kill two birds with one stone
Another chronicle of the historical records of Qin Shihuang:
After 21 years of illness, Wang Jian returned home. (historical records of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty) this chronicle says that in the twenty-one years of the reign of the king of Qin, General Wang Jian of the Qin army was dismissed due to illness and returned to his hometown. So, how should we look at this matter and interpret this card?
As mentioned earlier, the rebellion of Xinzheng, the death of Han Wang’an, and the migration of Changping Jun to Yingchen all occurred in the 11th year of the reign of King Qin. These three events are closely related. It also happened in this year that General Wang Jian claimed illness and returned home. From this, we naturally think that this matter is also related to the link? You might as well trace it.
About this matter, the records in historical records of Qin Shihuang are too simple, and the biographies of historical records of Wang Jian have a detailed description. The main points of the matter are as follows:
Wang Jian, born in Binyang (now Fuping, Shaanxi Province) in the internal history, is a famous general of the Qin army as famous as Bai Qi. During the reign of King Qin, Wang Jian served as the general of the Qin army for many times, led the Qin army to conquer the six countries, and made great achievements. Wang Jian and his family have been generals for three generations. His son Wang Ben and grandson Wang Li have also become famous generals of the Qin army and are famous all over the world. Veteran Wang Jian can be described as the leader of the military circles of the Qin state.
Twenty years after the reign of King Qin, Ji Dan, the crown prince of the state of Yan, sent Jing Ke to assassinate the king of Qin. Things failed. Ying Zheng ordered the Qin army to attack the state of Yan and smash the Yan army. The general who led the Qin army was Wang Jian. The military action presided over by Wang Jian lasted until the second year, when the Qin army conquered Jicheng (now Beijing), the capital of Yan state.
In this war, Li Xin, a young general under Wang Jian, fought bravely and stood out among many Qin army generals. Li Xin led the army to go deep into the chase, kill Ji Dan, the crown prince of Yan state, and present Ji Dan’s head to Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. Ji Dan was the mastermind who planned Jing Ke’s assassination and Ying Zhengzhi’s inevitable enemy. Li Xin’s achievements were greatly appreciated by Ying Zheng.
After the military action of attacking Yan state ended, the Qin army returned home and began to plan a new military plan while taking a rest. At that time, South Korea had been destroyed, and Handan, the capital of Zhao, had been occupied. Now, the capital of Yan was also occupied. The next target of Qin’s army was Chu. At this time, around the military plan to attack the state of Chu, the court of the state of Qin had differences of opinion.
Ying Zheng, the king of Qin, thought that the already weakened state of Chu was vulnerable and could be won quickly and easily. Ying Zheng has his own basis for making this judgment. It turned out that while Wang Jian led the main force of the Qin army to attack the state of Yan, Wang Jian’s son Wang Ben led another Qin army to make a tentative attack on the state of Chu, and the result was victory, which seemed to show that it was not difficult to destroy Chu.
At the meeting of the court, Ying Zheng, king of Qin, was in high spirits and talked happily with the ministers and generals, intending to destroy Chu and unify the world at one stroke. Ying Zheng specially asked Li Xin and said: & \8221; I’m going to attack the state of Chu. How many troops do I need to use, measured by General Li&# 8221; Li Xin was young and energetic, and was in the spotlight of triumph. He immediately said: & \8221; Only 200000&# 8221; Ying Zheng asked Wang Jian again: & \8221; General Wang, what do you think&# 8221; After careful consideration, Wang Jian replied: & \8221; There must be 600000 people&# 8221;
For the state of Qin at that time, 600000 troops were equivalent to the total number of field troops that the country could mobilize. Wang Jian wants to use 600000 people, which shows that Wang Jian believes that it is quite difficult to attack and destroy the state of Chu, and only by exerting the power of the whole country and implementing general mobilization can it be successful. Confident Ying Zheng immediately laughed at Wang Jian and said: & \8221; General Wang is old. How can he become so timid&# 8221; He praised Li Xin and said: &\8221; General Li is really strong and brave, and he is right&# 8221;
At this time, Ying Zheng was thirty-four years old and began to exercise dictatorship. It was the time for everything to be successful. When the court meeting asked the ministers for their opinions, he may have had his views on the general plan of attacking the state of Chu, and he also had his opinions on the candidates. In any case, as a result of the Tingyi, Ying Zheng appointed Li Xin as the top general to command 200000 Qin troops to attack the state of Chu. Wang Jian, on the other hand, was dismissed and demoted out of Beijing, so that he retired and returned to his hometown of Pinyang to spend his old age in peace. This event is a major event in the history of the state of Qin. The historian of the state of Qin specially recorded this event in the memorabilia of the twenty-one years.
