Chapter 23 Battle of Changping

The fact that Shangdang fell into the hands of Zhao State was unexpected by Qin State, but the way Qin State handled this matter was methodical. The first is to find trouble with South Korea.You promised to cede Shangdang to me, but now it belongs to Zhao State. How should this matter be settled?Don't say that Feng Ting is a temporary worker, even if Feng Ting is a temporary worker, it will not change the nature of this matter - the fact is that you have broken the promise and you have to bear the responsibility. King Han Huanhui was speechless.This matter was indeed not out of his own will, but Shangdang is far away, Feng Ting insisted on doing this, he could only stare blankly.It's all right now, people from the state of Qin have come to the door, just wait for the knife!

Sure enough, in 261 BC, the Qin State sent troops to attack South Korea, conquered the two cities of Goushi and Lun, and then withdrew their troops.This is actually a warning attack, and it is a warning to the Koreans that when we attack Zhao Guo, you should not play tricks on me behind. At the same time, King Qin Zhao led an army of 200,000 to attack Shangdang with Wang He (he) as his general.Unable to resist, Feng Ting led Shangdang's army and civilians to retreat to Zhao.King Zhao Xiaocheng ordered Lian Po to lead his army to Changping (now Gaoping, Shanxi Province). On the one hand, he received the defeated Shangdang army, and on the other hand, he built barriers to defend against the Qin army's invasion.

In April of the same year, Wang Lu moved his army to attack Zhao and approached Changping.So far, the most tragic battle of Changping in the history of the Warring States period kicked off. The Qin army came fiercely, and beheaded a Zhao Guobei general in the first battle they met.In June, the Qin army broke through two camps of the Zhao army and beheaded four lieutenants.In the unfavorable situation of the war, Lian Po stepped up to build barriers.In July, Wang Lu launched another wave of offensives, broke through two barriers of the Zhao army, beheaded two lieutenants, and captured all the barriers west of Changping.

However, Wang Lu's offensive ended here.Further on, there is the Changping line of defense that Lian Po spent half a year carefully building, stretching for more than 50 miles along the mountains on both sides of Changping City.No matter how provocative Qin Jun was, Zhao Jun just couldn't hold out.Moreover, more and more Zhao troops came from China to support Changping. By August of this year, Lian Po's men had reached 400,000, surpassing the number of Qin troops on the opposite side. But Lian Po still couldn't hold on.His strategy is to wait for work with ease, and use protracted warfare to drag down the Qin army who came from afar.

After a long time, Wang Yan couldn't take it anymore, and kept sending people to insult and slander in front of Zhao Jun's fortress, trying his best to tease him, trying to lure Lian Po to fight.Reluctantly, Lian Po is like an old monk in meditation. He only trains soldiers every day, turning a blind eye to outside interference and turning a deaf ear to it.The more trouble Wang Lu made, the more calm Lian Po became. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" Chapter 2, Article 1: "Where the method of using troops is to drive a thousand horses, a thousand leather chariots, wear a hundred thousand armor, and feed food for a thousand miles, the internal and external expenses, the use of guests, the materials of glue and paint, The offering of chariot armor costs thousands of gold a day, and then a hundred thousand teachers will be raised."

Lian Po did not believe that Qin's hundreds of thousands of troops were stationed in Changping away from the pass for a long time, and its logistics supplies could last for more than two years.As long as Zhao Jun can hold on for two years, not only the Qin Jun in Changping can't stand it, but the whole Qin country can't stand it.At that time, if you take the initiative to attack, it will be easy to break the Qin army. Lian Po could hold his breath, but King Zhao Xiaocheng couldn't. To be exact, King Zhao Xiaocheng was impatient from the very beginning.As early as June, when the Qin army had just broken through the two camps of the Zhao army, King Zhao Xiaocheng had doubts about Lian Po's commanding ability, and anxiously discussed countermeasures with Lou Chang, Yu Qing and other ministers.

King Zhao Xiaocheng said: "This is not going to work. I want to send troops to reinforce General Lian and take back Shangdang." Lou Chang's opinion is that it is useless to increase troops, it is better to send envoys to bring a lot of money to Qin to negotiate peace. Yu Qing has always advocated uniting against the Qin Dynasty. He said: "Those who advocate peace talks have a certain idea that Zhao Jun will be defeated, so it is better to make peace as soon as possible. But they have ignored one issue, whether they can make peace, the initiative It is in the hands of the Qin State. Your Majesty, do you think that the King of Qin wants to defeat us, or is he trying to force us to make peace?"

King Zhao Xiaocheng thought for a while and said, "King Qin spared no effort, of course he wants to defeat us." "That's right!" Yu Qing said, "What you should do now is to send envoys to Wei and Chu with a lot of money, so that Qin will feel that the princes of the world have organized a alliance again, so that King Qin will be afraid .At that time, we can go to peace talks with Qin to succeed." King Zhao Xiaocheng did not adopt Yu Qing's opinion, but sent an envoy named Zheng Zhu to Qin. Who exactly is Zheng Zhu is sacred? There is no record in historical materials. In "Warring States Policy", it is only called a "noble person". In short, it is not a particularly noble role.However, when Zheng Zhu came to Xianyang, he was warmly received by King Qin Zhao and Fan Ju.No, not just enthusiasm, but fanfare.In this way, the whole world knew that Qin State and Zhao State were in peace talks, and the princes who were about to send troops to rescue Zhao State saw this posture and thought in their hearts that they must be reconciled, there is no need to get involved in this matter!

