Although Qin launched many wars against the Three Jins during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, making Qin appear to be the enemy of the Three Jins, in fact, since the Three Jins divided the Three Jins, the biggest enemy of the Three Jins has been each other.
Wei, Han, and Zhao all wanted to inherit all the "legacy" of Jin, and they had been fighting each other since they were founded. However, they were nobles from the same country and had been intermarried for many generations. Therefore, when they fought each other, they left room for each other and could have annexed each other, but they withdrew their troops for various reasons.
Many scholars believed that the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms left room for their enemies and were aristocratic in this kind of tug-of-war. But for the people in the area where the Three Jins met, it was a huge disaster and pain, like the flesh on the blade that was constantly sawing.
Changping is where several rivers meet, and there are a lot of alluvial plains between the valleys. As we all know, alluvial plains can produce prosperous economies. In later generations, these places were also important grain-producing areas. Because of the war, this place has almost become a wilderness.
After the Battle of Changping, because Qin had let go of hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers, Wei and Han thought that Qin was able to handle the situation with ease. They did not dare to attack Qin and acquiesced to Qin's control of the Shangdang Plateau.
In the original history, Bai Qi's killing of prisoners not only made the Zhao people, who had experienced too much war and were almost numb, feel a deep hatred for a certain country for the first time, but also made that country see that the Qin army was at the end of its strength.
Everyone knows that although the Qin army would kill prisoners, they would kill surrendered soldiers by deception. There is only one possibility, that is, the Qin State not only cannot afford to support so many young and strong men, but also cannot control so many young and strong men with its military force.
The wars during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period lasted for hundreds of years. The world's population dropped sharply, and all countries were short of labor. The Qin State was even more shameless and often went to the Three Jins to "steal people."
The current strength of Qin can be seen by how many prisoners of war Qin can convert into its own labor force.
So after killing the prisoners, Bai Qi requested to attack Handan immediately. He knew that it was impossible to destroy Zhao, but after he captured Handan, Qin could sign a treaty with Zhao, further weaken Zhao and strengthen Qin, and also make other countries misjudge Qin's combat power and dare not act rashly.
In the Battle of Changping, Qin and Zhao were almost both defeated. Bai Qi could not let other countries take advantage of the opportunity to attack Qin.
However, although Bai Qi failed to get the King of Qin to attack Handan, the monarchs of other countries were not as smart as Bai Qi imagined. They were actually cowardly and dared not take action, which made Bai Qi very relieved.
If the Qin State had recuperated and managed the Shangdang Plateau well, it would have been able to take over the Shangdang Plateau and his worries would not have come true.
Who knew that the King of Qin suddenly became stupid and attacked Zhao on a whim, and insisted on a losing battle. No matter how stupid other monarchs were, they would have seized this opportunity.
After the Battle of Handan, the Qin State lost the Three Jins that it had occupied for many years and was beaten to Hangu Pass. King Zhaoxiang of Qin went from being a powerful ruler to a joke.
Now Qin openly released the Zhao prisoners of war, and did not even keep them as slaves for reclamation. Such an abnormal attitude frightened Wei and Han. Even the truly talented and wise ministers in the two countries asked their monarchs to shrink their defenses.
Qin did not make any strategic or policy mistakes in this battle, which continued the myth of Qin's invincibility. Neither Wei nor Zhao dared to take action against Shangdang, so Changping County was given a stable development environment.
With a stable environment and Zhu Xiang's "generosity", Changping became prosperous after just one bumper harvest, and it seemed to be showing signs of becoming a big city.
When Bofu introduced Changping, his expression was very proud, and it was obvious that he had regarded Changping as his second hometown.
When Lian Po was visiting Changping, many generals saluted him.
Lian Po didn't recognize any of them - he wouldn't recognize an unknown person. But from their attitude and accent, he knew that they were probably the former Zhao's Changping defenders.
Many of the Zhao prisoners of war stayed in Changping. With Bai Qi's guarantee, the King of Qin trusted them and made them the defenders of Changping, allowing them to stay in Changping to continue the reclamation.
Lian Po saw a few Qin soldiers who were temporarily on leave, hugging each other and asked with a strange expression, "Among them, there are people from Zhao and Qin, right?"
Although Lou Huan spoke in a very normal tone, Lian Po always felt that he was being sarcastic: "No, they are all Qin people now."
Lian Po glared at Lou Huan and said, "Even if they have all become Qin people, aren't they getting familiar with each other too quickly?"
Lian Po also captured prisoners of war and tried to turn them into his own soldiers. He knew how difficult it was to get soldiers who were originally enemies to get along with each other.
The Battle of Changping was extremely brutal, and the Qin and Zhao armies had a deep hatred for each other. Even if the soldiers obeyed the orders of the generals to kill the enemy, both sides were just tools, so the hatred was not as deep as that of real enemies. But how could the gap in their hearts be resolved so quickly
In such a short period of time, the Qin soldiers and the Zhao soldiers were like strangers and were relatively restrained.
Lou Huan said: "I don't understand this."
Lian Po was speechless: "What on earth do you, a Qin official, know?"
Lou said slowly: "I've already said it, I understand Zhao."
Damn it! Lian Po rolled up his sleeves and thought about killing the old thief Lou Huan again.
