In the summer of the second year (205 BC) when Liu Bang, the king of Han, was captured alive, Liu Bang was defeated by the Chu army on the North Bank of Sui river. Seeing that the Chu army was powerful, Wei Wang Bao, who originally belonged to the Han Army, betrayed Liu Bang and surrendered to Xiang Yu. At that time, Wei Wangbao occupied Hedong (now the southwest of Shanxi Province). He marched westward to threaten the security of Guanzhong, and sent troops southward to cut off the connection between Guanzhong and Xingyang, resulting in the situation of cooperating with the Chu army to attack Xingyang. For the Han Army, it was like a thorn stuck on its back. In order to pull out the thorn, Liu Bang sent people to fight for Wei Wang Bao to stand on his own side again, but Wei Wang Bao refused. In August of that year, Liu Bang sent Han Xin, Cao can and other troops to attack Wei Wang Bao. When Wei Wangbao heard that the Han army came to attack, he appointed Bai Zhi as the general to command the whole army, guard Puban on the East Bank of the Yellow River (now the west of Yongji County, Shanxi Province), block the Yellow River Ferry near Jin and Tianjin, and prevent the Han army from crossing the river. Baizhi also organized a special force to patrol along the Yellow River; At the same time, all civilian ships were driven away and were not allowed to berth in Hanoi. Bai Zhi was very proud of the deployment. He thought that if the Han Army wanted to cross the river, there was no other way except to pass the dangerous and difficult Puban to the Great Wall. Han Xin led the troops to the front line. Seeing that the situation in Puban was dangerous, Wei Wangbao sent heavy troops to guard it. He knew that it was difficult to win from the front attack. After some research, he decided to adopt the tactics of attacking the East and attacking the west, avoiding the solid and avoiding the weak. He set the Han Army camp across the river on the opposite bank of Puban, planted flags near the camp, and gathered all the ships of the Han army here; During the day, the soldiers were called to beat drums and shout, and at night, the lights were bright, and the soldiers were busy. On the surface, the Han Army seemed to cross the river from here. In fact, Han Xin secretly transferred the main force of the Han Army to the north and chose Xiayang (now the south of Hancheng County, Shaanxi Province) as the crossing place. Seeing the frequent mobilization of Han troops across the river, Wei Jun really thought Han Xin was going to cross the river from Puban. Bai Zhi believed that the Puban fortress was so strong and heavily guarded, and the Yellow River flowed rapidly. No matter how skilled Han Xin was, it was useless. As long as Wei Jun kept the fortress, he could rest easy. Therefore, his preparedness for the upper reaches of the Yellow River was not at all in mind. After the Han army arrived in Xiayang, Han Xin ordered the soldiers to make a large number of small wooden barrels, which were connected into one, tied with rafts, and buckled upside down on the water as rafts. This kind of raft is stable and buoyant. The Han Army sneaked across from Xia Yang on these rafts. The Wei army had no defense here at all, and the Han Army crossed the Yellow River smoothly and captured Anyi, an important rear town of Wei (now the northeast of Anyi County, Shanxi Province). At this time, Wei Wang Bao hurriedly led the battle, but where is Han Xin’s opponent? Not many days later, Han Xin commanded the Han Army to defeat the Wei army. Finally, he captured Wei Wangbao alive and sent him to Liu Bang stationed in Xingyang.
Han Xin attacked Zhao with his back to the water
After annihilating the Wei Dynasty, Han Xin immediately wrote to Liu Bang, requesting an additional 30000 troops to eliminate the two separatist forces of Zhao and Dai, in order to change the unfavorable position of the Han Army in the battle of Chenggao. Liu Bang approved Han Xin’s battle plan, allocated 30000 infantry to him, and sent Zhang Er, who was familiar with the situation in Hebei, to assist him.
In September of the second year of the Han Dynasty, Han Xin broke Dai Bing and captured Dai’s prime minister Xia Yue alive. After the two great victories of the Wei Dynasty and the Ping Dynasty, Han Xin recruited a large number of captive soldiers and strengthened the strength of the Han army.
In October of the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), Han Xin led tens of thousands of troops to East Vietnam over the Taihang Mountains and launched an attack on the state of Zhao. Han Army and Zhao army are at the dangerous pass on the western border of Zhao state &\8211; Jingxing [Xing Xing Xing] meets at the mouth, and a decisive battle is about to begin. Jingxingkou is one of the eight passes of Taihang Mountain, which is now Tumen pass in the east of Jingxing County, Hebei Province. To the west of jingxingkou, there is a narrow post road about 100 miles long. The terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Zhao Wangxie and Zhao Jun commander Chen Yu gathered more than 100000 Zhao Jun to guard jingxingkou. Han Xin’s army is only tens of thousands of people, and half of them are newly recruited, lacking training and combat experience. In terms of military strength, Zhao Jun has a great advantage.
