Daqin Empire Advanced Manual

Chapter 6 Classic Battle (1)
Battle of Guiling and Maling

The two wars that broke out between Qi and Wei in the middle of the Warring States period had a profound impact on the structure of the Warring States period at that time.

In 354 BC, General Pang Juan of the State of Wei led an army to attack the State of Zhao and surrounded Handan, the capital of Zhao, with the intention of destroying Zhao in one battle.The state of Zhao asked for help from Qi, and King Wei of Qi sent general Tian Ji and military advisor Sun Bin to rescue Zhao.Tian Ji wanted to save Zhao directly, but Sun Bin dissuaded Tian Ji with the principle of "criticism and falsehood", suggesting that he lead the army to attack Daliang, an important town in the Wei state, which was empty, and set up an ambush on the way back to the aid of the Wei army, so as to force Pang Juan to give up attacking Zhao. , Back to aid Daliang, so that it can not only encircle Zhao State, but also exhaust Wei State.Tian Ji followed his plan, and Pang Juan really fell for it. On his way back to rescue Daliang, he was ambushed by the Qi army in Guiling.Due to the long-term battle, the Wei army was exhausted and exhausted after long-term raids. As a result, it suffered a heavy defeat for the first time in decades. This battle also left behind the famous idiom of besieging Wei and saving Zhao.

Despite the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Guiling, Wei State still has its strength. Thirteen years later, Pang Juan once again led troops to attack South Korea.South Korea asked for help from Qi, and King Wei of Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Bin to rescue him again. On the one hand, in response to Pang Juan's anger and contempt for the Qi army, he used the method of reducing stoves to disguise the Qi army's cowardice: digging 13 army stoves on the first day, reducing it to [-] on the second day, and reducing it to [-] on the third day.As expected, Pang Juan, who wanted to avenge his shame, fell into the trick. He arrived at Maling Road at dusk, was surrounded by the Qi army, and was defeated.

The two battles of Guiling and Maling were the two most famous ambush battles in the Warring States Period.

Battle of Hexi
The summation of a series of battles between Qin State and Wei State for the strategically important Hexi Highlands. After decades of see-saw competition, it finally ended with Qin State winning and seizing the entire Hexi Highlands.

The Hexi Highland, today's Loess Plateau, is located in the north of Guanzhong and on the west bank of the Yellow River flowing from north to south. It is the commanding height of the entire Central Plains and the northern gateway of the Guanzhong area.In the early Warring States Period, Wei State was the most powerful state in the world, and the famous general Wu Qi led the elite soldiers of Wei Wuzu. However, Qin State experienced four generations of chaos and its national power was weak.After dozens of battles between the two countries, Wei State finally captured all the Hexi Highlands, which was the first stage of the Hexi War.

After that, Wu Qi left Wei because of Wei Wuhou's jealousy, and Qin Xiangong came to the throne in Qin State, and vigorously carried out reforms.After the two battles of Shimen and Shaoliang, the Qin army defeated the Wei army twice and captured Wei's prime minister, Gong Shucuo.After the Battle of Shaoliang, Qin Xiangong died of illness, Qin Xiaogong succeeded to the throne, and Shang Yang was appointed to carry out reforms; while Wei State shifted its military focus to Zhao and Han. Qin and Wei temporarily suspended the competition for the Hexi Highland.

More than ten years later, the state of Wei suffered disastrous defeats in Guiling and Maling successively, and it fell into a slump.However, the state of Qin was greatly strengthened after Shang Yang's reform.The gap between the two countries is even more pronounced.Under such circumstances, Shang Yang personally led the troops to attack Wei. First, in the name of peace talks, he lured the son of the Wei general who had an old relationship with him into the army and captured him alive. He took the opportunity to defeat the Wei army and force Wei to cede the land; The old capital was Anyi, and Shang Yang was granted the title of Lord Shang for this reason.Qin thus formally established its own strategic advantage in the Hexi Highlands.

After Qin Xiaogong's death, King Qin Huiwen came to the throne and sent general Wei Zhang to lead the army to attack Diaoyin, an important town in Hexi again.After two years of fierce fighting, the Qin army wiped out the Wei army and captured Long Jia. Wei was forced to cede the entire Hexi region to Qin. So far, the decades-long Hexi battle came to an end with Qin's complete victory.

Battle of Yan Qi
Almost at the same time as Bai Qi's repeated defeats of Han, Wei, Chu and other countries, a war broke out between Yan and Qi in the east. This was also the representative battle between the famous generals of Yan State Le Yi and the famous generals of Qi State Tian Dan.

Yan Qi's grievances can be traced back to the time of Yan King Kuai.After King Yanzhao struggled to restore his country, he set revenge on Qi as his lifelong goal. On the one hand, he built a golden platform to recruit talents, humbled himself and paid more money, and hanged himself to ask lonely people to unite the hearts of the people; , so that King Qi Min fell into the huge trap of "working in the Song Dynasty in the west and tired in Chu in the south".After the Yan State regained its national power, Le Yi led the Allied Forces of the Five Nations to attack Qi, and defeated the Qi army in the Battle of Jixi.Later, more than [-] cities were successively conquered, and only the cities of Jimo and Ju remained.Afterwards, Le Yi stopped the strong attack on the two cities, and adopted various means to buy people's hearts, hoping to win the two cities without bloodshed.However, at this time, the people of Jimo and Qi publicly recommended Tian Dan, who was born in a business traveler, as the guard to resist the Yan army, and the two sides of Yan and Qi started a long contest, and the battle between Yan and Qi entered the second stage.

