The Warring States of Myth: I Am Zhao Kuo

Historically, Confucian attitudes towards Zhao Kuo and Li Ling were quite different. Li Ling was pitied for his defeat and surrendered to the foreign tribe (the Huns), and Zhao Kuo was laughed at for his defeat and death. Just because Zhao Kuo lost to Qin, which allowed Qin to further develop and unify China, it was politically correct to oppose "violating Qin". As for Li Ling's surrender to foreigners, it was a trivial matter. Because Confucianism has a history of internal strife and brutal treatment of fellow tribesmen who violate Confucianism (please refer to "Unforgiven"); on the contrary, it is more tolerant to foreigners, sometimes to the point of being tolerant: foreigners burn, kill, and plunder the people under their rule. , Instead of sending troops to retaliate, they rebuked the troops who dared to retaliate, saying that they "took a minor provocation", and even punished generals and soldiers. What was even more outrageous was that they used money to buy peace (such as "Sui coins" in the Song Dynasty, "market rewards" and "Sui gifts" in the Ming Dynasty, etc.). Over time, the army lost its blood and was unable to fight in the face of foreign invasion. At this time, foreigners invaded the Central Plains, and many Confucian disciples surrendered (this was the case in both the Yuan and Qing Dynasties); the barbarians had no culture, and they relied on Confucian disciples to govern the country. Not all Confucian disciples have no integrity. Wen Tianxiang has great integrity, but it is a historical fact that the mainstream does not pay attention to national integrity (counting how many Wen Tianxiangs there are, and how many Confucian disciples help foreigners oppress the Han people, it is clear). Of course, history has turned over, and the emphasis on national plots as the mainstream was only a matter of the last century. The affairs of the ancients are not worth getting entangled with. What I want to say is that there is an idea emerging now: some "historians" use "historical records" to evaluate historical figures when popularizing science in the "Ten Philosophers on the Internet", and sometimes they are as emotional as if they had personally experienced the events back then. It is normal for everyone to have their own opinions when reading, and you cannot force consensus; but I suggest that you think carefully when reading, and do not follow others' opinions. Sometimes the evaluation of historical books may only be suitable for ancient times, or special environments and periods, and is not suitable for now. I don't care whether Zhao Kuo is good at military or not, but when you make the video, please be more respectful to those who died in battle and did not surrender. Instead of being extremely sarcastic, you should sympathize with Li Ling who surrendered to foreigners. Even if you agree with the evaluation of history books, you can insist on it in your heart, but don't jump out and publicize it, because some historical evaluations are not suitable for the present. Surrendering to foreigners is not an honorable thing. Those who fight to the death without surrender have at least a character worthy of respect.

