"The King of Qin sweeps the Liuhe, the tiger looks at He Xiongya" Li Bai's poem is indeed domineering, in real history, the unification of the Six Kingdoms of the Qin State is even more domineering, and it took only ten years to end the Five-Hundred-Year-Long Spring and Autumn Warring States Chaos and sweep away the Six Kingdoms. But then again, the reason why Qin Shi Huang was able to complete the unification in such a short period of time was more due to the accumulation of the previous hundred years, which had to be said to be the Battle of Changping, which determined the final fate of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States!
This great decisive battle in which the two sides invested more than one million troops and civilians finally ended in the fiasco of the Zhao State. In this battle, the beheading of the Zhao army reached a staggering 450,000 or so, so that there were almost no men in the Zhao state, and the national strength was extremely weak, but the Zhao state was not swept down by the Qin state, but lasted for another thirty years before it was finally destroyed. Why couldn't the State of Qin take the Master of Great Victory to destroy the State of Zhao? Today, let us put aside the doubts of history and explore the truth.
Before the Battle of Changping, Qin destroyed the Chu state through the Battle of Chuisha and the Battle of Yanyin, and then knocked the former overlord Wei to the ground through the Battle of Yique, and then eliminated Korea and the Yan kingdom, which had been fighting soy sauce. In this way, according to the principle of long-distance and close attack of the Qin State, only zhao Guo was able to wrench the wrist with the Qin state.
Through the reform of Zhao Wuling's Hufu riding and shooting, the State of Zhao made its military strength reach its peak, although after the change of the dune palace, its strength was weakened, but it still could not be underestimated. Just ten years before the Battle of Changping, the State of Zhao defeated the Qin army in the Battle of Fuhe. It can be said that neither the Zhao State nor the State of Qin is 100% sure of taking down the opponent
The cause of the Battle of Changping was that the Shangdang of Korea, which had been ceded by Korea to the Shangdang of Korea, turned around and defected to the Zhao State, which was also the Three Jins, and the disaster was brought to the east. Of course, the State of Qin refused to give up and led troops to attack Zhao, and the State of Zhao also urgently sent Lian Po to garrison the Army in Changping to defend the Qin Army.
At this time, the two sides would never have imagined that this war would evolve into a national fortune war that lasted nearly three years and involved a total of one million troops on both sides.
At the time when Zhao Guo changed generals and replaced Zhao Kuo, the two armies of Qin and Zhao had been pulling for three years. At this time, Zhao Guo was on the one hand, Lian Po had repeatedly lost battles and suffered many casualties; on the other hand, Zhao Guo had no grain to support the front line and had to borrow grain from this large household in the State of Qi, but unfortunately the State of Qi was blind, only cared about the immediate interests, and refused Zhao Guo's request to borrow grain. There was no strong foreign aid, morale was frustrated, and at this time, the Zhao Army was actually in a desperate situation, only sooner or later.
Qin Jun's side was not happy either. The Qin army's transportation supply lines were longer, three times that of the Zhao State, and the consumption was also more. So that Bai Qi cut off the main grain route of the Zhao army, and when the battle came to the most critical time, King Zhaoxiang of Qin had to personally come to Hanoi County, and was authorized to raise the titles of all the local people by one level, and even more to requisition the young and strong people over the age of fifteen in Hanoi County.
For the Qin State, although the Battle of Changping can be called a big victory, it can also be said to be a tragic victory. Someone once raised a very interesting topic, that is, after the Qin army captured the 400,000 troops of the Zhao army, why did not choose to transport these 400,000 young and strong laborers back to China as coolies?
The fact is that the Qin army has no surplus grain to support these 400,000 prisoners, and the "Spring and Autumn of the Lü Dynasty" clearly records that "although the Qin (state) was greatly victorious over Changping, it was decided after three years, the soldiers and the people were tired, and the grain was exhausted", and the battle was fought not only by the bravery of the soldiers, but also by the logistics of grain and grass. Throughout the Battle of Changping, the State of Qin successively gathered more than 600,000 soldiers and civilians into the battlefield, and the casualties also reached an astonishing 200,000, and the cost of money and food was countless. Bai Qi, the commander of the Qin army, resolutely ordered the pit to kill the Zhao army, in order to completely cut off the opportunity for Zhao Guo to rise again.
At this time, the Qin army still had the strength to fight a battle, and Bai Qi naturally would not let go of the opportunity to expand the results of the battle, so that Wang Gong attacked and occupied the Pi Prison of the Zhao State, and Sima Ji captured Taiyuan, while Bai Qi personally led his headquarters to drive directly to Handan, advancing in three directions, obviously rushing to destroy Zhao.
At this time, due to the conquest of the Qin state every year, the attrition was serious, and when he learned that Zhao and Han had conspired and it was possible to restart the Plan of the Six Kingdoms to jointly resist Qin, King Zhaoxiang of Qin had to consider the request of Zhao and Han to divide the land and seek peace. After all, if you really attack Handan at this time and destroy the Shock of the Zhao Kingdom to the princes of the world, it is far from being comparable to killing 400,000 Zhao pawns, and it is very likely that there will be another Six Kingdoms to cut down Qin at that time, and it will be difficult for the Qin State to bear it at this time.
