was a famous general of the State of Zhao, and during the Western Han Dynasty, Jia Yi wrote the "Theory of Passing the Qin":
"Wu Qi, Sun Zhen, Dai Tuo, Ni Liang, Wang Liao, Tian Ji, Lian Po, and Zhao Haozhilun subdued their troops."
In Jia Yi's view, at that time, in addition to the Qin State, the strongest generals of the Six Kingdoms were the above 8, and the above eight famous generals were called "Eight Generals of the Six Kingdoms of the East", of which Lian Po and Zhao Hao were all famous generals of the Zhao State. The "Chronicle of History" once recorded that in the Battle of Fuhe, the Qin state attacked Korea, and King Huiwen of Zhao wanted to send a general to support Korea, and at that time Lian Po believed that the road was difficult and narrow, and even if he went, he could not win. Zhao Hao, on the other hand, believes that the road is narrow, and the fight is courage and perseverance. In the end, King Huiwen of Zhao sent Zhao Hao forward and defeated the Qin army in the Battle of Fuhe, and morale was greatly boosted.
From this example, it can be seen that Lian Po is the "Four Famous Generals of the Warring States", but in some ways, Zhao Hao is far better than Lian Po. Zhao Hao went through three dynasties in the Zhao Kingdom, and went through the three monarchs of Zhao Wuling, Zhao Huiwen, and Zhao Xiaocheng, and made great achievements for the Zhao state. However, his son Zhao Kuo did not seem to have the ability of his father.
"History" Cloud:
It is not difficult to taste the extravagance of war with his father, but it is not good. The mother asked for the reason, and the mother said: "Soldiers, the place of death is also, and the words of the grandmother are easy to say." If Zhao does not include it, if it is bound, those who break the Zhao army will also include it. ”
This means that Zhao Kuo once discussed the military with his father Zhao Hao, and When Zhao Kuo came up with a question, Zhao Kuo could always answer it. However, Zhao Hao did not approve of Zhao Kuo, and Zhao Kuo's mother did not understand, Zhao Hao said: "War, it is a matter of life and death, but our son said this kind of thing too easily." If one day in the future, Zhao Kuo becomes a general, the Zhao army will inevitably be defeated because of Zhao Kuo. ”
As the saying goes, Zhizi Moruo's father, Zhao Hao's evaluation of Zhao Kuo, is regarded as the most powerful evidence of Zhao Kuo's "talk on paper". (I won't refute it for now, but I'll talk about it later.) ）
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the battles of Zhao Kuo and Changping</h1>
In the late Warring States period, Qin Zhao was the most powerful two countries, the Qin Dynasty famous generals such as clouds, Zhao Guo also had no shortage of famous generals, in addition to the above-mentioned Lian Po, Zhao Luxury, Zhao Guo also had Li Mu, Le Yi and others. But when the Battle of Changping broke out, Zhao Hao had already died, and Li Mu was still very young and had not yet become famous. Le Yi had also just defected from the Yan Kingdom to the Zhao Kingdom, and his heart was not attached. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, Lian Po was the best candidate for the general of the Zhao State.
The background of the outbreak of the Battle of Changping is also very special, in 270 BC, the Qin army attacked Korea, and King Huanhui of Han, in a panic, immediately cut the land and asked for peace, but the Korean Shangdang County Shou Feng Ting was unwilling to bow to the Qin state and took the 17 cities of the Shangdang to defect to the Zhao state. King Xiaocheng of Zhao did not spend a single soldier and took over 17 cities and pools, and he was very happy. However, this caused dissatisfaction in the State of Qin, and King Zhao of Qin sent Wang Gong to attack the State of Zhao, and King Xiaocheng of Zhao sent Lian Po to meet the battle. "History of The Legend of The White King" Yun:
In April, Gong Yin attacked Zhao. Zhao made Lian quite a general.
Initially, Lian Po won a small victory, and subsequently, the Qin state sent troops to defeat Lian Po and occupy two strongholds of the Zhao state. Lian Po knew that the Qin army was brave and cunning, so he built a wall and planned to fight a protracted war with the Qin state. King Xiaocheng of Zhao behind him felt that Lian was timid and timid, and sent people several times to urge Lianpo to make a quick decision.
