Chapter 25 4. The Brutal Battle of the Qin and Han Dynasties

After Qin General Zhang Han defeated Chen Sheng's remnants, he immediately sent his troops to destroy Wei State. The land in Wei State was conquered by Chen Sheng's old brother Zhou Shi.At first Zhou Shi wanted to conquer Qi, but Tian Dan of Qi took the lead and occupied Di County to restore the country.So Zhou Shi went to Wei, and everyone persuaded him to become king, but he was very clear-headed, knowing that he was not worthy enough, and being king would only make him die faster, so he helped Wei Jiu, the descendant of King Wei, and Zhou Shi did it himself. Prime Minister Wei. In June of 208 BC, Qin general Zhang Han came to fight aggressively and fought Zhou Shi in Linji.Poor Zhou Shi started his career as a garrison soldier, and his starting point is too low, while Zhang Han is a ministerial-level leading cadre with all talents in Qin State. The quality of the two parties is not at the same level.As a result, the weekly market failed, and he retreated into Linji City.

King Jiu of Wei knew that he was in serious trouble this time, so he sent Zhou Shi to seek help from Chu and Qi.Xiang Liang from the state of Chu sent a man named Xiang Tuo. Judging from his name, he should be a relative of Xiang Liang's family.In the Qi State, Qi Wang Tian Dan personally led his troops to come for reinforcements.The armies of the two countries arrived at the foot of Linji City and were preparing for a big fight.But thinking of the night, Zhang Han suddenly ordered that each soldier find a wooden stick, bite it in his mouth, and then quickly attack the camps of the two armies of Chu and Qi with a knife. Law.

The armies of Chu and Qi were in their sweet dreams. Unexpectedly, Qin Bing didn't sleep in the middle of the night, and suddenly came in without saying a word. With a knife in his arms, the two armies of Chu and Qi were defeated, and the corpses were all over the place. On the ground, blood flowed into rivers.Tian Dan, king of Qi, was hacked to death, Zhou Shi was captured, and Xiang Tuo, a general of Chu, disappeared. No one would have expected that Wei King Wei Jiu, who was originally regarded as a puppet, now glowed with humanity. He sent someone to negotiate with Zhang Han, demanding that Zhang Han not slaughter the city or harm the people of Linji, while Wei Blame is rewarded with self-judgment.The envoys went back and forth several times, and after both parties signed the treaty, Wei Jiu sat on the firewood, lit a fire, and burned himself to death.

History still owes Wei Jiu a fair evaluation, he is a benevolent man, he did not hesitate to fall into the fire pit just to protect the people of Linji.This bodhisattva's heart allows us to glimpse the light of human nature in this bloody era. The benevolent died, and the bloody breath once again obliterated this era. Wei Jiu turned his soul into heaven, and his younger brother Wei Bao fled to the state of Chu, begging Xiang Liang to uphold justice for him.Xiang Liang gave him thousands of troops and asked him to go back and take back his homeland. Qi's reinforcements included Tian Dan, king of Qi, and Tian Rong, Tian Dan's cousin. Tian Rong packed up the remnants and headed east. Annihilating.Worried that the annihilation of Tian Rong would lead to the demise of the fragile state of Qi again, Dong'e became the focus of history, and Xiang Liang commanded Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Yingbu, and General Pu to drive the army.

This is an out-and-out all-star lineup, with Liu Bang and Xiang Yu each leading their generals to charge and kill; Fan Zeng and Shu Suntong standing beside Xiang Liang and making suggestions;In the history of mankind, such a perfect army can no longer be pieced together. It is definitely a humble word to say that this army is invincible. The strategic plan for the battle of Dong'e is as follows: use Xiang Liang to command the armies, use the most brave Long Qie as the vanguard, and take Dong'e directly.Liu Bang and Xiang Yu leveled the periphery of Dong'e to cope with the attack of the Central Route Army.Logically speaking, the two armies of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu should be divided into left and right groups according to their affiliation.But on the actual battlefield, the two are obviously too close, and most of the battles are fought together.

The most typical one is to attack the two cities of Meng and Yu.Liu Bang's battle report stated: Cao Shen and Zhou Bo attacked the two cities of Meng and Yu, and then attacked Zhanghan in the west of Xiayi, and captured them all. Zhou Bo made a second-class contribution when attacking Zhanghan's chariot troops. From this battle report, one can see the flaws at a glance.With the energy of Cao Shen and Zhou Bo at that time, it was still possible to attack the two cities of Meng and Yu, but it was unlikely to be defeated.As for attacking Zhang Han, it is almost a fantasy. In fact, these battles were fought by Xiang Yu.Cao Shen and Zhou Bo should be observers sent by Liu Bang to Xiang Yu's army.After Xiang Yu captured Yucheng, he met the legendary beauty Yuji in Chinese history in the city. Heroes are rare and beautiful women are hard to find. At this time of war and chaos, the two fell in love without registering in time.From then on, Concubine Yu followed Xiang Yu, fought south and north, ran here and there, and never separated again.

