When did the Battle of the Giant Deer take place?

The Battle of Julu is a strategic decisive battle between the Rebel Army and Zhang Han, the main force of Qin Jun, in Julu area (southwest of Pingxiang County, Henan Province). The war took place in 207 BC, in December of the third year of Qin Ershi. In this war, the insurgents wiped out Qin Jun's main force in one fell swoop with their indomitable spirit and correct and appropriate operational guidance, which turned the whole war around and was of decisive significance to the demise of the decadent rule of the Qin Dynasty.

Qin Shihuang's unification of the six countries is of positive significance to China's historical development and social progress. However, after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, due to the cruel exploitation and oppression of the people, exorbitant taxes and tyrannical criminal policies, "those who go to work can't rest, those who are hungry and cold can't eat and wear, and those who die have nothing to say" (The Biography of Hanshu Jia Shanzhuan), there was a terrible situation of "Chu Yi closing roads to fill cities" in the whole country, which led to Xiang Liang, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang successively staying in Wuzhong (now Jiangsu) that September.

The rulers of the Qin Dynasty did not want to quit the historical stage and made a dying struggle. In the case of wars around the world, the Qin authorities mobilized troops to suppress peasant uprisings, the most fierce of which was the army commanded by Zhang Han, a Shaofu. As the main force, he fought fiercely with the peasants. First, he suppressed the insurgents in Chen Sheng and other places, then eliminated Tian Xian, Wang Wei and other armed forces, and then dispatched troops to pounce on the main force of Chu Yijun led by Xiang Liang and others. After several tug-of-war, Zhang Han took advantage of Xiang Liang's weakness of underestimating his enemy's paralysis after a small victory, launched a surprise attack, defeated the Chu army in Dingtao (now northwest of Dingtao, Shandong Province), and cut Xiang Liang in parallel, which caused great setbacks to the insurgents.

After Zhang Han won the battle of Dingtao, he also had a feeling of being proud and underestimating his enemy, thinking that "Chu has fewer soldiers and more troops, so it is not a worry". So he sent his troops north to attack Zhao. Zhao was outnumbered and was no match for Qin Jun. After several wars, Zhao was forced to give up the capital Handan and retreat to Julu. Zhang Han led the army forward. He ordered Wang Li to lead 200,000 troops to surround the Julu, and personally led 200,000 troops to station in the spinal plain several miles south of the Julu, where he built a tunnel (a passage with earthen walls on both sides) directly to the outside of Julu, so as to supply the food for Wang Li's army. He tried to besieged Julu for a long time, trapped Zhao, and waited for an opportunity to attack the city and pull out the village, completely pacifying Zhao Di. At this time, although Zhao Yu got tens of thousands of reinforcements from Hengshan County (now Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province) and moved to the north of Julu, he was afraid to rescue Julu directly because of the large number of people, so he took the method of avoiding war to fight with Qin Jun. At this time, Zhao Kuilu's defenders serenaded the food shortage, and the situation was very critical, so he had to send an envoy to various anti-Qin armed forces for emergency help.

Chu Huaiwang received the help documents from Zhao Wangxie, Zhang Er and others, and consulted with his generals. It is believed that although the defeat of Dingtao weakened the Chu army, if Zhao is not rescued in time, Zhao will move south to attack Chu after being destroyed, thus making the anti-Qin armed forces face the danger of being split in two. At the same time, Qin Jun's main force stayed in Hebei, which caused emptiness in Guanzhong, and also provided an opportunity for the anti-Qin armed forces to take advantage of the gap to destroy Qin. In view of this analysis, the high command of Chu Army made a decisive strategic decision: appointed Yi Song as the general, Xiang Yu as the deputy general and Fan Zeng as the last general, ordered 50,000 Chu troops to go north to save Zhao, in order to annihilate the main force of Qin Jun, and sent Liu Bang to enter Guanzhong through Hanguguan to attack Xianyang. The key point of this strategic deployment is the cooperation between the two armies, which makes them fall into a passive situation of fighting on both sides and paying attention to one thing and losing the other, thus achieving the effect of destroying Qin in one fell swoop.

