The largest war in the late Spring and Autumn period

Background of the times

The sixth century B.C. was the Spring and Autumn Period in China, and the reason why it is called "Spring and Autumn" comes from a work revised by Confucius called "Spring and Autumn", which records a time span roughly equivalent to the Spring and Autumn Period, which constitutes a historical stage, that is, the history of more than 200 years from the first year of Lu Yin (722 BC) to the fourteenth year of Lu Ai (481 BC). Therefore, later generations called this historical stage the "Spring and Autumn Period". The Spring and Autumn Period belongs to a period of time in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, during this period, the power of the Zhou royal family weakened, and the princes were in dispute, forming the situation that the Duke of Qi Huan, the Duke of Wen of Jin, the King of Chuzhuang, the King of Wu, and the King of Yue Goujian successively dominated the situation, which was known as the "Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period" in history. The Battle of Baiju was a war fought for hegemony between the states of Wu and Chu in the late Spring and Autumn period, and the states of Wu and Chu were two states located in southern ancient China. In the 70 years from 584 BC to 514 BC, the two sides fought ten large-scale wars in order to compete for supremacy. In 515 B.C., the prince of Wu Guo Guang seized the throne of Wu and was called King of Wu. After he ascended the throne, he was determined to dominate the world. He developed the economy, focused on the development of the military, appointed the great military strategist Sun Wu as a general, taught the art of war, and the state of Wu appeared a momentum of national wealth and strong soldiers. The state of Chu was a large southern country and the country that had annexed the most vassal states for a long time. However, since the accession of King Zhao of Chu in 516 BC, due to the decay of internal affairs and discord with neighboring countries such as Tang and Cai, the national strength of Chu has gradually weakened. This created favorable conditions for King Wu to destroy Chu.

Character Analysis

Sun Wu, whose name is Changqing, was a native of Le'an (now Huimin, Shandong) in the Spring and Autumn Period of Qi and a famous military strategist. He led the army of Wu to defeat the Chu army, occupied the capital of Chu, Yingcheng (yǐng), and almost destroyed the state of Chu. He is the author of 13 articles of "The Art of War", which has been praised by the art of war of later generations, and is known as the "holy book of military science". He is respected by later generations as his grandson, grandson Wuzi, the saint of soldiers, the teacher of the hundred generations of soldiers, and the originator of oriental military science.

▲Portrait of Sun Wu, the ancestor of Chinese military science, is often written. In the Spring and Autumn Period, he was the doctor of Chu and the commander-in-chief of Chu in the Battle of Baiju. Shen Yinshu, general of the state of Chu, deputy commander-in-chief of the Chu side of the Battle of Baiju.

The course of the engagement

The state of Wu was a country that emerged in the south in the late Spring and Autumn period. Its development has always had sharp contradictions with the Chu State, which is also in the south. The state of Chu is a big country and a strong country, and the state of Wu, which is in a weak position, has long lived a life of trembling and walking on thin ice, and is very reluctant to participate in this slow-paced dance of coyotes and lions. It was not until the accession of the twenty-fourth monarch of the state of Wu that this situation was changed. He Lu was a very accomplished monarch, after he ascended the throne, he made great efforts to govern the country, develop production, improve the rule of officials, and reorganize the army and the military. "Establish a city, set up a garrison, establish a warehouse, and govern the arsenal", and boldly used a group of outstanding foreign talents such as Wu Zixu, Sun Wu, and Bo Yao (pǐ) to assist him in achieving his great cause of hegemony. At this time, Qiangchu, located in the west, became the biggest obstacle on the way of Wu's advancement. In other words, only by fundamentally defeating or weakening the Chu State can He Lu realize his dream of becoming the hegemon of the Central Plains.

In the past 60 years, Wu and Chu have had ten large-scale wars, of which the Wu army won six times, the Chu army won once, and each other won three times. The general trend is that Wu gradually turned from weak to strong and began to occupy the strategic initiative. Since entering the Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Chu has been at war with the Jin state in the north for a long time, competing for hegemony in the Central Plains, causing the people to be exhausted and their national strength to decline. At the same time, the internal political darkness of the Chu State, the incompetence of the military generals, the resentment of the people, and the centrifugation of the monarchs and ministers also created an opportunity for the Wu State to take advantage of. From this point of view, although the state of Chu at that time seemed to be a behemoth and still had residual power, it was actually already a foreign powerhouse and a cadre in the middle, and it could no longer withstand the blow of any war. On the eve of the Battle of Baiju, the state of Chu was actually in a strategically passive position. Of course, in terms of overall strength, Chu still has a certain advantage over Wu. Therefore, when He Lu first proposed a strategic plan to attack Chu in 512 BC, the wise Sun Wu dissuaded him with the reason that "the people are laboring, but they can't wait". However, the monarchs and ministers of Wu did not passively wait for the rabbit, their strength lies in the fact that they never passively waited for the enemy to have a flaw, but actively used strategy and took the initiative to create conditions to complete the transformation of the comparison between the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and the enemy. To this end, it first cut down the wings of the Chu State, the two small states of Xu and Zhongwu, to clear the way for further defeat of Chu. Secondly, and most importantly, it adopted the clever strategic policy of "fatigue and misunderstanding" put forward by Wu Zixu. The specific method was: divide the Wu army into three branches, take turns to attack, harass the Chu army, and paralyze the enemy. This measure lasted for more than six years, and the Wu army successively attacked Yi (near present-day Wuyang, Anhui), Qian (northeast of present-day Huoshan, Anhui), and Liu (present-day Lu'anbei, Anhui) and other places in the Chu State, causing the Chu army to be exhausted and frustrated. At the same time, Wu Jun's practice of stopping at the expense of a decisive battle also created a false impression for the Chu army, mistakenly believing that Wu Jun's actions were merely "harassment," while ignoring the "evil intentions" hidden behind Wu Jun's "feints," and relaxing their due vigilance, which ultimately suffered a big loss.

