How did the Battle of Handan go?

How did the Battle of Handan go?

The Battle of Handan took place between the year before last and the year before last. During the Warring States Period, Qin State attacked Zhao State and the allied forces of Zhao, Wei and Chu were in Handan, the capital of Zhao State. A city offensive and defensive war was carried out, strictly speaking, it was a continuation of the Changping Battle. As a result, Qin suffered a rare defeat since Shang Yang's reform.

Background

In September of the previous year, the main force of Zhao State was wiped out in the Battle of Changping, and the whole country was immersed in the pain of losing loved ones. In October, the Qin army once again captured Shangdang County and divided its troops into two groups. Wang Lu captured Pi Lao (today's northeast of Yicheng County, Shanxi Province), and Sima Geng captured Taiyuan (today's Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province). South Korea and Zhao were greatly alarmed and sent Su Dai to carry heavy sums of money to lobby Fan Ju, the Prime Minister of Qin. Fan Ju was worried that Lord Wu'an Bai Qi's high achievements would affect his career, so he persuaded King Zhaoxiang of Qin to agree to peace between Korea and Zhao on the grounds that Qin soldiers had to recuperate from fighting. King Qin Zhaoxiang followed Fan Ju's suggestion and agreed to negotiate peace on the condition that Korea cede Yuanyong (now northwest of Yuanyang County, Henan Province) and Zhao cede six cities. The two sides ceased fighting in the first month of the previous year. When Bai Qi learned of this, he had a conflict with Fan Ju.

When King Zhao Xiaocheng was preparing to cede six cities according to the peace treaty, minister Yu Qing believed that ceding land to Qin would only make Qin stronger, and not resisting the cession of territory and suing for peace would only accelerate the demise of Zhao. Yu Qing suggested bribing Qi with six cities, making good friends with Yan and South Korea, and uniting the troops of Wei and Chu to fight against Qin. King Zhao Xiaocheng adopted Yu Qing's suggestion and actively prepared for war at home.

King Zhaoxiang of Qin saw that Zhao had violated the agreement and would not cede the six cities. Instead, he united with the eastern countries to deal with Qin and prepared to attack Zhao. Bai Qi was ill at this time and could not lead the army to fight. King Qin Zhaoxiang asked him for his opinion. Bai Qi said: "In the Battle of Changping, the Qin army was victorious and the Zhao army was defeated. Those who died in the Qin state were given generous burials, those who were injured were given careful treatment, those who had meritorious service were given wine and food to comfort them, and the people gathered together in the name of sacrifice, wasting a lot of money. The people of Zhao who died in battle were not buried, and the injured were not treated. The soldiers and civilians cried and wailed, and worked together to restore production. Although the troops and food supplies sent by the king are now twice as high as before, I predict that Zhao’s defense strength will be the same as before. Ten times. Since the Battle of Changping, Zhao's monarchs and ministers have been worried and fearful. They have been in court in the morning and retired in the evening. They have sent envoys to all directions with humble words and valuable gifts, and have formed friendly alliances with Yan, Wei, Qi, and Chu. . They tried every means and worked together to prevent Qin from invading. Now that Zhao has sufficient domestic financial resources and successful diplomacy, it is impossible to attack Zhao at this time. ”

The course of the war

< p>In September of the previous year, King Zhaoxiang of Qin did not listen to the advice of Lord Wu'an Bai Qi, and sent five officials, Wang Ling, and an army of 300,000 to attack the capital of Zhao, Handan (today's Handan City, Hebei Province). General Lian Po of Zhao led an army of 100,000. Despite stubborn resistance, Wang Ling fought until the second year but still could not win. The year before last, the Qin State sent an additional 100,000 troops to support the royal tomb, and more than 40,000 Qin troops were killed. King Qin Zhaoxiang ordered Bai Qi to replace Wang Ling as commander, but Bai Qi declined due to illness. King Qin Zhaoxiang ordered Wang Lu to replace Wang Ling as the general, and added 100,000 troops to continue the siege of Handan. The Qin army suffered more than half of its casualties and was still unable to move. The food in Handan City was exhausted, and King Zhao Xiaocheng was forced to ask Wei and Chu for help.

Mao Sui recommended himself and stood out

The year before last, Zhao Sheng, the Prime Minister of Zhao State, Pingyuan Jun, was ordered to go to Chu State as an envoy. It was agreed that each of them would bring twenty disciples with both civil and military skills, but Lord Pingyuan only selected nineteen people. The disciple then recommended himself to go with him. Lord Pingyuan thought that he had been with the disciple for three years and had not heard of his abilities, so he refused to take him there. Mao Sui said: "I am asking you to remove the middle ear of the cyst today. The fleas will get into the cyst and come out. It is not just the last sight." When Lord Pingyuan was employing people, he took Mao Sui with him. The nineteen people accompanying him looked at each other and smiled.

Pingyuan Jun and his party came to Chu State and stated to King Chu Kaolie the interests of joining forces to resist Qin, but King Chu Kaolie was still hesitant. Mao Sui then drew his sword and stepped forward, approached King Kaolie of Chu and said: "The reason why the king scolded Sui was because of the people of Chu. Within ten steps now, the king cannot rely on the people of Chu. The king ordered the county to Yu Sui took action. My king is in front, who is there to scold him? I also heard that Tang ruled the world with a land of seventy miles, and King Wen used a land of a hundred miles to minister to the princes. How could he have so many soldiers? He could take advantage of his power to fight. It is so powerful that Chu is five thousand miles away and has millions of halberds. With the strength of Chu, no one in the world can match him. Bai Qi, Xiao Zhuzi'er, led tens of thousands of people to fight Chu. He defeated Yan Ying in one battle, burned Yiling in another battle, and humiliated the king's ancestors in three battles. Zhao was embarrassed by this hatred for a hundred years, but the king did not know how to be evil. You are in front of me, why should I scold you?" King Kaolie of Chu was ashamed and agreed to make an alliance with Pingyuan Lord and Mao Sui through bloodshed. After Zhao Pingyuanjun returned to the country, Chu State sent Chunshenjun to lead an army of 100,000 to rescue Zhao State.