The main ministers of the Qin government and the main generals of the Qin army attended the meeting at which the monarchs and ministers of the Qin State discussed the plan to attack Chu. At that time, changpingjun was the right prime minister, and he was a participant in the meeting whether according to the system or common sense. Strangely, there is no record of his attitude and opinions on this matter in the history books, which is very incredible.
We have repeatedly said that what is not recorded in history books is by no means nothing; There must be a big reason for incredible things. So, where is the reason? We have learned that Prince Changping was the concubine of King kaolie of Chu, the state of Chu was his motherland, and the reigning king of Chu at that time was his concubine brother. In terms of reason, when the motherland is about to perish, when his relatives are about to be cut off, he will not be without ideas and opinions, nor will he be without distress and pain. Even without considering any personal emotions and feelings, as the Prime Minister of the state of Qin, changpingjun, the son of the state of Chu, must be in a very delicate situation when the Qin army is about to attack and destroy the state of Chu.
Under this historical background, considering that changpingjun and Wang Jian were demoted out of Beijing at the same time, and that there were people who dared to die to follow him out of Beijing, as well as his subsequent anti Qin restoration of Chu and his establishment as king of Chu by Xiang Yan, we can fully assume that changpingjun and king of Qin Ying Zheng disagreed on the issue of attacking the state of Chu. He may be in agreement with Wang Jian, take a cautious attitude, or even have other criticisms, and the result is the same fate as Wang Jian, He was dismissed from Beijing and sent to Yingchen.
It seems that Ying Zheng, king of Qin, killed two birds with one stone in the matter of Changping King’s migration to Yingchen: on the one hand, he took advantage of the rebellion of Xinzheng and the death of Han Wang’an to send him to deal with it by taking advantage of Changping King’s special identity; On the other hand, he also took the opportunity to exclude him from the power center & \8211; It not only cleared the obstacles for the appointment of Li Xin as a general to lead the army to destroy Chu, but also excluded the constraints of the old ministers, which was conducive to the establishment of a younger government team that obeyed their orders.
Then, after Changping Jun came to Yingchen, what did he do and what will his future destiny be?
Hidden history
Changping Jun came to Yingchen in the 11th year of the reign of King Qin. In the twenty-two years, there was no record about him in the history books. In the twenty-three years, he appeared again in the history books. The records of history · the chronicles of Qin Shihuang recorded as follows:
Jing general Xiang Yan made Changping king of Jing and opposed Qin in Huainan.
In this material, & \8221; Jing &\8221;, It’s Chu, because Ying Zheng’s father’s word is Zi Chu. The historian of the state of Qin avoided it and called Chu Jing. Xiang Yan is Xiang Yu’s grandfather and a general of the Chu army. Huainan, south of Huaihe River. This chronicle says that in the 23rd year of the reign of King Qin, Chu general Xiang Yan embraced Changping as king of Chu and rebelled against the state of Qin in Huainan.
From this point of view, after coming to Yingchen, Prince Changping rebelled against the state of Qin and was crowned king of Chu in Huainan area. So why on earth did he oppose Qin, when did he connect with Xiang Yan, and when did he leave Yingchen and come to Huainan? All these are full of questions. These numerous questions, which are not recorded in historical books, can not help but be said to be a little strange.
Strange things happen again and again, and in the same book, they happen to the same person again and again, which inevitably makes us wonder whether the history books are honest about the things of Lord Changping, whether there are unspeakable secrets, and whether they have consciously abridged and concealed them? Is there any basis for our suspicion? Can our suspicion be supported by other historical facts?
The answer is yes. Changping Jun came to Yingchen in the 11th year of the reign of King Qin. He was elected king of Chu in the 23rd year. There was no historical record in the twenty-two years between the two events. However, in this year, a major event occurred in the history of the state of Qin, which was that Li Xin led 200000 Qin troops to attack the state of Chu and returned defeated. The historical records of this matter are obviously suspected of concealing the truth. Let’s see how history books hide this matter.
Turning to the historical records of the first emperor of Qin, there is only one record in the twenty-two years of the reign of the king of Qin:
Wang Ben attacked Wei and led the river to fill the girder. The girder city was bad. His king please surrender and take his land.
This record says that in the 22nd year of the reign of the king of Qin, Qin attacked the state of Wei with Wang Ben, diverting the Yellow River into Daliang City, the capital of the state of Wei (now Kaifeng, Henan Province). Daliang city was destroyed, and the king of Wei requested surrender, so he took all the territory of the state of Wei. Similarly, the unearthed Qin Bamboo Slips annals also recorded the following:
Attack Wei Liang.
In just three words, it is said that the Qin army attacked the capital of the state of Wei, Daliang.
