Chapter 33 7. With water attack, Wang Ben destroyed Wei

In 225 BC, that is, the 22nd year of Qin Wang Yingzheng, after Zhao was wiped out, Qin Wang Yingzheng sent Wang Ben to lead an army to attack Wei.At this time, only the capital Daliang and a small part of land to the east of Wei State remained.The rest of the land had already been dedicated to Qin in 231 BC for self-protection. Wang Ben's army surrounded Daliang, the capital of Wei, and attacked the city day and night.Since the Wei State at this time was in no danger to defend, all the soldiers and civilians had to stick to the isolated city of Daliang. In addition, the city of Daliang was so high and deep that it was extremely strong, and it was difficult for the Qin army to capture it for a while.

Seeing this situation, Wang Ben thought that even if he fought hard like this, it would be a meaningless sacrifice, so he began to think about new tactics.After carefully inspecting the terrain around the beam, Wang Ben made a big discovery.He found that although the girders were solid, the terrain was very low, and the embankment of the Yellow River in the west of the city was far higher than the girder's city wall. If the Yellow River water was poured into the girder, the city wall would be washed away.Even without being overwhelmed.The foundations of the city walls that have been soaked in the flood for a long time will also be eroded. At that time, Daliang City will collapse without attack.

The Yellow River flows west of Daliang, and the Bian River originating in Xingyang also flows west of Daliang City, so Daliang is also called Bianliang.Long before Qin State led troops to attack Wei State, when Lord Xinling was still alive, he warned King Wei An: "If you decide to flood the girders with Yingshui, the girders will perish!" Look it up. Without further ado, Wang Ben immediately wrote a letter to Qin Wang Yingzheng, asking for permission to use water attack. After receiving Wang Ben's letter, Qin Wang Yingzheng was shocked. Because the matter was so important, he summoned Wang Wan, Wei Liao, Li Si, Zheng Guo and other close officials to discuss.

"Daliang, crowned with the world's splendor and wealth, is an extraordinary city that gathers the wealth of the world; whether it can be attacked by water warfare must be carefully considered. I don't know what opinions do you love?" King Qin Yingzheng said. "Using water as a soldier has not existed since ancient times." Wang Wan said with emotion: "Although the water war at the end of Jin Dynasty, the Zhao family did not perish because of it. But it is different today. Thousands of common people were killed or injured? In this case, even if the Qin State wins the Central Plains, what are the benefits and morality? How can the world be safe if both righteousness and interests are lost?" Obviously, Wang Wan opposed the water attack on Daliang, and unified this water warfare strategy with Qin State The moral foundation of the world is connected.

There was a moment of silence in the hall. "In the opinion of a humble minister, let's talk about soldiers." Veteran Wei Liao broke the silence and said, "If it is true that the water attacks Daliang, Wang Ben must have made careful arrangements, so that the common people in the city will not be devastated. If we use a strong army to fight I'm afraid that it will take three to five years for an army of 300,000 troops, and it may not be able to attack Daliang. How could it be so easy to break through the war, and how much people and material resources will be required? If there are other delays in the meantime, I am afraid it will take more than a year. Can Qin stand up to such a war?"

"What does Zheng Aiqing think?" Ying Zheng looked at Zheng Guo expectantly. "If it's really a water battle, it's not difficult to break the river." Zheng Guowei said: "Going east of the river, the chasm goes south and passes outside the city of Daliang. The distance is as close as the moat of Daliang. If it is true to divert water to attack the beam, the mouth of the river is not in the river, but in the chasm. But There is one point, the water volume of the chasm is not large enough, it has to be replenished from the upper end close to the big river in order to become a force. This is exactly what Lord Xinling said about the water breaking at the mouth of the river."

"Since the chasm connects to the river, why isn't there much water?" Wei Liao asked suspiciously. "This is the matter of water." Zheng Guo sighed and said, "The gap has been built for several generations, and the waterway has been silted up for more than a hundred years. It stands to reason that the water should have been cut off to dig out the silt. It's a pity that the war has been going on for years, and the countries are powerless. Gu Gu. There are folk songs saying that the gap is blocked by mud, the water in the half canal, the river is surging, and the rice and sorghum are hard to fertilize."

