The battle between Qin and Chu was the largest decisive battle in the Warring States Period.
The number of Qin troops mobilized to the front line was as high as 500,000 to 600,000.
The number of people providing logistical support for these Qin troops numbered three to four hundred thousand.
The reason why the number of civilians employed was reduced was not because the Qin State could not recruit so many people, but because the Qin State's railway tracks had been laid out of Hangu Pass and all the way to Yingchuan County.
The rumbling trains run day and night, transporting millions of kilograms of materials to Yingchuan County in one trip. This kind of terrifying transportation capacity is unimaginable to people of this era.
The civilian men mobilized by the Qin army mostly used four-wheeled carriages to deliver supplies from Yingchuan County to the front line.
The person who served as the commander-in-chief of the Qin Army was still the famous Wang Jian.
What is different from history is that this time Wang Jian did not use a delaying strategy to delay Chu to death, but chose a direct confrontation.
What prompted him to make changes was that on the one hand, the Qin army's combat effectiveness had been greatly improved, such as the comprehensive popularization of high-quality iron weapons and armor, powerful cavalry groups, and the indestructible Qin King's artillery, etc.
On the other hand, the logistical supply problem that had given him a headache was greatly alleviated.
The grain, grass, cloth, and other military materials produced in the Shu region of Guanzhong can be used on the front line at an astounding speed. With such a powerful army and such explosive supply capabilities, of course it is necessary to fight
The decisive battle is over.
The one who fought against Wang Jian was Xiang Yan, a famous general from Chu State.
The Chu State is different from other countries. Because this country has many tribes and a vast territory, it is not so much a country as a big alliance.
The King of Chu is the most powerful in the alliance, and the nobles under his command also have their own territories and armies, which can be regarded as semi-independent kingdoms.
This was the benefit gained after Wu Qi's reform.
Before Wu Qi's reform, the nobles of Chu State were independent kingdoms.
The nobles of the Chu State provided the King of Chu with various supplies, including grain, grass, weapons, cloth, specialties, and even beauties, according to a certain proportion every year.
As for the army, whenever there is a need to fight, the nobles of the Chu State, large and small, must first decide whether they are willing to go to war. If they are willing to go to war, they can gather with the soldiers and horses from their own fiefdoms.
Nobles who are willing to go to war can have the right to share the spoils.
If he is unwilling to go on an expedition, he will still provide the king with a certain number of sergeants and civilians in accordance with the agreed upon rules.
This is the true situation of Chu State.
When the Qin army attacked, everyone in the Chu state knew that the real crisis of national subjugation was imminent.
Therefore, almost all the nobles, big and small, gathered together with their own soldiers, horses, civilians, equipment, military supplies, food, grass, etc. to prepare for Qin's offensive.
After all, they also know very well that no eggs are left intact after the nest is overturned.
The Qin State used a system of prefectures and counties, and there was no room for nobles to survive. Even if they, the nobles of the Chu State, colluded with the Qin State and surrendered, they would have escaped death at most, but the status of the fiefs and nobles that had been passed down for hundreds of years,
But it will definitely be taken away.
For the nobles, this was intolerable, so everyone was very enthusiastic about resisting the Qin army.
The previous King of Chu was deposed by the nobles because he had always been submissive to Qin.
Later, Lord Changping rebelled, and the nobles immediately supported him as the new King of Chu.
Of course, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the new King of Chu has no real power, so the nobles of Chu placed him in Shouchun City in Huainan, and they themselves elected Xiang Yan, who was experienced in battle, as their general.
, led the generals to resist the Qin army.
Because the anti-Qin enthusiasm of the nobles in various places was very high, the Chu State mobilized a behemoth with a total number of nearly half a million.
Counting the logistics workers, their number is even higher than that of Qin.
In this era, Qin and Chu were the only two countries in the world that could mobilize such a large-scale combat force.
What a Roman legion, each legion only had a few thousand men.
