Why didn't the teacher mention it, the price of returning to Zhao was miserable
You are not alone in this world. There is always a mysterious person who will come into your life at some point in the future and bring you endless strength and courage.
Even though you don't know his name and can't see him, he will show up when you need him and bring you light and hope. He is your guardian, your soulmate, and your life mentor.
No matter when and where, he will be by your side, cheering you on, cheering you on, and lighting the way forward for you. So, don't be afraid, don't be confused, with him in your life, there will definitely be miracles.
When we were young, we all studied the ancient text "Bringing Harmony", which contains two stories that are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people - "Returning to Zhao after Completion" and "Bearing the Guilt of Jing and Pleading".
Lin Xiangru and Lian Po, with their wisdom and courage, successfully defeated the powerful Qin state. These two classic stories are now almost unknown to everyone.
After reading the story of "Returning to Zhao", we are all impressed by Lin Xiangru's bravery and wisdom. In the face of the powerful King of Qin, he had no fear, dared to challenge, and became a hero of the Zhao State.
However, a few passages in the language text do not tell the whole story of this history, and we need to understand and explore it more deeply.
Although the teacher emphasized Lin Xiangru's heroism in returning to Zhao, he seemed to have reservations about the follow-up of this incident. This may be because the subsequent costs of this incident are simply too great.
So, what happened after the real return to Zhao? What is its follow-up plot?
During the Warring States Period, Lin Xiangru, a diplomat of Zhao, became a leader in the diplomatic circles of the time because of his intelligence and extraordinary courage. And the beginning of this story is to obtain a piece of rare good jade in the world in Zhao State-Heshi Bi.
This piece of jade originally belonged to the State of Chu, but the State of Zhao succeeded in obtaining it with the wisdom of Lin Xiangru.
The state of Chu once used a piece of peerless jade to ask the state of Zhao for marriage, but this piece of jade fell into the hands of the state of Zhao, which aroused the envy of other countries, especially the powerful state of Qin. King Qin had a soft spot for this jade and tried his best to get it.
In the end, he offered to exchange 15 cities for He's Bi, and Zhao had no choice but to take the jade to Qin. King Qin Zhaoxiang was bent on getting He's Bi and was full of expectations for Lin Xiangru's arrival.
Lin Xiangru cleverly saw through that King Qin might have forgotten his previous proposal, so he simply mentioned the matter of the fifteen cities to remind King Qin. In order not to change his mind directly, King Qin pretended to take out the map and pointed it a few times.
However, Lin Xiangru had already expected that King Qin Zhaoxiang was not as sincere as he said. He wanted to get the Heshi Bi, but he didn't want to lose fifteen cities easily. Therefore, Lin Xiangru devised an ingenious plan at a critical moment.
In the evening, King Zhaoxiang of Qin brought He's Bi back to Zhao intact, avoiding a complete loss of credibility among several countries. Although he was reluctant to give up the fifteen cities, if he used force to snatch the peace clan, he would not only lose the trust of other countries, but also cause future exchanges to be blocked.
The state of Qin was in a dilemma at this time.
Lin Xiangru's bravery and good cunning made him famous in the Zhao state, but his actions also paid a heavy price. Behind this incident, one can't help but think deeply, an incompetent faint king can destroy a country.
He Shibi brought a heavy price to Zhao Guo, so what is this price?
The end of the return to Zhao not only marked the official beginning of the contest between Zhao and Qin, but also signaled that Zhao would begin to pay the price for his actions.
King Qin's original proposal of 15 cities as a condition seemed to be just a test of Zhao's national strength, but in fact, he had already predetermined the possible consequences of Zhao. If Zhao agrees to accept these 15 cities, then this will fully expose the weakness of its national power, and conversely, if Zhao refuses, then the king of Qin has already had a plan for the next step.
Regardless of the outcome, Zhao Guo needs to take corresponding responsibility for his choice.
Qin Fen VI's aftermath"The story has been widely circulated, but few people have paid attention to other countries except the Qin state. In fact, it has long been obvious that Qin is eyeing other countries.
In the same year that Qin demanded Heshi Bi from Zhao, Qin was busy attacking the capital of Wei. At the same time, the State of Zhao was not idle, and had been committed to capturing the State of Qi.
The two countries look almost equal in strength, both vying for the throne of becoming the hegemon.
For King Qin, does he really want He's Bi, or does he want to use He's Bi to examine the strength of Zhao? If we think about it from a more macro perspective, it is obviously not in line with the style of King Qin Zhaoxiang to exchange 15 cities for Heshibi.
His original purpose was to investigate the strength of Zhao Guo by exchanging jade, but he did not expect that Lin Xiangru would use ingenious means to successfully complete the operation of returning to Zhao.
This incident not only fooled the King of Qin, but also allowed the Zhao State to hide its true strength. Therefore, King Zhaoxiang of Qin was deeply outraged by this, and then began to attack the state of Zhao.
In 282 BC, Qin sent troops to Zhao for no reason and successfully occupied two cities. The king of Qin was not satisfied with this, and the following year he sent troops again and took Shicheng in one fell swoop. However, the anger in King Qin's heart still did not subside.
Since so many cities have been obtained, why not strike while the iron is hot and completely annihilate the Zhao State? In 280 BC, General Bai Qi led the Qin army to launch a fierce attack on the Zhao state, and his combat style was simple and clear, based on the three characters "fast, accurate, and ruthless".
