At this point in the course of history, some people will definitely ask: Why did the Zhao State and the Wei State see Korea being destroyed by the Qin State?

Let me tell you about a classic battle in history: the Battle of Yique, and everyone will understand.

One day in 293 B.C., hundreds of thousands of troops were holding each other at Yique, the choke point south of Luoyang. The young Qin general Bai Qi faced the Wei and Han coalition forces twice his size here. His opponent was the Wei veteran Gongsun Xi. This battle became known as the "Battle of Ique" in later generations.

The large number of Wei and Han coalition forces came with great momentum, but suddenly stagnated. According to the scouts, the commander of the coalition army, Gongsun Hee, had an argument with the commander of the South Korean army. Bai Qi was surprised, how could the Wei and Han armies, who had been fighting side by side for ten years, suddenly turn against each other, is there a deception?

You know, Wei and Korea were strategic partners for a whole decade before the Battle of Yique. Beginning in 303 BC, King Wei Ai and King Han Xiang brought the relationship between the two countries into a honeymoon period. They are united in the same breath and fight against foreign enemies together.

In 301 BC, the Wei and Han coalition forces helped Qi invade Chu, and defeated the Chu division in the Battle of Chuisha, plundering a large area of territory north of Chu Guowan and Ye. From 298 to 296 B.C., the two countries attacked Qin for three years, and the invincible King Zhao of Qin reluctantly sued for peace, and Wei and Korea respectively obtained Fengling, Wusui and the land beyond the river.

This was the biggest defeat of the Qin state since the reform of the law, and it was also a rare period of Zhongxing in the history of Wei and Han.

Unexpectedly, in the second year of the land cession and peace, the Qin State launched a large-scale counterattack, and successively sent three fierce generals, Sima Cuo, Xiang Shou, and Bai Qi, to crusade against Wei and Han respectively. After two years of fierce fighting, the two countries lost three cities in a row. In particular, the Qin general Bai Qi seized Xincheng, an important town in Sanchuan County, South Korea, and was about to recapture the land beyond the river that King Qin Zhao ceded to Wei Han.

In 293 BC, not to be outdone, Han and Wei formed an army of 240,000 to counterattack. The allied forces of the two countries backed the Zhou royal family and were stationed at the southern barrier of Luoyang, the Yique Fortress, blocking the northward route of the Qin army in the new city. This was the origin of the Battle of Ique.

Bai Qi sent scouts to inquire about intelligence in many ways, and finally figured out the ins and outs, and unexpectedly discovered the enemy fighter.

This joint anti-Qin campaign was initiated by South Korea, and the official history of Wei recorded it as "Zuo Han attacked Qin". But the commander of the coalition army was not a Korean, but a veteran of Wei, Gongsun Xi, who performed well in the Battle of Lisha and the Battle of Qin. At this moment, Wei and South Korea are facing a major crisis that has not been encountered for many years.

The diplomatic honeymoon period of Wei-Han diplomacy began with the threat of the Qin state. King Wei Ai and King Han Xiang entered Xianyang several times. However, the belligerent King Qin Zhao did not let Wei Han go, and still attacked repeatedly. The two understood that there was no way out to resist Qin alone, so they formed a mutual aid alliance, and later hugged Qiang Qi's thighs.

Three years ago, the combined forces of Qi, Han and Wei stormed the Qin State, and King Qin Zhao was forced to sue Wei and Han for peace on the condition of ceding land. It's a pity that the two old kings didn't have long to be angry, and they both died, throwing the burden of resisting Qin directly to the next generation.

The leaders of the two countries have changed their positions, the government and the opposition have not completed integration, the military is uneasy, the people's will is undecided, the government orders are not smooth, and the ability to organize the war has declined. The monarchs and ministers of the Qin State smelled the fighter plane, and only after resting for less than a year did they go east again.

