The state of Qin was originally a small state located in the western part of the country, but when Duke Xiaodong of Qin used Shang Yang to change the law, laying the foundation for the country's wealth and strength. Afterwards, it continued to develop its power outward, and became a strong state. During the reign of King Zhao of Qin, Bai Qi was appointed as a general. Bai Qi was known for his skillful tactics. In the thirteenth year of King Zhao of Qin (294 BC), Bai Qi became the chief of the Left Chamberlain, and led the army to attack Xincheng of Han (in the west of present-day Yichuan County, Henan Province). In the following year, Bai Qi was moved to the left more by the chief of the left concubine, and attacked Han and Wei, using the method of avoiding the real and attacking the virtual, and breaking the allied forces of Han and Wei in Yiquet (present-day Longmen, Luoyang, Henan Province), decapitating two hundred and forty thousand heads, capturing general Gongsun Xi, and capturing five cities (see the Battle of Yiquet). He was promoted to the rank of state lieutenant for his achievements. He crossed the Yellow River and captured the land east of Han Anyi to the Qianhe River. In the fifteenth year, he was promoted again to the rank of Da Liang Zao, and led an army to capture Wei, occupying sixty-one cities of various sizes. In the 16th year, Bai Qi and his guest minister Sima Zu jointly captured the city of Gaki. In the 21st year, Bai Qi attacked Zhao and occupied Guangwu Castle (present-day western Gaoping County, Shanxi). In the twenty-eighth year, he attacked Chu, pulling down five cities including Yan and Deng. In the following year, he captured the capital of Chu, Ying (present-day Jiangling, northwest of Hubei), burned Yiling (present-day Yichang, Hubei), and marched eastward to Jingling, where the king of Chu fled the capital and took refuge in Chen (see Battle of Yanyang and Ying). Qin took Ying as its southern county. Bai Qi was appointed as the ruler of Wu'an, and then attacked Chu and pacified the counties of Wu and Qianzhong (present-day Sichuan and Guizhou) (see Battle of Qianzhong). In the 34th year, Bai Qi led his army to attack the allied forces of Zhao and Wei to save Han, and defeated the allied forces in Huayang (present-day north of Xinzheng, Henan Province). The Wei general Mang Mao fled in defeat, captured three Jin generals, and decapitated 130,000 people (see the Battle of Huayang). He also fought with Zhao general Jia Yan and drowned 20,000 Zhao soldiers. In the 43rd year, Bai Qi attacked the Defile of Han, capturing five cities and decapitating 50,000 men (see the Battle of Defile). In the forty-fourth year, Bai Qi also attacked the Taihang Road in Nanyang of Han, cutting off the Taihang Road of Han. In the 45th year, he attacked Nuowang of Han (present-day Qinyang, Henan). When Nuwang surrendered to Qin, the road from Shangdang to the capital was cut off (Xinzheng was the capital of Han, and Shangdang had to cross the river from Nuwang to Xinzheng). Feng Ting, the county governor of Shangdang, consulted with the people and said, "The road to the outside world has been cut off, so we can no longer serve the people of Korea. The Qin army is approaching day by day, and Korea can't respond to it, so we might as well submit Shangdang to Zhao, and if Zhao accepts it, Qin's anger will surely attack Zhao. If Zhao accepts it, Qin will attack Zhao in anger, and Zhao will be close to Korea. When Han and Zhao unite, they will be able to defend themselves against Qin." So he sent someone to report to the state of Zhao. King Xiaocheng of Zhao discussed this with Prince Pingyang and Prince Pingyuan. Prince Pingyang said, "It is better not to accept it, for it will bring more trouble than good." On the other hand, Prince Ping Yuan thought, "How can we not accept the land we got for nothing, accepting it will be beneficial to us. Zhao did accept Shangdang, and made Feng Ting the ruler of Huayang.
