Qin forcibly occupied Bashu, and the Warring States were desolate
Although the Wei State in the early Warring States period was not geographically good, it was not the worst. In fact, South Korea's geopolitical conditions are even worse, but other countries are only staring at Wei. This was mainly due to the fact that the Wei state was too powerful, and a powerful state was located in the Central Plains region, which either annexed other countries or was crippled by other countries.
This can be verified by Zheng Guo in the early Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, Zheng State, under the leadership of Zheng Zhuang Gong, was the most powerful country in the Central Plains. However, this led to the fact that Zheng Guo's surrounding neighbors could only choose to cripple Zheng Guo or be crippled or even conquered by Zheng Guo, and as a result, Zheng Guo's strength and status plummeted.
What happened to Wei was the same as that of Zheng in the early Spring and Autumn period.
In the context of the decline of the Wei state, Qin Xiaogong seized the opportunity to completely expel the Wei forces to the east of the Yellow River, completing his historical mission. Subsequently, King Huiwen of Qin inherited the throne of Qin, and he dismissed Shang Yang as soon as he took office.
Soon after, Shang Ying was accused of rebellion, and died in the rebellion or was executed. According to the Heroic Historical Concept, Shang Ying's death should have led to the decline of the Qin state.
However, this was not the case, and the state of Qin under the leadership of King Huiwen of Qin began to develop rapidly. Qin Xiaogong only drove Wei to the east of the Yellow River, while King Qin Huiwen successively seized a large part of Wei's territory, and defeated Wei, which originally spanned the provinces of the Central Plains, to only a part of Henan's territory.
This point in time was the ninth year of King Qin Huiwen's succession, and Hangu Pass officially belonged to the Qin State. This is not only the personal glory of King Qin Huiwen, but also the second bottleneck faced by the Qin State.
Prior to this, Qin Huiwen's father, Qin Xiaogong, had broken a bottleneck, that is, to overthrow the hegemony of Wei. However, during the reign of King Huiwen of Qin, the state of Qin itself became a hegemonic state, and the countries that had originally fought together against the Wei state now began to unite against the Qin state.
Although theoretically, the Qin State had such an important pass as Hangu Pass, and its geographical advantage was far superior to that of the Wei State, so it was not easy to be defeated. However, Xiongguan Pass also has its drawbacks: it is both a safe and a cage.
It is not easy for others to come in, but it is equally difficult for Qin to get out, because once others block Hangu Pass, they will almost block Qin's way out.
At a critical moment in the country, the King of Qin was faced with two choices: one was to divide and disintegrate the alliance of the princes outside the Guanwai, and the other was to go south to capture Bashu and create a reliable rear.
The king of Qin finally decided to go south to annex Bashu first, and then wait for an opportunity to go east. Although Bashu at this time was not yet the later "Kingdom of Abundance", the King of Qin realized its importance.
The fertile land of Bashu can improve the military food supply capacity of the Qin State, and it is also a good backhand. But Bashu is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and how to enter has become a problem. According to historical records, the Qin State sent stone oxen to the Shu State, the Shu State built roads, and the Qin army took the opportunity to capture the Shu State.
In fact, the two sides have long been willing to build roads, but their expectations are different. The king of Qin finally relied on the construction of Dujiangyan to successfully digest the Bashu region, and completed the unification of China by pressing the princes outside the Guanwai to beat him.
It can be said that the capture of Bashu by King Qin was the most important decision made by Qin Shi Huang before he unified China.
I mentioned earlier that Qin captured Shu, but not the entire Bashu region. This is because at the same time that Qin was moving south, Chu was also advancing westward, seizing Ba and further expanding into areas such as Qianzhong and Wujun.
This directly led to the large area of the territory of Qin and Chu, which posed a huge threat to the Qin state. As for the specific situation of Qin and Chu, we will go into detail next time.