Chapter 3 "Human slaughter" Bai Qi

Qin almost couldn't wait to launch an attack on South Korea. The Qin army was divided into two groups, all the way to the north, led by the veteran Xiangshou, and captured Wushi (now Xin'an, Hebei Province); all the way to the south, led by the newcomer Bai Qi, to capture Xincheng. In the second year, under the leadership of Xiang Shou, the Qin army attacked Yique again. Yique is located in the southeast of Luoyang City, Henan Province today. It is a heavily defended fortress in South Korea and a barrier for the whole of South Korea. If Yique falls, South Korea will have no danger to defend, and can only let the Qin army come in and out.

In order to help South Korea defend Yique, King Wei Zhao sent General Gongsun Xi to lead an army into South Korea to help in the battle. Gongsunxi was a famous general who cooperated with Qi general Kuangzhang to defeat the Chu army in the Battle of Chuisha, and he has the title of General Rhinoceros (as brave as a rhinoceros).After the Wei army led by him arrived, the number of Yique defenders increased to nearly 300,000, almost twice that of the Qin army. From a common sense point of view, it is impossible for the 150,000 Qin army to break through the fortress garrisoned by the 300,000 coalition army. The veteran Xiang Shou is not the opponent of Xiwu Gongsun Xi, and the balance of the war is obviously biased towards the defensive side.

At that time, the power of Qin State was basically in the hands of Queen Mother Xuan and Wei Ya.In addition to serving as the prime minister, Wei Ya was also granted the title of Rang (rang) (now Deng County, Henan Province), known as Ranghou; Ying Fu, the younger brother of King Qin Zhao, was first named Jingyang Lord, and later changed to Yuwan (now Nanyang, Henan Province); another younger brother, Ying Kui, was first granted the title of Gaoling Lord, and later changed to Deng (now Yancheng, Henan Province); Mi (mi) Rong, the half-brother of the Empress Dowager Xuan, was first named Huayang Lord , and later changed to Xincheng (now Mi County, Henan Province).These fiefdoms are all extremely rich cities, so the wealth obtained by the four fiefdoms is astonishing. In the Qin State, a situation appeared in the state of "the queen mother is autocratic, Ranghou is in power, and the vassals of Jingyang Lord and Gaoling Lord are too extravagant and rich in the royal family".

Although Wei Ya is good at power, he is not a mediocre person.After carefully analyzing the situation on the front line, he decisively decided to send Bai Qi to the front line to replace Xiang Shou. Bai Qi was born in Mei County, Qin State (now Baoji, Shaanxi Province). He was born with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, and a pair of black and white eyes. Judging from the portraits painted by later generations, he looks like a shrewd mouse.As a general who wields the life and death power of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers, this kind of honor is obviously not ideal.But people should not be judged by their appearance. It was this mouse who later became the murderous demon king who frightened the princes of the world.

According to the military law formulated by Shang Yang, after each battle, the Qin army calculated military merit by the number of beheads.This method of performance appraisal is both simple and effective. Whoever kills more people will have more credit, and whoever can get a faster promotion. Someone made a statistic that during Bai Qi's military career, the troops under his command beheaded nearly two million heads, which was almost one-tenth of the static population of the world at that time.Bai Qi thus earned the title of "Human Tu".And Yique will be the place where he will try his butcher knife for the first time.

After Bai Qi came to the front line, he did not change the banner of the veteran Xiang Shou.Because he knew that Xiang Shou had always given people a weak image, while Gongsun Xi, the commander of the Han Wei coalition army, was known for his bravery, and looked down on Xiang Shou's soft bones. A person who looks down on an opponent can easily underestimate the enemy.Underestimating the enemy can easily expose flaws, give the opponent an opportunity, and even be led by the nose by the enemy. This is what Bai Qi needs. After a few days of observation, he quickly discovered the enemy's weakness-although there are many Korean and Wei coalition forces, each has its own little calculations.The Han army is single and weak, and only wants to rely on the Wei army, and is unwilling to take the initiative to attack; the Wei army believes that the strength of the Han army still exists, and wants to push the Han army to advance.

Bai Qi grasped the psychology of the Han and Wei armies waiting and watching each other, and formulated a combat strategy.He restrained the Han army with a small group of troops so that they would not dare to act rashly; he himself led the main force of the Qin army and launched a fierce attack on the Wei army by surprise. Gongsun Xi did not expect that the Qin army would take the initiative to attack. Article 3 of the third chapter of "Sun Tzu's Art of War": "The law of using troops is to encircle them if they are ten, to attack them when they are five, to fight them if they are twice as many, to divide them if they are few, to escape them if they are few, and to evade them if they are weaker. "

According to the situation at the time, the strength of the Qin army was obviously weaker than that of the coalition forces, and the best result was "to be able to escape". How could there be any reason to take the initiative to attack? But Bai Qi is a person who does not play cards according to common sense. When later generations mentioned the strategists of the Warring States period, Sun Wu was naturally the first, followed by Sun Bin, but in terms of actual combat achievements, Bai Qi was the real No. 1 in the Warring States period. Even if Guan Gong fights Qin Qiong once, let Sun Wu and Bai Qi fight face to face, it is very likely that Bai Qi will win.

Because Sun Wu is too cautious and puts too much emphasis on "being invincible", he must wait until all the conditions are ripe before making a move. Instead, he may be controlled by others and miss the opportunity; while Bai Qi is good at finding certainty factors in uncertainty, as long as there is a 30% chance of winning , he dares to fight; if there is a 50% chance of winning, he will launch an attack.Sun Wu and Sun Bin may not be able to adapt to this fierce style of play. Facing the wolves and tigers of the Qin army, the unprepared Wei army was quickly defeated. Gongsun Xi couldn't hold back his bullets and became a prisoner of the Qin army.

The defeat of the Wei army also affected the Han army.The Han army had no fighting spirit at first, and hoped that the Wei army would come out ahead. Now that the Wei army fled, the Han army was even more chaotic before fighting. Under the attack of the 150,000 Qin army, the 300,000 Korean and Wei allied forces retreated across the board in less than a day.Bai Qi conquered Yique, and took advantage of the victory to pursue it. He conquered five cities in South Korea and beheaded 240,000 people, setting a new record in history. After the war, Bai Qi was promoted to the rank of Captain of the State, and soon he was promoted to Daliang Zao.In the next twenty years, the name Baiqi will be like a heavy stone on the chests of the princes of Shandong, making them breathless.

In 292 BC, Baiqi attacked Wei and took Yuancheng (now Yuanqu, Shanxi Province) and Weicheng (now Ruicheng, Shanxi Province). In 291 BC, Sima wrongly attacked Wei and took Zhicheng (now Jiyuan, Henan Province) and Dengcheng (now Meng County, Henan Province). In the same year, Bai Qi attacked Han and took Wancheng.Wan was a well-known iron smelting center at that time, and it was also the main throat to control Chu State. Qin State's acquisition of Wancheng was of great strategic significance. In 290 BC, Qin attacked Wei again, taking Puban and Pi's family, forcing Wei to donate 400 miles of the land of Hedong, and South Korea to donate 200 miles of the land of Wusui. When Qin State used Bai Qi as a sharp blade to cut off the land of Han and Wei, Qi State remained silent.