Qin and Wei fought for the land west of the river many times, why did Wei completely fail in the end
There are seven for ten thousand horsemen, and five for a thousand horsemen; The enemy is on par with me, and I am competing for the strong, and I am also a belligerent.
A fascinating history of the Warring States.
It is the beginning of the three monarchs of the Jin and Wei dynasties, the early Warring States period, which lasted more than 100 years, and was the most beautiful time, because during the Warring States period, he earned hegemony, forced Qi to the left, pressed Chu to the south, invaded Qin, Han and Zhao in the west, and the second brother only looked at Wei.
The Qin State originally had a grudge against the neighboring state of Jin, and the ** of the Jin State made the Qin State worry about the emergence of a unified Wei State, and the Wei State was obviously invincible at that time.
Just imagine, a big stone blocked the door of the house, broken into three pieces, and couldn't move it, and finally moved it, but it turned out that one piece couldn't be moved, and it was strange if it didn't drown.
Wei and Qin were the center of the second part of the struggle in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in the history of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Qin and Wei states had more than five conflicts over the territory of Hexi, why was the Wei State defeated in the end?
The answer to this question is actually quite simple. The main reason is that in the last struggle of Qin and Wei for the territory of Hexi, Wei was the opponent of Qin, which I will analyze in detail below.
Wu Qi is the general, take the land west of the river.
The establishment of the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao, and Wei marked the beginning of the Warring States period. After Zhi's death, the Three Kingdoms**, the Three Kingdoms were divided into seven kingdoms. The Seven Kingdoms are the Three Kingdoms plus the Chu State in the south, the Qi State in the east, the Yan State in the north, and the Qin State in the west.
From a geographical point of view, the three kingdoms of Han, Zhao and Wei are in the absolute Central Plains, especially after the Three Kingdoms moved their capitals, the deer of the Central Plains thought that they had seen it through, and if it wanted to chase the Central Plains, it must be strong, so how to be strong, the later rulers found the secret, that is, to change the law.
Wei was the earliest vassal state to revise the law in the early Warring States period, and it was also the most successful vassal state in the early Warring States period. When it comes to the changes of the Wei State, it is impossible not to mention Li Kui and Wei Wenhou. The combination of these two men made the Wei state very powerful for a time, but it was only economically and politically powerful, and the military strength of the Wei state was inseparable from that of Wu Qi, the most talented politician, military strategist, and reformer in the early Warring States period.
Wu Qi's main achievement in the Wei state was the reform of the military system, and the Wei Wu infantry regiment he established in the Wei state was unparalleled before the war. For Wei, Wu Qi's acquisition of the land west of the river was a heavy blow to the state of Qin, and it was also the first war of Hexi.
Wu Qi was in Wei, and Qin did not dare to go east.
Many readers don't know how to distinguish between Hexi and Xihe during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, in fact, the former represents a geographical location, and the latter represents the name of a region.
After Wu Qi laid down Hexi, he set up a county there, which originally belonged to the Qin State, Wu Qi was appointed as the Taishou of Xihe County, and worked hard for more than 20 years, of course the Qin State could not bear it, after all, this was the land of their ancestors, and it was a shame to lose people, so they gathered an army of 500,000 and marched to Hexi.
Wu Qi defeated the Qin army with 50,000 Wei Wuhou, which was the second Hexi War between Qin and Wei. When Wu Qi was in Wei, the Qin State seemed to dare not move lightly, but by the time of the Marquis Wu of Wei, Wu Qi had to go to the Chu State, and the barrier of the Wei State against the Qin army no longer existed.
With the three subsequent Hexi Wars, Wei gradually lost its fertile and strategically important Hexi territory.
The state of Qin regained its strength and fought back.
In the early years of the Warring States period, the Qin state was defeated by the Wei state. At the time of Qin Xiangong, Qin was the poorest and most backward country among the seven hundred princes, and Qin Xiangong's successor, Qin Xiaogong, was the founder of the powerful Qin State.
At the beginning of Qin Xiaogong's tenure, he did not want to move eastward, but wanted to change the law in the Qin State, and during this period, Shang Ying came to the Qin State. Due to the patience of Qin Xiaogong, the Qin State gained twenty years of stability, and with the support of the Shang Dynasty reform, after twenty years of dormancy, the Qin State completely became the best of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States.
After Wu Qi was forced to flee to the state of Chu, the state of Qin had set its sights on Hexi, seizing the day.
Soon, in 364 BC, the Qin general Zhang Jiao led his army across the Yellow River to attack Wei's Hedong army, defeating the Wei army and beheading 60,000 before Qin withdrew with the support of Zhao. In 362 BC, while the Wei army was fighting against the combined forces of Han and Zhao on the north bank of the Hu River, the Qin State sent the State of Shu Xiangguo to attack the Wei State, defeated the Wei reinforcements, and captured the Wei army's main general, Gongsun Xuan. This was the beginning of Wei's defeat in the war.
The Qin state took action and eventually recovered the Hexi region.
Wei lost the battle with Qin in the west, but was in trouble in the east, because Wei attacked Zhao and Qi sent troops to the rescue, giving Wei a good opportunity to bypass Wei and rescue Zhao. At this time, the Qin State had completed the reform, and under the leadership of Shang Ying, the Qin State took the opportunity to send troops to Hexi and recaptured some towns in Hexi, which was the Fourth Hexi War.
However, Wei later changed their strategy and reunited Han and Zhao, and Qin returned to Wei the cities of Hexi that Shang had recaptured to promote relations with Wei.
However, the state of Wei was very uncoordinated and had no ambitions. About a decade later, he began to attack Korea again, causing Korea to ask Qi for help, and then Wei broke the Wei siege, rescued Zhao, and liberated Korea. In this war, Wei lost its hegemony, Wei Wushu also lost its hegemony, and the general Pang Juan committed suicide.
Qin saw an opportunity again, so he sent troops to attack Hexi and appointed Gongsun Yan as a general. As a result, Wei retreated without a fight, and finally ceded all the land west of the river to Qin, which was the fifth battle of Hexi, and there were no waves in Wei after that.
Qin and Wei fought five battles for the territory of Hexi, why did Wei completely lose in the end? Because Wei made several big mistakes one after another. It can be said that since Wu Qi was forced to leave, the territory of Hexi gradually fell into the hands of the Qin state.
The Wei State was a country that fought four wars and four Chu. If the strategy of the Qin State to conquer Hexi can be summed up in one sentence, it is: to kill Qin by illness.