In 226 B.C., Qin used troops against the Six Kingdoms for decades to harvest the fruits, when the time came, the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Yan were all destroyed by Qin, and the 34-year-old King Yingzheng of Qin had already won half of the world, which can be described as ambitious and proud.
The next opponent is Chu, this is the last difficult bone to gnaw, swallow it, and the world will decide.
However, with such an important task, who should be sent? Ying Zheng counted the trump cards in his hand with his fingers: Wang Qian, Wang Ben, Li Xin, Meng Wu, ......Each one is so good, alas, there are too many talents and it is not easy to do, it is difficult to choose, headache!
So Ying Zheng summoned several trump cards, engaged in a bidding, and asked ** one by one.
First of all, ask Li Xin. Li Xin, young and brave, once chased the Yan army with thousands of cavalry until Liaodong, forced to kill the prince Dan Yixian, and became famous in a war, which can be described as a rising star among many generals in the Qin State, Yingzheng is very optimistic about this potential stock.
The widow wants to take the thorn, and the general is enough to use geometric people? ”
Xiwu Anjun led 70,000 troops to attack Chu, and raised Yan and Ying to burn Yiling in the first battle; Last year, General Wang Ben only led tens of thousands of divisions to easily take more than ten Chu cities, which shows that Chu is not difficult to destroy. 200,000 is enough. ”
Ying Zheng asked Wang Jian again: "What does the old general think?" ”
Wang Jian pondered for a while: "If you believe in attacking Chu with 200,000 people, you will be defeated." In the humble opinion of the ministers, it must be 600,000 people. ”
Ying Zhengyi frowned, obviously dissatisfied with Wang Qian's answer. This ** is also too different, 600,000, isn't it necessary for the widow to give you all the money? The widow still wants to divide his troops to destroy Wei at the same time and unify the world as soon as possible! Wang Qian, Wang Qian, how can you say that you are also the number one general of my Great Qin, how can you be so timid? Where did you destroy Yan Zhao's prestige in one fell swoop!
Can the old general have a discussion and be less? ”
This matter is non-negotiable. Although the Chu soldiers are weak, they have a vast territory, and their strategic depth is far-reaching beyond that of other countries, and they cannot destroy Chu without 600,000 soldiers, and they cannot have one less. ”
General Wang is old, why is he cowardly! Ying Zheng shook his head and sighed, thinking to himself, it would be nice if Bai Qi was still there, then destroying Chu was not just like playing.
Wang Jian stopped talking, you don't believe me, then what else can I say! Li Xin is not old or timid, you can find him, I will sue him.
So Ying Zheng turned his head to look at Li Xin again, which was a rare look of trust. The widow has not risen in vain, it only depends on you, I hope you can become a new generation of Wu Anjun, I am a famous general in the Great Qin world, and I must not be interrupted in Wang Jian like this.
Li Xin was ecstatic, and then bowed and said: "Weichen is willing to lead 200,000 troops to attack Chu, and invite one person to be a deputy, and go with the ministers, I don't know if the king can cut his love?" ”
Who does the general want to invite? But it doesn't hurt to talk about it. ”
Meng Tian. Meng Tian. Ying Zheng was stunned for a moment, and the face of a handsome young man appeared in front of him.
Meng Tian was born in a family of famous generals of the Qin State. His grandfather, Meng Fu, was a veteran of the Qin army who served the four generations of Qin monarchs: King Zhaoxiang of Qin, King Xiaowen of Qin, King Xiang of Qin Zhuangxiang, and King Yingzheng of Qin. From the time of King Zhaoxiang from Qi to Qin, to 240 BC when he sacrificed his life for the country, Meng Fu laid more than 70 cities for Qin in his lifetime, which can be described as a great military achievement. His father, Meng Wu, was slightly inferior in military achievements, but he had fought many times as Wang Qian's deputy in the southern and northern wars, and was also a general of the Qin State. And Meng Tian and his younger brother Meng Yi are not only handsome, smart and studious, but also have been in and out of the palace since childhood, and learned the law of prison with Li Si together with Ying Zheng, so they are deeply favored and reused by Ying Zheng. It can be said that Montessori and Wang are the two famous general wholesale workshops of the Qin State, and they have produced many talents for decades, each one is better than the other.
However, although Meng Tian is from a family of famous generals, he has been helping him deal with some prison law paperwork in the palace, and he has never led troops to fight, can he do it?