Before the war began, Li zuoche, a counselor of the state of Zhao, once proposed a battle plan to commander Chen Yu. First of all, he pointed out to Chen Yu, “after capturing Wei Wang Bao alive, Han Xin sent troops to break the Dai state. Now Liu Bang sent Zhang Er to help Han Xin and take advantage of the victory to attack Zhao state. The morale of the Han army is strong. We must avoid its edge and not underestimate the enemy.” next, He also proposed a plan to defeat the enemy to Chen Yu, saying: “The Han army came to attack our country from afar, and the grain and grass needed to be transported from thousands of miles away. This is like waiting until the woodcutter fetched firewood before cooking. The soldiers can’t eat enough. The jingxingkou road is narrow, and cars and horses can’t pass in parallel; although the Han Army’s combat troops have passed through the 100 mile pass post road, it is estimated that their grain transportation troops must not follow up, and they must still be behind the army. Please give me 30000 people and horses to rob them from the path The grain and grass of the Han Army cut off the grain transportation of the Han Army and blocked the retreat road of the Han army. You lead Zhao Jun to deep trenches and high bases, and stick to it according to the risk. Don’t have a major decisive battle with Han Xin, so that he can’t fight and has no way to retreat. In less than 10 days, I can offer the heads of Han Xin and Zhang Er to your account. Otherwise, we must be defeated by the Han army. “
Li zuoche’s battle plan is based on the actual situation of both sides, which is relatively stable and reliable. However, Chen Yu, who was very bookish and proud and belittled the enemy, said that “righteous soldiers do not need to resort to deception and intrigue”, and cited the words of “ten encirclement, twice the battle” (the force is 10 times more than the enemy, and the method of encirclement should be adopted; if the force is twice the enemy, it can attack the enemy) in the art of war as a basis to refute Li zuoche. He said, “the Han army is known as tens of thousands, but in fact there are only a few thousand people. They attacked the state of Zhao from thousands of miles away, and the soldiers were already tired. If we avoid such a weak enemy and don’t fight, and then encounter a strong enemy attack, what should we do? In this way, all the princes will ridicule us for being timid and attack us easily.” Chen Yu flatly rejected Li zuoche’s proposal.
Han Xin is a farsighted strategist. He knows that the enemy and our forces are very different, and he can’t attack directly. So he stationed his army far away from jingxingkou, observed the situation, studied the deployment of Zhao Jun, and looked for favorable fighters. He was very happy to find that the commander of Zhao Jun, Chen Yu, rejected Li zuoche’s battle plan. At the same time, he learned that Chen Yu had a great appetite and wanted to swallow the Han Army in jingxingkou. In response to Chen Yu’s blind underestimation of the enemy, Han Xin formed a surprise winning battle plan in his heart. He immediately commanded the troops to stay 30 miles away from jingxingkou. Han Xin selected 2000 young and strong cavalry from the Han Army and told them each to hold a red flag. At midnight, he quietly detoured from the mountain path to the side and rear of Zhao Jun’s base camp while it was dark, and ambushed there. Han Xin told them, “tomorrow our army will fight a decisive battle with Zhao Jun. if Zhao Jun sees our army retreating, he will certainly fall in pursuit. You take advantage of the emptiness of Zhao Ying, rush in, pull out all the flags of Zhao Jun and insert the red flags of our Han army.” Han Xin handed over the task and ordered dinner. This expedition was different from usual. Usually, before the battle, we always had a full meal, but this time only a small amount of food was prepared for the soldiers. The soldiers did not understand why. Han Xin explained, “let’s eat less first, and then have a big dinner after the dawn breaks Zhao Jun!” Knowing that Zhao Junjun was a powerful enemy, the soldiers couldn’t believe what the commander said, so they reluctantly agreed, “yes!” Everyone dared to set out.
Shortly after the 2000 light cavalry set out, Han Xin sent another 10000 troops as a vanguard force to advance near jingxingkou and form an array along mianmanshui. Mianman water flows into jingxingkou from the north near Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province. It was a deep and swift river in those days. Han Xin knew that Chen Yu wanted to catch all the Han Army and would not attack the 10000 vanguard troops of the Han army. He said to the general of the vanguard force, “Zhao Jun has preempted the favorable terrain and built a barrier. Our tenthousand vanguard force is neither the main force nor the flag and drum of the senior general. Chen Yu is bound to refuse to attack you first. Because he is afraid that if he attacks you, the main force behind us will retreat.” As expected, Han Xin didn’t expect. Without any obstruction, this vanguard army successfully drove to the East Bank of mianmanshui and established a position. Seeing that the Han Army had no way to retreat, Zhao Jun laughed at Han Xin for not knowing the art of war at all. Jingxing battle, array cut Chen Yu
The Han Army finished the layout according to Han Xin’s plan, and it was already twilight. Han Xin personally led the Han Army, under the banner of a general and a guard of honor, beating drums and shouting to kill jingxingkou. Seeing that the Han army launched an attack, Chen Yu thought that the opportunity to destroy the Han Army had come, and immediately ordered Zhao Jun to attack. Zhao Jun rushed to the Han army all over the mountains and fields, and the two sides fought for a long time. Han Xin and Zhang Er pretended to be defeated, threw away the flag and drum guards of honor, and retreated to the direction of mianmanshui. Seeing Han Xin and Zhang Er retreating, Zhao Wangxie and Chen Yu mistakenly thought that the Han Army had really lost the war, so they ordered all Zhao troops to leave empty camp. Tens of thousands of Zhao troops competed for loot while chasing Han Xin and Zhang Er.
