What kind of existence is King Zhao Wuling?Under his rule, Zhao became the biggest stumbling block on the road to Qin's unification of the world.
How did King Zhao Wuling do it?Please read on.
King Wuling of Zhao succeeded to the throne
In 326 BC, King Zhao Wuling's father, Zhao Suhou, died, leaving King Zhao Wuling with a mess - the wolf-like Qin State in the west, the powerful Qi State in the east, and more importantly, the threat from the Zhongshan Kingdom, the eighth male of the Warring States.
When the Marquis of Zhao Su died, King Wuling of Zhao was only fifteen years old, so the princes were eyeing each other, trying to take advantage of this opportunity.
Unexpectedly, although King Zhao Wuling is young, he has the temperament to dominate the world.
In the face of external threats, he ordered the border passes to be heavily guarded, and the national capital Handan was heavily guarded. He only allowed the envoys from the five countries to enter and refused to allow the army to enter the country.
The messenger saw that he couldn't get a bargain, and left after mourning.
In such a dangerous situation, being successfully resolved by the fifteen-year-old King Zhao Wuling was enough to see that he was young and wise.
Go to the frontier for an expedition
In 307 BC, King Wuling of Zhao decided to take his own soldiers and conduct an expedition along the border of Zhao.
King Wuling of Zhao made a careful survey of the borders with Qi, Qin, Han, and Wei. When he came to the border of Qin and Zhao, he was shocked by the other party's grand military appearance and tall city walls. He knew that the Qin State would be the most powerful enemy of the Zhao State in the future.
When King Wuling of Zhao came to the eastern border of the Zhao Kingdom, there was Zhongshan Kingdom here. Most of the territory of Zhongshan was surrounded by the Zhao State, so the Zhao State was often harassed by the Zhongshan State.
So King Wuling of Zhao decided to find an opportunity to destroy the Zhongshan Kingdom.
Next, King Zhao Wuling's decision scared the people around him into a cold sweat.
He decided to inspect the northernmost part of the Zhao Kingdom, which was a terrible place, and the northernmost place was in the area of what is now Zhangjiakou City in Hebei ProvinceMilitary powerhouseIn the eyes of the people at that time, it was the end of the world, far away from the Central Plains civilization. What's even worse is that there are Hu cavalry who have been invading the Central Plains all the year round and have come and gone without a trace.
King Wuling of Zhao did not listen to the dissuasion, went all the way north, and rode straight to the Mongolian steppe.
The Hu people are a people on horseback, proficient in mounted archery, good at sneak attacks, and highly mobile. Therefore, the Central Plains army could not resist the Hu cavalry, and was often harassed by them.
King Wuling of Zhao went deep into Mongolia and became friends with these nomads.
These people showed King Zhao Wuling equestrian skills, and the bold King Zhao Wuling took off his wide robe and big sleeves, put on the short clothes and narrow sleeves of the Hu people, and followed them to learn to ride and shoot.
The promotion of Hufu riding and archery
After returning to China, King Wuling of Zhao fell into deep thought - the border of Zhao was long and the defense was weak.
So he decided to build a strong cavalry.
To form a cavalry, you had to take off your wide robe and big sleeves, and put on a short coat with narrow sleeves that were convenient for riding and shooting.
In 306 B.C., the vigorous Hufu cavalry and archery promotion movement kicked off in the Zhao Kingdom.
But it is not easy to make Zhao people accept Hufu, Hufu is crotch pants, and the Central Plains people are crotchless pants;Not only that, the clothes of the Hu people are left, which is the way the dead wear shrouds, and the Central Plains people wear the right clothes.
Under the leadership of King Wuling of Zhao, the people of Zhao put on Hu clothes.
The establishment of cavalry
After putting on the hufu, the second step is to train the soldiers to ride horses and shoot arrows.
There are two major types of cavalry in Zhao - Hu people (Hu people recruited to work in Zhao State) and border people (residents living in the northern frontier).
Next, King Wuling of Zhao wanted to solve the problem of horses, and he decided to establish a horse ranch in the northern Xinjiang Dynasty and buy horses from the Hu people.