Steal the Talisman to Save Zhao

Pingyuan Jun’s wife is the sister of Xinling Lord Wei Wuji. Pingyuan Jun sent letters to King Anli of Wei and Wei Wuji many times, requesting Wei for rescue. King Li sent General Jin Bi with 100,000 troops to rescue Zhao. Therefore, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent an envoy to threaten King Wei, "Anyone who dares to save Zhao will be attacked by the Queen of Zhao." King Anli of Wei was afraid, so he sent someone to inform Jin Bi to stop the advance and stay in Ye to set up camp. The name was to save Zhao, but it was actually a threat. At both ends, wait and see how the situation develops. Lord Xinling repeatedly asked King Anli of Wei to send troops, and his retainers tried every means to persuade him, but King Anli of Wei was afraid of the powerful Qin State and always refused to listen to Wei Wuji's opinion. Wei Wuji estimated that the King of Wei was no longer willing to send troops to rescue Zhao, and he did not want to see Zhao's demise, so he gathered more than a hundred chariots and planned to take his retainers to Zhao and fight to the death with the Qin army.

Lord Xinling later listened to the hermit Hou Ying’s plan and first asked King Wei’s favorite concubine Ruji to steal the tiger charm from King Anli’s bedroom because Lord Xinling had avenged Ruji’s murder of her father. , and then brought the warrior Zhu Hai to the Wei army to see Jin Bi, and took out the military talisman to pretend to be the king of Wei's order to lead the army in Jin Bi's place. Jin Bi combined the military symbols and verified them to be correct, but still expressed doubts and did not want to hand over military power. Lord Xinling had no choice but to let Zhu Hai kill Jin Bi with an iron spine and seize power by force.

After Wei Wuji commanded Jin Bi's army, he ordered the soldiers that if both father and son were in the army, the father should return home, if both brothers were in the army, the elder brother should return home, and if there was an only son, he should go home to support his parents; Select 80,000 young elite soldiers to rescue Zhao.

Three Kingdoms Defeated Qin

Qin Prime Minister Fan Ju recommended Zheng Anping as a general, led an army of 50,000, and carried a large amount of grain and grass to support Wang Lu and strengthen the attack on Zhao. After Lord Pingyuan returned to Zhao, the people in Handan City were looking for reinforcements, but none of them arrived. The people of Handan had to exchange their bones for food, and there was a proposal to surrender. Lord Pingyuan adopted the advice of Li Tan, the official who had passed the imperial examination, and drafted his wives and concubines into the army. He spent all his family wealth among the soldiers, encouraged soldiers and civilians to fight against the national calamity, and recruited 3,000 soldiers who dared to die.

In September of the previous year, the armies of Wei and Chu successively arrived on the outskirts of Handan City and repeatedly defeated the Qin army. In November of the previous year, King Zhaoxiang of Qin ordered Bai Qi to die.

In December of the previous year, Li Tan and other three thousand Zhao dead soldiers went out of the city to fight back, and it happened that the Wei and Chu armies were rescued outside the city. The armies of the three kingdoms attacked from inside and outside, the Qin army was defeated, and the siege of Handan was lifted. It was the middle of winter, and there was no food or water in the field. The Qin army suffered heavy losses. Wang Lu led the remnants of his troops to escape back to Fencheng (now north of Houma, Shanxi). Zheng Anping's more than 20,000 troops were surrounded by allied troops and had no choice but to surrender to Zhao.

Influence

The coalition forces took advantage of the victory to regain the lost territory. In February of the year before last (the fifty-ninth year of King Nan of Zhou, the fifty-first year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, and the tenth year of King Zhao Xiaocheng), Wang Lu attacked the Jin army and beheaded six thousand people. Xinzhong and Ningxinzhong were renamed Anyang (now Li County, Xiangzhou). King Nan of Zhou called on all the princes in the world to join forces to attack Qin. Zhao generals Lecheng and Qingshe attacked Qin Xinliang's army. Han, Wei and Chu rescued Zhao Xinzhong and defeated it. Qin's troops stopped. Qin attacked and destroyed the Western Zhou Kingdom, and King Nan of Zhou died in the same year.

Xinlingjun corrected the order of the king of Wei and killed Jin Bi, so he did not dare to return to Wei. He stayed in Zhao for ten years and was rewarded by the king of Zhao with the title of Tang Muyi. The year before last, Wang Ji, the governor of Qinhe East, communicated with the princes and abandoned the market. Qin Prime Minister Fan Ju lost power and resigned and died in the same year.

The year before last, Yan attacked Zhao Yuhaidai and was defeated. Zhao rebelled and surrounded the capital of Yan. The year before last, Qin general Meng Ao captured Zhao Taiyuan. The year before last, Qin general Wang Lu captured Han Shangdang. In the same year, Wei Gongzi Wuji led the five kingdoms to defeat the Qin army outside the river, and Meng Ao was relieved.