In the 47th year of King Zhao's reign (260 BC), the Qin Emperor sent his minister, Wang Gnaw, to attack the Han Empire and seize Shangdang. The people of Shangdang fled to Zhao, which stationed troops in Changping (present day Gaoping County, Shanxi Province) in order to pacify the people of Shangdang. In April, Wang gnawed and attacked Zhao (see Battle of Changping). Zhao sent Lian Po as general to resist. The Zhao soldiers attacked the Qin soldiers, who beheaded Zhao's general. In June, they defeated the Zhao army and took two places and four captains. In July, the Zhao army builds a wall and defends. The Qin army attacked the Zhao army again, took two captains, defeated their formation, and captured the west wall of the fortress.
The two sides were in a stalemate for many days, and the Zhao army suffered huge losses. Lian Po decided to adopt the strategy of defending the fortress and waiting for the Qin army to attack according to the situation of the enemy's strength and their weakness and the loss of the first battle. The Qin army challenged them many times, but Zhao refused to send troops. The king of Zhao repeatedly blamed Lian Po for this. Fan Ju, the corresponding marquis of Qin, sent a man with thousands of gold to bribe the powerful ministers of Zhao, and spread rumors that "what Qin hates and fears is Zhao Kuo, the son of Zhao She, the ruler of Mashu, and that Lian Po is easy to deal with, and that he is about to surrender." The king of Zhao was angry that Lian Po had suffered a series of defeats and suffered heavy casualties, and also earned Lian Po's refusal to fight, so he listened to the rumors and sent Zhao Kuo to replace Lian Po as a general, ordering him to lead his troops to fight against the Qin.
After Zhao Kuo took office, he not only changed the system of the troops in the battlefield, but also removed a large number of generals, so that the Zhao army's strength declined. Seeing that Zhao had been tricked, Qin secretly ordered Bai Qi to be the general and Wang Buck to be the vice general. Although Zhao Kuo was arrogant, he was afraid of Bai Qi. The king of Qin ordered "Anyone who dares to reveal the generalship of the king of Wu'an to be beheaded." (Shiji? The Qin army pretended to be defeated, but secretly opened two wings and set up strange troops to restrain the Zhao army. The Zhao army took advantage of the victory and pursued the Qin army to the barricade, but the Qin army was well prepared and the barricade was too strong to be entered. Bai Qi ordered his troops to attack quickly and cut the Zhao army into three parts. The Zhao army was separated from its head and tail, and its food route was cut off. The Qin army also sent light cavalry to harass the Zhao army. The Zhao army was in a critical situation and had to build a wall to defend themselves and wait for help. When the king of Qin heard that Zhao's food route had been cut off, he came to Hanoi to supervise the battle, conscripted men over 15 years of age to join the army, rewarded them with one rank of civil knighthood, in order to block Zhao's reinforcements and foodstuffs, and poured out the whole country's strength to fight against Zhao.
By September, Zhao's soldiers had been without food for forty-six days and were so hungry that they killed each other for food. Zhao Kuo was desperate, regrouped his troops, and divided them into four groups to break through the siege in turn, but eventually he could not get out, and Zhao Kuo personally led his elite troops to battle, and was shot and killed by the Qin army. Zhao Kou's army was defeated. Four hundred thousand soldiers surrendered to Bai Qi. Bai Qi said to his men, "The Qin had already captured Shangdang, and the people of Shangdang didn't want to submit to the Qin but submitted to the Zhao. If we don't kill all the Zhao soldiers, I am afraid that they will become a plague in the future." So, he tricked and killed all the surrendered soldiers of Zhao, leaving only two hundred and forty small soldiers to report back to Zhao. At the Battle of Changping, the Qin army killed and captured 450,000 Zhao ****, and the whole state of Zhao was shocked. From then on, the state of Zhao was devastated.
