*God of War White Up 23*

The God of War was white

Battle of Changping severely damaged the Zhao state (23)

From the forty-third year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (264 BC), the State of Qin used Fan Ju's strategy of "long-distance and close attack" to stabilize relations with the distant states of Qi, Chu, Zhao, and Yan, and began to plan another military attack on the neighboring han and Wei countries. Fan Ju proposed that the border between the Qin state and the Korean state was intertwined, embedded in each other's territory, and the Qin state had a large number of troops and was not easy to manage, and should first attack Korea, march east along the Linfen Basin in Shanxi, seize the cities along the way, clear the worries of the eastward advance, and then continue to attack the important Korean town of Yewang (present-day Qinyang, Henan) in the southeast, and the final strategic goal was directed at shangdang, where it would face a stubborn old rival, the Zhao state.

King Zhaoxiang of Qin had long wanted to strike hard at the Zhao state, washing away the shame of the year's bruises and defeat, so he gladly agreed to Fan Ju's strategic plan and ordered Wu Anjun to lead an army to the east.

At this time, Bai Qi had not led troops to fight for nearly ten years, but his ambition had not diminished, and after receiving the military order of the King of Qin, his natural spirit was invigorated, and he wanted to cross the battlefield again, show his skills, and compete with the Zhao Army on the battlefield.

Since the three branches of the Jin Dynasty, the Shangdang area has been occupied by the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao, and Wei, and because of its dangerous terrain, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it has been regarded as a strategic place since ancient times. In particular, in part of the Shangdang area held by Korea, the Taihang Mountains run through it from south to north, and if the armies of Han and Zhao are heavily guarded by various mountain passes, they can condescendingly look at the hinterland of the Qin Guanzhong and completely seal the gate of the Qin state to the east, so if the Qin state wants to advance into the Central Plains, it must capture the Shangdang.

Bai Qi was already very familiar with the route of the eastward advance, and decided to march in two ways, one way from Xianyang to the east of the Wei River, and then into the Yellow River to the north. The other marched east along the Wei River valley, crossed the Yellow River, turned north, and the two armies joined forces at Xintian (新田, in present-day Houma, Linfen, Shanxi) and continued to attack eastward.

The Qin army led by Bai Qi attacked fiercely and invinciblely, and the Korean army was difficult to resist and constantly retreated, and the Qin army successively captured nine cities such as The Korean city of Jingcheng (present-day northeast of Linfen Quwo County, Shanxi), and killed 50,000 Korean troops.

In the forty-fourth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (263 BC), Bai Qi led the Qin army to control important passes such as the Taihang Mountain Key Road, Bai Guanxi (50), and sent troops to garrison the mountain pass to prevent Han Zhao's army from advancing west to attack the Qin state.

The following year, in the forty-fifth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin (262 BC), Bai Qi again led the Qin army to capture the Korean military towns of Yewang and wei huaiyi (51), blockaded Taihang, and completely cut off all roads between Shangdang County (under the city of Changzhi in Shanxi Province) and the Korean mainland from the southern end of Shangdang, so that the Shangdang region of Korea was separated from The Korean territory, and only the eastern part of shangdang was connected to Zhao and Wei. At this point, Bai Qi achieved the first goal of the eastward expansion strategy and returned to Xianyang to resume his life.

At this moment, the Korean monarch Han Huanhui understood that Shangdang was inevitable for the Qin state, at any cost. South Korea's strength is limited, unable to resist the tiger-wolf attack of the Qin army led by Bai Qi, and it is futile to resist desperately, so it is better to hand over the shangdang to the Qin state, so as not to start another war and sacrifice the lives of countless Korean soldiers and civilians. Therefore, the King of Han ordered Shangdang Commandery Shou Feng Ting (52) to send emissaries to the Qin State, offering to cut off the land of the Party and seek peace.

He knew that the people of the Zhao State were unwilling to accept the rule of the Qin State because of the barbarism of the Qin people and the harsh criminal law of the Qin State, and he said to his subordinates: "I am a Subject of Korea, how can I sacrifice my land to the enemy country?" ”

The subordinate asked, "Now that King Han has ordered the Shangdang to be dedicated to the Qin State in order to surrender, I am unable to resist the attack of the Qin army, but the Lord said that he would not dedicate the Shangdang to the Qin State. ”

(To be continued)

note:

(50) 轵關陉, one of the Eight Eunuchs of Taihang, 陉, pronounced xíng. The east-west valley in the Taihang Mountains is called Jing, the famous ones are JunduXing, Puyin, Feihuxing, Jingxing, Fukou, Baixing, Taihang, Xuanguan, etc., known in ancient times as Taihang Baxing, which is the eight throat passages that cross the Taihang Mountains in ancient times.

(51) Huaiyi, whose seat of government was in present-day Tucheng Village, Yangcheng Township, Wuzhi County, Henan.

(52) Feng Ting (? – 260 BC), a native of Changping (present-day Fengjiazhuang, Sizhuang Town, Gaoping, Shanxi), was a Korean general who served as the sheriff of Shangdang County, and was defeated and killed at the Battle of Changping.