Han Xin and Zhang Er took the main force of the Han army back to the mianman River, joined up with the 10000 Han troops who had lined up behind the river, and launched a fierce battle with Zhao Jun again. In front of them were the enemy soldiers who had chased their nests, and behind them were the deep and swift rolling water. At this critical juncture, the Han Army either fought forward to kill the enemy, or retreated to drown in the water. I saw that all the soldiers of the Han army fought bravely and competed for the first place. They all fought to the death with one as ten. Relying on the large number of people, Zhao Jun rushed and killed many times, but still could not break the Han Army’s position. Han troops commanded by Han Xin and Zhang Er held more than 100000 Zhao troops firmly by the mianman river.
Besides, the 2000 light cavalry of the Han Army ambushed behind the Zhao camp, as soon as they saw that the Zhao army was in full swing, they immediately took advantage of the weakness to attack the Zhao camp, pulled out all the flags of the Zhao army and replaced them with the red flags of the Han army. Suddenly, the headquarters of Zhao Jun turned into the headquarters of Han Jun.
Zhao Jun fought hard with the Han Army by the mianman river for most of the day, but failed to win. Chen Yu saw that the soldiers were tired from rushing back and forth, and their dream of catching Han Xin and Zhang Er alive gradually came to naught, so he ordered the soldiers to call in the gold. The exhausted Zhao army retreated back in a disorderly manner. On the way, he saw from a distance that the red flags of the Han Army had been planted around the camp. He couldn’t help but turn pale with surprise. He thought that the king of Zhao had been captured by the Han Army, so he abandoned his troops and fled one after another. Although Zhao generals killed many fleeing soldiers, they still could not stop the collapse of Zhao troops. The Han Army occupying Zhao camp took advantage of the situation to fight out. The main force of Han army commanded by Han Xin counterattacked at the same time, completely defeated Zhao army, beheaded Zhao army commander Chen Yu, and captured Zhao Wang Xie. Han Army led by Han Xin won complete victory in Jingxing campaign.
At the end of the war, Han army generals presented the heads of the enemy troops killed and reported the number of captured enemy troops one by one to celebrate the victory of the war. The generals admired Han Xin’s command art, but still did not understand the truth, One after another asked, “according to the art of war, the marching array should be on the right and behind the mountain, and the front and left are facing the water. Now the general is in violation of the provisions of the art of war, lining up with the water, and confidently told the soldiers that they would have a dinner together when the day came to defeat Zhao Jun. we didn’t believe what you said at that time, but you actually won. What’s the reason?” Han Xin replied: “It’s also true in the art of war that carrying water as an array, but you haven’t investigated it. Didn’t the book of war say, & \8217; fall into a dead place and survive, set it in a dead place and then survive & \8217? This is the reason why I want to carry water in an array. I know that I haven’t been in the army for a long time and haven’t really established my prestige. Besides, most of the Han Army are newly recruited recruits, lack of training, lack of determination to fight, and lack of command The operation of the new army is like driving the crowd in the city to fight. Therefore, they must be placed in a place where there is no way back; Death &\8217;, In order to make them fight for themselves and fight to the death; If these soldiers are deployed in a safe area, there is a way to escape. Once the battle is fierce, they will fight to escape. Where will they obey the command! ” After listening to Han Xin’s commentary, the generals all said in unison, “your plan is so wonderful that we can’t catch up!”
Han Xin’s battle against Zhao was an important battle in the Chu Han war. As a result of this war, Han Xin’s “backwater battle” became famous in later generations, and Han Xin has since become a famous strategist who flexibly used the art of war. Such tactics as “backwater battle” are generally not adopted in our just war today. However, at that time and in the local area, Han Xin was able to flexibly use the principles of military art according to the actual situation of both the enemy and ourselves and the thought of belittling the enemy of Zhao Jun. he deliberately exposed flaws to the enemy, lured Zhao Jun out of the favorable terrain air camp to fight, and then attacked Zhao Jun’s headquarters with strange soldiers, and then attacked both sides, winning the first battle and completely annihilating Zhao Jun. All these show Han Xin’s outstanding military talents.