After the Battle of Changping, Bai Qi intended to take advantage of the victory to destroy Zhao. In October of the 48th year of King Zhao, Qin once again pacified Shangdang, and the rear army was divided into two: one way was led by Wang Buck, attacking Pijuan (present-day Wuan, Hebei); and the other way was led by Sima Terrier, who captured Taiyuan. And Bai Qi himself would besiege Handan. South Korea and Zhao were terrified, and sent Su Dai to bribe the corresponding Qin marquis Fan Ju with a lot of money, saying: "Bai Qi captured and killed Zhao Kuo, and besieged Handan, and once Zhao was dead, Qin could be called the emperor, and Bai Qi would be appointed as the third duke, and he had captured more than seventy cities for Qin, and settled the Yan, Ying, and Hanzhong in the south, and captured Zhao Kuo's army in the north, even though Duke Zhou, Duke Zhaohong, and Lvwang couldn't surpass him in their achievements. Now, if Zhao falls and the king of Qin becomes king, then Bai Qi will be the three dukes, can you be under him? Even if you don't want to be below him, you can't do it. Qin has attacked Han, besieged Xingqiu, and besieged Shangdang, and the people of Shangdang have all fled to Zhao, and the world has been unhappy with Qin for a long time. Now that Zhao has been destroyed, Qin's territory will extend to Yan in the north, Qi in the east, and Han and Wei in the south, but Qin will not gain many people. It would be better to let Han and Zhao cede their lands and beg for peace, so that Bai Qi will not be allowed to gain the credit of destroying Zhao again." So Fan Ju requested that Han and Zhao be allowed to cede land for peace on the grounds that the Qin soldiers were tired and in need of urgent rest and recuperation. King Zhao agreed. Han cut off the wall of Yong, Zhao cut off six cities to seek peace, and both of them rested in the first month of the year. Bai Qi heard about this, and from then on, he had a grudge against Fan Ju.
September of that year, Qin sent troops to attack Zhao's Handan (see the Battle of Handan). This was just when Bai Qi was sick and could not move. In the first month of the second year, Wang Ling's attack on Handan did not go well, and the king of Qin sent more troops to support him, resulting in the loss of five of Wang Ling's lieutenants. When Bai Qi recovered from his illness, the king of Qin wanted to use Bai Qi as his general to attack Handan, but Bai Qi said to King Zhao, "Handan is not easy to attack, and if the lords want to help, they can send their troops to Handan in one day. The lords have been complaining against Qin for a long time, and although Qin broke Zhao's army in Changping, they suffered more than half casualties, and the country is empty. Our army is far away from the river and mountains to fight for other people's capitals, if Zhao responds to the war from the inside and the vassals respond from the outside, we will surely be able to break the Qin army. Therefore we must not send troops to attack Zhao." When King Zhao himself gave the order, he sent Fan Ju to ask him to do so, but Bai Qi always refused, claiming that he was sick and could not afford to go.
King Zhao sent Wang Buck to replace Wang Ling as a general, and in August and September he besieged Handan, but was unable to do so. Chu sent Chunshen Jun to attack the Qin army with hundreds of thousands of troops with the Prince of Wei, Xinling Jun, and the Qin army suffered heavy casualties. When Bai Qi heard this, he said, "The king of Qin did not listen to my plan in the beginning, how is it now?" After hearing this, King Zhao was furious and forced Bai Qi to go to the army. Bai Qi claimed to be seriously ill, and after Fan Ju's request, he still claimed to be sick and couldn't get up. So King Zhao removed Bai Qi from his official position, demoted to a soldier, and moved to Yin Mi (now west of Lingtai County, Gansu Province). Because Bai Qi was sick, he could not make the trip. He stayed in Xianyang for three months, during which time the feudal lords continued to attack the Qin army, which retreated, with one emergency after another. The king of Qin sent someone to send Bai Qi away, ordering him not to stay in Xianyang. When Bai Qi left Xianyang and went to Du Post, King Zhao and Fan Ju and other ministers discussed that it would be better for Bai Qi to be executed because he had been deported and moved out of Xianyang, and he was displeased and complained about the situation. So King Zhao sent a messenger with a sword to make Bai Qi cut himself. When Bai Qi killed himself with his sword, he said, "Why have I sinned against heaven to this extent?" After a long time, he said, "I deserve to die. At the Battle of Changping, hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers surrendered, but I deceived them and pitted them all, which is enough to die." (The Historical Records? Bai Qi and Wang Jian), he committed suicide. Bai Qi died in November of the 50th year of King Zhao of Qin (257 BC). Bai Qi's death was not a crime, and the people of Qin had great pity for him, and all the towns and villages in the country sacrificed to him.