King Qin Yingzheng looked at Li Si, who had been silent all this time, and asked, "I don't know if Chang Shi has any opinions?" Although Li Si has not expressed his opinion, he has been listening attentively. Seeing the king of Qin's consultation, he quickly replied: "I heard that the theory just now is enough to prove that the Daliang water war is feasible. It is only what the prime minister said, which is related to the morality of destroying the country." Fundamentally, I have no choice but to speak." Seeing Wang Wan turn around solemnly, Li Si opened the copy of Wang Ben's letter and pointed out: "It is impossible to have no tigers and wolves in the world, and it is impossible to have tigers and wolves everywhere. Wang Benzhi's words have enlightened me deeply. What is the reason? Because Wang Ben proposed a fundamental way: to practice great benevolence in the world, there must be unavoidable inhumanity. If you want the world to be free from tigers and wolves, you must first have tigers and wolves in the world; To be specific, if we don’t attack Daliang with water, the Wei State will be dying, and the world will not be unified, and the war will not stop, but benevolence and righteousness will only exist. In the long run, is it benevolent? Isn’t it benevolent? I think the battle of Daliang should not be confined to The theory of benevolence and righteousness cannot be delayed for a long time! Otherwise, the changes in the Central Plains will be unpredictable."

"Daren is not benevolent, what Chang Shi said is absolutely true!" King Qin Yingzheng sighed helplessly, and Wang Wan shook his head and stopped arguing.Because when discussing matters during wartime, the ministers all understand the truth that "everything will come to an end". If you continue to fight endlessly, nothing will be done. "It's a very important matter, I dare to invite you..." Qin Wang Yingzheng said, stood up from his seat, and solemnly bowed deeply to Zheng Guo. "The state affairs are of the utmost importance, what can your majesty say?" Before Zheng Guo could stand up, he was supported by King Qin Yingzheng.

"Dare to invite you to come and make plans for the water incident in Daliang." King Qin Yingzheng continued. At this time, Zheng Guo's eyes flashed, and he unexpectedly looked at Li Si.Li Si understood, and immediately cupped his hands to the King of Qin and said, "I would like to assist you to go to Hewai." The King of Qin laughed heartily and said, "Lao Ling and Chang Shi are friends, so I can rest easy." After all the affairs were arranged properly, the next day, at dawn, Li Si and Zheng Guo boarded the king's chariot driven by Zhao Gao and left Xianyang to the east.

