RollingWave

Well, this topic pop up on numerous other threads. it is true that Chinese battles generally lack detailed tactical descriptions (not always but more often than not,especially on how the soldier fought.), some attribute this to that historians aren't military people, some attribute it to Confucian influence, while i think both have some merits, the truth may lie in the simple fact that most of these battles were not decided on a tactical level to begin with (at least in terms of how people fought, not troop maneuvers them self).

So I will bring up descriptions of famous battles of various periods in Chinese history, to demonstrate this situation. hopefully this would be a continuous thread. and maybe with other participants. (i will generally follow a time outline, begining with older battles)




I will start with the battle of LiZhe (笠澤之戰)

Time : 478 B.C (fought in March of the Lunar calender, so it was fought in the spring )

Combatants : The State of Wu , lead by King Fu Chai vs The state of Yue led by King Gou Jian

strength : The Yue army was 50,000, the Wu army was unknown but probably comparable.

Result: decisive Yue victory, the Wu king feld to his capital, where it was sieged for 3 years and eventually fell, marking the end of the Wu kingdom.

Background: This was the final major decisive battle of the Spring and Autumn periods. and some marked it as the beginning of the Warring States. These two newly emerging kingdom had been fighting each other on and off for two entire generation, this battle was the final major confrontation.

The Wu first rose to prominence in 515 B.C, the Prince Guang of the Wu kingdom successfully staged a coup against his uncle (assassination, he had a trusted assassin disguise himself as a famous cook, and pulled a dagger from a fish while he was serving the king). with the help of a political exile from the major neighbor kingdom of Chu Wu Zhi Shu, Prince Guang became the new King Helu of Wu. and he started to fufill his promise to his advisor Wu, which was the revenge against his mother state Chu.

To do his, he hired a up and coming strategist from the Kingdom of Qi to help reform his army, that man was Sun Wu, who later wrote the art of war. with Sun Wu's help, the Wu army went on and ravaged the mighty Chu state, even sacking their capital. and was recognized as a new major power .

However, at it's height of power, the small kingdom of Yue began to move against it, using the opportunity of the Wu army being away, they launched attacks of their own. King Helu eventually died in one such conflict when he was wounded in a battle against the young king of Yue at that time, Gou Jian.

His son Fu Chai quickly avenged his father by pushing the Yue all the way back to their capital, but at the point he accepted Gou Jian's submission despite strong protest from his advisors. Yue became a vasal of the Wu and Gou Jian served as his servant for 10 years.

However, after 10 years the Yue recovered and a Gou Jian escaped back to his country, Fuchai had come to trust GouJian and wasn't very serious about the Yue threat. The Yue forces launched a surprise invasion soon afterwards while Fuchai and a large part of his army was away in the north (ironically to join a meeting of the lords where he was proclaimed as the new leader). Fuchai hastily rushed back but the damage was already done, he sued for peace in an attempt to recover strength, but soon the country was hit by plague and famine. GouJian took advantage of this situation and launched his final offensive. FuChai had little choice but to play defensively , he decided to meet the Yue forces just south of his capital. at the River LiZhe. hoping to use the river as a barrier to defend against the invasion.


map




As you can see, the Yue army (in the south) marched up close to the Wu capital, and the Wu army met them at the shores of the Li Zhe river south of their capital

Battle:


With the two armies camped on the different shores of the river. Gou Jian began to plan his moves.

Faced with the difficult task of fording a river that's defended by a strong host. the Yue army choose the cover of darkness to make their move.

First they divided their army into 3 group, the first two group on the flanks, and the main body at the center. they were spaced apart wide, at least a couple miles between each other. in the cover of darkness, the flank armies moved to cross the river, and deliberately made noises to alert the Wu defenders. realizing that their foe was about to cross, the Wu King send his army out to both flanks to prepare to intercept the advance.

