Bai Qi was one of the four famous generals of the Warring States Period. He sieged more than 70 cities for the Qin State in his lifetime without any defeat. His most outstanding record was the Battle of Changping. In this decisive battle involving the life and death of Qin and Zhao, Bai Qi completely defeated Zhao Kuo, killing 50,000 Zhao troops and taking 400,000 prisoners. Bai Qi then used the “capriciousness” of Zhao soldiers as an excuse to murder the 400,000 people, and only released 240 Boy Scouts back to report. Bai Qi’s intention to do this is obvious, to use the mouths of these people to create an atmosphere of panic in Handan and to disintegrate the fighting spirit of the people of Zhao.
However, just as he was about to take advantage of the victory to attack Handan, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent an envoy to send an order to let him retreat. It turned out that King Zhao, who had been hit by the Qin army’s countermeasures before, came to his senses at this time, and decided to learn and use it now, and also used a countermeasure against Bai Qi. So he sent Su Qin’s younger brother Su Dai to bribe Qin Prime Minister Fan Ju with a large sum of money. Fan Ju was unwilling to make another military exploits in vain, so he petitioned King Zhaoxiang of Qin on the grounds that Qin’s soldiers were exhausted and eager to recuperate, and allowed Zhao to cede six cities for peace. King Qin Zhaoxiang agreed with Fan Ju’s suggestion, and then sent someone to teach Bai Qi class.
Later, when Bai Qi learned about this, he formed a grudge with Fan Ju. After that, Zhao State smashed Qin State again, ceded the originally promised 6 cities to Qi State, and formed an anti-Qin alliance with Qi, Wei, and Chu. In his anger, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent troops to attack Zhao again. At this time, Bai Qi was sick. King Zhaoxiang of Qin thought that Zhao had been beaten and could not resist, so he did not wait for Bai Qi to recover. He sent Wang Ling to attack Handan. As a result, he was defeated by Lian Po and suffered heavy losses.
At this time, Bai Qi had recovered from his illness, and King Zhaoxiang of Qin planned to use him to replace the royal tomb, but Bai Qi refused. He said to the King of Qin: “Handan is not easy to attack, and if the lords come to the rescue, they will arrive within a day. I have been resentful of Qin for a long time. Although Qin defeated Zhao’s army in Changping today, more than half of the casualties were lost, and the country was empty. Our army was far away from the rivers and mountains to fight for other people’s capitals. If Zhao fought from the inside and the princes responded from outside, we would definitely be able to break the Qin army. Therefore, we cannot send troops to attack Zhao and Zhao.” Bai Qi was worthy of being a famous general, and he explained the prospect of the Battle of Handan in a few words. But Bai Qi’s remarks did not persuade King Zhaoxiang of Qin. He sent Wang Yan to replace Wang Ling as the general to continue to attack Handan. This time it was even worse. Not only did they fail to capture Handan, but the Qin army was also besieged by the three kingdoms of Chu, Wei and Zhao. Heavy casualties.
King Zhaoxiang of Qin saw that the Qin army was in danger of collapse, and thought that only Bai Qi could clean up the mess, so he sent Prime Minister Fan Ju to ask Bai Qi to be the Qin army’s commander in chief. Bai Qi refused to take office several times, which completely angered King Zhaoxiang of Qin, who forced Bai Qi to go on an expedition. Bai Qi knew that he would lose this battle, and Zhao Guo had come out of the panic of Changping’s disastrous defeat. He only had resentment and hostility to himself. I was afraid that everyone would fight with him. Coupled with the harassment of the allied forces of Chu and Wei, To capture Handan is no doubt a fool’s dream. Seeing that his first famous general was destroyed, Bai Qi couldn’t help but complained a few words, but he was reported to King Qin Zhaoxiang. King Qin Zhaoxiang was completely cold to Bai Qi, citing “his meaning is unsatisfactory, and there are more words”. , and sent an envoy to give him a sword and order him to kill himself. It’s really sad that a generation of famous generals ended up like this.