Of course, no matter whether the Qin army or the Chu army, the real elites are only a small part, most of them are cannon fodder soldiers, as well as a large number of prisoners, Chengdan, son-in-law craftsmen, etc. The real civilians are mainly responsible for logistics and transportation.
That's right, there is no future for a son-in-law in this era. Not only do you have to be cannon fodder in wars, but whenever there is a corvee on weekdays, you are the first to arrange for a son-in-law to come forward.
If a son-in-law named Ning traveled to this era, let alone writing poems to pick up girls, he would either go to the battlefield or do hard labor for 360 days a year. He would be exhausted and exhausted, so why would he still write poems?
Xiang Yan's ability is very good, and he also knows very well that although the Chu army is large in number, its national strength is not as good as that of Qin. If they really go to the battlefield and face a head-on confrontation, they are likely to be defeated.
In fact, starting from the Battle of Changping, only Lord Xinling and Li Mu were able to severely damage the Qin army in a field battle.
Xiang Yan didn't think he was any better than those two men, so he deployed the Chu army in the Shangshui, Shangcai, and Pingyu areas to build strong fortifications and defend them.
His plan was to hold back the main force of the Qin army, and then send surprise troops to attack the Qin army's transportation lines, and delay the attack until the summer was hot.
Xiang Yan planned to delay, but Wang Jian was unwilling to delay.
In order to break down the Chu army's stronghold, he directly mobilized a large number of Qin king's artillery and fired directly at the Chu army's stronghold.
Under the powerful output of the artillery, the strongholds built by the Chu army at the expense of countless cannon fodders were easily broken down like tofu. The sharp soldiers of the Qin army rushed into them and broke through the strongholds one after another.
The State of Chu also obtained the secret of gunpowder from the State of Zhao, and also mobilized its own cannons to fight against the King of Qin's artillery.
But the Chu State's smelting technology was not up to par, and there were even a lot of bubbles on the cannon.
As for the gunpowder, the proportion of the formula is wrong. Either the power is too weak and the range is insufficient, or it is too powerful and directly explodes the barrel.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In the artillery battle with the Qin army, they were undoubtedly defeated.
Seeing that delaying the attack was useless, Xiang Yan came up with the idea of attacking the Qin army's logistics supply line.
He first attacked the transportation line from Yingchuan County to the Qin Army's camp.
But the Qin army itself was also good at cutting off other people's supply lines, and Zhao Kuo knew this well.
Facing the Chu army's attack, Wang Jian responded calmly and deployed heavy defenses. Not only did he not let the Chu army take advantage, he even beat them up.
The red-eyed Chu army began to move north and rushed directly into Yingchuan County.
When they saw the railroad tracks and saw the filthy roaring steel beast rumbling past on the railroad tracks, many Chu soldiers were so frightened that their hands and feet became weak and they turned around and ran away.
When the Chu army finally calmed down and began to think of ways to dismantle the rails, they were shocked to find that the steel rails could not be dismantled at all!
If you hit it with a knife, ax or hammer, it will just cause sparks to fly.
As for the rope being tied and being pulled by the horse, it wouldn't move at all.
The red-eyed Chu Jun worked hard for a long time, and finally thought of a way to dig the foundation directly!
With this method, a section of the railway was destroyed before the Qin army arrived.
However, the Qin army quickly mobilized civilian warriors, and it took only a day or two to repair the damaged foundation.
Immediately, more Qin troops began to clear out the infiltrated Chu troops along the railway line, and many small but extremely fierce battles broke out.
Wang Jian was not in a hurry here, but was blocking the Bachu army one after another.
This lasted for several months. When Xiang Yan became red-eyed and mobilized his main force to go north in an attempt to cut off the Qin army's supply line, Wang Jian suddenly launched a swift and violent offensive, leading with powerful troops and defeated the Chu army on the bank of the Guohe River.
The main force of the army, Xiang Yan, also died fighting hard.