However, during this time, Gou Jian and his main body crossed in complete silence strait up the middle. the distracted Wu army did not notice the advance until it was too late. and the large host suddenly appearing right infront of their main camp send the Wu army into panic and disarray, as they tried to pull back the flank armies to surround Gou Jian and defend their camp, the flank armies of the Wu crossed and strikes at the retreating Wu army. sending them into further chaos. The Wu army collapsed and the battle was over.



------------------------------------------------------------------------


In comparison, you can say that this was a lot like the battle of lake Trasimene in the second punic war, in that the Yue had so far out maneuvered the Wu forces that the tactical detail became pointless. they basically had their foe completely trapped and seperated and surprised, no semblance of infantry tactics probably could have been put together by the Wu in this case. and the Yue probably didn't need it either, a simple mass charge and brawl was more than enough (and probably a lot more effective than to wait and form up after crossing) to win.

Fuchai's intention was probably to just defend the shores , hoping that the expedition of the Yue would eventually run out of logistics and retreat. it wasn't a terrible plan given that his army was in a weakened state, but the Yue simply pulled off a brilliant maneuver and turn the Wu advantage right back against them.

Amazingly, in the 1960s and 1980s the Chinese discovered a bronze weapons in perfect condition engraved with the name of the two kings involved in this battle. the Sword of Gou Jian and the spear of Fu chai was among some of the most heartening new discovery of modern times.

Sword of GouJian (55.6 cm long, 10 cm hilt, 5 cm wide, the inscription says King Goujian of Yue, made for self use.)



Spear of FuChai (unearthed in 1983, 29.5 cm long, 5.5 cm wide)

Mihais

I want some more,good sir.Some Tsao Tsao and some Jin vs Mongols if possible.Ban Chao's Western campaign wouldn't hurt either.

__________________
Those who know don't speak

RollingWave

Battle of Guilin

time: 354 B.C

Combatants: the State of Wei lead by Pang Juan vs the State of Qi lead by Sun Bin and Tian Ji

Strength : roughly 80,000 total on both sides.


Background: we are now fully into the Warring states period. this was one of the first major decisive battles of the time. One of the key events of the early Warrings states was the partition of the Mighty state of Jin into 3 seperate kingdoms (Wei, Zhao, Han) . the state of Wei was the most powerful of the 3 in the begining as it held on to most of the key wealthy holdings of the Jin. it's ambitious King attempts to reunite the 3 Jin states again and in this period launched several major campaign against the two neighboring states.

In 354 B.C, he launched a large army under the command of Pang Juan to attack the Zhao, Pang was soon able to seige the Zhao capital of Han Dan . with their capital under seige , Zhao made a desperate plea to it's neighbor to the east, the state of Qi, and asked for aid. The Qi decided to send it's general Tian Ji, with the advisor Sun Bin to relieve the Zhao.

Sun Bin is said to be the decendent of Sun Wu, some even attribute the art of war as his work, though he left his own "Sun Bin strategy" that was lost later on but recently rediscovered. He was actually a fellow student of Pang Juan in their youth under the figure called Guei Gu Zhi (master of the ghost valley) . but Pang was envious of Sun and worried that he might threaten his career, and set up a conspricy which resulted in Sun getting his knees chopped off and limited to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. Sun escaped back to his home country of Qi however, and became an advisor there.



battle

As you can see, Zhao is north of Wei while Qi is east of both. the Qi general Tian Ji had wanted to head directly into Zhao to fight Pang Juan's army, but Sun Bin's advice was accepted, instead of heading directly towards Zhao, they went through the smaller kingdom of Song (whom was their ally, and also send some troops to help in this battle) and snuck into Wei territory from the south. they waited until Pang Juan succeed in taking the Zhao capital (after significant loss and a tiring campaign) then they immediately launched a surprise attack on the Wei capital of Da Liang (modern day Kei Feng city)

With his troops far in the north. the Wei king paniced and immediately recalled Pang Juan, Pang sees the grave situation and immediately abandoned the capital, he left his slower infantries and heavy troops along with his supplies and hastily rushed back towards Da Liang with his chariot hosts (and maybe some cavalries) and light infantries.