As soon as Wang Ben saw Li Si and Zheng Guo coming, he knew that King Qin Yingzheng had approved him to use water attack. He stepped forward happily and said, "The king of Qin sent two adults to help, and the irrigation of the beams will surely succeed immediately." After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Zheng Guo said straight to the point: "Daliang is the north-south section of the divide. Don't look at the south section of the divide. The northern section of the divide is the key to water attack. The most important part of the north section is the mouth of the ditch that leads the river into the ditch. How about the mouth of the ditch? Open? Where is it open? How much power will it take? I have to do a survey myself to make a decision.” So, in the early morning of the next day, Wang Ben led a team of thousands of cavalry to escort Zheng Guo and Li Si to the outskirts of Guangwu City on the south bank of the Dahe River for reconnaissance. Guangwu City is located on the south bank of the Dahe River.This place was originally an unnamed mountain, because of Guangwu City, this mountain was also called Guangwu Mountain.Guangwu City was built into two small castles in the east and west according to the mountain situation. In the middle is a mountain stream with a width of more than 200 steps, which was also called Guangwu stream at that time.Back then, when the chasm was dug to divert the river, this natural mountain stream was used.First connect the mountain stream to the north and the river bank, and the river water first enters the stream and then enters the ditch. In this way, the rocky entrance of the mountain stream can control the water volume.Otherwise, no matter how firm the embankment is, the ditches formed by the two earth embankments will not be able to withstand the impact of the waves of the raging river. It is really impossible to build an artificial canal leading out of the river.Only by making full use of Guangwu Jian can the gap be bridged.Zheng Guo was a hydraulic engineer who excavated Honggou in the later period, and he knew the terrain of Honggou waterway like the palm of his hand.After half a day of reconnaissance, Zheng Guo had already figured it out, pointed out the vital points in a low voice to Wang Ben beside him, and hurried back to the camp at dusk. That night, Wang Ben immediately sent Kuaima special envoys to invite Meng Wu and the prefect of Yingchuan County, together with Li Si and Zheng Guo, the five of them discussed the affairs of all parties one by one.In the early morning of the next day, Wang Ben's shogunate gathered generals to issue an order and deployed a water attack strategy.All parties dispersed, and the entire Qin army camp outside the river and the county and county government offices became quietly busy.When Meng Wu returned to Luoshui Daying, he immediately dispatched 10,000 light cavalry to the governor of Yingchuan County to guard the governor and the two groups of officials led by the governor to rush to the southern section of the Honggou. The common people on both sides of the divide in the Ministry retreated to the high places of the mountains to live temporarily. Wang Ben's 50,000 main forces were divided into three groups: one was Zhao Tuo leading 5,000 troops and supervising 20,000 strong migrant workers to break through the gully; Before breaking the water, Zhao Tuo's two wings were supported at the same time; along the way, five thousand Qingqi were supported by all parties.Among the three roads, Zhao Tuo's army is the key, and the time limit for breaching is five days and five nights.This is the time calculated by Zheng Guo.Zheng Guo said that it can't be shorter, otherwise it can't be guaranteed that nothing will happen. Zhao Tuo's water breaking project is divided into four parts: 1. Widen the original mountain pass for water intake, so that the amount of water to irrigate the fields is large enough to submerge Daliang City; 2. Widen the diversion ditch where the river water enters the mountain pass, so that the river water can flow into the widened gully mouth unimpeded as much as possible; 3. Widen the mouth of Guangwujian into the gap, so that the greatly increased water flow can rush into the ditch; 4. Dredge the ditch section from the gap to the girder to prevent the water from overflowing before entering the girder. As if it was God's will to destroy Wei, at the right time, it rained heavily for days, and for a while, the water of the Yellow River and the Bian River surged.Wang Ben, who was helped by God, immediately ordered the city to be flooded.After the levee was dug open, the water of the Yellow River and the Bian River suddenly rushed straight to the beam, and the flood surrounded the beam. Faced with this scene, Wei Wang still refused to accept surrender.He thought that the walls of Daliang City were high and thick, and the granary and armory were full. Even if they couldn't fight, there would never be a civil uprising.Therefore, the king of Wei issued a letter to the king of Anmin, falsely claiming that Qi and Chu would dispatch navy and warships to rescue Wei, and asked the people to wait for the reinforcements in peace.As a result, the panic-stricken Daliang City became quiet again. After a month of flooding, all kinds of unheard-of scenes appeared in the impenetrable Daliang City. All the well water overflowed the well mouth, all the streets and houses were wet, and all the grain sprouted green shoots. The meat was moldy green and smelly.Until the water in the street gradually increased, Daliang City no longer had the vitality of the past.After that, the bricks and stones of the city fell off one by one, exposing the rammed earth wall; as time passed, the rammed earth wall also collapsed into piles of mud hills, and gradually, the mud hills disappeared... … Two months after the beam was flooded, the Qin army blocked the water outlet, and the water gradually receded.Even so, the tragic scene continues.The thick silt filled all the depressions and blocked all the passages in and out of the girder. The girder, which was unusually majestic two months ago, has become a vast gray-yellow ruin. After three months, the silt thicker than several feet formed a solid ground. The Qin army entered Daliang, massacred the city, captured Wei Wangjia, and won the victory by attacking Daliang by water. In the battle of Qin State's attack on Daliang, the capital of Wei, if he fought recklessly, the Qin army would definitely suffer huge losses.Wang Ben's plan to flood Daliang City was actually a last resort.Leaving aside the disaster that the flooding brought to the people of Wei State, this is a good strategy just from the perspective of military strategy.It can be seen from this that Wang Ben is a brave and resourceful general, with the demeanor of his father Wang Jian.