In 506 BC, the state of Chu ordered Yin Nangwa to lead an army to besiege the small state of Cai, which had been annexed to Wu, and the state of Cai asked Wu for help in a critical situation. Wu Guo raised the banner of "Xingshi to save Cai" and prepared for a big battle with Chu State. This time, Wu Wang Lu personally took command, with Sun Wu and Wu Zixu as generals, and Lu Lu's brother-in-law as the vanguard, pouring 30,000 water and land divisions across the country, taking a warship, tracing the water from the Huai River, and going straight to Cai Jing. Seeing the ferocity of the Wu army, Nangwa had to give up the siege of Cai and return to defend the mainland. When the Wu army and the Cai army met, another small state, the Tang state, also took the initiative to join the ranks of the Wu and Cai armies. As a result, the three kingdoms of Wu, Cai, and Tang formed a coalition army, and continued to advance westward along the Huaishui. After arriving at Ruì (present-day Huangchuan, Henan), Sun Wu suddenly decided to land in a boat and changed from westward to southward. Wu Zixu didn't understand what he meant, and asked Sun Wu: "Wu Jun is accustomed to water and is good at water warfare, why did he change to march by land?" Sun Wu replied: "Fighting with soldiers is the most expensive and fast." The enemy should take the path that the enemy does not expect, so as to take it by surprise. Sailing against the current, the speed is slow, the advantages of the Wu army are difficult to play, and the Chu army will inevitably take the opportunity to strengthen its defenses, so it will be difficult to break the enemy. Wu Zixu nodded yes. In this way, Sun Wu selected 3,500 elite soldiers as the vanguard, and quickly passed through the three dangerous passes of the Great Tunnel, Zhiyuan, and Hades in the north of the Chu State, and ran directly towards the depth of the Chu State. Within a few days, this force had reached the east bank of the Han River.

When the Wu army suddenly appeared on the east bank of the Han River, King Chu Zhao panicked and hurriedly sent Ling Yin Nangwa and Zuo Sima Shen Yin Shu to pour all the country's troops and rush to the west bank of the Han River to confront the Wu army. Zuo Sima Shen Yin Shu suggested to Ling Yin Nangwa that Nangwa should lead the main force of the Chu army to fortify along the west bank of the Han River. And he himself led part of his troops to the north of Shangcheng (now Henan City), detoured the flank of the Wu army, destroyed its warships, and cut off its way back. After that, he carried out a front and rear flanking attack with the main force of Nangwa, and wiped out the Wu army in one fell swoop. Originally, this was the best strategy for the Chu army to defeat the Wu army. At first, Nangwa also agreed to Shen Yinshu's suggestion. However, after Shen Yinshu led his troops to the north of the city, another Chu general, Wu Chenghei, said to Nangwa: "If you wait for Shen Yinshu's troops to attack, then the battle merits will be unique to Shen Yinshu, it is better to launch an attack with the main force first and break the Wu army on the east bank, so that Yin Zhigong will naturally be above Shen Yinshu." Doctor Shi Huang also said: "The Chu people hate you and praise Shen Yinshu." If Shen Yin Shu defeats Wu Jun first, the credit is above you, and your position as Ling Yin will be difficult to protect. It is better to attack the Wu army as soon as possible. When Nangwa heard this, he felt justified, so he changed his original battle plan, and without full preparation, ordered the three armies to cross the Han River and attack the Wu army.

Sun Wu saw that the Chu army took the initiative to attack and was unable to ask for it, so he adopted the policy of retreating to exhaust the enemy and seeking an opportunity to fight a decisive battle, and took the initiative to retreat from the east bank of the Han River. Nangwa really hit the plan and waved his army to catch up. The Wu army waited for work at ease, and faced the Chu army between Xiaobie (in the southeast of present-day Hanchuan, Hubei) and Dabie (in the present-day Dabie Mountains in Hubei), and won three battles and three victories. After losing three battles in a row, Nangwa wanted to abandon the army and flee. Emperor Shi said to him, "When the country is peaceful, you are fighting for power, and now the war is not good, you want to escape, this is a capital crime." Now you can only be freed from your sins by fighting to the death with Wu Jun. Nangwa had no choice but to regroup his troops and line up at Baiju (now Macheng, Hubei) to prepare for another battle.