Sima Qian, according to the records of the historical records of the first emperor of Qin, was compiled according to the historical book of Qin, which came from the official chronicle of the historian of Qin. The chronicle of annals is an official record copied by small officials of the state of Qin from the documents of the government of the state of Qin. From this point of view, the historical records and annals do not record the failure of Li Xin’s attack on Chu. It is precisely because the historians of the state of Qin concealed this matter in the records of Qin. Sima Qian and Xi did not know the situation and did not know the truth. Presumably, the historians of the state of Qin, like the historians of previous dynasties, held a position of safeguarding the reputation of the current Dynasty for contemporary affairs. For various practical interests, they often reported good news rather than bad news.
To attack and destroy the state of Wei and end with the victory of the Qin army, of course, it is necessary to write a special book, whip up the whip quickly, and report to the whole country with a big horn, which will cause the whole country to be jubilant and happy. On the other hand, the news of the failure of the Qin army was kept strictly confidential. It was a big deal and a small deal. If you can hide it, you can hide it. If you can’t hide it, you can deal with it at your discretion. The reason, of course, was to not affect morale, not damage the glorious image of the Empire, and guide the clouds from the front. This practice is the habitual skill of successive centralized governments. It is called secrecy, and the bad word is to block the news.
In fact, in the 12th year of the reign of King Qin, Qin General Li Xin led the Qin army to attack the state of Chu, which was defeated. The historian of the state of Qin concealed this matter in the records of Qin, and the government of the state of Qin did not inform the local governments of this matter.
However, the deliberately concealed history will also show up from time to time. “Historical records · biographies of Wang Jian” describes that after Wang Jian was dismissed and returned to his hometown, the king of Qin appointed Li Xin as the top general and Meng Wu as the deputy general, commanding 200000 Qin troops to attack the Chu state in two ways. (Meng Wu was the deputy general attacking Chu, and the biography of Wang Jian was mistakenly written as Meng Tian. According to the chronology of the six kingdoms and the biography of Meng Tian, attacking Chu was Meng Wu, and Meng Tian had not been a general at that time.) Lixinjun attacked Pingyu County in the south of Yingchen (now the south of the river and the north of Pingyu), and MengWu army attacked Shexian County in the southeast of Yingchen (now Linquan, Anhui). Under the attack of the powerful Qin army, the Chu army was defeated. However, at this time, Li Xinjun took an incredible action. Instead of taking advantage of the victory and advancing eastward to capture Shouchun (now Shouxian County, Anhui Province), the capital of the state of Chu, he retreated westward and turned his head to attack Yingchen in the territory of the state of Qin. The Mongolian armed forces also retreated and joined Li Xinjun. At this time, a Chu army appeared behind Li Xinjun, followed closely for three days and three nights, and then launched a sudden attack to destroy Li Xinjun at one stroke. Li Xinjun’s barracks were broken down one by one, and seven of his main generals were killed and defeated.
The failure of Li Xin’s attack on Chu was a rare defeat in the history of Qin since the Warring States period. As for the real situation of this war, the historian of the state of Qin did not leave official records in the records of Qin. The above narration in Wang Jian’s biographies is a fragment involved in explaining the reason why Wang Jian returned after retiring. It is precisely because of the deliberate concealment of the historian of the state of Qin that this narrative is not only vague, but also divergent and disorderly, which has been a confused account for thousands of years.
Muddle headed accounts have muddle headed accounts. This reason is often in the blocked news. The Qin government does not want to make public the news of Li Xin’s great defeat, as has been said. In fact, the Qin government did not want to disclose the news of Li Xin’s great defeat. There was a bigger reason behind it.
What is the bigger reason? Why did Li Xinjun fail to attack Chu?
Please recall Li Xin’s 200000 Qin troops’ attack on the state of Chu. Li Xinjun attacked the state of Chu, taking Ying Chen as the forward base, and the troops were dispatched in two ways. Li Xin attacked Pingyu County in the south of Yingchen, and MengWu attacked Shexian County in the southeast of Yingchen. Both Qin armies initially won. However, at this time, Li Xin suddenly withdrew from the front line and turned around to attack the rear base of the Qin army, Yingchen. It seems that at this time, something unexpected happened in Yingchen area, forcing Li Xin to return to fight back. So, at this time, what unexpected events happened in Yingchen area?
In order to answer this question, I first ask you to consider such a question. Where was changpingjun when Li Xinjun attacked the state of Chu?
As has been said before, Changping Jun came to Yingchen in the 11th year of the reign of King Qin, and to Huainan in the 23rd year. In the 22nd year, when Li Xinjun attacked the state of Chu, he should be in Yingchen. Then, let’s continue to ask, what did Changping Jun do in Yingchen in the past 22 years? The answer is to fight against Qin.
