Nine months have passed in the blink of an eye, and it can really be described as one moment and another. During these nine months, King Zhao gave Lian Po full responsibility for the defense of Handan. But this time, Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an of Great Qin, did not take action, which resulted in an unbalanced war.
King Zhaoxiang of Qin heard that Lord Wu'an was ill. Perhaps he claimed to be ill on purpose, or perhaps because the general who led the Qin army to attack Handan this time was none other than Wang Ling, the fifth official. This time, the Qin army only led 100,000 soldiers and horses. After the autumn harvest, they marched towards Zhao with full confidence.
King Qin Zhaoxiang and Fan Ju had carefully thought about it. Although the official position of Wang Ling was low, even one level lower than Zuo Shuchang, it was more than enough to deal with the old, weak and remnant soldiers of Zhao State. The Qin army has always produced famous generals, and the King of Qin thought that he could take this opportunity to train Wang Ling, so that the Qin army would continue to reduce its dependence on Bai Qi. Bai Qi was too rebellious and often did not obey King Qin's orders, which made King Qin dissatisfied.
However, later facts proved that Bai Qi's rebelliousness was not unreasonable. Wang Ling reached the outside of Handan City smoothly, but was unable to enter the city.
It turns out that after the Changping War, Zhao State had very few of its elite forces left. If it resisted the Qin army head-on, it would be like digging its own grave. Therefore, the Zhao army simply implemented the policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the country, abandoning all the cities on the Qin army's march route to Handan, moving their population, and sweeping away their food, grass, soldiers and horses. In this way, the Qin army had been walking through an uninhabited territory. Only after arriving in Handan did they find that almost the entire Zhao State's power had been concentrated in Handan. It seems that Zhao State is preparing to fight the Qin army to the end.
The Zhao army in Handan City has at least 200,000 troops. They are a special group. Most of them are elderly people over 40 years old and teenagers under 18 years old. Most of these people's relatives died in the Battle of Changping, so they all regard the soldiers of Qin as their sworn enemies. Their unforgettable hatred is more terrifying than any fierce morale and murderous spirit.
What made Wang Ling even more frightened was that the person guarding Handan this time turned out to be Lian Po, a general who was as powerful as Bai Qi. The entire city of Handan, Zhao State, was filled with an air of sadness. In the Battle of Changping, Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers in one fell swoop, making the Zhao people full of hatred for the Qin army while still fearful. In this battle to defend the city, they were all determined to die.
It can be seen that the Qin army's attack on Handan was more difficult than the initial battle against Changping. Lian Po once again showed the tightness of his defense, and the entire Handan was simply impregnable. No matter how fiercely the Qin army attacked, they could not capture it. Three months later, the Qin army had lost troops and generals, and the war had not made any progress.
Nowadays, the Qin army can be said to be riding a tiger and it is difficult to get down. The state of Zhao is like this. If it still cannot be attacked, it will appear that the state of Qin is too helpless, the army of Qin is too incompetent, and the king of Qin is too stupid. Withdrawing troops is a good way, but how can King Qin Zhaoxiang swallow this breath? The Qin army had a hard time achieving what it has achieved today. It is impossible for this group of tigers and wolves to return without success just because of a mere 200,000 old, weak and disabled soldiers. Therefore, the State of Qin sent 200,000 additional troops to Wang Ling and gave him a fatal order: Handan must be conquered, otherwise he would be dismissed on the spot.
In 258 BC, Ying Zheng was one year old. He and his father anxiously awaited the result of the Qin army's attack on Zhao in Handan. At this time, Ying Zheng was able to walk and could barely speak some words.
However, this Spring Festival, the Qin Army's Royal Tomb once again disappointed them. The Qin army braved the severe cold and attacked the fortified city of Handan day and night, but to no avail. However, Lian Po still won the trust of King Zhao and stayed there during the day. At night, he sent the elite cavalry of Zhao's northern army to attack. In less than two months, Wang Ling lost five military camps and tens of thousands of soldiers were killed or injured.
The King of Qin could no longer keep his composure. He knew that if the Qin State did not send wise generals there, not only would they not be able to conquer Handan, but the Qin army would also suffer a greater blow.
At this time, Bai Qi also heard about the war ahead, and he thought his chance to overthrow Fan Ju had arrived. It's not that he can't tolerate a prime minister, but that he can't tolerate a person who calls the shots on the battlefield. He also needs to always be on guard against Fan Ju's plotting behind his back, and this kind of plotting is more difficult to guard against than the flesh-and-blood fight on the battlefield. This is the so-called "it's easy to hide with open guns and hard to defend against hidden arrows". In order to be able to attack the Six Kingdoms confidently and boldly, Bai Qi decided to overthrow Fan Ju first.
So for the first time, when King Qin went to ask Bai Qi to come out of the mountain, Bai Qi refused directly.