But Sun Bin was already anticipating this, he also anticipated which rout Pang Juan would take in his rush back home. and he picked Guiling to set up an ambush.

As the tired and worried Wei troops reached Guiling, they were suddenly beset by the Ambush, tired and unprepared. and without their full strength, they were throughly crushed by the Qi troops, Pang Juan was only able to escape with a handful of men.

The Qi however did not follow up the attack, they had achieve their original goal of relieving the Zhao, and the war ended with no real change of territory but both the Zhao and Wei state weakened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This became known as the chinese idiom 圍魏救趙 "attack Wei to help Zhao" and a fairly common strategy for eons to come.

Sun Bin basically was able to force Pang Juan's moves, and anticipated them perfectly, he was able to pick a fight where his foe was completely unprepared and exhausted before the battle even begun . and thus the result came as little surprise.

Chinese warfare towards the later Spring and autumn period had become a state of total warfare, instead of the more ritualistic style of fighting in the past, now both sides of the combatants are starting to do anything and everything to win. the battle of Li Zhe meantioned earlier was an great example. and most of the examples that follow will follow suit . you will rarely see two armies just march up and pitch battle. most of the time one side will force an gigantic advantage and only engage then.

RollingWave

Battle of Maling 馬陵之戰

Time : 342 B.C

Combatants : the State of Wei lead by Pang Juan vs the State of Qi lead by Sun Bin and Tian Ji

Strength: said to be 100,000 on the Wei side, and 120,000 on the Qi side.

Result: decisive Qi victory

Backgrounds: The same combatants of the battle of Guiling met up against a decade later in a very similar battle with similar results. In fact, the background were even very similar too. the State of Wei had recovered from the debatical of the battle of Guiling and returned to it's original goal, this time they launched a massive offensive against the other state of the 3 Jin, the Han (typically seen as the weakest of the 7 major warring states), again lead by Pang Juan, which resulted in a similar cry for help to the Qi.

The King of Qi again send Tian Ji and Sun Bin again with a large expedition to aid the Han, seeing that the Han did not border the Qi, it was all but a given that they would have to march right through Wei again .

This time though, the Wei were much more ready and wary of the Qi, and they immediately pulled back Pang Juan and his forces before the Qi forces could reach the Wei Capital of Daliang. and the stage have been set.




battle

The Qi began to pull back after seeing that the Wei forces had returned. Pang Juan and his army followed the Qi forces to make sure they have indeed left their territory. they were about a day or two march from each other as the Qi steadyly retreated back towards their border.

During this time, Sun Bin pulled a trick by deliberately decreasing the numbers of camp fire they start every night (either by actually starting less or by better concealing more). and they also began to throw away some of their supplies and equipments at the camp. This lead Pang Juan to believe that the Qi forces were begining to panic , and desintergate. and he ordered his forces to make haste and catch up with the Qi forces, hoping to rout them once and for all.


A couple days later, as they're closing in on the Qi troops, Pang Juan force marched his troops into the night and through the woods of Maling. his men reported that the main path was blocked by a giant tree, apparently fell by the Qi forces intentially to stall the Wei chase.

What happened next seems to be at least part legend, it is said that there was a message on the bark, and Pang Juan curiously raised a torch (he had not raised any in his troops so to make them less vunerable to night ambush.) and the bark stated "Pang Juan shall die under this tree" and at the moment the Qi troops saw the torch light and their target, and they launched a massive hail of arrow and bolts towards the source of the light. instantly killing Pang Juan and many of his men. it had indeed been an ambush . and the tree forced the Wei forces to stop and present a fat target for the waiting archers and crossbowmans.

The Wei forces was completely routed and suffered massive casaulty, Pang Juan was killed and the Wei prince that was also in the army was captured .