According to Mr. Tian Yuqing’s research (say Zhang Chu &\8211; discussion on &\8221; the death of Qin must be Chu &\8221; problem), the original issue of historical research, No. 2, 1989, was included in the exploration of the history of the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties [reprinted version], Zhonghua Book Company, 2004). In the 22nd year of the reign of the king of Qin, when the Qin army led by Li Xin and Meng Wu defeated the Chu army in the South and southeast of Chen, and was ready to take advantage of the victory to attack the capital Shouchun of the state of Chu and destroy the state of Chu at one stroke, Changpingjun, who was in Yingchen, set up an army against Qin, captured Yingchen, cut off the rear path of Li Xinjun, and made the Qin army attacking Chu fall into the plight of being attacked by the enemy. As a result, Li Xinjun had to stop attacking Chu and return to attack Ying Chen. As a result, he was flanked by Chu troops and was defeated.
From this point of view, for the history of Li Xinjun’s attack on the state of Chu, especially the strange process in which he and Meng Wu won first and then lost near Ying Chen, we only need to add a detail such as Chang Ping Jun Ying Chen’s starting to fight against Qin, and the truth will be revealed, and the history will be clear.
From this point of view, in the chronicle of the 12th year of the reign of King Qin, the history book of the state of Qin “Qin Ji” concealed at least two major events: one was that emperor Changping raised troops against Qin in Yingchen, and the other was that Li Xinjun was defeated and returned. The defeat of Li Xinjun was exposed in the biographies of Wang Jian; Mr. Tian Yuqing’s research has brought to light the matter of Changping Jun Ying Chen’s starting the army. The development of history, one ring after another, Changping Jun Ying Chen set up troops, resulting in Li Xinjun’s failure to attack Chu. The defeat of Li Xinjun triggered a new historical event, and Wang Jian came back.
Wang Jian’s comeback
Li Xinjun was defeated. Ying Zheng, the king of Qin who was in Xianyang, was very angry at the report of the defeat of the Qin army. He personally went to Pinyang and visited Wang Jian, who was demoted out of Beijing and returned to his hometown to provide for the elderly. For this matter, “historical records · biographies of Wang Jian” has detailed records.
When the two met, Ying Zheng first condescended to Chen Xie and said: & \8221; I didn’t use the general’s advice at the beginning, but now, as expected, Li Xin lost the war and humiliated the Qin army. At present, the Chu army is advancing westward and approaching the state of Qin. Although the general is ill, he will not stand by and leave the widow in a helpless plight&# 8221; Wang Jian declined and said: & \8221; The old minister is tired, ill and confused. He is so responsible. I hope the king can choose another good general&# 8221; At this time, Ying Zheng was already a strong king of Qin. He interrupted Wang Jian and said in a non-negotiable tone: & \8221; That’s it, no more&# 8221;
Wang Jian is a person who knows Ying Zheng. He knows that Ying Zheng is practical and cold-blooded. When he wants to use you, he doesn’t hesitate to bend down and beg you with good words. This is called bowing down and humbling words; And behind such condescension, there is supreme arrogance, the arbitrary will that you must obey. Once you don’t recognize the exaltation and resist his will, he will instantly turn pale, brush away and deal with you mercilessly.
Wang Jian knew that the king of Qin didn’t listen to his own opinions and appointed Li Xin. Li Xin was defeated and returned. The king of Qin denounced Changping for leaving Beijing, and Changping for Chu. These two things greatly hurt the self-esteem of the king of Qin. Now I come here in person, ostensibly condescending to others, but actually donating my body to others. After the king of Qin acted like this, he made it clear without words that as a king, I had come to Chen Xie’s door to ask, and as a subordinate, would you dare not follow?
Perhaps at this time, Wang Jian really felt that at this time, he was like the general Bai Qi of that year, and the king of Qin at this time was like the king of Qin Zhao of that year. Bai Qi, who had made numerous military contributions, disagreed with King Zhao of Qin on the issue of attacking the state of Zhao and was demoted home. The Qin army failed. King Zhao asked Bai Qi to serve as the general of the Qin army again, but Bai Qi refused because of illness. King Zhao of Qin became angry with shame, and dismissed Bai Qi from all his official positions and titles, forcing him to commit suicide.
Thinking of this, Wang Jian dared not refuse any more. He stepped back and asked: & \8221; If the king has to use his subordinates, his subordinates still have the original opinion, and he has to use 600000 troops&# 8221; Ying Zheng immediately replied: & \8221; Listen to General Wang&# 8221;
So Ying Zheng appointed Wang Jian as the general of the Qin army and led the 600000 Qin army to attack the state of Chu.
