Bai Qi used water attacks to defeat all the elite troops of Chu. Within a year, he became even more invincible. Chu could no longer find an army that could withstand it for a while, so even its capital, Ying, fell to Bai Qi. into the hands of the army.
Seeing King Chu Qingxiang flee in despair, King Qin Zhaoxiang was very excited. Like the Queen Mother Xuan, they did not expect that Bai Qi would once again give the Qin army a miracle in the history of war. Just like how Empress Dowager Xuan helped King Qin come to power, this time they all worked together to help Bai Qi as much as possible, and even issued an edict to let Bai Qi take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the results.
Therefore, after Bai Qi defeated the capital of Chu State, he divided his troops into three groups and marched to other parts of Chu State. The first route went south to attack Dongting, the second route went west to Yiling (southeast of today's Yichang, Hubei Province), and the third route went east to attack Jingling. In just a few months, hundreds of miles of vast and rich land around Chu's capital were all owned by Qin, and Qin's strength was once again strengthened. In order to completely control the occupied areas, King Qin Zhaoxiang ordered the establishment of Nanjun in these areas. Its seat was Yingdu, the largest metropolis in Jiangnan that had been the capital of Chu for hundreds of years. The Chu Kingdom seemed to have perished in this way.
But people at that time believed that as long as they had a common ancestor, they could continue to unite under the maintenance of their spirit. The ancestors of the Chu people were buried in the Yiling area occupied by the Qin State's Western Route Army. Bai Qi believes that only by completely strangulating the spirit of the Chu people can the Chu country not resurrect. But the person in power of the Qin State at that time was the Empress Dowager Xuan, who was a noble of the Chu State. If Bai Qi destroyed Yiling, wouldn't he indirectly dig up the ancestral grave of the Empress Dowager Xuan?
In fact, Bai Qi was overly worried. He only knew that Empress Dowager Xuan was a native of Chu, but he did not know that Empress Dowager Xuan had long since devoted herself to Qin and completely settled down in Qin. In the past, she could sell her sex to seduce King Yiqu in order to stabilize Qin's rear. Today, for the sake of Qin's prosperity, she probably wouldn't care about a few tombs.
So at the order of Empress Dowager Xuan, Bai Qi set a fire, and Yiling became a historical memory, leaving only a few ruins.
While Bai Qi burned Yiling, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Fortunately, he was an ally of Empress Dowager Xuan rather than an enemy. When it comes to fighting, Empress Dowager Xuan is not as good as Bai Qi, but when it comes to playing political tricks, Bai Qi is no match for Empress Dowager Xuan.
Bai Qi thought that from now on, the Chu people would no longer be able to muster any fighting spirit and could only be regarded as vassals of Qin. Unexpectedly, things must be reversed. He used a flood of water to sweep away 350,000 lives in the Chu State. The Chu people were already very resentful towards him. He also used a fire to destroy the ancestral temple of the Chu State. The hatred between the country and the family was irreconcilable. Therefore, all the people of Chu made a solemn oath at this moment: Although there are only three people in Chu, if Qin is defeated by Chu, it will be Chu.
At this time, a figure who had a profound influence on later generations threw himself into the Miluo River. This man was Qu Yuan. When Ying, the capital of the Chu State, was trampled by the Qin army, Qu Yuan wrote the popular "Sorrow for Ying":
Why are the people shocked by the impure fate of the emperor?
The people were separated and lost each other, and they moved eastward in the middle of spring.
When I went to my hometown, I was far away. I followed Jiangxia and went into exile.
When I am out of the country, I am pregnant, and I will come to meet you.
After leaving the capital of Ying and leaving for Luxi, how could it be so desolate and desolate?
I raise my eyebrows with my face, I am sad to see you, but I will never see you again.
Looking at the long catalpa tree, it is too late to breathe, and the tears are as lustful as clouds.
After the first summer, I floated to the west, but I didn't see it when I looked at Longmen.
My heart is full of beauty and my heart is full of sadness, I don’t know where I am.
…
As the saying goes, the sun rises in the east and rains in the west, some people are happy and others are sad. Just when the Chu State is filled with hatred and resentment, and Bai Bai is filled with hatred to the bone, those in the Qin State who are eager to make achievements respect Bai Bai like gods.
The opportunity King Qin Zhaoxiang had been waiting for finally came. When it came to his great achievements, no one in the Qin State except Bai Qi thought of him. It can be seen from many occasions that Bai Qi is very loyal to King Qin Zhaoxiang. King Qin believed that as long as he rewarded Bai Qi lavishly, he could kill three birds with one stone: first, he could gain greater loyalty from Bai Qi; second, he could make some people who admired Bai Qi admire King Qin Zhaoxiang's wisdom and be inspired by him. , and then become more loyal to the Qin State and kill the enemy bravely; thirdly, you can use the plan to cultivate your own power, and at the same time, you can temporarily ease the relationship with the Queen Mother Xuan Group and maintain the internal stability of the Qin State.
So King Zhaoxiang of Qin opened his mouth and issued an edict, conferring Bai Qi the title of Lord of Wu'an, which means "to stabilize the people with force". Bai Qi, who was once the lowest soldier in the Qin State, finally stood at the top of the Qin State. At that time, the four princes of the Warring States Period: Lord Pingyuan, Lord Mengchang, Lord Xinling, and Lord Chunshen, were all members of the royal family of various countries. Without noble blood, it would be more difficult to be crowned a king than to ascend to heaven. It can be seen that Bai Qi's contribution to the Qin State, together with Shang Yang, can be regarded as the greatest in both civil and military affairs.