Naturally, the King of Qin would not give up, so he asked why, and Bai Qi replied without hesitation: "Handan is really not easy to attack, and the rescue of the princes is coming soon. The princes have complained about Qin for a long time, although Qin is better than Changping , more than half of the soldiers are dead, the country is empty, and the country is far away from the rivers and mountains to fight for the capital; Zhao should be inside, and the princes should attack outside, and the Qin army will be defeated." ("Historical Records: Biography of Bai Qi Wang Jian")
When Bai Qi spoke like this, the clever King Qin could naturally hear it, and Bai Qi was obviously trying to shirk his words. I think back then when Bai Qi attacked Chu with 70,000 lone troops, it was only a snap of his fingers to conquer the city of Yan. As a result, the state of Chu lost half of its territory. The current Handan is indeed very strong, and there is also the famous general Lian Po as its defender, but with Bai Qi's talent, it is not a huge difficulty to conquer Handan. And the princes were about to come to rescue him, so the King of Qin would not believe it. Didn't the princes sit back and watch the success or failure of the Changping War? Now that the Zhao State is in more danger than before, all countries will just sit back and watch, and some may even take advantage of the situation to take advantage of it. The Yan State, which repeatedly harassed the northern border of Zhao State not long ago, is a living example. Of course, once the princes realize the consequences of the Qin army's conquest of Handan, it is not impossible to come to the rescue. However, past examples clearly point out the fact that the alliance of princes is nothing more than a paper tiger. Pour the hozen and scatter it. Finally, Bai Qi said, "More than half of the soldiers died." This is still a fact. However, the Qin army currently besieging Handan has a total of 300,000 troops and horses. As long as Bai Qi takes action, it can be immediately transformed into 500,000 or 1 million. It does not pose any substantive problem.
Thinking of this, King Qin Zhaoxiang immediately felt that Bai Qi really didn't know how to praise him, but now he had to focus on the overall situation, so he had to find out the crux of the problem. The person who untied the bell must also tie the bell. Bai Qi's attitude had a lot to do with Fan Ju. Since he couldn't tolerate Fan Ju, he asked Fan Ju to solve this problem.
Unexpectedly, Bai Qi not only did not come to sing a song of reconciliation with Fan Ju, but instead cooked a pot of rejection for Fan Ju. Fan Ju did not go to invite Bai Qi willingly, so Fan Ju returned to King Qin Zhaoxiang and complained directly: "Jun Wuan pretended to be ill and refused to be a general."
After all, Bai Qi is a simple soldier, which allows him to be desperate on the battlefield, but it also makes him ignorant of everything politically. He thought that with his extraordinary achievements, he would never be inferior to an outsider who relied on his words to climb from the toilet to the court. So he chose to confront Fan Ju directly. He didn't understand that Fan Ju no longer represented the prime minister at this time, but also represented the face of King Qin Zhaoxiang and the interests of the State of Qin.
Sure enough, King Qin Zhaoxiang became furious after hearing Fan Ju's report. At this time, King Qin thought of another person who performed well in the Changping War, and that person was Wang Lu. The King of Qin didn't believe it. Qin had no generals except Bai Qi.
Therefore, the Qin State took Wang Lu as its general, reinforced 100,000 troops, and rushed to Handan on a starry night. The Qin army has the power to dominate the world and the bravery of tigers descending from the mountains. The King of Qin believed that as long as this large army reached Handan, the Handan defenders would surely abandon their armor. The Qin army wanted to occupy Handan and pacify the State of Zhao, just like searching for something from a bag.
After Wang Lu arrived in Handan, he immediately removed Wang Ling's coaching power. So far, the Qin army has sent 400,000 troops to attack Handan, which is twice as many as the 200,000 old, weak and remnant troops in Handan. With such a large number of people, from the autumn of 258 BC to the spring of the next year, for a full five months, the Qin army did not advance at all.
This scene is very familiar in the eyes of Wang Lu and Lian Po. They were in the same position as the two in the Battle of Changping. Lian Po was still on the defensive and Wang Lu was still on the offensive. The difference was that Qin was getting stronger and stronger, while Zhao The country gradually weakened. But the final result was still the same as three years ago. The Qin army still had no way to deal with the unmoving Zhao army.
Regarding all this, Fan Ju has his own ideas. At first, the Qin army only had an army of 100,000. The inability to capture Handan can be said to be a quantitative gap. Now, the Qin army is not only in terms of the quality of its individual soldiers, but also the number and equipment of its troops. It was many times more powerful than the State of Zhao. The Qin army was invincible in the past. Facing Handan, it only needed to attack Handan at all costs. There was nothing to be afraid of in terms of casualties against Zhao.
Therefore, Fan Ju came to the conclusion: It was not that the Qin army could not capture Handan, but that it was unwilling to capture Handan. The reason why they did this was nothing more than a silent demonstration to support Bai Qi, the god of war in their hearts. And let the King of Qin know that only Bai Qi is invincible in the world, and no one in Qin can conquer Handan except Bai Qi.
Fan Ju informed the King of Qin about this guess, and the King of Qin was shocked. Isn't this forcing him to marry? If this continues, Bai Qi will inevitably threaten the stability of his military power. The King of Qin will not allow this situation to continue. Even if he destroys the Great Wall and makes Qin's military power plummet, he will consolidate his dominance.
Fan Ju realized that although the military group headed by Bai Qi objectively threatened the power of King Qin, the real point of its sword was not others but himself. Whether Bai Qi goes to this battle or not, Fan Ju will not be pardoned by them. Instead of waiting for success or failure, it is better to fight back.
At this time, Fan Ju thought of two people, one was his sworn brother Zheng Anping, and the other was Wang Ji who helped him come to Qin and recommended him to the King of Qin. These two people have been reused since Fan Ju became famous. As the saying goes, raising an army for a thousand days and using it for a while, Fan Ju decided to let Zheng Anping take action. As long as he could conquer Handan, not only would the crisis be resolved in vain, but his position would also be increasingly consolidated.