After Wang Jian was appointed as a general, the Qin army was mobilized, and 600000 Qin troops were recruited from all over the country and successively went to the front. Wang Jian left Xianyang, the capital. Ying Zheng, king of Qin, saw him off in person and sent him all the way to Bashang in the western suburbs of Xianyang. It can be said that he was looking forward to it with great favor and glory. When the monarchs and ministers separated, Wang Jian unexpectedly opened his mouth and made a strange request to Ying Zheng, the king of Qin.
Wang Jian asked the king of Qin to give him some farmland. His requirements are detailed and specific, as if he had carefully prepared drawings in advance. Everywhere in the East and West, there are beautiful houses in Xianyang, as well as gardens with ponds. Be sure to ask the king of Qin for permission one by one now. As the king of a country, Ying Zheng was intent on recovering the defeat, destroying the state of Chu and completing the great event of unifying the world. He said to Wang Jian with some disdain: & \8221; General Wang, you’d better concentrate on the war. Please don’t think about money&# 8221; What the king of Qin meant was that after the victory, everything was available, and there was no need for you to speak.
This Wang Jian, stubborn and ignorant, repeated his request and said: & \8221; My subordinates have done a lot of credit for leading the army for the king, but they have not been rewarded by the princes so far. Now it is not too much to take the opportunity of the king to use his subordinates wholeheartedly to request some fields and houses for his children and grandchildren in time as a family property&# 8221; Ying Zheng couldn’t help laughing and shaking his head. There was nothing he could do but grant Wang Jian all his requests immediately.
Wang Jian was so grateful that he got on the bus and set out happily. After arriving at Hangu pass, Wang Jian sent envoys to Xianyang to meet the king of Qin, thanked him for his kindness, and at the same time, asked for a new tianzhai. It is said that before arriving at the front line, Wang Jian sent messengers to ask Tian Zhai, a total of five batches. The trusted subordinates really couldn’t stand it anymore. They persuaded Wang Jian to say: & \8221; I’m afraid the general’s request for Tian qiuzhai is a little too much&# 8221; Only then did Wang Jian confide the truth: & \8221; Where is it as simple as you think. The king of Qin was rough on the surface, suspicious and distrustful in his heart. Now the state of Qin has handed over all the troops to me. If I don’t ask Tian Zhai for my children and grandchildren to show my heart, won’t it make the king of Qin doubt me&# 8221;
After all, Wang Jian is an old minister who has been around the king of Qin for many years. He has a thorough understanding of the king of Qin’s mind and personality. He has an experienced response to the suspicion of the king of Qin. Wang Jian’s actions are more reasonable than individual events. That is to say, in a centralized and autocratic country, no matter who has the possible conditions to subvert the status quo, he will inevitably face the situation of being suspected. This kind of thing is true at all times and in all countries.
Understanding Wang Jian’s intentions, we also understand Ying Zheng’s worries. It can be said that any king can’t rest assured that the army of the whole country is under the command of one person. It is common in history that the army defected and led to the replacement of the throne. Moreover, for Ying Zheng, the king of Qin, due to his own blunder, General Wang Jian and Prime Minister changpingjun were both dismissed and relocated. Due to his improper employment, 200000 Qin troops were defeated miserably; Now, King Changping rebelled and had to ask Wang Jian to come out of the mountain again. In case of any accident, the unimaginable consequences are not only related to the safety of his throne, but also related to the rise and fall of the national fortune of the Qin state. At that time, the situation of Ying Zheng, the king of Qin, was difficult and dangerous; His reappointment of Wang Jian was a major decision made at great political risk. Due to Wang Jian’s mature and comprehensive response, Ying Zheng’s personal vigilance against Wang Jian was temporarily eased. However, the situation is stronger than people, and accidents cannot be avoided.
After Wang Jian’s return, there are no specific records in historical books on how the 600000 Qin troops attacked Chu, where they gathered, where they attacked first, and which part of the Chu army they fought with. There is only one general sentence in the historical records of Qin Shihuang: after Wang Jianjun dispatched, & \8221; Take the south of Chen to Pingyu;. Chen is Chen; Pingyu is Pingyu County in the south of Yingchen. The previous year, Li Xinjun led 200000 Qin troops to attack Chu. It was Ying Chen who set out to attack Pingyu and suddenly returned. It seems that Wang Jian’s army attacked Chu, taking the same route as Li Xinjun. He set out from Ying Chen to attack Pingyu, and then eastward to attack Shouchun, the capital of Chu.
