King Qin's face sank: "Fan Aiqing, what do you want to say?"

"Your Majesty, if you want to win this battle, you must first replace Lian Po!

"But how do you replace Lian Po?"

"King Zhao has a Pang Chen under him, who loves money like his life. With just some money, you can replace Lian Po!"

King Qin suddenly looked happy and praised: "What a counter-plan! The prime minister is really resourceful!"

In the three years of World War I, Zhao's economy was still inferior to Qin's, and Zhao was even more unbearable in the face of huge military expenditures, so he had to seek a quick war to get out of the predicament. King Zhao Xiaocheng sent people to let Lian Po fight many times, and Fan Sui sent people to Zhao Guo with a lot of money to counter the plan, saying that the Qin army was only afraid of Zhao Kuo, the son of Ma Fuzi, and Lian Po was easy to deal with, and he was about to surrender to Qin. King Zhao planned in Qin, so he sent Zhao Kuo to replace Lian Po.

Zhao Kuo is the son of Zhao Hao, and he has read some military books, but he has no actual combat experience, and he is a soldier who can only talk about soldiers on paper. When King Zhao wanted to appoint him as a general, Zhao Kuo's mother disagreed, and King Zhao did not listen. Zhao Kuo's mother asked King Zhao to ensure that after her son failed, she would not be implicated. King Zhao also agreed.

After Zhao Kuo took office, he went against the strategic defense policy of Lian Po and actively planned a strategic offensive in an attempt to win in one fell swoop and regain the party.

When the king of Qin heard that Zhao Guo had appointed Zhao Kuo as a general, he was overjoyed and immediately adjusted his military deployment: he immediately increased his army and sent the brave and warlike Wu'an Jun Bai Qi as a general to replace Wang Yu to lead the Qin army. And in order to avoid attracting the attention of Zhao Jun, the King of Qin ordered the army to strictly guard this secret: "There are those who dare to leak Wu Anjun to be beheaded by the generals!"

Bai Qi was the most outstanding military general in the Warring States Period, and he had been on the battlefield for a long time and had outstanding military achievements. He fought against Yique, killing 240,000 Han and Wei allied troops, breaking through the Chu State in the south, entering Yan and Ying, burning the tombs, and defeating the Chu people. Zhao Kuo, who can only recite a few sentences of military scripts, is his opponent.

After Bai Zhi took office, in view of Zhao Kuo's weaknesses such as having no actual combat experience, being eager to win, and recklessly underestimating the enemy, he adopted the correct operational policy of luring the enemy into an ambush, dividing and encircling him, and then gathering and destroying him, and made careful and meticulous arrangements for his troops, thus creating a powerful situation of "hitting the egg with a stone."

Bai Qi's specific operational arrangements were: to use the original front-line troops as the troops to lure the enemy, and after waiting for the Zhao army to attack, then retreat to the longwall side of the preset main position, and lure the enemy into going deeper; second, to skillfully use the longwall to build a bag-shaped position, to guard the camp with the main force, to resist and block the Zhao army's offensive, and to organize a lightly armed and courageous assault force, and after the Zhao army is surrounded, take the initiative to attack, and consume the Zhao army's vital strength; third, to use 25,000 strange soldiers to ambush on both flanks, and after the Zhao army attacked, promptly intersperse the rear of the Zhao army, cut off the Zhao army's retreat, and cooperate with the main force of the Qin army on the main position on the long wall to complete the encirclement of the Zhao army; fourth, with 5,000 elite cavalry inserted into the middle of the Zhao army camp, to contain and monitor the remaining Zhao army in the camp.

The development of the decisive battle situation really proceeded in the direction predetermined by Bai Qi. In August 260 BC, Zhao Kuotong, who was ignorant of the movements of the Qin army, led the main force of the Zhao army to launch a large-scale sortie against the Qin army. The two armies clashed for a while, and the Qin army's luring troops feinted defeat and retreated. The reckless Zhao Kuo did not care about the truth and immediately led the army to pursue. When the Zhao army advanced to the Qin army's preset position, Changbi, it was met with strong resistance from the main force of the Qin army, and the offensive was frustrated and blocked under the strong wall.

Zhao Kuo wanted to retreat, but it was too late, and the 20,000 soldiers who were ambushed on both flanks in advance quickly attacked, interspersed with the flank of the Zhao army's attacking troops in time, and seized the western barrier (now the Hanwangshan Heights in the north of Gaoping, Shanxi), cutting off the connection between the Zhao army and its camp, constituting an encirclement of the Zhao army. The other 5,000 elite cavalry of the Qin army also quickly inserted into the Zhao army's camp, pinning down and monitoring the part of the Zhao army that remained in the camp, and cutting off all the grain routes of the Zhao army. At the same time, Bai Qi ordered the assault troops to continuously attack the besieged Zhao army. When the king of Qin heard the news that the Zhao army had been surrounded, he personally went to Hanoi (present-day Qinyang, Henan and its vicinity) to organize all the local men over the age of fifteen into an army and make every effort to reinforce the Changping battlefield. This force marched to the present-day Danzhuling Ridge north of Changping and the surrounding heights east of it, further cutting off Zhao's reinforcements and logistical supplies, thus ensuring that Bai Qi completely annihilated the besieged Zhao army.

By September, the Zhao army had been without food for forty-six days, killing each other internally, the morale of the army was shaken, and the shadow of death enveloped the entire army, and the situation was very critical. Zhao Kuo organized four breakout troops to attack the Qin army's position in turn, hoping to open a bloody way to break through, but all of them failed. In desperation, Zhao Kuo made a desperate gamble and personally led the elite troops of the Zhao army to forcibly break through, but still suffered a crushing defeat, and even he himself was killed by the arrows of the Qin army. The Zhao army lost its main general, lost all fighting spirit, and no longer resisted, and more than 400,000 hungry and exhausted divisions all surrendered to the Qin army.

When the King of Qin got this battle report, he was so excited that he got up and shouted: "The Zhao State is dead!" But when he saw Bai Qi's inquiry, he couldn't help frowning again.

Bai Qi asked him in the table: "What should be done with the 400,000 prisoners of war of the Tiger Ben?"

King Qin immediately summoned Fan Sui. When Fan saw King Qin, he smiled and said, "The king is noisy, but is it for Zhao to be captured?"

King Qin was shocked: "Aiqing is really like a god!"

"Now that the big thing has been decided, this is the only one who can make the king trouble. ”

King Qin sighed: "Exactly! These 400,000 people are not trivial, they are all tigers who can conquer and fight!

Fan paused and said to the King of Qin: "There are two ways to treat these prisoners of war: one is to send them back to Qin, divide them in famous places, and strictly guard them, and the other is to release them back to Zhao. ”

The king of Qin immediately objected: "How can we let them return to China after all the hardships and sacrifices that have taken place to capture them? After they return to China, they will become the Zhao army again, and they will fight with our army in a bloody battle.

Fan smiled and said, "Then use the first method to escort them to the Qin State and divide and rule." ”

King Qin stared at Fan quietly and asked, "Aiqing thinks this plan is feasible?"

Fan shook his head: "400,000 people! My army has been away for a long time, how can there be so many manpower in the country to take care of these 400,000 fierce soldiers? Once there is a change, it will be civil strife, and the consequences will be unpredictable!"

King Qin's face sank: "In that case, why does Aiqing still propose this method to the widow?"

"When the minister mentions this law, he means that this law is not feasible. ”

"Oh?" King Qin was overjoyed: "So, Aiqing already has a good plan in his heart?"

Fan shook his head: "There is nothing the minister can do. ”