The Qin Army knew that Lian Had been in the battlefield for a long time, and if he had an iron heart to defend, he would surely not leak. At this time, Fan Sui, the chancellor of the State of Qin, came up with a "counter-plan", and he sent people to bring heavy gold to the State of Zhao to spread rumors:
"Qin's evil, Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao Huan, who fears Ma Fujun, is a general."
This means that the State of Qin is not jealous of incorruptibility, but is jealous of Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao Hao.
King Xiaocheng of Zhao believed it to be true and immediately summoned Zhao Kuo into the palace. Zhao Kuo was fashionable and young, and his popularity was not high, he had already seen Zhao Xiaocheng Wang, so he talked about it, and said that defeating the Qin state was not a problem, and Zhao Xiaocheng was overjoyed, and immediately sent Zhao Kuo to the army to replace Lian Po as the main general.
After Zhao Kuo arrived in Changping, he changed his operational policy of lianpo, changed his generals, and changed his defense to attack. When King Zhaoxiang of Qin learned that Zhao Guo had changed generals, he also secretly changed generals, sent Bai Qi as a general, commanded the war with full authority, and demoted Wang Gong to deputy general.
Bai Qi is the first of the four famous generals of the Warring States, even if Zhao Guo did not change the commander, Lian Po did not necessarily have the strength to defeat Bai Qi, let alone Zhao Kuo? When Zhao Kuo attacked the Qin army, Bai Qi pretended to be defeated and retreated, and Zhao Kuo took advantage of the victory to attack, chasing all the way to the Qin army's camp, and then was cut off by Bai Qi. When Zhao Kuo found himself surrounded by the Qin army, he immediately ordered the attack to be stopped, build a barrier on the spot, and turn the attack to defense. Zhao Kuo blocked Bai Qi's attack, but next, he faced a big problem: the grain road was cut off, and the soldiers could not wrap their stomachs.
When King Zhaoxiang of Qin learned that the main force of the Zhao army was besieged, he immediately rewarded the local people and demanded that all young adults over the age of 15 be concentrated on the Changping battlefield to prevent the Zhao state from transporting grain.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >4</h1>
Zhao Kuo was deeply trapped in a desperate situation, turned from attack to defense, resisted the Qin army's attacks again and again, and persisted for 46 days in the case of food shortage. During this period, a large number of soldiers were reduced due to hunger, and soldiers even killed each other for food in order to feed themselves. Zhao Kuo knew that the grain in the rear could not be transported, and could only lead the remaining 40% of the soldiers and horses to break through, but the Qin army was very tightly encircled, and Zhao Kuo's four or five surprise attacks failed to succeed. "History of The Legend of The White King":
In September, Zhao Was not allowed to eat for forty-six days, and all of them were killed and eaten by the inner yin. Come and attack Qin Lei, want to come out. For four teams, four or five times, can not come out.
In the process of forcibly breaking through, Zhao Kuo was killed by random arrows from the Qin army, and the rest of the Zhao generals had to surrender to the Qin state due to heavy casualties. In the end, he was ordered to pit and kill by Bai Qi. In this battle, 450,000 people of the Zhao State died in the Changping Battlefield, the Zhao State was seriously injured, the whole country was in mourning, and the Qin State was the only one from then on.
In order to facilitate understanding, the author has made a table to facilitate the comparison of military strength in the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao:
The Battle of Changping, in which more than 600,000 casualties were inflicted on both sides of the Qin and Zhao dynasties, was the longest-lasting, largest and most tragic war of the Spring and Autumn Warring States period. Due to the defeat of Zhao Kuo, the pattern of the Warring States underwent major changes. As a result, Zhao Kuo became a "historical sinner" of the Zhao state.
The Southern Song Dynasty literary scholar Xu Jun once had a poem commenting on Zhao Kuo:
The young Rui liked to talk about soldiers, and although his father had not yet mastered the art of transmission. Whoever can escape the mother material in a defeat, poor four hundred thousand cangsheng.
This means that Zhao Kuo likes to talk about the military and learn from his father Zhao Hao, but he does not know how to change, and he should be responsible for the lives of more than 400,000 Zhao Guo. In fact, zhao Kuo's defeat did indeed have the crime of greed and rashness, but if he was said to be "talking about soldiers on paper", it was really a bit unjust.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >5, Zhao Kuo's injustice</h1>
First of all, to explain that the Battle of Changping and the defeat of Zhao Kuo did seriously hurt Zhao Guo's vitality, which cannot be denied. The reason why the author believes that Zhao Kuo is wronged is that everyone has misunderstood his ability. The Battle of Changping is a typical theory of "becoming a king and defeating a Kou", and judging from Zhao Kuo's performance, Zhao Kuo has certain abilities, and he is really not a "soldier on paper". I have 3 arguments:
First, judging from the war casualty data, Zhao Kuo has super military capabilities.