Zheng Zhu lived in Xianyang for more than ten days, and the treatment he enjoyed was completely out of proportion to the results he achieved. When he left Xianyang drunk, King Qin Zhao still did not agree to a truce.But Zhao Guo had lost the opportunity to ask the princes for help, so he could only grit his teeth and face Qin's full-scale attack alone. In August, King Zhao Xiaocheng began to worry about Lian Po's perseverance. "The widow has sent him so many reinforcements, why doesn't General Lian attack?" He said to the left and right ministers many times. Someone replied: After all, General Lian is old, and his courage has become smaller.

There are not a few people who hold this view, even Mr. Ping Yuan thinks so.King Zhao Xiaocheng then sent envoys to Changping to urge Lian Po to march.But the envoys went three or five times, and each time they brought back news that Old General Lian refused to fight. Did this Lianpo put the widow in his eyes?King Zhao Xiaocheng was anxious and angry, walking back and forth in the palace with a dark face.He didn't know that there was one person who was more anxious than him, and that was King Qin Zhao in Xianyang City. Ever since Lian Po stood firm on the fortress, the Qin State has actually been increasing its troops. The Qin army under Wang He gradually increased from the original 200,000 to 300,000, and later increased to 400,000, comparable to Zhao's army. .

The 400,000 troops stationed in Changping are like a bottomless pit, sucking all of Qin's resources.In order to guarantee the logistics supply of the army, nearly one million people travel between Xianyang and Changping every day.Moreover, in order to fill the emptiness after the 400,000 troops were dispatched, more peasants had to be conscripted to defend Hangu Pass and Wu Pass.The so-called "daily expenses are worth a thousand dollars" is the old almanac of Sun Wu's time.Every morning when King Qin Zhao opened his eyes, his first thought was that another ten thousand gold was missing. If this continues, even a golden mountain will have to be emptied! One day, King Qin Zhao discussed with Fan Ju: "Look, why don't we withdraw our troops first, so that other countries will not take advantage of our loopholes and take advantage of our loopholes instead." Fan Ju shook his head and said, "Then all previous efforts will be wasted." "However, Lian Po is old and cunning, so he won't come out to fight no matter what. It's not an option to continue like this." Fan Ju smiled: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the veteran is already taking measures. Within a month, the Zhao army will definitely go to battle." It turned out that during this period of time, Fan Ju had not been idle.He continued to send spies to spread rumors with huge sums of money to the State of Zhao: "What the State of Qin fears the most is that the State of Zhao reappoints Zhao Kuo as its commander." Who is Zhao Kuo?Zhao She's son. "Historical Records" records that Zhao Kuo studied the art of war since he was a child, liked to talk about military affairs, and thought that no one in the world could compare to himself.Sometimes Zhao She discussed military issues with him, and even Zhao She couldn't speak against him.After Zhao She died, Zhao Kuo inherited the family business and often obeyed orders in the palace, which won the trust of King Zhao Xiaocheng. The rumors about Qin Guo being afraid of Zhao Kuo became more and more intense, and finally reached the ears of King Zhao Xiaocheng.King Zhao Xiaocheng's eyes lit up, yes, dragons beget dragons, phoenix begets phoenixes, Zhao Kuo is young and promising, and the son of a famous general Zhao She, he knows military affairs very well, if he replaces Lian Po, he can certainly change this kind of immortality situation.He then issued an order to Zhao Kuo to go to Changping to command the troops and replace Lian Po. When Lin Xiangru heard this, he was shocked. Regardless of his frailty, he came to the palace to persuade King Zhao Xiaocheng: "Old General Lian has worked hard and done a good job in the front line. Why do you send someone to replace him? Take ten thousand steps back and say, you really want to go to the palace?" If you want to change, you can send other people, why must you send Zhao Kuo?" King Zhao Xiaocheng asked back: "Why can't Zhao Kuo do it?" Lin Xiangru said: "Zhao Kuo has a false reputation. He can only chew on the art of war left by his father. He doesn't know how to adapt to the situation at all. Letting such a person lead the army is like a player who glued the strings to death. What do you think of him? What other good tunes can you play?" King Zhao Xiaocheng refused to listen and appointed Zhao Kuo as a general. Unexpectedly, Zhao Kuo's mother soon entered the palace to ask for an interview and asked to cancel the appointment. King Zhao Xiaocheng didn't understand: "My son has become a general, and the whole family is proud. Why do you object so strongly?" The old lady said: "When my husband was alive, I repeatedly told Zhao Kuo not to lead troops to fight. Because this kid, although he has read a lot of military books, he doesn't know how to apply it flexibly, and he never regards war as a task. It is a matter of life and death, and I always talk about war casually to others. It is fine if he is not allowed to lead troops, but once he is allowed to lead troops, he must be the one who caused Zhao Guo to lose the battle and suffer shame." The old lady also talked about one thing: "When Zhao She was a general, there were dozens of people who served people with rice and soup every day, and there were hundreds of friends who often came and went. All the property that the king gave him at that time, He took it out and distributed it to the soldiers under him. And as long as he accepted the military affairs, he would no longer care about family affairs, and he would stay in the barracks for food and lodging. But now? Zhao Kuo has just become a general, and he is so arrogant that he sits arrogantly. When he was interviewed by the generals at home, people were afraid to look up at him. He took all the gold and silver treasures that you rewarded him and hid them at home. After accepting the appointment, he was not in a hurry to make preparations, instead he was outside all day long. Wander around, and buy it quickly when you see good land. He and his father are fundamentally two different people. Just because his father is a good general, don’t think that he also has this talent. You should take it back and send someone else Bar!" King Zhao Xiaocheng said: "This is impossible, how can the widow's decision be changed at will?" Seeing his resolute attitude, the old lady said helplessly: "If he is incompetent and loses the battle in the future, I hope his family will not be implicated." Speaking of this, King Zhao Xiaocheng still didn't realize it, so he just sent Zhao Kuo to the front line.He will soon understand what it means to "don't listen to the old man's words, and you will suffer in front of you".