Of course, among the famous generals of the Warring States Period, Lian Po and Li Mu were both named kings. However, when it comes to merit, Lord Wu'an of Great Qin is ranked first.
With one victory and ten thousand bones withered, Bai Qi finally stepped on the corpses of countless people and reached the pinnacle of his life. Just as it is written in "Zhuangzi: The Box": "Those who steal hooks will be punished, and those who steal the country will be princes; in the gates of princes, benevolence and righteousness exist."
Although Zhao State was watching in the north, Bai Qi still went his own way and attacked Chu's land without any scruples. In 277 BC, Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an of the Qin State, took advantage of the Chu army's vitality to be severely weakened, and once again attacked Chu on a large scale, conquering Wu in the West (today's north of Wushan, Sichuan) and pacifying central Guizhou in the south. Qin then took the land of Wu as Wu County and the land of central Guizhou as Qianzhong County. At this point, the lands of Jianghan, Hunan and Guizhou, which accounted for almost half of Chu's territory, were all owned by Qin. Chu State once again fell into a dangerous situation after losing its troops and territory.
Just when everyone in Chu State was in danger, Bai Qi stopped taking action. Bai Qi believed that the Chu State could only occupy the areas within the Qin State's reach, but could not rush thousands of miles on its own, so Xu Tu included the entire Chu State in his territory. Because the border of Chu State is too wide, if the battle line is too long, with Qin State's limited military strength, even if it finally conquers Chu State, it will definitely give other countries in the Three Jin Land an opportunity to take advantage of it.
In order to avoid worries, the Qin State decided to first attack the strongest one in the Three Jin Lands-Zhao State.
Before that, Qin still needs to cooperate with Bai Qi in diplomacy. Because two years ago, the State of Qin and the State of Zhao formed an alliance at the Mianchi meeting. The King of Qin did not expect that Bai Qi would defeat the State of Chu so quickly. If the State of Qin fell out with the State of Zhao, it would inevitably appear that the State of Qin was too powerful. Too bad. In addition, Zhao State has always adhered to the strategy of "defending in the south and attacking in the north", and never easily engages in war with the Central Plains countries. Qin wants to attack Zhao State, but also wants Zhao State to take the lead in attacking. It is indeed a dilemma.
Empress Dowager Xuan believed that instead of facing Zhao Guo directly, it would be better to start from a third party. Since Han, Zhao, and Wei were divided into Jin Dynasty, the three countries have always promoted that they are still a whole. In fact, the three countries have special geographical locations and are indeed closely interdependent. So Qin decided to send troops to Wei first. As long as Zhao got involved, Qin would have a reason to deal with Zhao.
In 276 BC, Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an of Qin, led 100,000 troops to attack Wei and captured two cities. The battle between Qin and Wei officially began. Naturally, Wei would not have expected that it was attacked by Qin one after another just because "the city gate was on fire and the fish in the pond were damaged". In 275 BC, Ranghou Wei Ran personally led an army to attack Wei and reached Daliang, the capital of Wei. At this time, Zhao State still did not take any action, but only sent envoys to South Korea, and finally persuaded South Korea to send General Bao Yuan to come to rescue. Unfortunately, they were still defeated by the Qin army, and more than 40,000 soldiers died in Wei State.
King Anli of Wei once again performed his specialty: exchanging land for peace and offering 8 cities in Wendi (southwest of Wen County, Henan Province) for peace, and Wei Ran withdrew his troops. Of course, there is a very simple truth from ancient times to the present, that is, peace bought with humiliation will be short-lived. Sure enough, in 274 BC, Qin was preparing to attack Wei again, because the previous two attacks had gained many tangible benefits. But Zhao Guo still took no action. Unexpectedly, South Korea united with Qi to launch a massive attack on Qin for the lost cities and land. Wei was defeated again, not to mention losing troops and territory.
In fact, Zhao Guo has been observing the war situation between Wei and Qin, and is deeply worried about Wei's repeated defeats. Of course, the deeper meaning of this worry is that once Wei is beaten to the point where it cannot get up, Qin will take action against Zhao. Instead of waiting for success or failure, it is better to rush to the aid of Wei and strike first.
But like Qin, Zhao also needed a reason to send troops to Wei. In other words, it needed some real benefits to make Zhao willing to send troops. After experiencing the defeat, the King of Wei sent envoys to the State of Zhao to recognize the highest status of the three Jin lands of the State of Zhao. The purpose of the Wei State is to push the Zhao State to the top spot in the Three Jins. If the Qin State invades in the future, the Zhao State will take the lead in resisting. However, just before that, due to Qin's strength, South Korea had become a vassal of Qin, cheering for Qin when it conquered the east and west.
South Korea is one of the Three Jins. If South Korea becomes a force of the Qin State, the land of the Three Jins will become fragmented and weak, and it will be more difficult to deal with the powerful Qin. Therefore, the State of Zhao and the State of Wei discussed that in order to resist foreign aggression, they must first settle the domestic affairs. If they want to resist the powerful Qin, they must first attack South Korea and make South Korea turn to Zhao.
The method adopted by King Zhao Huiwen was very straightforward: he ordered the army to join forces with the Wei army to attack South Korea. It is a pity that South Korea seemed determined to follow Qin. Just when the Zhao and Wei coalition forces were about to press the border, South Korea sent envoys, traveling at night and starry, to feel that Qin was asking for help.