When the Qin general Sima mistakenly attacked Wei Xiangcheng, King Wei Zhao asked for reinforcements from Korea, but King Han Luo, who ascended the throne in the same year as him, did not take the initiative to aid Wei. The following year, it was the turn of Mushi and Xincheng in Korea to be besieged by Qin soldiers. Because the Wei war was unfavorable to Qin, he did not send troops to save Han. The Qin State attacked Wei first and then Han, apparently in order to break through individually. Wei and Han fought separately, and it was not until the third year that they made a painful decision to join forces to resist Qin. It can be seen that there was a lack of effective communication between the new kings of the two countries, and the alliance was not as strong as it was during the lifetime of the previous king.

Of course, it is not appropriate to put all the black cauldron on the heads of King Wei Zhao and King Han Qi. The Wei and Han temples have always coexisted with the anti-Qin faction and the pro-Qin faction. When he was the younger brother of Qi State, it was the anti-Qin faction that gained power, and the two new monarchs had entered the new monarch of Qin State, so I am afraid that it was indispensable to weigh the opinions of various factions.

King Wei Zhao and King Han need to seriously consider whether to exchange peace by bowing down to their vassals, or fighting with the tiger wolf Qin State to the end? In this way, it is impossible for the two sides to have such a tacit understanding as King Wei Ai and King Han Xiang, who have many years of experience in cooperation. The decision-making process between the two countries may have been full of twists and turns, but the history books are not well documented.

Wei only lost one border city, but it was not broken. South Korea's lost new city is a large county that can be called the core of the border county, and the loss is much greater. If the Qin army marched east from Xincheng and invaded the Songshan area, the capital of South Korea, Xinzheng, would be in danger.

Eventually, King Han proposed to King Wei Zhao to form a coalition army. Daliang, the capital of Wei, had Korea as a barrier, but Hedong County on the western front was also threatened by the Qin army outside the river, so they agreed to cooperate. Korea was the initiator of the alliance, but Wei sent a lot of troops, so the Wei general Gongsun Xi was given command of the coalition army. But the two new monarchs did not expect that this personnel arrangement would lay a hidden danger for the coalition forces.

The 240,000 army meant that Wei and Han had invested nearly half of the main forces in the country, forming a numerical advantage over the Qin army of the Baiqi Department stationed in Xincheng. However, when Gongsun Xi received the order to be the commander of the coalition forces, he was not optimistic about the war situation. He knew very well that the new monarchs of Wei and Han were eager to establish their prestige, and they were not willing to lose the land that their fathers had just won back, so they would make such a big gamble. This battle is burdened with too many political considerations, and only victory and not defeat are allowed.

Although Gongsun Xi has been on the battlefield for a long time and has fought with the Korean army many times, he has no bottom in his heart about this attack on Qin. He once acted according to the orders of the commander of the coalition army, the Qi general Kuang Zhang, in the Battle of Chuisha, and in the Battle of Hangu Pass, he obeyed the command of Xue Gong, the prime minister of Qi, and led the Wei soldiers to charge into battle and break the army and pull out the city. But he lacked the combat experience to be the commander of the 240,000-strong army. It is not a big problem to fight a good fight, and once it encounters a tough battle, the coalition forces will probably be in the same bed.

At present, about 100,000 Qin troops are stationed south of Yique Pass. The "Yique Mountain" called by the Warring States people is composed of Longmen Mountain on the west bank of the Yi River and Xiangshan Mountain on the east bank. The main force of the Han and Wei coalition forces moved south, stationed between Longmen Mountain and Yihe, and was also deployed in the Xiangshan Pass on the opposite bank; The Qin army attacked northward, bordering the Yi River in the east and the hills and mountains south of Longmen Mountain in the west, blocking the southern exit of Yique Pass. Wei Han could not move south, and it was difficult for the Qin army to attack, so the two sides entered a state of confrontation.

How do you break the deadlock? Gongsun Xi felt tricky.

The combined forces of Wei and Han not only had more than twice the strength of the other side, but also occupied the fortress of Yique. Rao is the army of tigers and wolves of the Qin State who dares to die and is good at fighting, and it is difficult to break through the coalition defense line head-on. King Wei Zhao and King Han Qi invested so many soldiers and horses, obviously hoping that Gongsun Xi could eat 100,000 Qin soldiers in one go. However, the officers and soldiers of the two countries were bitterly flattened by the Qin army for two years, and their morale was very low, and the absolute superiority in numbers could not eliminate the psychological disadvantage.