Bai Qi's major achievements:
Battle of Yque killed 240,000 troops of Han and Wei. Bai Qi attacked Chu three times, broke the capital of Chu, burned its ancestral temple, and ****wiped out 350,000 Chu troops.
The attack on Zhao successively wiped out 600,000 Zhao troops (including the Battle of Changping). He attacked Han and Wei and annihilated 300,000 men.
Bai Qi's life*** annihilated about 1.65 million armies of the six countries!
Title: Wuan Jun. Official position: State Lieutenant (Minister of Defense).
Signature: God of War, Demon of Murder, the first of the Four Famous Generals of the Warring States.
Bai Qi commanded many important battles. He defeated the Chu army and attacked Ying, forcing Chu to relocate its capital, which has been in ruins ever since.
Bai Qi commanded many important battles, such as the Battle of I Que and the annihilation of 240,000 troops of Han and Wei, which completely leveled the road of Qin's eastward advancement. The Battle of Changping wiped out 450,000 people of Zhao army, which created the earliest and largest precedent of encircling and annihilating the enemy in the history of China. With more than 70 battles of various sizes and no defeats, he was promoted from the lowest rank of military officer to the title of Wuanjun, and the six countries were chilled by the smell of Bai Qi.
Changping battle *** kill forty-five million people, together with the previous attack on Han, Wei in I Que decapitated two hundred and forty thousand, attacked Chu in the Yan water drowning hundreds of thousands of drowned, attacked Wei in Huayang decapitated one hundred and thirty thousand, and the Zhao general Ja Yan war sinking pawns 20,000, attacked the Han in the defile decapitated 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, this is Bai Qi's a very incomplete kill bill. According to Liang Qichao test, the entire period of the Warring States *** war dead two million people, Bai Qi according to one-half, and later because of differences with King Zhaoxiang of Qin on the question of whether to attack Zhao again, was replaced by Wang Ling, and from then on out of the stage of history.
Bai Qi's art of battle command represented the level of war development in the Warring States period. Bai Qi was good at analyzing the situation between the enemy and us, and then adopted the correct strategic and tactical approaches to launch an attack on the enemy. For example, in the Battle of Ikue, he concentrated his troops and attacked the enemy in every way; in the Battle of Yan Ying, he used the art of hollowing out the heart of the enemy and attached it to a water attack; and in the Battle of Huayang, he attacked the enemy over a long distance. The Battle of Changping lured the enemy with a feint to make them detach from the established positions, and then divided and surrounded the tactics, wiping out 450,000 enemies, creating the largest battle of annihilation in the history of pre-Qin wars and the earliest, largest and most thorough war of annihilation in the history of China. The scale of the battle was so large and the result so brilliant that it was rare in the history of world war. The Battle of Changping also reflects the general development of the war itself.
There are three characteristics of Bai Qi's combat guidance: First, he did not take the city and land as the only goal, but took the annihilation of the enemy's vital forces as the main purpose of the war of annihilation, and he was good at the field attack, and the war must seek annihilation, which is the most prominent feature of Bai Qi. This is the most outstanding characteristic of Bai Qi. He is an unrivaled commander in the history of war who utilized the tactics of siege and annihilation. He was also one of the three best military commanders in the history of Chinese war (the other two were Genghis Khan and General Su Yu). However, Bai Qi was able to advocate the battle of annihilation more than two thousand years ago, which is very rare. Secondly, in order to achieve the purpose of annihilation, Bai Qi emphasized on pursuing and chasing the enemy, which is much better than Sun Wu's "don't pursue the poor and the enemy" and Shang Yang's "the great victory over the enemy is not more than ten miles to the north" (The Book of Shangjun, 10th Book of Warfare). Battle law tenth"), obviously a step forward. Thirdly, it emphasizes on field fortification, first luring the enemy to leave the fortified positions, then building barricades to block the enemy in the expected area of annihilation, and preventing them from breaking through the encirclement. This kind of battle guiding ideology of building fortifications as an auxiliary means of attack was unprecedented at that time.