------------------------------------------------------------------------

This marked the end of the Wei / Qi conflict in the early warring states, and firmly established Qi as the strongest state at the time, something that they will hold for most of the earlier portions of the Warring states period. Wei would never be a prominent force in this period again. as it faces foes from all direction . it also insured the balance of the 7 states for roughly the next 100 years. until later events began to break the balance.

Again, Sun Bin played a brilliant anticipation manuver. first fooling Pang Juan into believeing that his force was melting away when in fact it was still in tact. and then setting up a perfect night ambush . Pang Juan lost his cool and turned what was suppose to be just chasing the Qi forces out of their realm into a force march to try and rout the Qi forces completely. resulting in an epic disastor for the Wei forces.

the Qi forces also did a better job of scouting and calculating the distance between the two army. of course being on the retreat it was probably easier to set up scouts than the Wei who was on a all out chase. but Pang Juan's dropping of his guard because he was lead to believe that the Qi forces was in a state of panic, so he thought that they couldn't have set up a ambush like that.

xinhui

thanks for doing this!

__________________
"Greed is Good" -- Gordon Gekko

RollingWave

Battle of JiMo (即墨之戰)

Time: 279 B.C

Combatant: Qi Jie of Yian vs Tian Dan of Qi.

Strength : the Qi had 7000 solider + the city's inhabitants. the Yian forces were unknown but a lot bigger than the Qi.

Result : decisive Qi victory.


Background: after the Battle of Ma Ling , the Qi was firmly established as one of the preeminent power of the 7 warrings states, only the Qin to the west with it's new legal reform and spartan military system were really a match. but the stalemate remained without significant change of the situation for about 60 years.

However, the forces were at work during this time that will eventually result in some of the major conflicts that defined the Warring States. due to the interlocking nature of the 7 states, alliances and diplomacy became the most decisive factor, the "lateral" and " horizontal " alliance diplomats ruled the day , essentially the "Lateral" alliance (traditionally attributed to Su Qin, though modern new discovery seem to begin to disprove that) . propose the 6 other states unite against the Qin threat, it had a good effect for a while but the Qin countered with their own "horizontal " alliances. and eventually the alliances against the Qin began to break down. and soon the alliance system began spinning out of control.

One of the most epic result of the alliance system (and it's spinning out of control) resulted in this battle. as 5 different states ganged up on the once mighty Qi kingdom. (basically everyone except Chu, though Chu joined in the party later on as well, pretending to send aid and in effect looted the remaining Qi cities) . the as the alliance system broke down the King of Qi began a series of attacks, first taking advantage of their northern neighbor Yan's internal rebellion. sacking it's capital (but was eventually pushed out) and then destroying the smaller kingdom of Song to the south.

However, these series of events provoked a major backlash, and gave Qin the opportunity to ally 4 other states and launched a massive invasion of Qi. the most feverish participant was the Yan . whom was out a on a vendetta against the Qi.

The allied attacke in 285-284 B.C proved devastating for the Qi, they lost 70 out of their 72 cities, as the other states retreated with their loot, the Yan remained to try and finish off the Qi once and for all.

Leading the Yan attack was the brilliant general Yue Yi, but he finally met his match at the city of JiMo, where Tian Dan arranged a very strong defense. with his army stretched thin Yue Yi couldn't break the city, and the stalemate continued for several more years.


[battle]
However, by 279 B.C, the tide begin to turn. The King of Yue died and his heir succeeded the throne, Tian Dan learned that the new King have some personal fued with Yue Yi, and he send spies to the Kingdom of Yan to spread false rumors of Yue Yi plotting against the King. it worked (the fact that he has been sieging a city for several years without success also helped) and Yue Yi was dismissed in favor for the for less experienced Qi Jie.

Tian Dan now began to plot his counter attack, he spread several false rumors in the Yan camp and successfully raised the moral (or anger) or his army, first he spread the rumor that if the Yan cut off captive Qi soldier's nose it would scare the hell out of the rest of the populace, then he said if the Yan dug up the Qi 's ancestral graves they'd plea for surrender. both of which the Yan army followed but with the exact opposite effect they intended. he then send gold to the Yan camp and promise that they will soon surrender. all of which cased the Yan army to let down their guard and the Qi's resolve to strengthen.

