As we said in the last issue, Zhang Cang was a literati and was named the Marquis of Beiping. In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, when military merit was mainly used as the standard for separation, Zhang Cang must have had great military merits.
How can a literati who cannot carry his hands or shoulders establish military merits? In fact, Zhang Cang has also had many highlight moments in the army.
First, Chang Shan helps Zhang Er
The division of civil and military officials is an important feature of the bureaucratic system since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but at this time, the boundary between civil and military is not very strict, and there is often a phenomenon of civilian officials serving as military generals and leading troops to fight. In the Han Dynasty, being able to be civil and martial, and both civil and military cultivation was a typical example of excellence, and it was affirmed and praised. Therefore, in the late Qin and Han dynasties, most of the top leaders of many local counties were people with both civil and military skills, and they were called county guards and often called county generals.
Zhang Cang's becoming a county general is related to Zhang Er. In the initial peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhang Er was a person with older qualifications than Liu Bang. When Liu Bang was still wandering in Peixian County and did not rise, Zhang Er used to be the doorman of Wei Wuji, the fourth prince of the Warring States Period, and he was already a well-known figure in the rivers and lakes, and he was a figure supported by the rangers in the rivers and lakes. Zhang Er played an important role in the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty. He was one of the important supporters of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising, and later joined Xiang Yu's team and became an important general under Xiang Yu, attacking the Qin army with Xiang Yu and making great achievements in the Battle of Julu. When Xiang Yu divided the princes, Zhang Er was named the king of Changshan. Tied with Liu Bang, even higher than Liu Bang's status. Later, Zhang Er and Chen Yu had a deep contradiction, Chen Yu attacked Zhang Er, Zhang Er couldn't beat Chen Yu, so he simply returned to Han and became Liu Bang's subordinate, and Liu Bang accepted Zhang Er with generous treatment. As Zhang Er's umbrella, Liu Bang, in the face of Chen Yu's provocation, of course he didn't do it, do you still have to look at the owner to beat the dog, bullying Zhang Er, just don't give me Liu Bang face! How can that work, since Changshan is still Zhang Er's fiefdom, Liu Bang sent Zhang Cang as the general of Changshan County to assist Zhang Er to guard Zhao Guo.
Sending Zhang Cang as the county general illustrates two points:
First, Liu Bang not only admired Zhang Cang's politics, but also recognized Zhang Cang's military talents. A literati, if he has no military talent, how can Liu Bang rest assured that he will be entrusted with the heavy responsibility of guarding Changshan.
Second, Zhang Cang's guard of Changshan also shows that he was a pawn placed by Zhang Er's side as Liu Bang's henchman. Zhang Er returned to Han at the beginning of the year, and his loyalty still needs to be further investigated. It is very necessary to send a trusted person to be by Zhang Er's side, Zhang Cang was favored by the boss and went undercover by Zhang Er's side, which is enough to see Zhang Cang's status in Liu Bang's mind.
Zhang Cang guarded Changshan, and the first thing to deal with was Chen Yu, at this time, Chen Yu and Liu Bang had not completely turned against each other, and they attacked Zhang Er militarily from time to time. As Zhang Er's assistant minister, Zhang Cang has the responsibility of defending the land. In addition, although he is a subordinate of Zhang Er, the king of Zhao, he must also guard against Zhang Er's rebellion and prevent him from having the heart of opposing Liu Bang.
Zhang Cang completed the task of guarding Changshan very well, Zhang Cang stood alone, Changshan was impregnable, and every time Chen Yu attacked Zhang Er, he did not dare to start from Changshan. Changshan has become Zhang Er's *** place, for which Zhang Er often praised Zhang Cang's military talent in front of Liu Bang.