However, as we have said before, the defeat of Li Xinjun was caused by the army of Changping against Qin in Yingchen. After the defeat of Li Xinjun, Ying Chen and its surrounding areas were occupied by Chu troops. Chu troops took Ying Chen as a base and marched westward to attack the state of Qin. Wang Jian led 600000 Qin troops to fight back against Chu, and Ying Chen was the first area he had to conquer; The rebels led by Lord Changping are the first targets he must attack. Strangely, there is no record in the history books of the movements of the Qin and Chu armies in the Yingchen area after the deployment of Wang Jian’s army, and the direct confrontation between changpingjun and Wang Jian, two former colleagues. At that time, the history of Qin and Chu with Ying Chen as the focus of conflict, and the inevitable offensive and defensive war between Ying Chen, turned out to be a lost historical mystery.
Two suicide notes from the battlefield
There is history, but history books are missing. The lost history is silent, so we have to wait for the future and the volcanic eruption of the historical black hole. Fortunately, historians’ waiting finally yielded results, and new cultural relics were unearthed. This new cultural relic was unearthed in Shuihudi, Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, which we have mentioned earlier.
Among the many tombs excavated in Shuihudi, there is a Qin tomb numbered tomb 4. From this tomb, two letters from Qin soldiers were unearthed. These two home letters are the earliest ones in Chinese history that we have seen so far. They are very valuable. What is particularly interesting is that the time of sending these two home letters happened to be the 24th year of the reign of King Qin after Wang Jianjun’s dispatch, and the place of sending the letter was precisely on the Yingchen front line where the Qin and Chu armies fought. This millennium coincidence naturally reminds us that the missing history of Ying Chen’s offensive and defensive war will reveal some information from these two home letters? Let’s read the letter from the beginning, savor it carefully and search carefully.
The addressee of the two home letters is the same one named & \8221; Medium &\8221; (sincere) person. The sender of two home letters, one named &\8221; Haff &\8221;, One is called ” Surprise &\8221;, Are the two brothers in. Zhong is the eldest brother. He lives with his mother and takes care of the whole family. The eldest brother Jing is married and has a daughter. A black husband who is unmarried should be the youngest brother.
Let’s first look at the letter written by young brother Haifu. In his letter, heifu first greeted his eldest brother and then his mother. He was all right. In his letter, he said that not long ago, he met his brother, who was also in the army, at the front line of Huaiyang, and both of them were safe. Please rest assured, mother and family. Then, black husband asked for some pocket money, and asked his mother to buy some silk cloth in his hometown, make it into summer clothes, and send it with the money. Heifu is a prudent man. He said in his letter that if the silk cloth in his hometown is too expensive, he will only send money and buy silk cloth locally to make summer clothes.
Heifu is very affectionate. At the end of the letter, he greets other relatives in the family. He greeted his aunt, sisters, and relatives in the neighborhood. He also asked Hou Jing’s wife and family on behalf of his brother who joined the army. It was really polite.
Jing is the person who wrote the second letter. After greeting his brother and mother, he also talked about that he was with heifu in the Huaiyang army, and both of them were safe and sound. Like heifu, Jing also asked his mother to send money and cloth. However, he was impatient and spoke straightly. He stated that he would pay more than two feet five hundred to six hundred dollars. His letter was so urgent that if it was not delivered immediately, it would be extremely anxious. Jing probably got married soon, and his daughter was also young. He was worried about his wife and daughter. He greeted his wife and asked her to be filial to her parents and support the elderly. He was most worried about his young daughter, and specifically asked his brother to be more disciplined and not to let her run away from home for firewood and other things.
Jing also cares about the eldest brother. In his letter, he said that he heard that some places near his hometown are not very stable, and reminded his brother not to go to these places. He also mentioned in his letter that there was progress in the war, saying that his troops had entered &\8221; Anti city &\8221;, Live in Huaiyang city
These two letters, because the text is incomplete, the characters mentioned in the letter are many, and they can’t be completely read. However, through the interpretation of experts, the matters within the family involved in the letter are generally clear. I sorted out the history and read these two letters carefully. While feeling the ancient human feelings and family feelings, I also had a small question. The owner of this tomb &\8221; Medium &\8221; Why did you put these two letters in your grave?
Measured by the human feelings of ancient and modern times, the funerary objects placed in the tomb are mostly things cherished by the dead. The dead valued these objects and hoped never to leave them, so they were buried with them and let them travel with them to another world. This characteristic of human nature is common at all times and in all countries, from emperors and generals to ordinary people. Twothousand years ago, an ordinary Qin people &\8221; Medium &\8221;, Putting two letters from his two younger brothers in his tomb before his death shows that he attaches great importance to these two letters in his life. So why did he pay special attention to these two letters? Because these two letters were sent back by two younger brothers from the battlefield. According to experts’ speculation, his two younger brothers may have died in battle soon after sending these two letters. Therefore, these two letters became two extremely precious posthumous letters.
