In the Battle of Julu in the late Qin War, Chen Yu's words revealed the sympathy for Bai Qi's death at that time. However, why was Bai Qi, a famous general over seventy years old, finally forced to commit suicide?Is it really because of high merit and no reward, as Chen Yu said?
Bai Qi, as a general of the Qin State, devoted his life to the battlefield. Under Wei Ran's recommendation, after he became the commander of the Qin army, he won great military exploits for the Qin State with his invincible and invincible record. Even if Wei Ran lost power, Bai Qi was still highly valued by King Qin Zhaoxiang.
However, Bai Qi's fate was not all smooth sailing. Compared with Bai Qi, King Qin Zhaoxiang trusted Fan Ju more. Fan Ju succeeded in expelling Wei Ran and became the de facto ruler of the Qin state. Under King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Bai Qi was in charge of military affairs, while Fan Ju was in charge of internal affairs. However, because Wei Ran was Bai Qi's sponsor, the relationship between Bai Qi and Fan Ju was not harmonious.
This contradiction reached its peak in the Battle of Changping. Although the Qin army was ultimately victorious, the fierce resistance of the Zhao army resulted in heavy losses for the Qin army. After the Battle of Changping, Bai Qi and Fan Ju had disagreements over future military operations.
Bai Qi advocated taking advantage of the victory to pursue and attack Handan, the capital of Zhao State, in order to destroy Zhao State in one fell swoop. He even resorted to the extreme of killing 400,000 Zhao prisoners in order to gain time. However, Fan Ju believed that the destruction of the Zhao State was not the best policy, and advocated a timely truce and recuperation.
There is also a theory that Zhao Guo used a counter-plot and sent Su Dai to lobby Fan Ju. Su Dai told Fan Ju that if Bai Qi succeeded in destroying Zhao, he would become the most outstanding general of Qin and would inevitably surpass Fan Ju. Fan Ju was dissatisfied with the fact that he had succumbed to Bai Qi, so Su Dai hoped that Fan Ju would agree to Zhao's cession of land and sue for peace. Fan Ju listened to Su Dai's words and persuaded King Zhaoxiang of Qin to agree to Zhao's peace conditions.
This argument may be valid, but it would be too presumptuous to regard Fan Ju as sabotaging the country's plans for personal gain. This not only insulted Fan Ju's personality, but also belittled the wisdom of King Qin Zhaoxiang. In fact, even without Su Dai's lobbying, Fan Ju might have suggested that the Qin king cease fighting and sue for peace.
This is because Fan Ju, who is in charge of internal affairs and logistics, has become unsustainable. The protracted war had led to the serious attrition of Qin's manpower and material resources, and the national strength was on the verge of collapse. The Qin army, which was supposed to be resting, was forced to fight because of Zhao's capture of Shangdang. The exhausted Qin army plunged into the long Battle of Changping without resting, and the situation was dangerous.
If it weren't for the excessive depletion of Qin's national strength, Fan Ju might not have used a counter-strategy to make Zhao Kuo the commander of the Zhao army. Fan Ju hoped that Zhao Jun would take the initiative after changing the coach, so as to shorten the time of the war. However, due to intelligence errors, Zhao Kuo's performance put the Qin army in a difficult situation. Although Bai Qi saved the situation, he was dissatisfied with Fan Ju's improper intervention.
This mainly stems from the contradiction between Bai Qi and Fan Ju. The lack of effective communication between the two sides, as each side focuses on the military and political aspects, has led to the intensification of the contradictions. From a military point of view, Bai Qi was anxious to quickly eliminate the Zhao state, while Fan Ju was more focused on internal affairs and was committed to ending the war as soon as possible. Although it is understandable which opinion is adopted, whether the king of Qin listened to Fan Ju's advice and agreed to Zhao's request for peace, or adopted Bai Qi's opinion, the seeds of Bai Qi's dissatisfaction were planted.