In November 506 BC, the Wu army rushed to the front of the Chu army and confronted each other. The vanguard of the Wu army said to Wu Wang Lu: "Nangwa is unkind and unjust, and few of the Chu army are willing to die for him. If we take the initiative to attack, the Chu army will inevitably rout, and the main force of our army will pursue it and will win a complete victory. "I don't allow it. When the husband returned to the camp, he said to his generals: "Since there is something to do, those who are courtiers should act on the opportunity and do not have to wait for orders." Now I want to launch an attack, desperately to defeat the Chu army and attack Yingdu. So he led his 5,000 forward troops and went straight to the Chu camp. Sure enough, the Chu army collapsed at the first touch, and the formation was in chaos. Seeing that the assault of the Fu General Department was successful, he took the opportunity to enter the battle with the main force, and the Chu army soon collapsed. Emperor Shi was killed in battle, and Nangwa abandoned the army and fled to Zheng State. The remnants of the Chu army withdrew to Qingfashui (now Zhuanshui in Anluxi, Hubei) southwest of Baiju, and the Wu army attacked halfway and captured half of the Chu army. The Chu army that crossed the river fled to Yongxi (now the border of Beijing, Shanxi, Lake), and was burying a pot to make rice. Wu Jun ate the meal cooked by the Chu army and continued the pursuit. When Chu Zuo Sima Shen Yinshu learned of the defeat of the main force of Nangwa, he hurriedly led his troops and horses to the rescue from Xi (now Xi County, Henan). Under the sudden fierce counterattack of Shen Yin's army, the vanguard of the Wu army was caught off guard and was defeated at once. After the main force of the Wu army arrived, Sun Wu commanded the troops to quickly surround Shen Yin's army. Although Shen Yinshu rushed left and right, bravely rushed to kill, and was injured in three places, he still could not break out of the encirclement. In the end, Shen Yinshu saw that the general trend had gone, so he ordered his subordinates to cut off their own heads and return to the king of Chu. Then Wu Jun rushed all the way to Yingdu.

At this time, the wind was already roaring in the city of Yingdu, and the people were panicking, King Chu Zhao ignored the opposition of the main war ministers Zixi and Ziqi, and also disregarded the life and death of the soldiers and civilians in the city, quietly took a few family members to open the door and leave the city, and fled in the direction of Yunzhong and the Falling City. When the news of King Zhao's westward escape reached the front of the army, the Chu army immediately dispersed, and Zixi led some elite soldiers to chase and protect King Zhao. In November, Wu's army invaded Yingdu. The Battle of Baiju ended with a brilliant victory for the Wu army.

War Impact

The Battle of Baiju can be described as a large-scale, flexible and far-reaching battle in the late Spring and Autumn Period. The Wu army was flexible and mobile, and because of the enemy's use of troops, it defeated its long-standing rival Chu State in one fell swoop by means of roundabout attacks, retreating and exhausting the enemy, seeking opportunities for decisive battles, and far-reaching pursuits, and dealt a very heavy blow to the long-term dominant Chu State, thus effectively changing the entire strategic pattern in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and laying a solid foundation for the further rise of Wu State and then the struggle for hegemony in the Central Plains.

Strategy analysis

The victory of the Wu army was contributed to by many reasons, first of all, the result of Wu's cultivation of politics, the development of production, and the enrichment of armaments. Secondly, it is also a product of being good at "cutting diplomatic relations", striving for the support of the Jin State and the assistance of Tang and Cai. Third, and most importantly, lies in its mastery of operational guidance. The first is to adopt the correct strategy of "fatigue and mistaken Chu", so that the Chu army is exhausted and relaxes its vigilance; The second is to correctly choose a favorable direction of attack, "take a detour as a straight one," take advantage of the gap, and carry out a long-distance strategic attack, so that the Chu army will be in a hurry to respond to the battle under a very passive situation; Third, it is necessary to seize the favorable opportunity of the decisive battle, strike first, and defeat the main force of the Chu army in one fell swoop; Fourth, it is necessary to carry out strategic pursuit at the right time, not to give the Chu army any chance to regroup and counterattack, and finally win the war smoothly. The political and diplomatic reasons for the defeat of the Chu army were political corruption, internal turmoil, discord among the generals, enemies on all sides, and self-isolation. From a military point of view, it lies in its negligence of vigilance and a surprise attack; It lies in the fact that its master will be greedy and incompetent, and will not be able to fight; lies in its rash decisive battle, which is defeated and defeated.

☆☆ War Archives ☆☆

Campaign Name: Battle of Baiju

Occurred: Autumn 506 BC

The warring parties: Wu VS Chu

Place of engagement: Comparison of regional strength between the northeast of present-day Hubei Province and the southeast of Henan Province: 30,000 VS 200,000

Result of the war: Wu army occupies the capital of Chu

Nature of war: offensive warfare

Intelligence Level: ☆☆☆☆☆