Beginning well may not end well, but Bai Qi's high performance was jeopardized, and he died at the hands of his own people. As the saying goes: "The birds are gone, the good bow is hidden, the cunning rabbit is dead, and the dog is cooked".
Gukou Village, which is said to be the place where Bai Qi killed Zhao's army, is also known as the Valley of Killing, Crying Head, and the Valley of Provincial Injustice, is located 5 kilometers west of Gaoping City, where there are monuments such as the Bai Qi Terrace, Skeleton Mountain, and the Skeleton King's Temple. The Skull King Temple was built in Tang Dynasty, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was the King of Lu, he visited here, saw the white bones everywhere, and the skulls became mountains, which was shocking, so he constructed the Skull King Temple beside the Skull Mountain, and "chose a huge one among the skulls and bones, and set up a statue to seal the Skull King". Now the Skull King Temple for the Qing Dynasty remains of the structure, the temple molded Mr. and Mrs. Zhao Kuo statue. The poet Yu Dazhen of the Ming Dynasty wrote: "This place is a battlefield, with flat sands and deserted fields. There are always many winds and rains and ghosts weeping, as in the ancient temple of the spirit of heroes is deserted. The Zhao generals have been hated for thousands of years, and the Qin soldiers have no intention of passing on their deaths. I can't believe that the skeleton also has a king." Each to the high level of tourism people, have to visit the skeleton king of the temple tour, to appreciate the Changping ancient battlefield of the majestic scene.
Qin General Bai Qi
The most brilliant general in Chinese history, the most prominent generals of the Warring States period, more than thirty years of war, the army of the six countries, as long as they heard that he led the troops to the war scared to look at the wind and trembling. History books have a precise record: all the countries are afraid to fight with Qin, followed by a note, is because the Qin people have this general! A general to such a point, which is rare in the history of war. He made an unparalleled contribution to the unification of Qin. His battle achievements created the highest practical example of Chinese art of war ------ God of War ------ Wuanjun Bai Qi!
Bai Qi has led countless battles in his life,**** annihilating the armies of the six countries by more than one million. Attacked the six countries, the size of the city more than seventy, the miracle is that in the years of war, life has never lost a battle, (various historical data show that indeed not once lost) and often with less than more. He was both a skillful tactician and a brilliant strategist. The scale of the wars that he commanded was so large that the brutality of the battles was rarely compared to those of later generations!
What is Spring and Autumn? It means that wars, politics, and other national events take place in the spring and fall! Bai Qi's surprise attack on Hanoi in winter set a precedent for winter warfare, the first time in Chinese military history that infantry was used in a large-scale siege of a city. Bai Qi commanded the Battle of Changping, which totally annihilated the Zhao army. The Battle of Changping was the key battle of China's unification and rewriting of history, as well as the most brutal and magnificent battle in the world's military history, and the earliest and the most thorough siege and annihilation in the history of China. The scale of the battle was so large and the result so brilliant that it was rare in the history of world war. It is a precedent of large-scale siege warfare in China.
The Battle of Changping was a life-and-death battle between the two countries, and the scale of the war at that time was rare in the history of ancient wars, and it was the largest war in the Warring States Period, that is, the two countries, Qin and Zhao, mobilized troops, which should add up to about one million from the history books, which was quite a scary statistic at that time, more than two thousand years ago, more than a million. So this was a war that neither side could afford to lose, including the strong Qin. In fact, this was the late Warring States period, the war that decided who was going to unify China. And in this war, Bai Qi once again played the leading role, the man of the hour.
In that era of war, Bai Qi fought a war of annihilation, he eliminated the enemy's vital forces, and he always practiced this, which was one of the most efficient principles of that time. Because we must not forget that in the period of the Warring States when the population was small and the recovery was slow, human resources were more valuable than national resources. In those days, wars broke out every year, all the rulers of the vassal states, everyone was fighting, if you captured a large number of soldiers in the middle of a war, well, the war ended here, and you let them go, and after he went back to his country, they would still be fighters in the next war, and the wars would go on forever, and the wars would be fought one after the other.