Bofu, who had a high emotional intelligence, immediately tried to smooth things over and explained to Lian Po: "Maybe it's because we all worked under Duke Zhu Xiang and held harvest festivals?"
He told about the harvest festival. It was the first time for the soldiers of Qin and Zhao to hold a celebration banquet to entertain themselves. Even Duke Zhu Xiang and the Qin generals personally performed for the soldiers, which made them feel excited when they thought about it now.
Boeuf touched his nose and smiled shyly: "I'm embarrassed to say that it was only then that we felt like we were human beings. Maybe because of the same experience, we got to know each other very quickly."
Not to mention Lian Po's puzzled look, even Li Mu, who was closer to the soldiers, was confused.
Lou Huan scratched his head so hard that he almost messed up his hair.
You just fought a life-and-death battle, and many people died on both sides. Such deep hatred was resolved by you holding a celebration together? Is there something wrong with you, or is there something wrong with my ears
Lian Po is better than Lou Huan. If he doesn’t understand something, he stops thinking about it and continues to ask questions that he can understand, such as the training of the Qin army.
Lian Po was already a general of the Qin State, and Bo Fu did not hide the Qin army's training methods from him.
The Qin army already had a relatively scientific way of training soldiers, namely standing in line, physical training, lining up, listening to commands, etc. Every day they would run drills first, then practice queues, then command training, and finally fighting training.
Lian Po nodded repeatedly and said, "Not bad."
His expression was calm, but he actually felt uncomfortable.
It's not that the Qin army's training method is so clever. His own training method is similar.
It’s just that training troops is the generals’ own “secret”, and many generals would rather share their military strategies than share their methods of training troops.
Why do many generals have military families for generations? What they pass down is not the art of war, but the method of training soldiers.
As long as a general can train his troops, he will not suffer a disastrous defeat in a battle of equal strength. To be a general and command a large battle, one naturally needs more talents. But how many generals does a country need? If one can train his troops, he can make a living as a general.
Lian Po also had his own unique way of training troops.
Although one can learn some tricks of training soldiers by watching from the sidelines, there is a lot of knowledge involved in how to do it. Lian Po could proudly say that without his own hands-on teaching for several years, others would definitely not be able to learn.
He is now looking at the training methods of the Qin army. Although he has not seen the whole picture, he has already realized that the Qin army has regarded a set of training methods that can be passed down from generation to generation as something for the entire country. It is used in all troops and directly fixed in the form of laws.
In this way, perhaps the Qin army encountered powerful generals from other countries, and the war would still have winners and losers. But how many famous generals can each country have? In a clash between ordinary generals, the Qin army would definitely win.
Lian Po pulled his beard a few times.
He finally understood what Zhu Xiang meant when he told him that after going to Qin he would not have to fight and could instead work as a teacher in Xianyang Academy.
That bastard, does he still want me to train generals for the Qin State
Doesn’t Zhu Xiang know that generals are different from people from other schools and will never pass on their family’s unique skills
Well, Zhu Xiang was just a commoner, he probably really didn’t know.
Lian Po pulled his beard a few more times and almost pulled out a few strands of it.
Now even he knew that Zhu Xiang invited him to Xianyang Palace to explain the art of war, and other people in Xianyang must have known it. Zhu Xiang did this to dig up the roots of the generals. Zhu Xiang didn't know how dangerous this was, but didn't others know
Especially the King of Qin, doesn’t he know
Lian Po immediately realized that Zhu Xiang might not be as safe in Qin as he thought. He heard from Cai Ze that Zheng'er was favored by the King of Qin, who often went to Zhu Xiang's house to rest, as if the King of Qin treated Zhu Xiang as a close junior.
But even if the King of Qin accepted Zhu Xiang's suggestion, he could have hidden Zhu Xiang from the matter and said it was his own decision. However, the King of Qin did not hesitate to announce Zhu Xiang's name to the world, making Zhu Xiang stand against all the generals.
Lian Po could figure out why the King of Qin did this.
Zhu Xiang's reputation among the common people was so high that the soldiers of Zhao State would mutiny for him.
The Qin army was also composed of common people. Even though the King of Qin knew that Zhu Xiang had no ambitions, he would still be on guard against Zhu Xiang, so he deliberately let Zhu Xiang stand on the opposite side of the generals.
Zhu Xiang was kind to others. According to Cai Ze, Zhu Xiang did not even accept a real job after he went to Xianyang. He did nothing except farming and raising Zheng'er. With his selfless character, he could have made no enemies in Qin.
Even if Zhu Xiang raised Zheng'er and got involved in the fight for the throne, with an overly strong King Qin, the fight for the throne could not be fought at all. Zhu Xiang could have been one of the few people in the Qin court who was not out of the vortex of political struggle.
"Mr. Lian, why do you look so bad?" Li Mu asked with concern, "Do you want to rest first?"
Lian Po said solemnly, "Yes."
He originally thought that he was going to Xianyang Academy to give lectures on the art of war, but after just watching the Qin soldiers training, he guessed what the King of Qin was thinking.
After all, he is a veteran of two dynasties of the Zhao State, so he does have some sensitivity.
So would he go to the Xianyang Academy to teach military training as the King of Qin wished
It was useless for him to refuse, because the whole Qin State should know about Zhu Xiang's suggestion. Soon, all the generals in the world would know about it.
Lian Po stayed awake all night with his eyes open.
(End of this chapter)