Then at one night, he assemble all his men, and round up all the cows they could find in the area. (several thousand) and made some secret doors in the walls. he painted all his cow red and dressed them up in bright cloths, then he tied straws to their tail and daggers to their horn, finally he set their tail all on fire, sending them on a mad rampage strait out of the city and towards the Yan army camp. his men followed, all dressed up in similarly bright cloths and paint, the create an additional fright illusion.

It worked, the Yan army had let their guard down and suddenly found their camp overran by thousands of berserk cows. and with a few thousand "demons" carving up their forces. they went into complete chaos and broke, Qi Jie was killed in the stampede.

The defeat saw a complete reversal of fortune for the Qi, and Tian Dan was soon able to recover all of their lost cities.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most monumental tide turner in the history of Chinese warfare, Tian Dan was able to restore the Qi from the brink of destruction. he took all the political and morale advantage possible and set up one of the most bazaar (and successful) surprise attack in Chinese history. the Yan both failed to properly consolidate their holdings and finish the job they started. however. this battle did result in the dramatic weakening of the Qi. and along with the event that will soon transpire ensured the eventual outcome of the Warring States.

RollingWave

Battle of JiMo (即墨之戰)

Time: 279 B.C

Combatant: Qi Jie of Yian vs Tian Dan of Qi.

Strength : the Qi had 7000 solider + the city's inhabitants. the Yian forces were unknown but a lot bigger than the Qi.

Result : decisive Qi victory.


Background: after the Battle of Ma Ling , the Qi was firmly established as one of the preeminent power of the 7 warrings states, only the Qin to the west with it's new legal reform and spartan military system were really a match. but the stalemate remained without significant change of the situation for about 60 years.

However, the forces were at work during this time that will eventually result in some of the major conflicts that defined the Warring States. due to the interlocking nature of the 7 states, alliances and diplomacy became the most decisive factor, the "lateral" and " horizontal " alliance diplomats ruled the day , essentially the "Lateral" alliance (traditionally attributed to Su Qin, though modern new discovery seem to begin to disprove that) . propose the 6 other states unite against the Qin threat, it had a good effect for a while but the Qin countered with their own "horizontal " alliances. and eventually the alliances against the Qin began to break down. and soon the alliance system began spinning out of control.

One of the most epic result of the alliance system (and it's spinning out of control) resulted in this battle. as 5 different states ganged up on the once mighty Qi kingdom. (basically everyone except Chu, though Chu joined in the party later on as well, pretending to send aid and in effect looted the remaining Qi cities) . the as the alliance system broke down the King of Qi began a series of attacks, first taking advantage of their northern neighbor Yan's internal rebellion. sacking it's capital (but was eventually pushed out) and then destroying the smaller kingdom of Song to the south.

However, these series of events provoked a major backlash, and gave Qin the opportunity to ally 4 other states and launched a massive invasion of Qi. the most feverish participant was the Yan . whom was out a on a vendetta against the Qi.

The allied attacke in 285-284 B.C proved devastating for the Qi, they lost 70 out of their 72 cities, as the other states retreated with their loot, the Yan remained to try and finish off the Qi once and for all.

Leading the Yan attack was the brilliant general Yue Yi, but he finally met his match at the city of JiMo, where Tian Dan arranged a very strong defense. with his army stretched thin Yue Yi couldn't break the city, and the stalemate continued for several more years.


[battle]
However, by 279 B.C, the tide begin to turn. The King of Yue died and his heir succeeded the throne, Tian Dan learned that the new King have some personal fued with Yue Yi, and he send spies to the Kingdom of Yan to spread false rumors of Yue Yi plotting against the King. it worked (the fact that he has been sieging a city for several years without success also helped) and Yue Yi was dismissed in favor for the for less experienced Qi Jie.