Meng Tian is proficient in the art of war, and the minister can't ask himself. If this person is obtained, Chu will be able to take it after several battles. ”
Ying Zheng finally nodded, Meng Tian's ability, he knows best, this pregnancy is like pregnancy, it can't be hidden. Moreover, the Qin Dynasty was an era of all-round officials, and there was no clear distinction between civilian and military positions, and military officials could be transferred to civil and legal officials (Note 1), and civil officials could also serve in the army. Meng Tian will be a generation of famous generals sooner or later, it is better to let him exercise as soon as possible, the widow is about to dominate the world, and at this time, it is necessary to cultivate some young pillars of the country.
So in the twenty-second year of the reign of King Ying of Qin (225 BC), the Qin State once again raised troops. Wang Ben, the son of Wang Qian, led a division of 100,000 to attack Wei; Li Xin and Meng Tian, two newborn tigers, led an army of 200,000 to attack Chu in a big way. Wang Jian reported his illness and returned to his hometown in Pinyang (now southwest of Tongchuan, Shaanxi), and sat quietly in the manor at dusk, his heart like water.
The sunset is infinitely better, just near dusk.
Perhaps, I'm really old, Daqin is already a world of young people, Dawang, Ben'er, Li Xin, Meng Tian, you can do a good job, the future of Daqin is yours!
In the manor, the sheep overflowed the green depression, the shepherd boy played the monotonous piccolo, and a gust of evening wind blew through the yellow flowers in the wilderness.
On the other side, Li Xin and Meng Tian led the troops to the battle with the expectant eyes of King Yingzheng of Qin and the fathers of the whole city, and the two young people were full of spirit and endless ambition, especially Meng Tian, the first time he led the troops to fight, it was such an important battle, and the excitement in his heart can be imagined. For the trust of the king, for the glory of the Meng clan, this trip must come back from a beautiful battle, he is the descendant of the Great Qin God of War Meng, no matter what, he must not embarrass his grandfather.
At that time, the main forces of the Chu State were in Shouchun (now Shou County, Anhui), the new capital of the Chu State, led by the general Xiang Yan. This person doesn't seem to be well-known in history, but when it comes to his grandson Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, everyone knows it, although Xiang Yan is not as good as his own Niu Cha grandson, but it is more than enough to deal with Li Xin and Meng Tian, the two hairy young men who have just debuted, he knows that the combat effectiveness of the Chu army is not as good as the Qin army, and he can only use the vast territory of the Chu State to lure the enemy in depth, drag the battle line, consume the Qin army, and then take the opportunity to assault and win in one fell swoop.
However, the hairy young man Li Xin is a guy who is not afraid of the sky and the earth, let alone a Xiang Yan. Before the war, he asked the soldiers to travel lightly, only bring a few days of dry food, do not have to carry too much baggage, and want to have a food for the enemy, to feed the war with war, and to raid thousands of miles - this is the good medicine for Wu Anjun to break through in one fell swoop, as a fanatical fan of Wu Anjun, Li Xin has always been like a god in the war.
Li Xin was wrong, this time is different from the past, since the confession flooded Yancheng, Qu Yuan Zhonglie threw himself into the water, the Chu people hated the Qin people to the bone, who else would let him easily become an enemy because of food, not to mention that the depth of Shouchun is more than a thousand miles different from the depth of Yan Ying, and the Qin army rashly went deeper, isn't that going to find death?
The calm Meng Tian soon discovered this fatal danger, and he persuaded Li Xin: "The country of Chu is large, and I am afraid that there will be worries about entering, so I hope the general will be cautious." ”
Fifty years ago, after the Qin State attacked Yingdu and annexed the Jianghan Plain of the Chu State, the Chu State moved its capital all the way to Shouchun in the upper reaches of the Huai River, avoiding the edge of the Qin State and began to concentrate on developing towards the east. In 255 B.C., the state of Chu destroyed the ancient cultural state of Lu, annexed Jucheng, one of the five capitals of the state of Qi, and continued to advance northward, occupying the Nanyang region of Qi in the southwest of Mount Tai, and in 248 BC, Chu Xiangchun Shenjun Huang Xie was enshrined in the hometown of Wu Yue, and began to vigorously develop the Yangtze River Delta region (Note 2). Today, the vast territory of Chu is no longer under Qin. Meng Tian's concern is very reasonable.
But Li Xin disagreed, it is precisely because of the large territory of Chu that we have to drive straight in, seeking the main force of Chu to fight quickly, otherwise we will advance step by step, when will it be fought, I heard that Wang Ben's kid has led the water of the Bianhe River to flood the capital of Wei, and destroyed Wei in one go.