Second, the well diameter captures Chen Yu
In the second year of the Han Dynasty (205 BC), Chen Yu and Tian Rong attacked Zhang Er, the king of Changshan, and after Zhang Er was defeated, Chen Yu Yingying established Zhao Xie as the king of Zhao. King Zhao was grateful to Chen Yu and once appointed Chen Yu as the acting king, but Chen Yu thought that King Zhao's power was too weak, so he did not go to the place to take office, but stayed by Zhao Wangxie's side to assist him. This year, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were in full swing, Liu Bang led the Han army to attack the Chu army, and sent someone to inform Zhao that he wanted to join the Zhao army to send troops. Chen Yu replied: "As long as the Han army kills Zhang Er, Zhao Jun will follow immediately." Liu Bang sent someone to find a person who looked like Zhang Er and killed him, and gave his head to Chen Yu, who immediately sent troops to support the Han army in the battle.
But later Chen Yu found out that Zhang Er was not dead, he was furious, he had seen a deceit, he had never seen such a deception, he hated the hooligan Liu Bang, and immediately turned his face and betrayed Liu Bang. He led the army to invade and occupy Hanoi County in the Han territory.
Liu Bang sent Han Xin and Zhang Er to attack Zhao. However, Liu Bang suddenly came to Han Xin's army, transferred Han Xin's army to defend Aocang, left him with only 2,000 old, weak, sick and disabled, and ordered them to continue to prepare to attack Zhao. Without soldiers in his hands, how can he attack Zhao State? He had no choice but to temporarily recruit new soldiers, collect the defeated soldiers, and scrape together, with the general's signboard, he finally managed to piece together 20,000 or 30,000 people. Relying on such an army, how to attack the Zhao State? Han Shin did spend a lot of brains. He assigned these people to various veterans for short-term training. In addition to these recruits, Han Xin also has a trump card in his hand, although the number is not very large, but it is very combative! That was Zhang Cang's garrison guarding Changshan.
However, the opponent Chen Yu's troops have about 200,000, with 30,000 against 200,000, one against six, the disparity is too great! Han Xin, the god of war, showed extraordinary wisdom at this time, and Han Xin formulated a strategy to fight Chen Yu in Jingcheng. That is, to order the troops to cross the water and stand on their backs. Standing up against the water is equivalent to directly cutting off one's own way of retreat, which is a big taboo for fighting, and it is naïve and ridiculous in the eyes of ordinary people, so as to lure Zhao Jun to leave the camp to pursue him. Then the elite soldiers in ambush took the opportunity to occupy the Zhao army camp.
This strategy, even Zhang Er did not understand and was suspicious. But Zhang Cang understood it and praised Han Xin's strategy. took the initiative to ask for battle, and personally led the troops to undertake the task of sneaking up on the Zhao army's camp. Left the army overnight and ambushed to the designated place.
Zhao Jun and Chen Yu were pedantic, stubborn, and particularly inflexible Confucian scholars. did not listen to the advice of the strategist Li Zuoche, relying on his own army and a wide range of generals, occupying an absolute advantage, but laughed at Han Xin's strategy of using troops.
Han Xin led his troops across the water, Chen Yu led his troops to block the way, the two sides opened a stance, and a fierce battle began. Han Xin had few soldiers, and soon showed a defeated appearance, Han Xin threw away the war drum in time, threw down the handsome flag, panicked, pretended to be invincible, pulled Zhang Er, and retreated while fighting. Here, the Zhao army began to coax the handsome banner of the Han army, compete for the drums of war, make noise and chaos. Soon, Zhao's camp was empty.
The purpose of the Han army's "leading the snake out of the hole" has been achieved, seeing that the Zhao camp is empty, Zhang Cang, who has long been in ambush, ordered the light cavalry generals Jin She and Fu Kuan to each bring 1,000 elite soldiers, from the left and right sides of the camp, and he himself rushed to the Zhao army camp in three ways from the middle road, cutting down the officers and soldiers guarding the camp, pulling out the flag of the Zhao army, planting the red flag of the Han army all over the place, letting the soldiers wave the flag and shout, deliberately raising dust, and the shouting shook the sky for a while, and the dust and smoke rolled.