After the main force of the Chu army was defeated, Wang Jian quickly swept across all parts of the Chu State, and finally reached the Shouchun City. After a barrage of artillery, he captured the Chu State's capital.
The last Chu king, Changpingjun, committed suicide in despair.
He knew very well that even if he surrendered, he would not be pardoned, so he simply found out directly.
After the fall of the Chu State, the general situation of the world has become completely clear. The Yan State in the north is trembling, and the King of Yan is in a state of panic all day long.
When the Qin army moved north, the Yan army put up a desperate resistance on the banks of the Yishui River.
Without any surprise, the Yan army was defeated and almost the entire army was wiped out.
King Xi and Prince Dan of Yan did not even dare to stay in Jicheng, and fled to Liaodong in a hurry before the Qin army arrived.
Wang Jian sent a cavalry group to pursue day and night, and finally caught up with the remnants of Yan State, defeated them in one battle, and killed Yan Wang Xi and Prince Dan.
By this time, 100% and 90% of the world had returned to Qin, leaving only a small corner of Qi still lingering.
King Jian of Qi has been in power for forty years, and his career as king has been a life of holding high the banner of peace.
During the bloody battle between Qin and Zhao Changping, Zhao State had no food and could not continue, so it sent envoys to Qi State to ask for food.
The ministers said that their lips were dying and their teeth were cold. They persuaded King Qi Jian to provide food for Zhao, but he refused without hesitation.
As a result, Zhao Kuo, who was short of food, had to take risks and send troops to fight decisively, but he was lured by the enemy and surrounded directly.
Subsequently, in order to deal with the increasingly powerful Qin State, various countries continued to organize alliances to fight against Qin, but Qi King Jianhe never participated.
He even took the initiative to go to Xianyang City to meet King Qin Yingzheng to express his submission.
With such a state of insanity, one can only imagine what the state of Qi is going to be like.
At this time, the Qi State had not experienced war for many years, and had enjoyed banquets from top to bottom, and had been in a peaceful environment for a long time. It had not prepared for military reforms or prepared for war, and its politics had reached an astonishing degree of numbness.
Even though the Qin State destroyed five countries in succession, the Qi State still naively believed that the Qin State would let them go.
King Jian of Qi devoted himself to pleasure and played with beauties in the palace all day long. He left all state affairs to his uncle Hou Sheng.
Hou Sheng was greedy for money, and the people of Qin fell in love with him, sending him a large amount of goods every year, stabilizing the Qi state for many years without joining the anti-Qin alliance.
For Qin, anything that can be solved with money is nothing.
How were these goods sent there? They will have to be shipped back as they are after the destruction, but they are just temporarily stored here for safekeeping.
Hou Sheng took the money and did things. He not only persuaded King Jian of Qi to surrender to Qin all day long, but also faithfully implemented Qin's policy of establishing close ties and attacking far away.
He also purged the court, turning everyone in the government and the public into pacifists, with no fighting spirit at all.
Under the control of Qi Wang Jian and Prime Minister Hou Sheng, the entire Qi State was in political chaos, the military morale was slack, no one dared or was willing to fight, and the morale of the military and the people had already been exhausted to the extreme.
It is also because of this that when the Qin army rushed into Qi like a broken bamboo, no place in the country could even organize an army to resist.
When the news reached Linzi City, Qi Wangjian did not rush to gather troops to prepare for resistance, but chose to surrender under his uncle's persuasion!
This kind of performance is really impressive to Jiang Ziya... Well, Qi State, whose surname is Jiang Lu, has long been usurped by the Tian family.
Ying Zheng looked down upon King Jian and Hou Sheng of Qi very much. He first took away all the goods Hou Sheng had collected over the years, as well as the goods he had accumulated.
Then they put Qi Wangjian under house arrest and starved him to death without giving him anything to eat or drink.
Anyway, when such people live, they are just wasting food.
The news that Qin destroyed Qi and unified the world reached Li Yunze's ears. He finally put down the tools in his hands, stood up and looked to the west.