In 1903, Liang Qichao published "The First Great Man After the Yellow Emperor—The Biography of King Zhao Wuling", describing the achievements of King Zhao Wuling's reforms.

The Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Seven Hegemons of the Warring States Period both came to hegemony after experiencing a profound social change. Although Qin's hegemony benefited from Shang Yang's reforms insisted on by Qin Xiaogong, Liang Qichao still did not list Qin Xiaogong as the third one after the Yellow Emperor.

A great man for a reason.

Taiwanese scholar Bai Yang also believes that "Mr. Zhao Yong is a legendary figure. From his insistence on changing clothes and updating equipment, we can see his strong observation and strong will. Zhao's territory doubled in his hands, and his combat effectiveness also increased."

Doubled. If he can live another twenty years, the Qin State may be seriously threatened, and it is difficult to predict how history will develop." (Bo Yang's "Baihua Zizhi Tongjian") Zhao Yong here is King Zhao Wuling.

King Zhao Wuling is a legendary figure. When he first succeeded to the throne, he easily resolved the severe test.

After the success of the joint vertical strategy centered on Zhao State, not only did Qin dare not peek east of Hangu Pass for 15 years, but other vassal states were also very afraid of Zhao State. The king of Zhao State at that time was the famous

Zhao Suhou. And Zhao Wuling King is the son of Zhao Suhou.

However, the good times did not last long. In 326 BC, Marquis Su of Zhao passed away, and the burden of history fell on the shoulders of the young King Wuling of Zhao.

In the name of mourning, Qin, Wei, Qi, Han, Chu and other countries went to Zhao one after another, and the envoys from each country were followed by tens of thousands of troops. Among these countries, Wei most wanted to take advantage of Zhao's mourning to attack Zhao, because Zhao Suhou once

Won Weiguo in the battle with Wei State.

Zhao Suhou inherited the wisdom and martial arts of Zhao Jianzi, Zhao Xiangzi and Zhao Chenghou. Knowing that the various vassal states were not good people, he arranged auxiliary ministers for the young King Zhao Wuling in advance. With the assistance of Prince Cheng and Fei Yi, King Zhao Wuling easily resolved the situation.

The threats from several countries demonstrated his ability for the first time.

First of all, King Wuling of Zhao, who was only 15 years old, declared that Zhao State was under martial law. Zhao State's four famous places, Daijun, Taiyuan County, Shangdang County and Handan, were on strict guard against the enemy and were ready to fight at any time. Secondly, Zhao State joined forces with Han and Song Dynasty.

The two countries made the armies of Zhao, Han, and Song form a single line, and put Qin, Wei, Chu, and Qi in a passive situation where they were attacked by multiple enemies. Again, Zhao bribed the kings of Yue, Loufan, and Zhongshan to make them fight in

The rear areas of Chu and Yan carried out sabotage activities to contain Chu and Yan. Finally, King Wuling of Zhao solemnly declared that no army from any country could enter Zhao's territory, and only envoys were allowed to enter.

There were soldiers everywhere in the Zhao Kingdom, with everyone holding swords, guns, and bows and arrows. The envoys from the five countries knew that they would not get any advantage, so they all gave up the idea of ​​sneak attacks on the Zhao Kingdom.

Although the danger of the "community burial" of the five countries has been resolved, King Wuling of Zhao is still very worried because Zhao is still at the focus of the war. First of all, Zhao has a powerful Qi State in the east, Wei and South Korea in the south, and a wolf-like tiger in the west.

In the Qin State, the situation in the north is more complicated, with Donghu, Xiongnu, Linhu and Loufan. What makes the situation even more difficult is that the Zhongshan State lies in the middle of the Zhao State, which can be said to be a close enemy.

With the support of Marquis Wen of Wei, General Leyang destroyed the Zhongshan Kingdom. However, with the development of society, the Wei State was chased by the Qin State and had no time or ability to take care of the distant Zhongshan Kingdom. Taking this opportunity, the Zhongshan Kingdom once again

Resurrected.