Tian Dan now began to plot his counter attack, he spread several false rumors in the Yan camp and successfully raised the moral (or anger) or his army, first he spread the rumor that if the Yan cut off captive Qi soldier's nose it would scare the hell out of the rest of the populace, then he said if the Yan dug up the Qi 's ancestral graves they'd plea for surrender. both of which the Yan army followed but with the exact opposite effect they intended. he then send gold to the Yan camp and promise that they will soon surrender. all of which cased the Yan army to let down their guard and the Qi's resolve to strengthen.

Then at one night, he assemble all his men, and round up all the cows they could find in the area. (several thousand) and made some secret doors in the walls. he painted all his cow red and dressed them up in bright cloths, then he tied straws to their tail and daggers to their horn, finally he set their tail all on fire, sending them on a mad rampage strait out of the city and towards the Yan army camp. his men followed, all dressed up in similarly bright cloths and paint, the create an additional fright illusion.

It worked, the Yan army had let their guard down and suddenly found their camp overran by thousands of berserk cows. and with a few thousand "demons" carving up their forces. they went into complete chaos and broke, Qi Jie was killed in the stampede.

The defeat saw a complete reversal of fortune for the Qi, and Tian Dan was soon able to recover all of their lost cities.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of the most monumental tide turner in the history of Chinese warfare, Tian Dan was able to restore the Qi from the brink of destruction. he took all the political and morale advantage possible and set up one of the most bazaar (and successful) surprise attack in Chinese history. the Yan both failed to properly consolidate their holdings and finish the job they started. however. this battle did result in the dramatic weakening of the Qi. and along with the event that will soon transpire ensured the eventual outcome of the Warring States.

bolo121

Interesting stuff. Thanks for doing this.

__________________
For Gallifrey! For Victory! For the end of time itself!!

RollingWave

Battle of Chang Ping (長平之戰)

Time: 260 B.C (fought from April to September of the Lunar calender.)

Combatant: The Kingdom of Zhao lead by Lian Po and Zhao Gua vs the Kingdom of Qin lead by Wang He and Bai Chi.


Strength : 650,000 on the Zhao side, 500,000 on the Qin side.

Result : epic Qin victory, over 450,000 of the Zhao soldiers perished . Qin loses were also very heavy.

Backgrounds: This was the single most decisive battle in the Warring States period, and one of the most decisive in Chinese history. Both state kepted upping the wages until they virtually threw every single avalible adult male into the campaign. It virtually sealed the deal on the Qin's eventual conquest.

As the Kingdom of Qi was weakened by the alliance attack, the Qin became the sole super power, however during this time the Kingdom of Zhao was starting to rise to prominence, as they had made extensive military reforms (including adapting nomadic cavalry tactics) . Of the 4 great generals of the late warring states, the Qin had two (Bai Chi and Wang Jian) and the Zhao had the other two (Lian Po and Lee Mu) this battle saw two of them participate (though they commanded at different stages).

The war was started due to a dispute over a border province, the Province of Shan Dong was a province of the Kingdom of Han , but it had been cut off by the Qin forces during a war in 262 B.C, the Han king intended to surrender it to the Qin forces in return for peace, but the local governors instead surrendered the province to Zhao. immediately both sides send troops to the area hoping to secure this region for themself.

Lian Po lead a huge 200,000 army into the region, but the Qin under the command of Wang He was already in the region and had the intiative, they had beaten the local governor (who fled with his remaining force to the Zhao army) and taken a large portion of the province.



The battle

The "battle" is in fact a large drawn out campaign over a 5 month period, the Zhao strategy under Lian Po was to hold parameter defensive positions and pressure the Qin supply lines, he set up a strong defensive line near the Chang Ping region, and then send a vanguard forward some 32 KM to establish a second foothold. But this part of the plan didn't go well, as the vanguard general was killed in a skirimish with the Qin army. and the Zhao forces were soon forced back to their main lines.