Meng Tian said that he couldn't move Li Xin, so he had to give up, who called someone the main general? Now I can only hope for Xiang Yan, hoping that he won't play any conspiracy.
So Li Xin ordered his troops to divide into two routes, one was led by Meng Tian to attack Bedqiu (now Linquan, Anhui, and Gushi, Henan), and the other was led by Li Xin himself, and directly took Pinghe (now Pingyubei, Henan). These two places are the last two dangers in front of Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and the next one is Pingchuan, and the soldiers can come to Shouchun City in a few days.
The importance of Pinghe and Bedqiu to the Chu State, Li Xin knew it, and Xiang Yan knew it as well, but he didn't send troops to save it at all, because his established strategy was to lure the enemy deeper, and not give the enemy some sweetness, could the enemy go deep?
So everything became surprisingly smooth, the two fierce guys were really fierce enough, and within a few days, they each played a triumphant song, and the good news flew into Xianyang like snowflakes, Qin Wang Yingzheng was ecstatic, the two boys did a good job, hurry up and take down Shouchun for me, and come back to the widow to directly seal you as Shangqing.
The war has reached this point, and the balance of victory is still on the side of the Qin army, but from this moment on, the state of Chu began to play with intrigues and tricks, and Li Xin was so dizzy that he almost lost his pants.
First of all, the state of Chu began to sue for peace, and the Chu monarch sent people to the camp of Ping and Li Xin, saying that he would hand over the city west of Qingyang (present-day Changsha, Hunan) and exchange land for peace. Of course, Li Xin agreed, it seems that the people of Chu are afraid, and they don't have the confidence to resist at all, so it is better to collect the benefits first to confuse them, and then suddenly attack Shouchun and catch him off guard.
Li Xin was wrong again, the situation in the state of Chu was much more complicated than he imagined. As we said earlier, Chu is an aristocratic republic with a long history, although Wu Qi changed the law to suppress some nobles, but with the capture of Nanjun, the core area of Chu by Bai Qi fifty years ago, a large number of local nobles migrated to the east with the king of Chu. The Italian political thinker Machiavelli said: Although it is difficult to invade a centralized country, it is easy to keep it once it is occupied; On the other hand, it is easy to invade a country ruled by a monarch and nobles, but it is difficult to destroy it completely, because there are a considerable number of nobles who will keep coming together to make trouble. In fact, the Qin Dynasty was finally defeated by the Chu people, and the second died, and it was on this that the death of the second.
In short, Li Xin didn't realize the danger of the Chu people at all, he was complacent, and he won successive battles, and he saw that he was about to come to Shouchun City, and suddenly the rear was **. In the Yanying region of Nanjun, which had long been conquered by the Qin state, the remnants of the nobles of the Chu state suddenly rose up, and at the same time, the feudal princes of the Chu state in the Qingyang area, which had surrendered before, also led their private troops to attack the north, cutting off the Qin army's Yangtze River logistics supply line in one fell swoop.
The backyard was on fire, and Li Xin had to go back to the division to save Nanjun, otherwise his lone army would be caught in the back and forth by the Chu State, and the situation would be critical. There is another reason, the Chu people are strong and clear, and Li Xin's so-called "because of the grain to the enemy" has long become a joke, so he must go back to recapture the Yangtze River logistics supply line. However, Li Xin was not reconciled with the results he had achieved, so he divided his troops into two routes, one was Meng Tian to continue to sweep in Huaibei and pull out the outer cities of Shouchun, while Li Xin led his troops to the west and returned to Yanying to quell the rebellion.
After a rapid march, Li Xin's 100,000 Qin troops finally arrived at Yanying, and after a fierce battle, recovered the Yanying region. In fact, at this time, Li Xin has not lost yet, as long as he fights steadily and completely sweeps away the rebel forces, he can find another opportunity to attack Chu in the future. However, Li Xin was young after all, brave and cautious, he felt that the rebel force had been defeated, and only some remnants of the army were left to flee, so he turned east, wanting to join forces with Meng Tian in Huaibei, and then join forces to the south to attack Shouchun.