The Zhongshan Kingdom was like a sharp dagger, which directly divided the Zhao Kingdom into two parts, the north and the south, making it inconvenient for Handan, the capital of the south, to control the north. Because the north, headed by Daijun, represented nomadic civilization, and most of them were ethnic minorities, with Handan as the capital.

The south represents the farming civilization, and most of them are Han people. From the south to the north, there is only a bumpy road, which is inconvenient for military vehicles to drive in. Relying on this natural advantage and the nature of being good at horseback fighting, the Zhongshan Kingdom became very rampant.

Whenever major events occurred in the Central Plains, countries such as Yan and Qi would collude with Zhongshan to contain or attack Zhao. Although Zhao Suhou was smart and capable, he repeatedly defeated Qi, Wei, Yan and other countries, but Zhongshan was still not solved.

Considering the way of fighting, because of the Zhongshan State, the Zhao State had to face two arduous wars. The first was positional warfare in the Central Plains region, which was mainly based on military vehicles and battle formations; the second was the fighting in the minority style, which was based on

Mainly cavalry and spears.

Zhao's army is mainly composed of Han people. They have received combat training based on the fighting methods of the Central Plains. They can easily deal with the first type of war. However, they lack the ability to deal with the second type of war. Therefore, whenever Zhongshan makes a surprise attack on the Zhao border, Zhao

The country felt very powerless.

In order to deal with the Zhongshan Kingdom wholeheartedly, King Wuling of Zhao first made good friends with other vassal states. In 325 BC, the King of Wei and his crown prince came to Zhao to congratulate King Wuling of Zhao on his succession. King Han Xuanhui also brought the prince to celebrate. Then, the King of Zhao came to celebrate.

Marrying a Korean clan daughter as your wife brings you closer to Korea.

In terms of domestic affairs, King Zhao Wuling appointed Zhao Bao as the Prime Minister. At the same time, he set up three knowledgeable experts and three fault supervisors, who were responsible for the words and deeds of King Zhao Wuling. In addition, King Zhao Wuling had to deal with all important government affairs.

Consult Fei Yi first.

In order to win the hearts and minds of the people, the imperial court gave gifts every month to all those over eighty years old with good moral character; in order to inspire the loyalty of officials, King Zhao Wuling upgraded their grades and increased their salaries.

What is even more commendable is that King Wuling of Zhao rejected the suggestion of "the Prime Minister of the Five Kingdoms" advocated by Gongsun Yan, the leader of the alliance. He said: "If it is not true, how dare you use its name!" ("Historical Records of the Zhao Family" by Sima Qian)

)

The kings of the vassal states all cherished false fame and called themselves kings one after another, but King Wuling of Zhao was willing to be the "king" because he clearly knew his purpose.

Unlike Zhao Suhou’s purpose of fighting for hegemony among the vassal states in the Central Plains, King Zhao Wuling’s purpose was to develop northward and capture the Hu lands. First of all, fighting for hegemony in the Central Plains was not an overnight success and required long-term efforts; secondly, if the Zhongshan Kingdom, which was a serious enemy of his, was not resolved, it would surely

This hindered Zhao's march into the Central Plains; again, although Zhongshan was difficult to fight, Zhao would definitely win as long as he dared to reform.

With the dream of a statesman, the courage of a reformer and the vision of a strategist, King Zhao Wuling decided to carry out an unprecedented reform in Zhao.

King Wuling of Zhao, riding and shooting in Hufu

King Wuling of Zhao did not move to the north willingly, but was forced by the situation. Because if Zhao State did not develop to the north, it would be threatened by Qin State.

In the second year after he refused to claim the throne, that is, in 317 BC, Zhao State joined forces with Han and Wei to attack Qin State. As a result, Qin State defeated the armies of the three countries and killed more than 80,000 Zhao State's troops in one go. The next year, Qin State State

He sent out his army again and captured Zhao's Zhongdu and Xiyang.

The Qin State was aggressive. If it were not for the civil strife in the Yan State due to King Kuai's abdication, the Zhao State would have suffered a greater blow. Taking advantage of the civil strife in Yan, the Zhao State welcomed the crown prince who was serving as a hostage in South Korea. At the same time, the Qin State sent troops to quell the rebellion of the Yan State.