I paid for a chapter just to be able to comment. To be honest, Zhao Kuo is an idiot. Many people say that Zhao Kuo brought down the Qin army. I just laughed and the entire army was wiped out on the frontal battlefield. So what if the other party pulls? Even though the Qin army killed one thousand enemies and suffered eight hundred losses in this battle, the Qin army still had two hundred, and Zhao Kuo directly eliminated them. What's more, the so-called heavy losses of the Qin army were only "more than half killed or wounded." Half of the troops were directly exchanged for all of the opponent's troops, making a huge profit. Only then did he rush to attack Zhao: Qin Fu decided to attack Shangdang County. The Qin army was divided into two: Wang He attacked Pi Lao and captured it; Sima Geng captured Taiyuan. First of all, before this battle, Qin and Zhao had their own victories and defeats. That is to say, what some people say is that if the Zhao State is weak, it will be defeated. Just look at the results and you will know: In 283 BC, Qin State attacked Zhao State because of its failure in a series of battles with Zhao State. By 282 BC, it captured three cities. Qin wins and Zhao loses. In 275 BC, Zhao State, instigated by Wei State, sent Jia Yan to lead 20,000 troops to participate in the Battle of Huayang. Because the Wei army was defeated, 20,000 people led by Jia Yan were killed. Qin wins and Zhao loses. In 271 BC, Qin attacked Yuyu, South Korea, and Zhao She led his troops to defeat the Qin army. Zhao wins and Qin loses. In the same year, Qin attacked Ji and was defeated by Lian Po. Zhao wins and Qin loses. In 266 BC, Qin took advantage of the new death of the king of Zhao and attacked Zhao. The State of Zhao successfully resisted by relying on the reinforcements from the State of Qi. Qin won a small victory. As for Zhao Kuo's ability, whether it is from the words of Zhao Kuo's father or the rumors spread by the Qin army in the history books, it can be seen that Zhao Kuo cannot be a general at all, and the Qin army does not say anything about it. Look at the words of Zhao Kuo's father: She said: "Soldiers are dead, but encirclement is easy to say. It's enough to prevent Zhao from encircling him. If he must encircle him, the one who defeats Zhao's army must encircle him." And Zhao Kuo didn't know that he was directly facing Bai Qi. Take a look at the original text of Historical Records: Qin Wen heard that Ma obeyed the general, and Naiyin made Bai Qi, Lord Wu'an, the general. It was the King of Qin who knew that Zhao Kuo was a general and secretly changed his command to Bai Qi. Zhao Kuo had no idea that he was facing Bai Qi. But it also illustrates Zhao Kuo's recklessness. He didn't even understand his opponent before he faced him rashly. And one key point is that although Lian Po suffered defeat in the early stage, his subsequent defensive strategy gave Zhao Jun an advantage. Original text: Zhao's soldiers attacked Qin's soldiers, and Qin's soldiers killed Zhao Pi's general Ji. In June, he captured the Zhao army and captured two Zhang and four lieutenants. In July, the Zhao army built a fortification and defended it. Qin attacked the fortress again, captured the second lieutenant, defeated the formation, and captured the west fortress wall. Lian Po built a strong wall to wait for Qin. Qin challenged him several times, but Zhao soldiers could not come out. . . Because of Lian Po's persistence, the Qin army had no choice but to try to change Zhao Jun's general. The result of the general change, I put the whole story together is: When Zhao Kuo arrived, he sent troops to attack the Qin army. The Qin army was defeated and fled, but Zhang Erqi's troops robbed it. The Zhao army pursued victory and built the Qin wall. Bijian refused to enter, but after Qin Qi's 25,000 soldiers defeated the Zhao army, another army of 5,000 cavalry defeated the Zhao army between the walls. The Zhao army was divided into two, and the food road was cut off. But Qin sent out light troops to attack him. Zhao was at a disadvantage in the battle, so he built a wall to hold on, waiting for rescue to arrive. The King of Qin heard that Zhao's food road was in ruins, so he moved to Hanoi and granted each level of civil nobility. Those who were fifteen years old or above were sent to Changping, thus blocking Zhao's efforts to save food. In the ninth month, Zhao soldiers were not allowed to eat for forty-six days, and they all had internal Yin to kill and eat. Come to attack the Qin base and want to come out. For four teams, four or five are back together, and they can't get out. Its general Zhao Kuo sent out his sharp soldiers to fight, but the Qin army shot Zhao Kuo dead. On the whole, Zhao Kuo, as a general, sent troops recklessly without knowing the situation on the other side, which led to being surrounded and deprived of food. Moreover, Zhao Kuo also lost control over his men: he cut off his food routes, divided his army into two, and separated his soldiers. . . The soldiers are distraught. An overall summary of what Zhao Kuo did: he was appointed as a general. Replace your soldiers. Send troops recklessly. The troops in the plan were divided into two and their food supply was deprived at the same time. Forty days later, because he was hungry, he personally led the troops to try to break out. He was shot to death by the Qin army. The whole process was led by the Qin army. The only problem was that Bai Qi did not expect that this guy was not leading an elite or an army to test the battle, but the whole army rushed forward, which directly caused Bai Qi to be unable to eat a bite. The King of Qin was forced to pull out men over fourteen years old to help besiege Zhao Kuo. On the whole, he is a tactical and strategic idiot, but he is definitely not sincerely harming the country, let alone a spy or a villain. The result of the annihilation he caused was due to his level of idiocy, not because of his intentional actions. But as a young man, his courage and courage accompanied by ignorance are still obvious to all. Finally, since someone cleared Zhao Kuo, why did no one clear Xu Xi's name? Zhao Kuo held on without food for forty days and his entire army was wiped out. Xu Xi persisted for dozens of days without water and still kept his morale intact. Even if he died in battle, not a single soldier surrendered. Isn't it much more powerful than Zhao Kuo?

Bai Qi can die, but he can't be defeated, let alone surrender. Don't ruin his character.