If the above speculation is correct, these two posthumous notes can be described as heavy and heavy for an ordinary family in the ancient state of Qin; For the eldest brother who supports the whole family and cares for and cares for his two younger brothers, it can be said to be the most valuable thing in the world. His brother has always cherished the letters of his brother heifu and Jing. When he was dying, he asked to put these two letters into his tomb. He hoped that the three brothers would be together forever.
A lost war
Heifu’s letter was written in February, the 14th year of the reign of King Qin. The surprised letter was written a little later, probably in March and April of the same year. Maybe because the weather had turned hot, he seemed very anxious in his letter to his mother asking for money to buy summer clothes. These two letters were sent from the front line of Huaiyang. The contents of the letters not only involved the money and trivia of an ancient family and the affection of children, but also vividly told the actual situation of the war of unifying the world in the state of Qin for the first time from the perspective of an ordinary soldier family. A war not recorded in historical books also emerged from the black hole of history because of the excavation of these two letters.
Haff wrote in his letter: & \8221; Heifu and others directly assisted Huaiyang and attacked the city for a long time&# 8221;&# 8211; This sentence means that heifu and others fought in Huaiyang and attacked &\8221; Anti city &\8221; It’s been a long time. Huaiyang, or Ying Chen, is also called Huaiyang because it is located in the north of the Huaihe River.
From this sentence in the letter, we can learn that Ying Chen (Huaiyang) rebelled and was occupied by the rebels, becoming & \8221; Anti city &\8221;, The Qin army, to which heifu belonged, besieged Yingchen for a long time. Until the time when heifu sent the letter, that is, in February of the 24th year of the reign of King Qin, it had not been broken. Chen Chen was captured by the Qin army soon after, because he was surprised to mention in his second letter that he had &\8221; Jufancheng &\8221; In, about between March and April.
There is no historical record of the war in which heifu and Jing participated in the attack against Huaiyang city. The excavation of these two letters first filled the gap in history and presented a war that was not recorded in historical books. History is linked one by one. Due to the appearance of the battle of Huaiyang, new problems have been drawn out. Who is in charge of the Qin army that heifu and Jing belong to? Who is in charge of the rebels occupying Yingchen they attacked?
As we have said before, in the 22nd year of the reign of the king of Qin, Prince Changping raised his army against Qin in Yingchen. Li Xinjun, who attacked Chu, was forced to withdraw, and was defeated in Yingchen. The victorious Chu army, based on Yingchen, marched westward to attack Qin, forcing Ying Zheng, the king of Qin, to personally go to Pingyang, Chen Xie, and ask Wang Jian to return. At this time, the Yingchen area was controlled by the Chu army headed by Changping Jun. In the 23rd year, Wang Jian led 600000 Qin troops. The route of Wang Jian’s Qin army’s attack on the state of Chu was roughly the same as that of Li Xinjun’s, moving from the south to the east to attack Shouchun, the capital of the state of Chu. Thus, the first goal of Wang Jian’s army was to attack Ying Chen and pacify the anti Qin rebellion led by Changping Jun.
From this point of view, heifu and Jing are both soldiers of Wang Jianjun. They went to Yingchen with the army and began to fight against & \8221; Anti city &\8221; Chen’s siege. The war was fierce and long. It was not until March and April of the 24th year that Ying Chen was conquered by the Qin army. The rebels who had long held fast to Yingchen and resisted the Qin army should be the Chu army under the command of Changping king. It is generally clear that the armies of the offensive and defensive sides of the battle of Yingchen were under the command of each other.
According to the war between Qin and Chen revealed in these two letters, the war of Qin destroying the six countries and unifying the world was by no means destructive, just like the wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, but very intense and cruel. In particular, the war of Qin exterminating Chu was not only tortuous, but also deeply implicated in the domestic political situation of Qin. The complex historical truth is far beyond what we can understand only by reading handed down historical books.
The historical truth of Ying Chen’s offensive and defensive war, because after the unearthing of the two family letters was disclosed, new questions followed in the continuous historical links. After the Qin army fought hard to conquer Ying Chen, what about the whereabouts of the Chu army that had long adhered to Ying Chen? The commander of the Qin army who attacked Ying Chen was Wang Jian, and the commander of the Chu army who stuck to Ying Chen was changpingjun. How will they act after the battle of Ying Chen? Chang Pingjun and Wang Jian were once the right and left hands of Ying Zheng, the king of Qin. After the battle of Ying Chen, how will Ying Zheng treat these two worrying generals and ministers?
History is like a film. After being restored and rewound by historians, it can be replayed again and again. Let’s continue to watch it.