On the frontal battlefield, Han Xin retreated while fighting, fought while retreating, retreated to the water's edge, and joined the 10,000 people standing at the water's edge to regroup. Chen Yu led the army to press. They thought that Han Xin had no way out, so they rushed and killed the Han army in an attempt to force the Han army into the water. At this time, Han Xin ordered the whole army: "Fight to the death, retreat and kill!" For a time, the Han army had no way to retreat, and only by rushing forward could it survive, and tens of thousands of people's desire to survive inspired unprecedented explosiveness. The Han army's tenacious will to survive caused the frontal battlefield to fall into a stalemate for a while.
The Zhao army saw that it could not win after a long battle, but was counterattacked, and the military camp was occupied by the Han army. Can't advance, can't retreat, for a while, the Zhao army was in chaos and fled one after another. Chen Yu hurriedly commanded the army to retreat to both sides, and the rout of 200,000 people was devastated, and the whole army was defeated!
Chen Yu, as the chief general of the Zhao army, realized that the situation was irreversible after the defeat, so he tried to lead some of the remnants of the army to escape. However, Zhang Cang had already anticipated Chen Yu's escape route, and personally led an elite pursuit force to closely follow Chen Yu's tracks. Constantly approaching Chen Yu's escape team. At the same time, he also skillfully used the terrain and troop advantages to block and flank Chen Yu's escape route. At the critical moment, Zhang Cang decisively ordered a general attack, and the Han soldiers launched a fierce charge against Chen Yu's fleeing team like a tiger descending from the mountain. Although Chen Yu tried his best to resist, under the fierce attack of the Han army, he soon fell into a desperate situation.
In the end, Zhang Cang succeeded in capturing Chen Yu and bringing him back to the Han army camp. This action not only eliminated a powerful enemy general for the Han army, but also greatly boosted the morale of the Han army and created favorable conditions for the subsequent offensive. As a result, Zhang Cang also won the commendation and praise of Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and became an important figure in the Han army.
In the Battle of Backwater, in addition to Han Xin as the commander-in-chief, Zhang Cang also participated in this battle. Zhang Cang played an important role in the Han army and played a key role. As a general of the Han army, he actively participated in the planning and execution of the campaign. Personally in charge of commanding a force and assisting Han Xin in implementing tactics against the Zhao army. He displayed outstanding command ability and courageous fighting spirit, and made important contributions to the victory of the campaign. Zhang Cang's performance in the battle was also rewarded and praised by Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, highlighting his important position and role in the Han army.
Third, on behalf of the national defense of the Huns
In the early days of the Western Han Dynasty, at this time, the Xiongnu took advantage of the exchange of troops between Chu and Han, and began to be ready to move, repeatedly violating the border of the Han Dynasty. Directly adjacent to the Xiongnu was the dynasty of the Han Dynasty, the Western Han dynasty in the northwestern part of present-day Shanxi Province and the northwestern part of Hebei Province. Geographically, the Dai Kingdom was located in the northernmost part of the Han Empire, even further north than the Yan Kingdom. Daiguo is located on the northern border of the Han Dynasty, adjacent to the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu are strong, often harassing the people of Daidi, so that the country has no peace.
After the Battle of Jingcheng, Zhao Di was pacified. In the 3rd year of Gaozu (204 BC), Liu Bangfeng's second brother Liu Zhong (also known as Liu Xi) was the acting king, but Liu Zhong was only an honest peasant, timid and afraid of things, buried in Longmu, and had no ambitions. Although he was crowned as the acting king, he had no talent in the face of military problems. There is simply no ability to hold the frontier. For this second brother, Liu Bang knew how many bowls of dry rice he ate. So he had to find someone who understood both politics and military affairs to assist him.
Liu Bang thought of Zhang Cang again, and the historical records said that "the king of Han took Cang as the prime minister and prepared the border kou". Zhang Cang was sent to Daiguo as minister in the third year of Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), responsible for guarding against the invasion of the Xiongnu.
During this period, Zhang Cang also showed outstanding military talent and organizational ability. He actively rectified the military strength of the Dai Dynasty, strengthened the construction of border defense, resisted the attacks of the Huns many times, resolutely defended the northern gate of the Han Dynasty, and ensured the security of the border of the Dai State. In addition, he also focused on economic development, and through the implementation of a series of effective economic policies, he improved the overall national strength of the country.