However, Li Xin never expected that Yan Ying's Chu army still had the strength of the remnants, and they not only rescued Changping Jun, the prince of Chu who was exiled to his hometown by Ying Zheng, but also quietly joined forces with the Chu feudal monarchs in the area of Xiangshui and Changsha, and they followed Li Xin all the way, without removing their armor and leaving the saddle, and traveled day and night for three days and three nights without stopping. At the same time, Xiang Yan also led the army to the west, attacking from both sides, Li Xin was caught off guard, and the army was defeated like a mountain, but in one day, he killed seven captains (the commander led a "department" of the establishment, a total of 10,000 people), and the 200,000 army lost nearly half.
Facts have proved that Jiang is still old and spicy, and you have to use veterans to deal with veterans, Qin Jun in the process of unifying the Six Kingdoms, several big losses are on Pang Nuan, Li Mu, Xiang Yan and other veterans, young people love impulsiveness after all, impulsiveness is the devil. At the critical moment, fortunately, there was Meng Tian, although he was young, he was a little calmer than Li Xin, and the news of defeat reached the city father, and the Qin army's heart was floating, and the soldiers were afraid. At this time, Meng Tian showed an extraordinary style of a general, he collected Li Xin's defeated army all the way, and calmly retreated to Zhao Realm. Changping Jun and Xiang Yan chased and killed, and when they hit a wall, they simply turned around and went west to recover the hometown of Chu, and frantically rushed towards the Qin country.
Ying Zheng was furious, kicked over the seat in front of the seat, brushed his sleeves out, the attendants hurriedly prepared a car to chase, Ying Zheng got into the car, and went straight to Wang Qian's hometown Pinyang and galloped away.
Ying Zheng came to apologize: "The widow doesn't need to be a general, Li Xinguo insulted the Qin army." Now I heard that the Chu soldiers are moving west, although the general is sick, he can't bear to abandon the widow! ”
It seems that Yingzheng, as the first emperor of the ages, is really broad-minded, as the king of ten thousand times, and has the courage to admit mistakes, which alone surpasses his great-grandfather King Qin Zhaoxiang.
Wang Jian pretended to excuse himself twice, and finally agreed to come back to serve. When he was young, he was a general under Bai Qi, and he saw with his own eyes how Bai Qi offended King Qin Zhaoxiang and was given death. The so-called king is angry and bleeding for thousands of miles, and all those who dare to disobey the king will not end well. Now the king bows his head and begs humbly, what else do you have to handle.
Of course, a promise is a promise, but there are still three conditions:
1.Give him 600,000 soldiers.
2.Please ask Meng Tian's father, the veteran Meng Wu, to be his deputy general.
3.Please Xianyang Tian house a few places.
King Yingzheng of Qin laughed at Xu Zhi. Wang Jian is really a smart man, Qin Kongguo is entrusted to him, he invites more Tian Zhai, just to appease the hearts of widows! What an empathetic old general, this is emotional intelligence, boys, learn a little!
In the following year (224 B.C.), Wang Jian Mengwu led an army of 600,000 troops still according to Li Xin's march route, and after entering the front line of Chenyi and Pingyu, he accepted the lesson of Li Xin's rash attack and failed, fought cautiously, marched step by step, and gradually advanced, first quelling the rebellion, recovering the county, and then entering the Huaibei area, slowly advancing southward. Fortunately, Wang Ben had destroyed the Wei State the year before, so that the materials of the Qin army could be transported from Daliang to Chen County through the developed chasm water system, and then arrived at Wang Qian's military camp.
The people of Chu could not have imagined that the people of the Qin State who had just lost their pants would pull three times as many people and horses to fight in a blink of an eye, and they couldn't help but be a little panicked, at this critical moment of survival, the scattered feudal monarchs throughout the Chu State were forced to unite and put the private soldiers under the command of Xiang Yan, the last famous general of the Chu State, and finally gathered 600,000 troops to resist the Qin army and continue to go deeper. 600,000 against 600,000, this should be the largest cold weapon war in the history of the world, it represents the highest level of military organization and logistics in the classical era, although the details are unknown, but it is still exciting to think back then.
In the face of the 600,000 army of the Chu State, Wang Jian did not seem to be in a hurry at all, he only ordered the Qin army to stop going deeper, and jointly camp for dozens of miles, and hold the wall. In this way, Xiang Yan was in a hurry, and he came to challenge him in the past few days, and the Qin army should not fight. Wang Jian ordered the soldiers to recuperate, and slaughtered cattle and sheep every day, and ate with the soldiers. The two armies held each other for a year, and the officers and men of the Chu army had no fighting, and they either ate and drank or washed their hair and feet every day, and finally threw stones and played long jumps. Macho has nowhere to vent his energy, which is quite a dangerous thing. Coach Wang Jian nodded: Well, it seems that everyone is in good shape, keep it up!