The reason why King Wuling of Zhao wanted to establish cavalry was determined by the living environment of Zhao - there was a long border in the north, where there was harassment by the Hu cavalry, and the two-legged infantry could not catch up with the cavalry at all.
Not only that, but the establishment of such a mobile class is a great addition to Zhao's team.
Destroy the Zhongshan Kingdom
In 305 BC, the second year of King Wuling of Zhao to promote Hufu cavalry archery, Zhao attacked Zhongshan with all his might. After nine years, the Zhao State finally eliminated the Zhongshan State.
Construction of the Great Wall of Zhao
King Wuling of Zhao promoted Hufu cavalry and archery, and at the same time recruited the two tribes of Loufu and Linhu in the north. Under these conditions, the state of Zhao united the two tribes to wage war against the Hu people. The Hu people were defeated, and large tracts of land fell into the hands of the Zhao state.
In order to defend against the invasion of the Hu people and hold on to the newly acquired territory, King Wuling of Zhao built it in northern XinjiangZhao Changcheng.
And along the Great Wall set up four border counties, a fortress. These four border counties are strategically high.
Surprisingly win against Qin
King Wuling of Zhao knew that sooner or later, the two countries of Qin and Zhao would meet each other. So a plan appeared in Zhao Wuling's king's brain.
To the north of Zhao and directly south of the three counties of the Great Wall is the Weihe Plain, the heart of Qin.
In the past, when attacking Qin, it was necessary to go through the unpleasant Hangu Pass, but King Wuling of Zhao decided to avoid Hangu Pass and raid Qin from the north and insert it into the heart of Qin. It's a risky move.
The first challenge is distance. It is 1,600 kilometers from the three counties of Zhao Changcheng to Xianyang.
The second challenge was the Qin army stationed at Hangu Pass. Once the Qin army at Hangu Pass returned to Xianyang, then the Zhao army fell into a passive situation.
However, Zhao had a cavalry corps and was highly mobile and could overcome the above difficulties.
Dune Change
It's a pity that before King Zhao Wuling could realize his ambitions, he was starved to death because of a domestic coup.
In 299 BC, the forty-one-year-old King Wuling of Zhao decided to pass on the throne to his youngest son, Zhao He, who called himself "Master Father".
Before that, the crown prince was Zhao Zhang, because his father loved Zhao He, he was deposed as the prince, and Zhao Zhang was sealed in the Daidi as "Anyang Jun".
Zhao Zhang was unwilling to be deposed, and he conspired to rebel with Tian Buli, the Xiangguo who served as Zhao Zhang's fief.
In 295 BC, King Wuling of Zhao and his youngest son, King Huiwen Zhao, went to the sand dunes outside Handan to play. The two lived in two separate palaces.
Zhao Zhang, who received the news, led the rebel army to the sand dunes with Tian Buli.
Tian Buli sent someone to falsely spread the word that King Zhao Wuling wanted to see King Zhao Huiwen, but he did not succeed.
So Zhao Zhang led his troops to attack the palace of King Zhao Huiwen. The war was in a stalemate. At this time, Li Dui and Gongzi Cheng heard the news and mobilized heavy troops from Handan, and at the same time mobilized the garrison of the sand dunes.
Zhao Zhang knew that his general situation was gone, so he ran to King Zhao Wuling's palace and pleaded with King Zhao Wuling. King Zhao Wuling knew that this was caused by himself, so he decided not to pursue his fault.
However, King Zhao Huiwen's army ignored King Zhao Wuling's face and directly killed Zhao Zhang. Gongzi Cheng and Li Dui knew that they would definitely die if they killed Zhao Zhang. So, they decided to imprison King Zhao Wuling and starve him to death.
In fact, the ** behind this is naturally King Zhao Huiwen, if he doesn't kill Zhao Zhang, how can he sit firmly on his throne?
Although King Wuling of Zhao died, the cavalry regiment he left behind became the most formidable enemy on the way of Qin's journey to dominate the world.