Lian Po decided to play it safe from here, and ordered his forces to simply hold their positions. the defensive formation he had set up was indeed formidable. and the Qin forces made several frontal assault attempts that failed, and when they called out for the Zhao forces to come out and fight them in the open they were denied.

The Qin forces were now stuck , and their longer supply long (the distances to the area is much further for the Qin than the Zhao) was becoming worrisome.

At this point, the Qin resorted to try and break the gridlock by spreading false rumors. They spread the rumor in the Zhao capital that Lian Po was old (he was probably in his 50s at this point, though he lived for quiet a while longer afterwards) and cowardly. and the Qin only fear the young Zhao Gua .

The Zhao king was annoyed that Lian Po's forces had made no progress and lost the engagments they fought in the early stages, he fell for the trick and decided to replace Lian Po with Zhao Gua. despite strong protest from just about everyone including Zhao Gua's own mother, who wrote to the king that his son was not suitable to be given such a massive command.

Zhao Gua was the son of another famous general. and he was well learned in the strategic writings of the time, often even beating his father in such debates, but his father had also warned him and others that "strategy on paper" isn't going to win wars.

He immediately began gathering his forces and breaking up the defensive parameters Lian Po and painstakingly set up. combined with even more additional reinforcements he had planed to make one sweeping massive attack and push out the Qin forces.

The Qin however, had already anticipated this, they send their best general in Bai Chi to take over for Wang He (though it was kept secret ) , they had divised a plan that would give the Zhao army a taste of it's own medicine, setting up a strong defensive line of their own just some 20 KM west of the Zhao 's original line. and then diverting a 25,000 strong elite force to lay hiding half way, and also another 5000 cavalry contengent in the far wings.

By late July, Zhao made his massive attack. the Qin forces quickly gave way and fled, thinking that his plan had worked, Zhao Gua lead most of his forces and surged forward. only to run into the Qin's defensive line that was waiting for them. After attempts to directly break the defensive line failed. he was shocked to realize that he and his forces had been cut off from the rear by the 25,000 troops that had previously been laying in wait. and with and additional cavalry contingent now scouring the areas near by, they had been cut off from all supplies and reinforcements.

Zhao Gua realize he's trapped, and could do little but order his men to set up a fortified camp on the spot and hope for reinforcement, the Zhao king was unable to gather help from the other states, so he had to mobilize every remaining adult male in his realm to try to relieve the area, the Qin king had done like wise to further tighten the gridlock on the area. soon the area was packed with over 1 million man .

But the Zhao was still unable to break out of this massive game of Human Go, and Zhao Gua in one last desperate attempt to sally forth, was killed by arrows. this caused an chain effect as the majority of the Zhao army was forced to surrendered to the Qin.


The Qin eventually ended up slaughtering almost all of their captive, which earned Bai Chi a gruelsome reputation. he was eventually killed by the Qin king too.

RollingWave

Battle of Chang Ping (長平之戰)

Time: 260 B.C (fought from April to September of the Lunar calender.)

Combatant: The Kingdom of Zhao lead by Lian Po and Zhao Gua vs the Kingdom of Qin lead by Wang He and Bai Chi.


Strength : 650,000 on the Zhao side, 500,000 on the Qin side.

Result : epic Qin victory, over 450,000 of the Zhao soldiers perished . Qin loses were also very heavy.

Backgrounds: This was the single most decisive battle in the Warring States period, and one of the most decisive in Chinese history. Both state kepted upping the wages until they virtually threw every single avalible adult male into the campaign. It virtually sealed the deal on the Qin's eventual conquest.

As the Kingdom of Qi was weakened by the alliance attack, the Qin became the sole super power, however during this time the Kingdom of Zhao was starting to rise to prominence, as they had made extensive military reforms (including adapting nomadic cavalry tactics) . Of the 4 great generals of the late warring states, the Qin had two (Bai Chi and Wang Jian) and the Zhao had the other two (Lian Po and Lee Mu) this battle saw two of them participate (though they commanded at different stages).