After capturing Yu County, Xiang Yu, Cao Shen, and Zhou Bo attacked the mobile Qin soldiers west of Xiayi, and attacked the Qin soldiers' chariot troops.These Qin soldiers were uniformly named Zhang Han to emphasize the brilliance of their achievements. After that, Zhou Bo attacked Dongmin and Lixian with great momentum.Attacking Niasang, Zhou Bo was the first to ascend the city, and made another military exploit.But Cao Shen left Kang's father, and after defeating Kang's father, he and Zhou Bo reunited.This time it was Cao Shen's turn to go to the city first, so Liu Bang named Cao Shen the fifth doctor.

During this journey, Xia Houying made the fastest progress. He finally learned how to fight with chariots, commanding chariots to attack Qin soldiers on the outskirts of Dong'a.When he was about to fight, he took the lead and drove into the Qin army. He fought bravely. Liu Bang was overjoyed and bestowed Xia Houying with the title of Zhigui. On the main battlefield under the city of Dong'e, Xiang Liang's vanguard general Long Qi, bravely crowned the three armies.Seeing this group of people so fierce, Zhang Han knew that he had encountered a strong opponent, so he immediately pulled his troops west to avoid the front.

Xiang Liang went after Zhang Han, and at the same time sent Xiang Yu and Liu Bang to attack Chengyang. The two of Liu Xiang finally teamed up in an epic way in history.We know that, in the whole world, I am afraid that no one can block their combined attack.Therefore, the battle of Chengyang is written in the history books very simply. All we know is that Fan Kui went to the city first, indicating that Liu Bang did not lose to Xiang Yu in this friendly match. Because the history books are too simple, no one knows how Xiang Yu and Liu Bang cooperated.But the result of their cooperation left many people stunned—the two teamed up to take down Chengyang, and then massacred the city.

"Historical Records Gaozu Benji" records like this: "Send Pei Gong and Xiang Yu not to attack Chengyang, but to slaughter him." "Historical Records Xiang Yu Benji" records like this: "Xiang Liang sent Pei Gong and Xiang Yu to attack Chengyang and slaughter them." Volume 8 records like this: "Wu Xinjun pursued the north alone, so that Xiang Yu and Pei Gong did not attack Chengyang and slaughtered them." "Han Shu Gao Di Ji No. 1" records like this: "Tian Rong returned, Pei Gong and Xiang Yu chased north, arrived at Chengyang, and attacked and slaughtered its city."