I paid a special fee for a comment. So many people are washing Zhao Kuo. In fact, it is impossible to wash it off. Let me talk about a few things that are widely boasted on the Internet. First of all, the first one is to change generals. Why did Zhao Kuo attack because Zhao State was short of food and could not support it. This is completely nonsense. Zhao State was short of food, but Qin State was also short of food. Otherwise, the King of Qin would not have spent a lot of money to spread rumors and make people change generals. , Besides, there is no one behind Qin State to support Zhao State. Do you believe it or not, he is about to be defeated. Damn, the Six Kingdoms will send him food and troops soon. In fact, the Six Kingdoms have long wanted to send food and troops. , It can be said that without Zhao Kuo, who would have thought that Zhao Kuo's army would be completely annihilated. Zhao Kuo is like many college students nowadays. They learned a lot of theoretical knowledge in school, and it all looks very wonderful. , It's a pity that he himself is unwilling. Otherwise, his father has already seen his shortcomings and it is impossible not to help him correct them. You must know that we only read them in books, and his parents are the people of the Qin State. They are closer to us than us, and he is worse than us. These are the people who judged him as unsuitable to be a commander. In fact, anyone with a normal IQ will know that this thing is false after thinking about it. It is a very simple truth. The Zhao State participated in the war, with more than 400,000 people at most. In the end, 400,000 people were trapped and killed. In other words, when they were surrounded, plus the early defeats and several years of confrontation, they lost tens of thousands of people, and the Qin army lost more than half. So there were at least 200,000 casualties. That is not the Qin State's siege and rape of the Zhao State. This kind of casualty ratio has long since broken through. Which army can survive with half the casualties in this situation? In fact, Bai Qi said this about a year later. At that time, Qin attacked Zhao and suffered heavy losses, which had nothing to do with Zhao Kuo. Then what Zhao Chui said was even more funny if he could still maintain his morale after being surrounded for forty days. Normal people would organize a breakout before the food ran out. It can be said that a real general would attack the rear at this time. The Qin army in the rear simply did not have enough manpower. What Zhao Kuo was doing at that time, he was waiting for rescue. Anyone with a clear head should know that there can be no rescue. All the troops of Zhao Guo are here. Other countries want to rescue. This time is simply not enough, so they actually gave up on themselves. As for the army not collapsing, it is even more funny. They have already killed each other and cannibalized themselves. The so-called collapse is just because they were surrounded. Then the Qin army did not allow them to surrender. The more people inside, the more food they consumed. They collapsed faster. As for the final organized breakout, they were just seeking death. They had been hungry for more than forty days. Even an idiot knew that they could not break out, not to mention taking the lead in person. He was still a bit bloody. Besides his command level, don't talk about replacing Bai Qi. You must know that before Bai Qi came, the generals of the Qin Army also fought against Lian Po back and forth. It can even be said that he relied on his military strength to suppress Lian Po. He was at least a first-rate general. Why should Zhao Kuo look down on others? Secondly, military strategists must learn to protect their retreat. Lian Po's defense line is strong, and the 15,000 Qin troops behind him blocked it. With 400,000 army commanders, if only 20,000 or 30,000 people are left, there will be no such thing, or at least the losses will not be so heavy. And the operation after the siege I just mentioned. It can be said that he collapsed after being surrounded. He was already stupid. He couldn't bear the pressure and in the end he could only die. There are many people who criticized Lian Po and said that he and Qin did not consider the national strength of Zhao. King Zhao was forced and had no choice but to change. Are you kidding me? Which famous general does not consider logistics in a war? In fact, if Qin and Zhao were attrition, the winner in the end would definitely be Zhao. , He made the same mistake as the current King of Zhao. He felt sorry for money. I said that Zhao will definitely win because he has the support of six countries. Just like the United States supported Europe back then, if you really can't hold on anymore, they will definitely give food. At most, they will spend more money. But Qin has no place to buy it. Their purpose is to consume, not really let Zhao die. This can be seen later, so many countries sent troops to rescue Zhao, of course. That's what you say, but if you are really in that position, you can't sit still watching the money and grain evaporate like a sea every day. So after King Zhao made this mistake, King Qin also made it. Otherwise, how could he have persuaded the upper echelons of the Qin State not to pursue the victory with just a little money and grain? It's a pity that they were not on the front line. They planned to take a breath and it would be fine. In the end, they took a breath and others also took a breath. The opportunity was fleeting, and the road to unification was delayed for several decades So Zhao Kuo is at the level of a staff officer at best. Don't brag too much. If you let him make suggestions, there is no problem at all. But if you let him lead the army alone, then you can only haha. Later, Zhuge Liang also made the same mistake

Author, you are a bit too conjectural. On the battlefield, Li Mu is still the vanguard force rushing to the front line. The fact that Li Mu explodes is unreasonable. The growth of any famous general requires time and necessary battlefield experience (except for bad guys). Li Mu's growth time is so short, it is too unreasonable!