, the crown prince successfully succeeded to the throne. After the crown prince succeeded to the throne, Yan State terminated the alliance with South Korea and established good relations with Zhao State.

Although the State of Yan was an in-law state of the State of Qin, the State of Qin still would not let go of the State of Yan's ally, the State of Zhao. In 313 BC, the State of Qin once again sent out a large army to attack the State of Zhao. This time Qin and Zhao fought, and the State of Zhao once again suffered a great blow.

Defeated, Qin captured Lincheng of Zhao and captured Zhao Zhuang, the general of Zhao.

Facing such a powerful Qin State, if Zhao State does not carry out reforms and adjust its strategy, it will definitely be defeated by Qin State.

In 309 BC, King Wuling of Zhao came to Jiumen and built a wild platform as a fortification to watch Qi and Zhongshan. The army of Qi was not much different from that of Zhao, but the army of Zhongshan was different from the two.

The army of the Zhongshan Kingdom is mainly composed of strong war horses and sturdy cavalry. Their war horses are tall horses that are a specialty of the north. They are very powerful and can run quickly. The cavalry wears fur hats on their heads, tight-fitting short clothes on their upper bodies, and thin lower bodies.

Trousers. They also wear armor, but the armor is very light and does not tire people or horses.

Matching the decorations of the soldiers of the Zhongshan Kingdom, their weapons were bows and arrows. Whenever a sneak attack occurred, countless cavalry rushed to the enemy's battle formation one by one. Their horses' hooves stamped on the ground with a sound like thunder, and the momentum was very terrifying. It made the opponent unable to do anything.

To counterattack, they did not rush into the battle formation, but shot arrows while riding on galloping horses.

The attack speed of the Zhongshan soldiers was very fast. In the direction of their arrows, all the Zhao soldiers fell down, and seven to eight adults were injured or killed by the arrows. Immediately afterwards, the Zhongshan soldiers on their war horses rushed straight towards the Zhao army's battlefield.

The Zhao army had suffered seventy-eight tenths casualties and was unable to resist. Those who could escape were injured by the horses, and those who could not escape were trampled to pieces by the horses.

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Although Zhongshan's victory was small-scale, their fighting method posed a great threat to Zhao because Zhao Jun did not understand this fighting method at all. Of course, after learning countless lessons, Zhao Jun would also use shields

Protect yourself and use chariots to counterattack. However, shields and chariots are heavy and cumbersome and inflexible. The Zhongshan Army took advantage of their speed and flexibility to surround Zhao Jun, and arrows swooped in like dense locusts.

Zhao Jun.

Since the enemy had advantages in speed and flexibility, King Zhao Wuling decided to make up for his weaknesses and embark on a reform. He required soldiers to wear Hu uniforms that were easier for horseback archery, and trained the troops to be good at horseback archery. A reform of Hu uniforms and horseback archery began.

The prologue.

In terms of purpose, King Wuling of Zhao's reforms were to improve the combat effectiveness of the army, requiring soldiers to wear Huge uniforms, and training in riding and shooting was only a means. Therefore, it was a pure military reform. However, Zhao State was deeply influenced by the culture of the Central Plains. If the army was only allowed to

Wearing beard clothing will cause a lot of criticism and even defeat reforms.

In order to win a comprehensive victory, it was necessary to promote the wearing of Hu uniforms throughout the country. The first person to carry out ideological mobilization by King Zhao Wuling was Hu Ren Louxian.

There was an obvious distinction between Hu and Han in the State of Zhao. The Han people relied on their advanced culture and looked down on the Hu people. Therefore, King Wuling of Zhao was the first to carry out Lou Huan's ideological mobilization work.

He said that looking back on the past, the ancestors of the Zhao family were so powerful that they connected the natural dangers of Zhangshui and Fushui, built the Great Wall to defend ethnic minorities, captured strategic places such as Lincheng and Guolang, and defeated the Linhu people who were rampant for a while.