Militarily, with Bai Qi's ability to command troops, this should be the best time to pacify the Zhao state, but from other aspects, the qin state at this time is far from ready to destroy a large country of equal size
After the Battle of Changping, after experiencing the shock and trepidation of learning the news of being killed by the pit of 400,000 people, Zhao Guo reacted at the first time, that is, to stabilize the wolf-like Qin state, and the best way to stabilize the Qin state was of course a strategy of connivance, so Zhao Dan immediately contacted Korea, used Su Dai to send an envoy to the Qin state, lobbied Fan Ju, and made a request for peace.
Since it is to seek peace, of course, we must give enough benefits, after all, the army of Bai Qi is at the door, so the conditions set by Zhao and Han are that South Korea cede Yuanyong, and as a big country, Zhao Guo wants to cede six cities at a time, so much blood, the Qin state announced its withdrawal from the army, and returned the army to the party. The credit to the mouth flew, and Bai Qi and Fan Ju were suspicious of each other, which also laid the groundwork for the successful defense of the subsequent Battle of Handan.
The way he was already powerless to resist and did not want to be beaten by the enemy was nothing more than begging the enemy to let go of a horse, or quickly finding helpers. Although the other four teammates already only have a share of the beating, they can share the damage after all. Therefore, King Zhao Xiaocheng played a small move, ceding six cities to the State of Qin, changing it to ceding to the State of Qi, king Zhao himself also knew that although the State of Qin temporarily withdrew, but it would definitely make a comeback, if the city pool was given to the State of Qin, it was tantamount to beating a dog with meat buns, but it was different to give the State of Qi a different way, first of all, regardless of whether the State of Qi would be a white-eyed wolf again, at least to give the State of Qin to see Zhao Qi, so that the Qin State would also weigh it.
After ceding the six cities to the State of Qi, King Xiaocheng of Zhao's trading journey was far from over, and while establishing relations with the two Warring States Soy Sauce Parties of Han and Yan, he re-concluded a pact with the State of Wei, re-established the relationship between the Three Jins, and directly and generously sealed Lingqiu to the State of Chu Xiangchun Shenjun. Zhao Guo used the land-cutting offensive to finally bundle other powers except Qin into chariots and form a fragile and loose alliance of combined verticals, allowing Zhao Guo to get rid of the crisis of collapse in a short period of time.
After a few months, the hindsighted King Zhaoxiang of Qin finally discovered that something was wrong, and the State of Qin not only did not receive the six cities that the State of Zhao should give in the contract, but instead received the news that the State of Zhao was actively contacting the Five Kingdoms and wanted to rebel against him again, which could not be tolerated at all. So the King of Qin started another war, so that Wang Ling, who was the ninth rank of the Qin Dynasty at that time, once again sent troops directly into the Zhao state of Handan, this war can be regarded as a follow-up to the Battle of Changping, and at this time, the qin state was a little red-eyed, vowing to destroy the Zhao state.
Although the pre-war thinking was unified, the State of Qin at this time had missed the best opportunity to destroy the State of Zhao, and although the State of Zhao at this time had not yet recovered its field combat capabilities, it already had the ability to hold the city to the ground. Therefore, although the hundreds of thousands of Qin troops under the leadership of Wang Ling were invincible all the way, they attacked Zhao Di without any obstacles and drove straight to Handan, but they did everything in their power to bite the city of Handan, which was high in the city.
Of course, in the Battle of Handan, there was a clear gap in the level of the generals between the two sides, and the commander of the Qin side was only the unknown Five Great Masters Wang Ling, who was later degraded due to unfavorable combat and replaced by Wang Gong, the deputy of Bai Qi. Even if the person was replaced, he was still not an incorruptible opponent of one of the four famous generals of the Warring States, and the Qin army commander drove into Zhao Di and could not attack Handan for a long time, at this time the advantages and disadvantages of both sides had changed.
King Zhao's land-cutting offensive began to show great power at this time. When the Qin army was strong, the other countries trembled and did not dare to move, but when the two sides reached the stage of stalemate, the other five were ready to move. Chun Shenjun, the minister of the State of Chu, who had first received benefits, was persuaded by Mao Sui, the commander of the Zhao State Pingyuan Jun, to be willing to chen bing on the border and look at the tiger. The old friend of Wei Guo, who was also the Third Jin Dynasty, had the incident of "Xin Lingjun stealing the charm to save Zhao", xin Lingjun stole the Zhao King Tiger Charm and came to the rescue with the Wei army.