Don't look down on Zhao Kuo. During the Battle of Changping, Zhao Kuo was surrounded by Bai Qi's army. He persisted for more than 20 days with only enough food for two or three days, and the morale of the army was not disturbed. Let me ask: How many people can persist in this situation for more than 20 days? Zhao Kuo is not weak, but has met an opponent who is much stronger than him. This is a typical situation where he accidentally ranks in the king's game while playing ranked.

After reading the introduction and reading the comments, I wanted to say something. I read the historical explanation and then searched for it. Zhao Kuo's defeat was not his own fault. Everyone knows that Zhao Guo's Hufu cavalry and archery were mainly based on cavalry. Lian Po guarded Shangdang County (that is when Lian Po was old), also based on cavalry. Then he defended the fifth line and retreated to the third line. Lian Po's plan was to hold the Qin State for a long time, hoping to bring down the Qin State's logistics, and then counterattack. In the later stages of Lian Po's delay, Zhao had the upper hand, but there were signs of war in the north of Zhao. Zhao was facing a two-front war and had to divert follow-up reinforcements and supplies to the north. At this time, Qin was lobbying for discord and recalled Lian Po and wanted to send him to the north, so the Shangdang was in a tight situation. Let's talk about Zhao Kuo. Zhao Kuo has been fighting with his father Zhao She since he was a child. Some of them were won by Zhao Kuo's advice. Let's continue from the above. King Zhao wanted to send Zhao Kuo to join the party, but Zhao Kuo didn't agree the first time. Then Zhao Kuo asked his mother to lobby (Princess Zhao, also known as Don't Care) the second time to persuade King Zhao not to send Zhao Kuo. When he asked Zhao Kuo to see King Zhao for the third time, he said that defeat would not hurt his future generations. King Zhao agreed, and Zhao Kuo sent the commander. After Zhao Kuo arrived at Shangdang, he also adopted the strategy of guarding and delaying, but the logistics and reinforcements promised by King Zhao were not given, and he kept urging him to end it quickly. An attack was imminent in the north. Zhao Kuo had no choice but to send troops, and then the state of Qin secretly replaced Wang Lu with Bai Qi. The Qin army of 600,000 men pretended to be defeated and surrounded the Zhao army of 450,000 people. Then, without food and aid for more than a month, the Zhao army exchanged 200,000 for the Qin army's 200,000 casualties. Zhao Kuo surrendered in order to leave more than 200,000 people and waited for King Zhao of Zhao to redeem the more than 200,000 Zhao army, but the Qin army was also dragged down! There was no food to feed the more than 200,000 Zhao troops, and the Zhao troops were very particular about loyalty (Yan and Zhao were so generous and tragic people, it was not just a few people who made them possible, it was the entire folk custom that was like this), so they were tricked and killed. Then the Qin army did not have the logistical support to attack Zhao. Look how far away the capital of Zhao is from Shangdang County! Looking at the follow-up, Bai Qi was sentenced to death within three years after returning. After Zhao Kuo died, King Zhao promoted his descendants to official positions! That's a lot to say, it's purely my personal opinion, just lighten up!

I would like to ask what the protagonist did in his previous life. He didn't have a golden finger to travel through time and became Zhao Kuo. Why did he fight with Bai Qi?

Anyone in Zhao Kuo's position will almost always be defeated. There are only a few military situation masters such as Xiang Yu and Huo Qubing who can defeat the enemy with elite troops, or military skill masters such as Han Xin and Li Jing who are good at large corps and wide-area operations. Modern people can achieve Zhao Kuo's position. As long as they lead the army, they will die, even if they are military geniuses. Zhao Guo let Kuo lead the army because he wanted a quick victory, even if there was a stalemate (the country could not stand the stalemate for three years before), Lian Po could retreat. Zhao Kuo would die if he retreated, and he would die if he lost. Secondly, once people have passed through the mountains and plains, at least 600,000 troops have gathered in Changping. If Zhao Kuo's position can control tens of thousands of elite troops, he is considered a genius, let alone Zhao's 400,000 troops. In the end, whether the leader of the Qin army is Wang Qian or Bai Qi, it is the same to modern people. It is nothing more than the speed of death. We don't know his fighting style, skills and strategies. At most, we know his historical achievements. If we don't know the enemy and ourselves, we will lose. To reach Zhao Kuo's position, there is only one thing to do if you want to survive. Escape from Zhao quickly, either to Qi or Qin.

I can't bear to see him become the King of Zhao. So what if he becomes the King of Zhao? It took Qin several generations to conquer the world, but a dying Zhao country wants to make a comeback? Just want to survive with hundreds of thousands of loads of grain? If you don't cheat and play with a hammer in a certain death situation, it will probably end hastily in the end.