The logistics of the Qin army are endless, but the Chu side is miserable, the long logistics line and the huge amount of logistics consumption have dragged everyone into the quagmire of pain, and the major nobles who provide grain and grass in the rear complained, Xiang Yan really couldn't withstand the pressure from up and down, and couldn't fight, so he could only retreat to the east in the end. Wang Jian Mengwu seized the opportunity to lead the army to advance, pursued the victory, and was defeated in a row, and finally attacked the Chu capital Shouchun and captured the king of Chu. However, the Chu people refused to give up, and soon the Chu general Xiang Yan supported Changping Jun as the king of Chu and continued to rebel against the Qin state in the Huainan area. Wang Jian and Meng Wu had to continue the attack on Chu the following year, and eventually killed Changping Jun, and Xiang Yan also committed suicide in defeat.
At this point, the state of Chu, which had flourished for more than 800 years, was declared extinct. This year, Xiao Xiang Yu, the gravedigger of the Great Qin Empire, was ten years old and was fleeing with his uncle Xiang Liang, and one day, he would avenge his grandfather Xiang Yan.
Immediately afterwards, the Qin army destroyed Chu and coerced Yu Wei, destroyed the withered and swept the land of the Yan Dynasty, in 222 BC, Wang Ben and Li Xin attacked Liaodong, captured Yan Wang Xi, and then attacked the Dynasty, and captured Wang Jia of the Dynasty. Wang Jian decided that the south of the Yangtze River would descend to the king of Baiyue and place Huiji County. Among them, it is particularly worth mentioning Li Xin, Qin Wang Yingzheng does not seem to have completely pushed the crime of defeat on his head, but shouldered the responsibility with the respect of the emperor, so Li Xin was able to make military exploits again, and made his family a famous military family between the Qin and Han dynasties, the famous Li family of Longxi where the famous general Li Guang of the Western Han Dynasty and the Li Tang royal family are located, is the descendant of Li Xin, so far, the five kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu and Yan have all perished, and the six heroes of Shandong are the only Qi countries that are the farthest away from Qin. So in May of this year, King Yingzheng of Qin celebrated in advance, gave drunkenness, and authorized the world to drink. (The law of the Qin and Han dynasties, more than three people are not allowed to drink together, and there is a celebration in the imperial court, and the subjects are allowed to gather and drink, which is called "giving drunkness".) Later dynasties were celebrated as a feast. ）
On this day of universal celebration, what is Meng Tian doing? He is reflecting on the fact that he was defeated in the first battle of his debut, and his lessons are not profound, all successful people in history are good at summing up lessons and lessons, and Meng Tian is no exception.
Note 1: The so-called grammar clerk is a characteristic profession of the Qin and Han dynasties, and in today's terms, it is a senior civil servant in the clerical and legal profession. Note 2: There are still many relics of Chunshenjun and Huang Xie in Shanghai and Suzhou, the abbreviation of Shanghai is Shen, which is the Shen of Chunshenjun, and the original name of Huangpu River is "Huangxiepu".Note 3: This Changping Jun can be said to be the most mysterious figure in the "Historical Records of Qin Shi Huang", with only one sentence of record and no background information. However, historians Yang Kuan, Tian Yuqing and Li Kaiyuan speculated based on the newly unearthed Qin Jian that he should be Xiong Qi, the cousin of the king of Chu, and Mr. Li Kaiyuan also guessed that this prince of Chu may also be the grandson of King Zhaoxiang of Qin and the cousin of King Yingzheng of Qin. Xiong Qi, the king of Changping, may have said a few good words for his homeland before the decisive battle of Qin and Chu, so he was dismissed as prime minister by the king of Qin and moved to his hometown to appease the local people of ancient Chu. But Ying Zheng did not expect that after Changping Jun arrived in the Guying area, he got the opportunity to contact many old Chu nobles, but was affected by the local enthusiastic anti-Qin momentum. So he ascended to the heights and shouted, not only the noble forces of the Chu State in Hunan and Hubei came over, but the Huaibei city captured by the Qin army earlier also surrendered and rebelled. It seems that the feudal monarchy of the Chu State also has advantages, especially at the moment when the country is in danger, it is like a plate of loose sand that meets water and turns into mud, which can make any unprepared enemy fall into a quagmire.