Death of Lord Changping
In the 23rd year of the reign of the king of Qin, Wang Jian led 600000 Qin troops. He learned the lessons of Li Xinjun’s failure, fought cautiously, and moved forward step by step. Wang Jian first recovered the lost land one by one, and after stabilizing Yingchuan in the west of Yingchen, he surrounded Yingchen with the Qin army. At the same time, he led the main force of the Qin army southward to attack Pingyu in the south of Yingchen. The Qin army besieging Yingchen could not be attacked for a long time. The main force of the Qin army, which attacked Pingyu, defeated the Chu army, marched eastward, went deep into the territory of Chu, captured Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and captured the king of Chu.
At this time, Ying Zheng, king of Qin, came to Yingchen personally. There is only one sentence and six words in historical records of Qin Shihuang Benji about the action of Qin King Ying Zheng: & \8221; The king of Qin traveled to Yingchen&# 8221; As for why he came, what he did after coming, and where he went in the future, he didn’t explain. We can only speculate that he can’t stay in the capital Xianyang. He’s really worried about the military situation on the front line. He’s worried about General Wang Jian, who holds military power, and his cousin Changping Jun, who opposes Qin and Chu. Therefore, he wants to personally come to Yingchen to supervise the army and supervise the war.
It was at this time that Changping Jun, who stuck to Ying Chen, was embraced as king of Chu by Xiang Yan, a senior general of Chu army, after receiving the exact news that the king of Chu was captured by the Qin army. Soon, he withdrew from Yingchen and retreated eastward to Chu. This is the record in the historical records of the first emperor of Qin, the 23rd year of the reign of the king of Qin; Jing general Xiang Yan made Changping king of Chu and opposed Qin in Huainan;.
Huainan, south of the Huaihe River. It seems that after leaving Yingchen, Mr. Changping came to Huainan. In the emergency that the country could not be ownerless for a day, he inherited the throne of the state of Chu. With the assistance of general Xiang Yan, he led the army and people of the state of Chu to continue to fight against the Qin army and defend the motherland, becoming the last generation of the king of Chu. His magnificent life is also coming to an end with the fate of the state of Chu.
In the 24th year of the reign of the king of Qin, the chronicles of historical records of the first emperor of Qin are as follows:
Wang Jian and Meng Wu attacked Jing, broke the Jing army, and the king of Changping died, and Xiang Yan committed suicide.
This chronicle says that in the 24th year of the reign of King Qin, Wang Jian and Meng Wu led the Qin army to attack the state of Chu and defeat the Chu army. Chang Pingjun died and Xiang Yan committed suicide.
Xiang Yan was defeated and committed suicide in Qi County in Huaibei (now Qi County in Anhui Province), where Chen Sheng and Wu Guangze Township revolted. After Wang Jian conquered Shouchun, the capital of Chu, the main force moved north. Xiongqi (changpingjun), king of Chu, and Xiang Yan retreated to Huaibei and fought a decisive battle with Wang Jianjun in Qi county. As a result of the decisive battle, the Chu army was defeated, Xiong Qi, the king of Chu, died, general Xiang Yan committed suicide, and the state of Chu was destroyed. The history of the Warring States period is coming to an end, and the history of the new post Warring States period has thus laid an ambush line.
Fourteen years later, in July of the first year of Qin II, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the garrison soldiers of the state of Chu, set up troops against Qin in daze Township, Qi County, and the state of Chu was restored. Shortly thereafter, the six Warring States States countries resurrected one after another, and the post Warring States era came. During the uprising in daze Township, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang pretended that Xiang Yan, the great general of the state of Chu, and Fusu, the prince of the state of Qin, were still alive, and the uprising was launched under their leadership. Fusu is the eldest son of Emperor Qin Shihuang and the legal heir to the throne of the Qin Empire. Xiang Yan is Xiang Yu’s grandfather and a general of the Chu army who died in the fight against Qin. It is inconceivable that Chen Sheng, Wu Guang uprising, regarded such two figures as spiritual leaders under the name of anti Qin and restoration of Chu. However, as long as we think of the king Changping who was active between Qin and Chu, speculative clues may emerge in the incredible history. Changpingjun is the son of King kaolie of Chu. He was elected as the last king of Chu and died in Qi county with Xiang Yan. Changpingjun is also the cousin of the first emperor of Qin and the royal nobles of Qin. He has nothing to do with Fusu. From this, we can further think whether Lord Changping is the key figure connecting Fusu and Xiang Yan? Who is Lord Changping from Fusu?
Searching for Ying Zheng’s relatives here, the password of Qin Shihuang can be said to have been unlocked again. However, the secret of history is connected with the secret. The password of Qinshihuang is linked one by one. It seems that our search must continue.