If you don't kill and surrender at the Battle of Changping, the 450,000 Zhao troops will turn back to be a big army again, and the Qin army will be fighting for nothing. Bai Qi was thinking for the sake of the country - to kill!
Gukou Village, according to legend, is the place where Bai Qi killed the Zhao army, therefore, Gukou Village is also known as the Valley of Killing, Crying Head, and the Valley of Provincial Injustice, located 5 kilometers west of the city of GaoPing, and there are monuments such as Bai Qi Terrace, Skeleton Mountain, and the Temple of the Skeleton King in the village. The Skull King Temple was built in Tang Dynasty, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty was the King of Lu, he visited here, saw the white bones everywhere, and the skulls became mountains, which was shocking, so he constructed the Skull King Temple beside the Skull Mountain, and "chose a huge one among the skulls and bones, and set up a statue to seal the Skull King". Now the Skull King Temple for the Qing Dynasty remains of the structure, the temple molded Mr. and Mrs. Zhao Kuo statue. The poet Yu Dazhen of the Ming Dynasty wrote: "This place is a battlefield, with flat sands and deserted fields. There are many winds and rains and ghosts weeping, as in the ancient temple of the heroic spirit is deserted. Zhao will be empty a thousand years very, Qin soldiers why pass on the death? I can't believe that there is a king even for skeletons." Every to the high level of tourism people, we have to visit the skeleton king temple tour, to appreciate the Changping ancient battlefield of the majestic scene.
A hundred years later, Xiang Yu also killed 300,000 Qin soldiers, so why do people treat Bai Qi as a murderer and sympathize with Xiang Yu? Is it just because he is more infatuated than Bai Qi?
The Battle of Changping is a feat in China's military history and even diplomatic history, except that it was accomplished by Qin, which practiced legalism (ruling the country according to the law), which was despised by Confucian literature and history in later years!
In summary, we cannot blindly direct our feelings toward the defeated Zhao because we lament that Li Mu's generation of good generals did not have a good ending, nor can we insult and distort the state of Qin by imposing hatred on it because Bai Qi did not leave his pawns behind in every battle.
The state of Qin is naturally not infallible, or it would not have died in the second century, but we should not be fair and objective in evaluating the historical figures, rather than generalizing the "tyrannical Qin" and the "murderous king Bai Qi".
Bai Qi is a brilliant soldier and a god of war, but he doesn't care about power and strategy, and he doesn't deserve the word "lord". As for heroes, they are always given to those who are honored by Confucianism in later times. Since Bai Qi killed too many enemies, he was also excluded by these "benevolent and righteous" literati. Therefore, the later generations often called him a king of killers, and some historians even thought that Bai Qi did not deserve to be called a famous general at all. But as we all know, Bai Qi actually occupies a very important position in the world's military history, and is a real "god of war" for the war!
Among the famous generals of the Warring States, Wu Zixu and Sun Wu of Wu, Wu Qi and Pang Juan of Wei, Sun Bin of Qi, and Le Yi of Yan, all of them first studied under a teacher, and after they became famous soldiers, they went to their preferred countries to "worship the generals", hoping to get the appreciation of the wise monarchs - this is a good two-way selection of generals in the Warring States, which is a good two-way selection of generals. This is a good atmosphere of two-way selection of talents in the Warring States, the so-called "a hundred schools of thought, choose the best and suitable". Most of these "famous generals" wrote books after they retired or lost their power, in order to pass on their theories and practices of the military to future generations.
However, the real four great generals of the Warring States period - Bai Qi, Lian Po, Wang Jian and Li Mu - did not undergo any systematic study of military science and were purely "military" in nature, starting out as small soldiers and making a name for themselves by virtue of their achievements in killing and fighting.
Qin and Zhao were the most bloodthirsty and warlike of the Warring States period, and Qin, in particular, thoroughly enforced the Legalist system of military service, so generals were born in war, and even if they were the sons of the family, without merit, they were still veterans, and could not be knighted. In this kind of environment, only the birth of Bai Qi and so on from the grass-roots generals step by step with the war to the glory of the generation of war god!