Since then, the Qin state has consumed a huge amount of money, and the reinforcements of Wei and Chu have arrived, and they have no choice but to retreat, only in this battle of Handan, the Qin army lost another 200,000 soldiers and civilians, and the two wars before and after a total of 400,000 casualties, even if the Qin state was stronger than other countries after the Shang martingale transformation, it could not withstand such consumption, so it took the initiative to conclude a peace treaty with the Zhao state and exchange protons, so Qin Shi Huang's father wine was sent to the Zhao state as a hostage.
After the Battle of Handan, the State of Qin was unable to fight again, and the State of Zhao was finally able to catch its breath and successfully extended to thirty years later.
In the Battle of Handan, compared with the decision-making of the upper level and the game of the two generals, the resistance of the Zhao people was more powerful, which was also the evil consequence of killing 400,000 Zhao people in the Battle of Changping. It was true that killing the pawns in the pit could make Zhao Guo frightened and frustrated. But it also made the Zhao Kingdom hate each other from top to bottom, and after a short period of chaos, the only women, children, old and young left in the Zhao Kingdom erupted into the most powerful force. Under the leadership of veteran Lian Po, he desperately persevered. And Pingyuan Jun even incorporated his wives and concubines into the army
When the Wei-Chu coalition army had not yet arrived, Zhao Sheng scattered his family wealth to recruit three thousand death squads, led by Li Tan, who was the son of Zhao Guoshe, and forced the Qin army to retreat more than thirty miles in one fell swoop, at which time the Wei-Chu coalition army arrived, and the siege of Handan City was lifted, but Li Tan died heroically in the army. He himself was only the son of a sacrificial man, and had no obligation to lead the battle, but he led the death squad to charge forward without hesitation. When the country is in danger, the potential of the people explodes.
On the other hand, it can also be seen that the military and civilians of the Zhao State at this time are united, just when Wang Gong replaced Wang Ling as the main general and repeatedly attacked unfavorably. The King of Qin insisted on enabling Bai Qi, but Bai Qi refused to be a general, until the King of Qin ordered the emissary to give him a sword, and Bai Qi said sadly: "In the Battle of Changping, I used the pit to kill hundreds of thousands of people in zhao guo, which was enough to let myself die. "Killed yourself in anger. From this point of view, Bai Qi knew very well in his heart, after killing 400,000 Zhao jun in the pit. Unless the Zhao State falls in a war, it will be difficult to destroy the Zhao State again, because at this time the people of the Zhao State are already in the same vendetta.
At the same time, the act of pit killing and descending pawns will also frighten the princes, and naturally join forces to resist Qin, even if the King of Qin says that "there are those who dare to save Zhao among the princes, and those who attack and save Zhao first after defeating Zhao" shocked the King of Wei. However, Xin Lingjun was able to successfully steal the Tiger Rune, kill the commander Jin, and select 80,000 elite soldiers to relieve the siege of Handan, indicating that the decision-making level of the Wei State already understood that if he did not save Zhao, he would be next.
To select the most historically significant war from the previous battles of the Warring States, it is definitely not the Battle of Changping. The two sides of the battle, on the one hand, the incomparably powerful Qin state after the Shang martingale changed the law, and on the other hand, the Qin state swept away the last obstacle of the Six Kingdoms, and the Zhao state, which was in full strength after experiencing the Hufu riding and shooting, history chose the Qin state to win, and also let the Spring and Autumn Warring States, which had been divided for hundreds of years, see the dawn of reunification. Of course not, because at this time, the State of Qin already had ambitions to annex the world, and the Three Jins in the Shandong Kingdoms had always been the first line of resistance against Qin, and a war against the country could not be avoided.
Fan Ju's whale devouring and encroaching strategy has always been the strategic goal of the Qin State, to get an inch is an inch of the Qin State, to get a foot is a foot of the Qin State, to truly digest every inch of land, which is also the reason why the Qin State chose to keep letting the countries cut the land in the middle of the period, on the one hand, weakening the Shandong states, on the other hand, it also kept pushing the front forward steadily, so as to put its heartland in a safe position and stand in an invincible position.
It can also be seen from the Battle of Handan that it is also very difficult for the Qin State to swallow the whale and directly take down a big country, and it is unable to digest the results of the battle. From this point of view, Qin Shi Huang spent a short period of ten years to solve the Six Kingdoms, which also left hidden dangers for the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, so that there was a later Dispute with Liu Xiang.
Therefore, after the Battle of Changping, with the prosperity of the Qin army, it is indeed possible to defeat the Zhao state in one battle, but the various problems that followed were likely to drag down the Qin state in advance. Of course, more importantly, in the very short period after the Battle of Changping, the decision-making of the Qin State became a problem, choosing Fan Ju's reinstatement of the shangdang, resting and recuperating, waiting for the opportunity, and then using the strategy of constantly attacking and encroaching on the princely states, but it was by no means a large-scale campaign immediately after the retreat, it can be said that if there was no follow-up Battle of Handan, it is possible that the Zhao state would not continue for more than thirty years, and the unification of the Warring States is very likely to appear in a short period of time.