the Battle of Julu

The Battle of Julu was a decisive battle between Qin Jun and Xiang Yu's rebel troops in Julu (ancient county name, southwest of Pingxiang, Hebei Province) in 207 years before the end of the Qin Dynasty, and Xiang Yu finally won. This was the decisive battle to destroy Qin Jun's main force in the war at the end of Qin Dynasty, and it was also one of the famous battles in history to win more with less.

Prewar period

Qin Jun

In September of 208 BC, Zhang Han, the general of Qin Dynasty, led 300,000 troops to Beidu after destroying Xiang Liang, and joined forces with 200,000 Wang Lijun (Great Wall Army) who came to reinforce Zhao, and defeated Zhao. Then he ordered Wang Lijun and his men to surround Zhao's stag, while he stationed troops in the south to build a tunnel to transport food and grass for the besieged Qin Jun.

To this end, the camp soldiers were divided into two ways, all the way to Julu to solve Zhao's siege, thinking that the commander in chief and Xiang Yu as the deputy commander in chief. Another army attacked Guanzhong, with Liu Bang as the commander in chief. Chu Huaiwang promised that whoever attacked Shimonoseki first would be the king of Guanzhong.

crown prince

Yi Song led the Chu army to Anyang (ancient place name, now southeast of Cao County, Shandong Province) and stayed there for 46 days. Xiang Yu was eager to attack Qin Jun and avenge his uncle Xiang Liang. He urged Yi Song to send troops, but Yi Song wouldn't listen. He retorted that Xiang Yu was foolhardy and gave orders. Anyone who is fierce, disobedient, greedy for work and disobeys orders will be shot.

He sent his son to the State of Qi as prime minister, and he was sent to (the old county name, in the east of Dongping County, Shandong Province) for drinking and having fun. At that time, it rained heavily, the weather was cold and the foot soldiers were hungry and cold. Xiang Yu used this to arouse the soldiers' dissatisfaction with Yi Song.

On the morning of the 47th day, Xiang Yu broke into Yi Song's tent, stabbed him to death with his sword and beheaded him. So Xiang Yu announced to the foot soldiers that he colluded with Qi and was assassinated. At the same time, he sent someone to report, so Chu Huaiwang had to appoint Xiang Yu as commander-in-chief and lead the army to save Zhao.

The Chu army crossed the river in the war.

The number of Chu troops was far less than that of Qin Jun. Xiang Yu first sent Ying Bu to lead twenty thousand Chu troops to cross the river, attacked Qin Jun tunnel and won several battles. /kloc-in October/February, Xiang Yu personally led the whole army to cross the river, ordered the cooking to be cut off and the sinking of the ship, and each person only took three days of dry food to show his determination to fight to the death (this is the origin of the idiom "cross the rubicon").

Under the call of Xiang Yu, the morale of the Chu army was high and the battle was very brave. The Chu army smashed Zhang Han's army in one fell swoop, forcing Zhang Han's army to rout and withdraw its support for Wang Lijun. At this time, Xiang Yu led the army to turn over and then the king left the army, winning nine out of nine, winning more with less. At that time, one Chu army was worth ten Qin Jun ("Historical Records of Xiang Yu" records: "All Chu soldiers are equal to ten." This is the origin of the idiom "take one as ten"). Xiang Yu personally went into battle to encourage the soldiers (according to the records of the former Han Dynasty, "the voice of a feather moved the world"), which eventually led to Qin Jun's defeat. Qin general Su Jiao was killed, Wang Li was captured, refused to surrender, and set himself on fire.

Feudal army

Before Xiang Yu attacked Qin Jun, although a dozen vassal armies had arrived at Julu to come to the rescue, they were all afraid of Qin Jun's strength, but they were stationed in the periphery and did not dare to fight. When the Chu army attacked Qin Jun, the vassal armies of all walks of life stayed behind closed doors, and the generals just watched in the camp (Records of the Historian Xiang Yu's Chronicle records: "The vassal armies saved the giant deer from more than ten walls, so they did not dare to fight." When Chu attacked Qin, all the generals looked from the wall. This is the origin of the idiom "stand by and watch". When the Chu army defeated Qin Jun, all the vassal armies respected Xiang Yu and surrendered to him.

Qin Jun surrendered.

In June 2007, Xiang Yu and General Pu were defeated in stagnant water and Sanhujin respectively. Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Kun led the rest of Qin Jun to surrender, and the Battle of Julu ended. After a break, they advanced into Guanzhong.