Historical records say:
"In the autumn of 255 BC, Qin sent an army of about 250,000 troops out of Shu to attack Chu. Within two days, they defeated Zengcheng and Xincai, and reached the capital Chencheng and surrounded them.
Emperor Zhao Shihuang inquired about it, but he did not think that the army would go north to attack Yan, and he personally led an army of 70,000 soldiers to go south to save Chu.
Due to the shortage of troops, the strategy of "encircling Han and rescuing Chu" was adopted.
The chief general of the Qin army, Wang Lun, sent general Meng Ao as commander to inspect the situation. He had 5,000 and less than 20,000 cavalry under supervision, and joined 30,000 Korean troops to go north to rescue Han.
The First Emperor, Kuo Nai, used the strategy of "encircling the point to mobilize reinforcements" and annihilated 30,000 Korean troops in the fields south of Xinzheng City, the capital of Han, and routed the Qin Army's Meng Ao headquarters and within the valley road.
The armies of Qin and Han were defeated, and only ten thousand people fled back to Chu in panic.
After the coalition forces were defeated, the Zhao army continued to attack Xinzheng, the capital of Han Dynasty. The Qin army did not save it, but defeated it. King Huanhui of Han and more than 130 aristocratic families of Xinzheng, large and small, all moved to Handan.
After the Han Dynasty was defeated, the Qin army attacked Chendu, the capital of Chu.
On another ten days, the Chu army was defeated and abandoned the city at night. The leader of the Qin army, Wang Hao, inspected it and let it go, hoping to capture Chencheng.
The next day, Chencheng will be captured without spending a single soldier.
Then he took the goods from Chen City and held a banquet for the soldiers on the outskirts of the city. They drank and drank all night long.
Or say: This is the first victory of the Qin army since Changping!
Everyone who heard it shed tears and sighed.
Or the song goes: "Jiujiu Lao Qin, we will fight against the national calamity together."
The general Wang He even went to the high platform and swore with his own blood: "I will destroy the powerful Zhao State to wash away its humiliation!"
All the soldiers agreed. He swallowed his arrogance and looked north..."
A celebration banquet successfully solved two problems for Wang Lu:
The first is the overall mentality of the Qin army. As mentioned before, this is already the sixth year after the Battle of Changping, and in these six years, the Qin army has been defeated and defeated repeatedly.
Even last year's attack on the Zhou Dynasty ended in being forced back by the Zhao army. The Qin army spent a lot of manpower and material resources, but the final result was only a small Yiyang city.
This was a big blow to the Qin army from top to bottom.
In fact, especially for low-level sergeants and ordinary Qin people, these years have been particularly difficult.
The reason is very simple. Qin’s farming and warfare system determines that only continuous victory can promote Qin’s progress, and only with continuous victory can the people of Qin at the bottom get a share of the fruits of victory and can barely survive. Live a precarious life.
Without victory, the upper-class nobles, in order to ensure that their quality of life is not affected, can only deepen the continuous oppression of the people at the bottom;
If it is placed on the heads of the people at the bottom, they will be forced to participate in various heavy corvee labor after engaging in heavy farming work.
The reason why the Qin army and the people of Qin are still persisting is that they still have hope for Qin's victory and the so-called military merit system.
And such a celebration banquet was not only a vent for the fruitless battles of many times, but also an affirmation of the fervent hope hidden in the hearts of all the Qin troops.
Although not many people have actually received rewards, and the rewards are not valuable, there is no doubt that with such an example by their side, the people of Lao Qin will not lose hope, which is very important for the next battle.
After all, the one we have to deal with next is Zhao Kuo!
While solving the mentality problem, Wang Lu also unified the Qin army's determination to go north to regain the country of Han and fight against Zhao.
As mentioned just now, only a small number of people in the Qin army were rewarded. How does it feel to see others being rewarded but not myself?
At this time, tell them that there is another world waiting for them when they go north. It is not a problem to make meritorious service and receive awards. If it is you, will you go?
The answer is self-evident.
Sure enough, on the second day of the celebration banquet, many soldiers volunteered to go north to attack Zhao.
However, every advantage must have a disadvantage, and Wang Hao's private celebration banquet was an expedient measure, but it was inevitably overstepping his authority.
Although on the night when the Chu army evacuated, Wang Lu had already sent a letter of his plan to the King of Qin in Xianyang.
But overstepping one's authority is overstepping one's authority. Even if King Qin didn't take it seriously at the moment, he would always let it slip inadvertently.
However, Wang Hao obviously no longer cares about so much at this time. Seeing the soldiers coming to ask for battle, Wang Hao, who had been waiting for this moment for a long time, naturally agreed to all of them.
However, Chendu is a big city after all, and it is the result of the Qin army's hard work in the past five years. No matter what, Wang Lu can't lose Chencheng.
It was already the third day to reorganize Chen Cheng's defense.
Immediately, Wang Lu left 20,000 troops to defend Chen City, and led the remaining nearly 180,000 troops (the Qin army lost more than 20,000 troops in Chen Du's attack), and attacked the country of Han in a mighty manner.
On the border between Chu and Han, more than 10,000 elite Qin troops led by Meng Ao were anxiously waiting for the arrival of Wang Lu's main army.
Compared with other Qin troops, Meng Ao and the more than 10,000 elite Qin troops under his command were obviously more looking forward to fighting the Zhao army again and avenging their previous humiliation.
Of course, just as the Qin army was preparing to leave Chencheng and march to the north of Han, the news that the Chu army had withdrawn from Chendu also reached the ears of Zhao Kuo of Xinzheng.