Fourth, Zhao Guo is the minister of state
However, Zhang Cang has not been on behalf of the country for a long time. Soon he was transferred by Liu Bang to Zhao State as Zhang Er's state minister, and the reason why he was transferred to Zhang Er was largely because Liu Bang did not trust Zhang Er, but it also showed that Zhang Cang had become Liu Bang's trusted person at this time. This also shows that under Zhang Cang's governance, the threat of the Xiongnu to the Dai country has been reduced. Zhang Cang has shown outstanding talent and contribution in the position of acting minister of state.
In the fifth year of Gaozu (202 BC), Zhang Er died, and his son Zhang Ao became the king of Zhao, and Zhang Cang continued to serve as Zhang Ao's state minister.
The Zhao State and the Dai State are adjacent to each other, and the regional characteristics, political status and development process are extremely similar, so they are often called the "Zhao Dynasty". Due to the small territory, small population, and weak strength of the original Dai State, the Zhao State was usually administered by the Zhao State. At that time, the Xiongnu harassed the country seriously, so the Han Dynasty specially transferred Zhang Cang to serve as the minister of state.
Zhang Cang is simply a brick of the revolution, **needs to be moved**! The most dangerous and most important places in the Han Dynasty can always leave Zhang Cang's figure.
Fifth, the swallow land extinguishes Zang Di
In September of the fifth year of Gaozu (202 BC), Zang Di, the king of Yan, rebelled against the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang personally led the army to conquer Zang Di, and Liu Bang specially recruited Zhang Cang from Daiguo to go with him, and Zhang Cang participated in the attack on Zang Di as the acting minister. In this campaign, how Zhang Cang behaved, there is no clear record in history, "Cang has a meritorious service in defeating Zang Tu from generation to generation" shows that Zhang Cang has also made great achievements. This victory laid the foundation for Liu Bang to consolidate his rule and further unify the country.
After the success of the conquest of Zang Di. Due to his meritorious service in quelling the rebellion, Zhang Cang was named the Marquis of Beiping in the sixth year of Gaozu (201 BC). In the same year, Zhang Cang was promoted to the position of Minister of Finance. A month later, Zhang Cang changed his position to the title of Marquis, a position he held for four years. At this time, Xiao He served as the Xiangguo, and Zhang Cang served as the history of the pillar from the Qin period, and was very familiar with the books and various books in the world, plus he was very proficient in calculations, music and calendars, so he ordered him to work in the Xiangfu with the title of Marquis, and was responsible for managing the accounting books handed over by the counties.
6. Huainan served as the Minister of State
In July of the 11th year of Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (196 BC), Yingbu, the king of Huainan, rebelled, and Liu Bang established Liu Chang as the king of Huainan and put him in charge of the fiefdom of the four counties under the former Yingbu territory. Liu Bang personally led the army to the expedition and exterminated Yingbu, so Liu Chang became the throne of Huainan. "Historical Records: The Biography of Prime Minister Zhang Cheng": "Huang Bu rebelled, and the prince of Han Li became the king of Huainan, and he was the same. In the 12th year of Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (195 BC), Zhang Cang became the minister of state of Liu Chang, the king of Huainan. After that, on the basis of the Huainan Kingdom, Zhang Cang worked for 16 years, and in the eighth year of Gaohou (180 BC), Zhang Cang was appointed as the imperial historian.
Zhang Cang, as a literati, fought on the battlefield, Chang Shan helped Zhang Er, captured Chen Yu in Jingjing, and resisted the Xiongnu on behalf of the country. All these incidents gave him the opportunity to participate in military decision-making and command, and demonstrated his superb resourcefulness and military talent. Zhang Cang made outstanding contributions in quelling the rebellion of Zang Di, the king of Yan. He participated in the decision-making and command of the counterinsurgency, and successfully helped Liu Bang put down the rebellion. This victory not only cemented Liu Bang's dominance, but also further proved Zhang Cang's military talent and loyalty. Therefore, he was named the Marquis of Beiping by Han Gaozu Jin.