After six years of stalemate, King Yan Zhao passed away, and Tian Dan cast countermeasures, making King Yan Hui, who had always been at odds with Le Yi, suspicious, took away Le Yi's military power, and reassigned Qi Jie as a general; he also claimed that Jimo had the power of ghosts and gods Help each other, and then send people to spread rumors to the Yan army, make the robbers cut off the noses of the captives, and dig the ancestral graves of the Qi people outside the city, thereby angering the Qi people who guard the city; and send people to paralyze the Yan army by feigning surrender.Afterwards, wives and concubines were also arranged among the ranks, distributing all the resources, making the guards eat and drink, and gathered more than a thousand heads of cattle in the city, tied the swords to the horns, poured fat and bundled the reeds on the tails, and lit them at night. The cow went out of the city, and five thousand dead men were carefully selected to follow.The Yan army was completely unprepared and was attacked in chaos. The Jimo defenders took advantage of the situation and broke out the besieging Yan army in one fell swoop, and then regained all the lost territory of Qi.

After this battle, Yan and Qi declined at the same time, and Qi, which was once the most powerful to contend with Qin, also withdrew from the ranks of hegemony, and the world pattern began to turn into a confrontation between Qin and Zhao.

Battle of Yanying
In 279 BC, Bai Qi, a famous general of the State of Qin, severely damaged the two countries of Han and Wei and established a strategic advantage in the Central Plains.

At that time, although the state of Chu had a vast territory and a large population, it had turned from prosperity to decline. The country's politics were corrupt and its military power was declining.In response to this situation, Bai Qi adopted a tactic of directly attacking the heart.He led his army down the Hanshui River to the east by waterway, first captured Dengcheng, an important place in the middle of Hanshui River, and then advanced to Yancheng, the gateway of Yingdu.The state of Chu urgently dispatched troops from all over the country to help. Bai Qi knew that the Qin army would go deep alone and it would not be suitable for a long time, so he relied on his geographical advantage to build a weir four hundred miles west of Yancheng to block the water, and built a long canal to reach Yancheng.Afterwards, a canal was opened to irrigate the city, and the northeast corner of Yancheng was destroyed. Many soldiers and civilians in the city were drowned, and the losses were extremely heavy. The Qin army thus occupied Yancheng.

After that, Bai Qi drove straight in, advancing step by step to Yingdu. After arriving at Yiling, he even set fire to the local King Chu's mausoleum to inspire a decisive battle between the Chu army and the Qin army.However, King Qingxiang of Chu had no intention of resisting, fled in a hurry, and moved his capital to Chen, and Bai Qi pursued him as far as Jingling.

The Battle of Yanying is another classic victory of Bai Qi after the Battle of Yique.In this campaign, Bai Qi's solitary army went deep, pinpointed the gaps, seized the time difference when the Chu army gathered, and used swift and flexible methods to attack the heart of Chu, which is strong from the outside and capable of the middle, and it worked in one fell swoop, showing precise strategic vision and extraordinary courage.

After this campaign, the state of Chu was no longer able to contend with Qin alone, and officially withdrew from the ranks of hegemony after the state of Wei, and went further into decline; The South County was set up in the land, which further consolidated the strategic advantage over the six countries, and Bai Qi was named Wu'an Lord because of his victory in the battle.

war with yan
Zhao Guo defeated Qin State for the first time after Hufu riding and shooting, and it was also the first time that the Six Kingdoms defeated Qin State after Qin's Shang Yang reform.The famous general Zhao She led the Zhao army after Hufu rode and shot to attack and defeat the Qin army.

Yanhe is located in the mountains of the upper reaches of Zhangshui River, south of Shangdang, South Korea, and west of Lishi, Qin State. It is the first dangerous pass in the west of Zhao State.Once you cross Yanyu and go down the Zhang River, you will be Wu'an, the gateway to the west of Handan. Therefore, both this place and Wu'an are important throats and must be guarded.At that time, Qin general Hu Yang led troops to attack Yanyu, and sent another army to attack Wu'an.King Zhao Huiwen summoned the generals to discuss whether to rescue them. Lian Po, Le Cheng and other generals thought that Yan and the road were far away and narrow, and it was difficult to rescue them. Only Zhao She thought: "The road is far and narrow, like two rats fighting in a cave. The brave wins." This left a famous allusion of "meeting on a narrow road, the brave wins".Under Zhao She's strong support, Zhao Guo finally decided to send troops.

Not long after leading the troops out of Handan, Zhao She ordered to stand firm in the camp and forbid them to come in and rescue them.At that time, the Qin army was in a hurry to attack Wu'an, and a general in the army asked for rescue, but was immediately beheaded by Zhao She.The Qin army spied on the military situation, Zhao She sent him away after entertaining him with wine and food.

So stay in place for 28 days without moving.From this, the Qin army thought that the Zhao army did not dare to come to help. Unexpectedly, after Zhao She sent Qin Jian away, he immediately assembled his troops, rolled up his armor, and rushed westward to help him.At this time, Xu Li, a military official, believed that the Qin army did not care about Zhao's rescue and must be arrogant. If the Zhao army formed a deep and thick formation, it would be able to overcome it, and suggested that the Zhao army occupy Yan and Beishan before the Qin army.Zhao She followed his words and occupied the dangerous position with more than ten thousand elite soldiers, condescendingly attacking the Qin army.After the Qin army found out, they rushed to attack, but due to the narrow terrain at the foot of the mountain, it was difficult to use all their troops. The repeated attacks suffered heavy losses, and they had to withdraw their troops.As a result, Zhao She defeated the Qin army, lifted the siege of Yan Yu, and was named Ma Fujun because of his victory in the battle.

(End of this chapter)