This is really not good news, but Zhao Kuo is not worried at all, and there is only regret in his heart.
It turned out that on the night when the Chu army withdrew from Chencheng, Zhao Kuo also received a letter from Lian Po and Tian Dan.
Well, to be precise, it should be the two people's flying pigeon biography forwarded by Handan.
The content is also very simple: Jicheng was finally captured.
Immediately, Zhao Kuo sent personnel to deliver a message to the King of Chu, asking him to persist for another ten days no matter what. Unfortunately, before the letter was delivered, the news that the Chu army had abandoned the city arrived first.
Compared with the Chu army who took the initiative to evacuate, King Yan persisted in Jicheng until the last moment.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that King Yan has no way to retreat.
The reason why Jicheng was captured so quickly was thanks to its Prime Minister Li Fu. Even when it comes to life and death, Li Fu still hasn't changed his greedy nature.
He wants to be greedy for power, and even more for money and silk!
As a result, famous generals such as Lejian who could fight were quickly replaced by Lifu. Even the few who were indispensable were deprived of many rights, especially the purchase of supplies.
Soon, the food of the soldiers guarding the city became worse and worse day by day. In the end, they only had one meal of gruel a day.
Of course, the life and death of the Yan Kingdom was involved, and the soldiers did not care much. The generals headed by Lejian quickly reported Lifu's deprivation of food and wages to the King of Yan.
However, how could someone as cunning as Li belly not have any countermeasures?
Li Fu then took King Yan and everyone to the market. Only then did everyone suddenly realize that the price of food in Jicheng had already increased a hundred times!
Immediately, Li Fu fell to his knees on the ground, with tears and runny noses, saying that he had lost everything to fill the hole, and then he could barely provide the army with food and wages.
The King of Yan, who was originally partial to Li Fu, believed Li Fu's lies and even called Li Fu a capable minister and a capable minister, which really frustrated all the generals of the Yan Kingdom.
Everyone knows very well that Zhao Guo's siege lasted only more than a month. Even half a month ago, food prices were very stable. Why did food prices suddenly increase a hundred times?
As the capital city, Jicheng's food reserves could last for at least a year and a half, let alone a few years. It was obviously not a problem. There should never have been a food shortage, but it just appeared out of thin air.
And the price of food, which is a hundred times higher, is even more outrageous! You know, even in Handan, Zhao State, which was besieged by the Qin army for nearly a year, the price of food increased only ten times.
Now that Jicheng has only been besieged for a month, the price of food has increased a hundred times. This is obviously controlled by someone secretly.
No need to think that everyone knows who this person is.
But what can be done? Without evidence, King Yan would not believe it at all, and in this situation, where could he find evidence?
none
Unfortunately, everyone could only turn around and return to the city wall dejectedly.
However, there are still a few generals who really feel sorry for their subordinates, and bring food from their own homes to eat and wear with the soldiers. However, even if it is a minister's house, even if it has food, it will face thousands of mouths. How long can it last?
Getting a meal for all the soldiers is all these generals can do.
But even at this point, the Yan army, led by a few generals, was still trying its best to resist the Zhao army's siege.
However, even the minimum food cannot be guaranteed. How can the soldiers continue such a long-term and high-intensity battle?
Coupled with the disparity in strength, the Zhao army almost took turns to attack, but the Yan army was finally defeated due to exhaustion and hunger.
After conquering Jicheng, King Yan's subordinates were all captured and sent to Handan. Many generals were imprisoned. Even Lejian, because his father Leyi was a general in Zhao State, was locked up in the house.
Only the Prime Minister, Li Fu, immediately provided Zhao Jun with a large amount of military supplies and wages after the city was broken. He should have been imprisoned, but he also enjoyed the same treatment as Le Jian, but was confined in the house.
But no matter what, Jicheng was finally captured by Zhao Jun.
The 150,000 Zhao army could finally be liberated. (The attack on Jicheng cost more than 10,000 troops)
General Tian Dan immediately led 30,000 soldiers to continue to garrison Jicheng to prevent changes, while General Lian Po led an army of 120,000 to kill the country of Han in a mighty manner.
Unfortunately, because Fei Ge's letter had to be forwarded through Handan, it was inevitably a few days late.
In other words, this mere relationship of a few days turned a big victory into a small victory.
If it could be even just a day or two earlier, maybe Zhao Kuo would be able to send the information to King Chu in time, maybe King Chu would not withdraw from Chendu, maybe...
Of course, Zhao Kuo is also very able to accept the current results.
Qin took only one-third of Chu's territory, while Zhao took Yan and Han. No matter how you calculate it, it is Zhao who takes advantage.
As for the Qin army's massive attack, Zhao Kuo didn't even care. After all, Handan's heavy cavalry is now in place, and Lian Po's 120,000 troops have already moved south a few days ago. Counting on the fingers of their hands, it will only take another five or six days to reach the country of Han.
Although the 70,000 Zhao army had no chance of winning against the 200,000 Qin army, with the city of Xinzheng and ten days in hand, Zhao Kuo was still confident.
Moreover, the flat terrain south of Xinzheng City is most suitable for heavy cavalry assaults. Once the reinforcements led by General Lian Po are in place, the strength comparison will become 190,000 versus 200,000.
Zhao Kuo didn't mind giving the Qin army another lesson on the land south of Xinzheng City that was already full of the blood of the Korean army.
The name of the course is: On the Use of Heavy Cavalry on Ancient Battlefields.