In this emergency situation, King Qin recalled Bai Qi. After learning the news that Bai Qi had been **, the King of Qin ordered Bai Qi to attack Handan instead of Wang Ling. However, Bai Qi resolutely rejected this order, believing that it would be unwise to continue the attack on Handan at this time. He warned that if the attack persisted, with the Zhao state holding on inside and the reinforcements of the princes outside, the Qin army would be defeated.
Although the King of Qin insisted on his views and issued orders himself, Bai Qi still refused to obey. The king of Qin sent Fan Ju to ask Bai Qi to come out of the mountain again, but Bai Qi again refused and dismissed him on the pretext of his own health problems. In desperation, the king of Qin had no choice but to send Wang Ji to take over Wang Ling to command the Qin army. At this time, the battle situation in Handan was as Bai Qi expected, the Zhao army stubbornly guarded Handan, and the Wei and Chu reinforcements attacked the Qin army outside, causing the Qin army to suffer more and more losses.
After learning the news of the defeat of the Qin army, Bai Qi expressed his dissatisfaction with the King of Qin, lamenting that the King of Qin did not follow his advice, and how to deal with it now. These complaints reached the ears of King Qin and caused him great anger. So, the king of Qin once again ordered Bai Qi to command the Qin army, but Bai Qi claimed that he was unwell and still did not accept the order. The king of Qin sent Fan Ju to invite Bai Qi out of the mountain, but Bai Qi still refused. In the end, the monarch of Qin interceded with Bai Qi, promising that he only needed to lie down and command without going into battle himself, but Bai Qi still refused.
Under these circumstances, the king of Qin made the decision to remove Bai Qi from all official positions, demote him to a soldier, and move him to a shadowy place. Due to Bai Qi's poor health, this order could not be carried out. During the three months of Bai Qi's illness, the Qin army was repeatedly defeated by the coalition forces, and the situation became even more unfavorable. The king of Qin finally ordered Bai Qi to leave Xianyang immediately and not to stay at home any longer.
After Bai Qi left Xianyang, he arrived near Duyou. The king of Qin consulted with Fan Ju and other ministers, believing that although Bai Qi was exiled, his attitude was still disobedient and he harbored complaints. So, the king of Qin sent an envoy to give Bai Qi a sharp sword and ordered him to cut it off on his own. After learning of King Qin's order, Bai Qi was forced to commit suicide.
Bai Qi's cause of death was not entirely due to his retribution for killing 400,000 Zhao troops in the Battle of Changping. This is just a kind of comfort for Bai Qi. He knew that the real cause of his death was the failure of the struggle between King Qin and Fan Ju.
Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao generals in the Battle of Changping out of desperation. These 400,000 surrendered troops were forced to surrender after 46 days of grain and grass starvation, and the main general was killed, and most of them were Shangdang soldiers and civilians, who resolutely fought against the Qin state. Since he couldn't surrender and couldn't stay, and Bai Qi desperately needed time to attack Handan, he had to choose to execute these surrendered troops.
The reason why the king of Qin finally gave Bai Qi death was that Bai Qi was too stubborn, lacked political acumen, and could not tolerate others, which led to him being manipulated by politicians like Fan Ju. Bai Qiyuan was a military general who should focus on commanding the Qin army in battle, rather than getting too involved in national politics. However, he was too stubborn to focus only on military objectives and indifferent to the overall interests of the country.
Bai Qi's loyalty and dedication to military affairs allowed him to achieve impressive results on the battlefield, but he was unable to do so in political struggles. Compared to Fan Ju's wisdom and tactfulness, Bai Qi's character appears too straightforward and hard. His refusal to heed the advice of the King of Qin and Fan Ju, as well as his schadenfreude over the political situation, eventually led to a fierce conflict with Fan Ju, who was at the heart of politics at the time.
Bai Qi's death was not only the death of an outstanding general, but also a violent upheaval in the political and military system of the Qin Dynasty. The dissatisfaction he expressed on his deathbed reflected a general's concern about the country's crisis and anger at the leadership's mistaken decisions. In the long course of history, the story of Bai Qi has become a legend of intrigue, loyalty and betrayal, leaving a deep reflection for future generations.