He led the iron-blooded army of the Qin State and quickly launched an attack on the Zhao State, and in the face of the momentum of the Qin State like a tiger descending from the mountain, the army of the Zhao State was panicked and did not dare to fight at all.
In this fierce confrontation, Qin captured nearly 20,000 troops of Zhao with an overwhelming advantage, and the situation of Zhao fell into an extremely critical situation for a while, and the troops were greatly damaged.
Not only that, but the Qin State also took advantage of the victory to pursue, and in the same year, the important cities of the Chu State were taken into possession.
In the successive confrontations between Qin and Zhao, King Zhao came up with the idea of reaching an alliance with King Qin. For the Qin king, he was also worried about the possible failure of the attack in the end, fearing that both sides would fall into a situation of losing both.
Once both countries are shattered, it will benefit other countries. Although Qin and Zhao had ostensibly formed an alliance, the anger in King Qin's heart against Zhao had not dissipated.
However, the ensuing battles caused the Zhao state to plummet and pay a heavy price.
Although the ruler of Qin has always been King Zhaoxiang of Qin, and Bai Qi has always been his capable general, Zhao has experienced several generations of monarchs, and the generals have also changed.
In 262 BC, Bai Qi of Qin began to attack Korea. However, the road to the capital of the Korean Shangdang was blocked by the Qin state, and in order to prevent the destruction of the country, the Korean decided to directly hand over the Shangdang county to the Qin state.
Shangdang Junshou was reluctant to surrender to Qin, and instead made overtures to Zhao and expressed his sincerity in surrendering. Zhao Guo was overjoyed and immediately sent Lian Po to South Korea to take control. When King Qin Zhaoxiang learned of this, he immediately sent Wang Di to lead his troops to the battle.
Lian Po stopped the Qin army and set up multiple lines of defense. However, in the face of the fierce attack of the Qin army, Lian Po's defense line still seemed difficult to resist.
Lian Po showed great military talent in the war, discovering several loopholes in the Qin state. The war lasted three years, and the resources of both countries were heavily depleted.
Although Zhao was slightly inferior to Qin in agriculture, it had always relied on Lian Po's command to withstand Qin's offensive. However, the King of Qin continued to sow discord with the King of Zhao in an attempt to get the King of Zhao to replace Lian Po.
The continuous attrition of this war has made both sides realize that fighting for a long time is not a long-term solution.
King Zhao thought about it for a long time and felt that Lian Po's long-term battle had not been won, and it might be his problem, so he wanted to replace the veteran. So, Zhao sent the general Zhao Kuo, who is the person we are familiar with on paper.
The replacement of the generals of the Zhao State also made the Qin State react, and they sent the famous general Bai Qi to meet the battle. However, when Zhao Kuo went to war, he thought that he was still going to face Wang Yu, but he didn't expect that Qin would also change generals.
Bai Qi has a wealth of combat experience and has won countless victories. During the battle, he pretended that he could not defeat Zhao and induced the other party to let his guard down. Zhao Kuo thus fell into the trap and immediately ordered the Zhao army to speed up the pursuit of Qin.
However, he didn't realize that he had been brought into the territory of the Qin State by Bai Qi. Just when Zhao Kuo was at a loss, suddenly, a team of nearly 20,000 people appeared in the Qin State.
Zhao's ** team was surrounded by the huge army of the Qin State and fell into a crisis of soldiers approaching the city. Faced with such a predicament, Zhao Kuo decided to fight hard, hoping to break the deadlock, rather than continue to stay here and sit still.
Although Zhao Guo was already crying for his father and mother at this time, no one could save them, and only by himself could he turn things around.
Zhao Kuo led the army to attack the enemy, but was killed with an arrow. When the 400,000 Zhao troops saw that the main general had died, their morale was greatly reduced, and they surrendered to the Qin army one after another. However, Bai Qi saw it as a potential threat and decided to annihilate all of these Zhao troops.
What if these people come back in the future, for revenge? In order to avoid this, Bai Qi ordered all the people of these teams to be buried alive, leaving only a hundred people to go back and report the results of the battle to King Zhao.
This war caused Zhao's strength to plummet, and the position of the eastern hegemon became a thing of the past, which could not be restored.
Zhao's journey is full of painful memories. If we look to the past, we can see that the predicament of today's situation was foreshadowed.
The current situation of Zhao is not accidental, and every decision affects the present. A small choice in the past can have a big impact on the future. The defeat in this war may have been due to the temporary change of generals due to the trust of others.
Because Zhao repeatedly teased the Qin State, he finally reaped the consequences and fell into the abyss. At the beginning of all this, it was King Qin Zhaoxiang who was constantly teased, which made the anger of Qin gradually escalate.
Although we read the story of returning to Zhao in the textbook, which seems to have a happy ending, behind it is the tragic reality of the destruction of Zhao and the burial of 400,000 troops alive.
Some questioned Lin Xiangru's tactfulness, arguing that without his clever tongue in front of the King of Qin, Zhao might have avoided this crisis. However, in reality, the Qin state may have already had the ambition to unify the six kingdoms.
Thank you for your interest and we look forward to bringing you more help and value.
The truth of history may not be perfect, but behind it lies many little-known stories. Too often, we only see the bright side of history and ignore the painful chapters.
However, the ending of returning to Zhao not only exceeded Lin Xiangru's expectations, but may even surprise the entire Zhao Kingdom. After all, the world is always unpredictable.