The Wei and Han armies have long lost the desire to win when they broke through the Hangu Pass three years ago. Gongsun Xi knew that the outcome of this battle depended on the first battle. If the first battle is won, the coalition forces will regain confidence and give full play to their superiority in strength; If the first battle is lost, the fighting spirit of the coalition army will probably be weakened and crushed by Bai Qi'er in one fell swoop. To this end, Gongsun Xi intends to use the number of preemptive strikes. The Han army took the lead, constantly consuming the strength of the Qin army, and then let the Wei army, which was waiting for work, find an opportunity to launch a general attack.

Don't look at South Korea, which is the weakest of the Seven Heroes, and its weapons manufacturing industry is also one of the best in the Warring States. Su Qin, a great columnist, once pointed out that the world's strong bows and crossbows are all from Han, and the sword and halberd can "cut off cattle and horses on land, intercept birds and geese in water, and cut down the iron curtain when the enemy is strong". The Korean army once won the name of "Jin Han" by virtue of the hoplites who were "armoured, armed with crossbows, and with sharp swords". Gongsun Xi believes that Han Junrui is suitable to act as a vanguard. Who knows that the commander of the ROK army will refuse to carry out this combat plan.

Wei Han disagreement: Who gnaws bones? Who eats meat?

As far as the truth is concerned, Gongsun Xi's decision is still relatively reasonable. Wei should have invested the Hedong Army closest to Yique (after the defeat of Yique, the Qin soldiers were rampant in Hedong County of Wei for many years, which was related to this). They crossed the Yellow River south to Luoyang, and the best assembly location was south of the Luohe River and on the west bank of the Yi River. The Korean soldiers and horses mainly came from the Xinzheng capital area, entered the Luoyang Basin from the Songshan area, and crossed the Yi River to join the Wei army. The Wei army mainly came from the north, and most of the Korean troops came from the east, which naturally formed a pattern of "the Wei army in the rear and the Korean army in the front".

The Qin army's camp was located south of Yique Pass, and it was the Han army that bore the brunt of the attack. After the Han army's camp, the Wei army did not directly confront the Qin army. Therefore, the commander Gongsun Xicai wanted to let the well-equipped Han army, which was in the front position, fight the Qin army first.

The problem is that South Korea took the initiative to propose the formation of a coalition army, originally because it was afraid that it would be alone. Now that there are many Wei soldiers, they want to let the Korean soldiers shed blood first. After winning the war, the Han army gnawed bones, and the Wei army ate meat; In case the situation is unfavorable, the Wei army in the rear can also abandon Han and escape. In General Han's opinion, it is much safer to defend with favorable terrain than to fight field battles with the tiger and wolf army, at least to remain undefeated. Therefore, he resolutely opposed the Han army fighting first, unless the Wei army could take the lead.

So Han and Wei's second army attacked the Qin army at the same time in two ways, is it okay? If it was a battle on the vast plains south of Luoyang, it might work. But in the Ique Mountains, it can't be done. The east and west banks of the Yique Valley are only a few miles of narrow flat land, separated by the surging Yi River in the middle, and the valley can probably garrison 780,000 troops, which cannot accommodate 240,000 Han and Wei combined troops.

The Han army at the front almost filled the valley, while the Wei army was in the area north of the Yique Valley, with the plain leading to Luoyang, the king of Zhou, behind it. If it is a wide area, the two armies can attack separately from different directions.

Unfortunately, the mountainous terrain and the terrain to the south are relatively narrow and long, and only one side can be allowed to take the lead. The 240,000 allied forces could only take turns in battle, unable to fully deploy their superior forces. The combined forces of Wei and Han could neither attack on both sides at the same time, nor could they all squeeze into the valley of Yique, so the only option left was to let one army attack first, and the other army would then expand the victory.

However, the Han army was unwilling to use its crowd first, and Gongsun Xi refused to transfer the Wei army to the front to fight the main attack.