That's right, the first round of happy cooperation between the forty-nine-year-old Liu Bang and the twenty-five-year-old Xiang Yu was to slaughter the city of Chengyang. This is the second city Xiang Yu Xuetu, the first city is Xiangcheng.Moreover, Xiang Yu was particularly bloody when he was in Xiangcheng. After breaking through the city, no matter men, women, old or young, they were all buried alive, and no one was left behind. Chengyang was the first city Liu Bang slaughtered. Currently, Xiang Yu temporarily leads 2 to 1. Soon, Liu Bang will slaughter Yingyang City again to equalize his performance with Xiang Yu. Don't accept the old, don't think that only young people can slaughter cities, the elderly are also very creative in slaughtering cities. In this way, a strange problem arises, the city was also slaughtered, and it was Liu Bang and Xiang Yu who slaughtered the city together.However, Xiang Yu got a bad reputation of cruelty and inhumanity, while Liu Bang was respected as a benevolent elder. Why is this? Some people suspect that this is the nonsense of the historians, and they dare not say that Liu Bang is actually as cruel as Xiang Yu, and thus conclude that history is written by the victors.The victor who slaughters the city is kind and kind, and the loser is cruel and evil even if he does not slaughter the city.Hu Shi, a master of the Republic of China, even believed that history was a little girl, and whoever wanted to smear the girl's face would do it, and the smearing made the girl completely unrecognizable. But in fact, at least on the issue of massacres, this is not the case. If you want to clarify the division in this matter, you must first figure out what happened to the city massacre in the Qin and Han Dynasties. We know that in the history of China, the Qin and Han Dynasties were preceded by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Spring and Autumn Period began in 722 BC and ended in 481 BC, a total of 242 years.This is the Great Golden Age in Chinese history, and then entered the Warring States Period.The Warring States Period began in 480 BC and ended in 221 BC, a total of 260 years.As for our protagonist Liu Bang, before he was thirty-four years old, he lived in the Warring States Period, and from thirty-four to forty-eight years old, he lived in the era of Great Qin Unification.After the age of forty-eight, the Qin government collapsed and the world was in chaos, and Liu Bang's life finally began. What we want to ask now is, what is the difference between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period?Why is history divided in this way? When historians hear this question, their eyes will light up with excitement, and they will write countless books immediately, talking nonsense from economics, politics, culture and other aspects.But in fact, the difference between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is nothing more than the difference in social rules. How is it different? The biggest difference between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is reflected in the war situation. Wars before the Spring and Autumn Period were not called wars, they were called watching soldiers.In today's terms, it's watching fights.For example, when Shangtang destroyed Xia, it was called the Battle of Mingtiao.Both sides concentrated their forces at Mingtiao, and fought a big battle. Shang Tang won the battle and won the world.King Wu of Zhou's extermination of Shang was a battle in Muye. Both sides also concentrated their forces in Muye and fought a battle. King Wu of Zhou won the battle and won the world. If you think about it carefully, you will suddenly become suspicious, hey, the main force of your Shangtang has gone to Mingtiao, shouldn't I just go to your old nest?Why do I have to fight hard with you? Thinking this way is the rules of war in the Warring States Period, and you can't play like this in the Spring and Autumn Period.Surrounding Wei and saving Zhao is the rule of the game in the Warring States Period. If anyone played like this during the Spring and Autumn Period, they would be despised by everyone, and they would not be able to get along.Therefore, although it is a war without righteousness in the Spring and Autumn Period, this kind of unrighteousness refers to the lack of justice in the purpose of the war.But in terms of methods, everyone must follow the rules, and if you don't follow the rules, you will be out. But when it came to the Warring States Period, the rules of war changed, and besieging Wei and saving Zhao became the norm in war.At this time, if you concentrate your forces on Mingtiao or Muye, you will be foolish. They just avoid the truth and go to steal your back and steal your lair.Therefore, the wars in the Warring States Period were far more bloody than those in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were also cases of unruly and blatant sieges, but such incidents would be condemned by international public law as usual.But the same thing was legal in the Warring States Period. And Qin State was able to become the winner of the Warring States Period because Qin State pushed the rules of war one step further to the extreme, making the war more cruel and bloody.The countries were not as fierce as Qin, so they were defeated and destroyed. Japanese writer and scholar Shujian Kenichi believes that the reason why Qin State pushed the war situation to be more brutal may be because the tactics of Mohists finally landed in Qin State.The Mohists only talk about defense and not offense, and this defense is the ultimate defense, which means transforming the people into war parts. To put it simply, in the wars of the Spring and Autumn Period, although the common people were tortured by war, the war itself had nothing to do with the common people.The powerful beat the powerful, and the common people live their own lives and watch from the sidelines.In the Warring States period, the people were forcibly taken to the city to act as defensive soldiers.After Qin Shihuang established the prefecture and county system and put the people in cages, the people completely lost their freedom and became a tool for the tyrant's war. Contrary to what people imagine, when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu attacked the city, the defenders he faced were not the defenders of the city, but the people. Take Chengyang, which was massacred by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, for example. When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu came to fight, the Qin army in the city immediately took the household registration book and ordered the people of each household to send out strong labor to climb the city wall to defend the city. item combat.The defenders did not fight Liu Xiang, but were responsible for supervising the people in the city. If any people did not fight Liu Xiang, the defenders would kill the family members of the people.This is Shang Yang's biggest achievement after Qin's political reform. From then on, the people became hostages. In order to avoid their family members being executed, they could only attack the city for the tyrant. Therefore, as far as the people guarding the city are concerned, the city is not guarded by themselves.Qin Jun was in the city, so he had to defend the city for Qin Jun.If Liu Bang Xiang Yu attacked the city, he still had to defend the city for Liu Bang Xiang Yu.Whoever wins or loses has nothing to do with me.Whoever comes, the common people have to do it for him. The household registration management and the fixed place of residence deprive the common people of their freedom of choice. So Liu Bang and Xiang Yu thought that since this city has nothing to do with your people, there is no need for you to fight for your life.Symbolically, meaning, if you can fool Qin Bing in the city, don't let Qin Bing kill your family, it's considered a job.In short, you don't need to fight desperately with people outside the city. But the people in Chengyang are obviously very dedicated and serious. Since they stood on the city, they fought against Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, completely forgetting that they have no enmity with people outside the city, and that they have nothing to do with this city. The common people were too serious and caused a lot of damage to Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, which was completely unnecessary. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu joined forces to massacre Chengyang in order to warn the people in other places.When I call, don't be too serious, you will get into trouble if you are too serious. Therefore, although Liu Bang and Xiang Yu both have records of massacres, there are also differences between massacres and massacres.Liu Bang slaughtered the city because the people in the city fought too seriously and too fiercely, which was not in the interests of the people, so Liu Bang slaughtered the city.And Xiang Yu slaughtered the city, but he didn't care about it, whether you were serious or not, he killed them all first. Liu Bang's massacre was to kill his opponents.And Xiang Yu's massacre of the city was killing innocent people indiscriminately.This is the difference between the two. In short, when working for a tyrant, don't take it too seriously. If you take it too seriously, you will die ugly.