After the Battle of Changping, the Qin state suffered 250,000 casualties and the Zhao state lost 450,000, of which more than half of the 450,000 people of the Zhao state were killed after surrendering. In other words, even in the unfavorable situation where Zhao Kuo was surrounded and then failed to break through four or five times in a row, Zhao Kuo did not have the upper hand. Zhao Kuo's failure was due to the continuous grain shortage for 46 days, and if the grain and grass were sufficient, Zhao Kuo's defensive ability would never be lost to Lian Po.
Let me ask you, if the defensive ability and honesty are equal, can it still be called "paper soldiers"?
Second, judging from the course of the war, Zhao Kuo had the ability to fight with the Qin army.
There were two of the four famous generals of the Warring States who appeared on the changping battlefield, one was Bai Qi and the other was Lian Po. Initially, the Qin Dynasty took Wang Gong as a general, and Lian Po did not take advantage of it, and could only shrink the defense. That is to say, in terms of strength, Wang Gong and Lian Po's ability is comparable. However, after Zhao Kuo arrived at the battlefield, the King of Qin secretly changed his command to the Qin army. Zhao Kuo did not know this, and later Zhao Kuo attacked the Qin army camp and won the baiqi strategy, he immediately turned to attack and defend, built a camp, and defended Baiqi. In the face of Bai Qi's attack, Zhao Kuo held out for 46 days.
From the perspective of the whole process, Zhao Kuo's ability from adaptability to defensive ability is very good. He was defeated for two reasons: (i) he did not know that Bai Qi had already come to battle; (ii) the grain road was cut off.
It is reasonable to say that Wang Gong's ability is comparable to that of Lian, and the King of Qin believes that Bai Qi's strength is far above That of Wang Gong, and when Zhao Kuo is surrounded, Bai Qi should be able to easily defeat Zhao Kuo. However, the King of Qin was still not at ease, and he mobilized the local people to participate in blocking the grain route. It can be seen that at least in the eyes of the King of Qin, if Zhao Kuo's grain route is not blocked, Zhao Kuo still has the strength to fight with Bai Qi.
I would like to ask, if Zhao Kuo had the strength to fight with Bai Qi, could he be called a "soldier on paper"?
Third, Zhao Hao's evaluation of his son was not correct.
Zhao Hao once said that once his son became a general, the State of Zhao would be defeated because of Zhao Kuo. Many people believe that this is the most powerful evidence of Zhao Kuo's "talk on paper". Because the ancients had clouds "know the son Mo Ruo father". In fact, this assessment can easily be overturned. Let me give you two small examples.
(1) "History of Gao Zu Benji" Yun:
The first lord often regarded the subject as a rogue and could not rule the industry, which was not as good as Zhongli. What is the cause of this so-and-so and how much?
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang's father, Liu Taigong, considered Liu Bang to be the most promising of all his sons, but Liu Bang turned out to be the most prominent son.
(2) The Chronicle of the Disciples of Zhongni records that:
Zi Gongli spoke cleverly, and Confucius often deposed him.
Confucius had many disciples, of whom Zigong was the most eloquent and later became a famous diplomat in the Spring and Autumn Period. But Confucius often criticized Zigong's debates in person.
The examples of Liu Bang and Liu Taigong can illustrate that a father's view of his son is not necessarily accurate.
The examples of Zigong and Confucius can be illustrated: in ancient times, elders were generally very strict with children, and in order to prevent children from being arrogant, even if children did well, elders would not easily praise, but often criticized.
Therefore, Zhao Kuo was criticized by his father, perhaps because his father had lost sight of him, or because his father deliberately criticized him in order to avoid Zhao Kuo's pride. Otherwise, Zhao Hao came up with a question and asked what was difficult for Zhao Kuo (luxury can not be difficult)?
To sum up, the author believes that Zhao Kuo has a certain military ability, and the reason why he has been belittled by posterity is that the theory of "becoming a king and losing a Kou" is at work, not that he only knows empty talk about military affairs. Therefore, to say that Zhao Kuo will only "talk on paper" is actually the biggest injustice to Zhao Kuo.