The war was started due to a dispute over a border province, the Province of Shan Dong was a province of the Kingdom of Han , but it had been cut off by the Qin forces during a war in 262 B.C, the Han king intended to surrender it to the Qin forces in return for peace, but the local governors instead surrendered the province to Zhao. immediately both sides send troops to the area hoping to secure this region for themself.

Lian Po lead a huge 200,000 army into the region, but the Qin under the command of Wang He was already in the region and had the intiative, they had beaten the local governor (who fled with his remaining force to the Zhao army) and taken a large portion of the province.



The battle

The "battle" is in fact a large drawn out campaign over a 5 month period, the Zhao strategy under Lian Po was to hold parameter defensive positions and pressure the Qin supply lines, he set up a strong defensive line near the Chang Ping region, and then send a vanguard forward some 32 KM to establish a second foothold. But this part of the plan didn't go well, as the vanguard general was killed in a skirimish with the Qin army. and the Zhao forces were soon forced back to their main lines.

Lian Po decided to play it safe from here, and ordered his forces to simply hold their positions. the defensive formation he had set up was indeed formidable. and the Qin forces made several frontal assault attempts that failed, and when they called out for the Zhao forces to come out and fight them in the open they were denied.

The Qin forces were now stuck , and their longer supply long (the distances to the area is much further for the Qin than the Zhao) was becoming worrisome.

At this point, the Qin resorted to try and break the gridlock by spreading false rumors. They spread the rumor in the Zhao capital that Lian Po was old (he was probably in his 50s at this point, though he lived for quiet a while longer afterwards) and cowardly. and the Qin only fear the young Zhao Gua .

The Zhao king was annoyed that Lian Po's forces had made no progress and lost the engagments they fought in the early stages, he fell for the trick and decided to replace Lian Po with Zhao Gua. despite strong protest from just about everyone including Zhao Gua's own mother, who wrote to the king that his son was not suitable to be given such a massive command.

Zhao Gua was the son of another famous general. and he was well learned in the strategic writings of the time, often even beating his father in such debates, but his father had also warned him and others that "strategy on paper" isn't going to win wars.

He immediately began gathering his forces and breaking up the defensive parameters Lian Po and painstakingly set up. combined with even more additional reinforcements he had planed to make one sweeping massive attack and push out the Qin forces.

The Qin however, had already anticipated this, they send their best general in Bai Chi to take over for Wang He (though it was kept secret ) , they had divised a plan that would give the Zhao army a taste of it's own medicine, setting up a strong defensive line of their own just some 20 KM west of the Zhao 's original line. and then diverting a 25,000 strong elite force to lay hiding half way, and also another 5000 cavalry contengent in the far wings.

By late July, Zhao made his massive attack. the Qin forces quickly gave way and fled, thinking that his plan had worked, Zhao Gua lead most of his forces and surged forward. only to run into the Qin's defensive line that was waiting for them. After attempts to directly break the defensive line failed. he was shocked to realize that he and his forces had been cut off from the rear by the 25,000 troops that had previously been laying in wait. and with and additional cavalry contingent now scouring the areas near by, they had been cut off from all supplies and reinforcements.

Zhao Gua realize he's trapped, and could do little but order his men to set up a fortified camp on the spot and hope for reinforcement, the Zhao king was unable to gather help from the other states, so he had to mobilize every remaining adult male in his realm to try to relieve the area, the Qin king had done like wise to further tighten the gridlock on the area. soon the area was packed with over 1 million man .

But the Zhao was still unable to break out of this massive game of Human Go, and Zhao Gua in one last desperate attempt to sally forth, was killed by arrows. this caused an chain effect as the majority of the Zhao army was forced to surrendered to the Qin.


The Qin eventually ended up slaughtering almost all of their captive, which earned Bai Chi a gruelsome reputation. he was eventually killed by the Qin king too.

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Qin military

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Cav of Western Han dynasty

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heavy cav of eastern han

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tang dynasty

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