Now, the country is facing internal and external troubles, and the Zhongshan State, which has repeatedly invaded, is the biggest disaster. If even the small Zhongshan State cannot be dealt with, the demise of the Zhao State is just around the corner. Investigating the reason, the reason why the Zhao State was defeated was because of the combat effectiveness of the army.

insufficient.

Finally, King Wuling of Zhao emphasized that "if you have the reputation of being a high-class person, you must be burdened by the legacy of customs" (Sima Qian's "Historical Records: Zhao Family"). This means that if you want to achieve a reputation that is higher than that of the world, you must be burdened by deviating from customs. This statement

It is very similar to Shang Yang, and the reform spirit of King Wuling of Zhao is also very similar to Shang Yang.

Although King Zhao Wuling was very determined, the voice of the domestic opposition was still very loud, so he had to carry out ideological mobilization again. The target of this mobilization was Fei Yi, the Minister of Life. If Fei Yi agreed, the resistance to the reform would be greatly reduced.

After hearing that King Zhao Wuling was eager to inherit the great cause of Zhao Jianzi and Zhao Xiangzi, Fei Yi supported King Zhao Wuling's decision after implementing the changes. His original words were, "The king has no worries about inheriting the legacy and has no regard for the opinions of the world."

"(Sima Qian's "Historical Records: Zhao Family").

Therefore, King Wuling of Zhao was the first to put on Hu attire, and at the same time sent someone to inform Prince Cheng, hoping that he would also wear Hu attire to court.

Gongzi Cheng's surname was Zhao and his given name was Cheng, and he was the uncle of King Wuling of Zhao. King Zhao Wuling did not do Gongzi Cheng's ideological work because he felt that his own people would help his own people. As everyone knows, the biggest resistance to reform was the clan power represented by the prince.

After listening to the envoy's words of reform and mobilization, Prince Cheng not only claimed that he was ill and could not go to court in garb, but also said: "China is a place where wisdom and wisdom live, a place where wealth and wealth are gathered, and a place where sages and sages live."

.”

Prince Cheng put on a grand gesture of going to court in heaven, so King Zhao Wuling had to pay a visit and personally do the persuasion work. King Zhao Wuling still emphasized, "A sage's fruit can benefit his country, but it is not the same; the fruit can be used to facilitate his own affairs, so it is different."

Its etiquette”.

After some thought-provoking enlightenment, and considering that the country had been repeatedly invaded by the Zhongshan Kingdom, Gongzicheng finally put down his high airs and high profile, abandoned common opinions, and went to court wearing a Hu costume.

Once all the important people agreed to the change and put on Hu attire as an example, King Wuling of Zhao could issue a decree on the change. A change in the form of changing clothing was launched vigorously in the State of Zhao.

King Wuling of Zhao said, "The sage observes the countryside and adapts to the conditions, and makes etiquette according to the situation, so it benefits the people and enriches the country." Shang Yang also said, "You can benefit the people but do not follow the etiquette." Shang Yang once said, "

If there is no way to govern the world, the country will not follow the ancient laws." King Wuling of Zhao also said, "The fruit of a saint can benefit his country, but not his own use; the fruit can be used to facilitate his affairs, but not his etiquette." It can be seen that there is a deep connection between King Wuling of Zhao and Shang Yang.

Somewhat similar.

The king who went behind enemy lines

The reform edict had just been issued, and the clan forces headed by Zhao Wen, Zhao Zao and Zhao Jun jumped out to oppose it. As usual, King Zhao Wuling still carried out ideological work on the opposition instead of using force.

Under the indoctrination of the reform idea of ​​"law and etiquette according to circumstances", Zhao Wen, Zhao Zao and Zhao Jun all surrendered and supported the reform.

After several years of changes, the State of Zhao has trained an army specifically to deal with the Northern soldiers. Its military strength has been greatly improved and it is able to confront the Zhongshan State head-on. In these years, King Wuling of Zhao has not forgotten to fight small-scale local wars, which can not only train the army, but also
To be continued...