In the autumn of 207 BC, he led an army to the north to save Zhao. He was timid about the decisive battle with Qin Jun. After arriving in Anyang (now East of Cao Xian County, Shandong Province), he stopped moving and stayed there for 46 days. Xiang Yu advised him to enter the army as soon as possible, cooperate with Zhao and defeat him in one fell swoop. However, he wanted to save his strength and refused Xiang Yu's correct suggestion by taking advantage of Qin and Zhao. He sarcastically said to Xiang Yu: "persistent and sharp, righteousness is not as good as the public;" It is not as good as justice to sit and move, and threatened Xiang Yu not to disobey orders and obey them. "At the same time, Yi Song went to Kaya Hioki to attend a senior banquet, have fun, and personally went to Wuyan (now southeast of Dongping County, Shandong Province) to give a big banquet, and sent his son to Qi to expand his personal power. It happened that the weather was cold and rainy, and the soldiers were cold and miserable. Yi Song's actions aroused the dissatisfaction of the soldiers. Xiang Yu, who is strong-willed, feels unbearable. After arguing again that he was not adopted, he flew into a rage and was filled with indignation. He took the opportunity to enter the account in the morning and killed Yi Song on the spot. The generals supported Xiang Yu's actions and supported him as a fake (acting) general. Chu Huaiwang saw that this was the case, so he officially appointed Xiang Yu as the general, and led his army to the north to save Zhao.

After Xiang Yu took command of the Chu army, he led his troops to the south bank of Zhangshui in June+February, 5438, and immediately crossed the Zhangshui River with 20,000 people led by General Ying Bu and General Pu, cutting off the tunnel for transporting grain and separating the connection between General Qin Wang Li and the army, so that Wang Li's army was caught in a food shortage dilemma. Then, Xiang Yu personally led the main force of the Chu army to cross the river to follow up, and ordered the whole army to cross the bridge, stipulating that each soldier would only take three days of dry food to show the determination of the whole army to do or die with Qin Jun. After he ordered his men to "cross the rubicon", they immediately marched under Dalucheng, surrounded the king of Qin, and pounced on the enemy with thunderous momentum and lightning action. The soldiers of the Chu army fought bravely and died, "everyone is in danger" and "the sky was shocked by sound", and Qin Jun of Wang Li was defeated in flight. Zhang Han came to the rescue, but was repelled by the Chu army. Xiang Yu commanded the Chu army to fight continuously, without giving Qin Jun a break. Nine wars and nine wins finally defeated Qin Jun. At the beginning of the war, those vassal reinforcements who feared Qin Jun like a tiger and were doing nothing saw that the victory of the Chu army was set, and they also rushed out of the fence and participated in the siege of Wang Lijun. As a result of this war, the Qin general Wang Li was captured, his deputy Su Jiao was beheaded, and another deputy was forced to set himself on fire and died. The Chu army won a great victory, and the siege of the giant deer was broken. Xiang Yu's outstanding command ability and indomitable heroism in the Battle of Julu made all the governors stunned and awed. At this time, they unanimously acclaimed Xiang Yu as a vassal general and unified command of all the troops assembled in Zhao. After receiving the order, Xiang Yu led the army to pursue the retreating Zhang Han down archers.

Zhang Han, the general of the Qin Dynasty, confronted Xiang Yu after defeating a huge deer in Qin Jun, and sent Sima Xin to the State of Qin for emergency assistance. However, at this time, the Qin court had already fallen apart. Instead of deploying troops to help Zhang Han, it took responsibility for its own failure. This puts Zhang Han in a dilemma. In desperation, he secretly sent a special envoy to make peace with Xiang Yu, but he got no response and had to prepare for withdrawing troops. Xiang Yu, suspicious, immediately dispatched General Pu and led his troops to cross Sanhujin (Guzhangshui Ferry, now southwest of Cixian County, Hebei Province) day and night to cut off his retreat. Later, he was head-on to fight Qin Jun in Khan (a tributary of Zhangshui River), and once again defeated Qin Jun. At this point, Zhang Han became a turtle in a jar. He had to lead his own 200,000 troops to surrender unconditionally to Xiang Yu in the Yin Ruins on the south bank of Huanshui (now the west of Anyang, Henan), and the battle of Julu came to an end.

The Battle of Julu was the key battle to win the peasant uprising at the end of Qin Dynasty. Qin Jun's main force was eliminated in one fell swoop, which created favorable conditions for Liu Bang to take advantage of it and completely ruin the rule of the Qin Dynasty. This war fundamentally decided the historical fate of the peasant uprising at the end of Qin Dynasty, which had a far-reaching impact.