The main force of the Zhao army was approaching
and behind the Han army was the swift river
the Han army had no way back
At this moment, the commander of the Han army
Han Xin shouted, "There is no way back for you all
you will only die if you don’t fight bravely!"
As a result, the fighting spirit of the Han army was inspired
The Han army fought against the Zhao army to the death
and finally defeated the Zhao army completely
Let’s pause here
The above is the most popular and
simplest version of Han Xin’s “fight with one’s back to the river”
Unfortunately, this is not “historically accurate” at all
In this episode, let me show you the full story of the Battle of Jing Xing
I will talk about many fascinating details and
you will definitely learn something new after watching this video
My channel shares videos about interesting characters
and stories in Chinese history every two weeks
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First, let me briefly introduce Han Xin
the protagonist of this battle
Han Xin was the commander under Liu Bang
the founder of the Han dynasty
He was also one of the most important generals
who helped Liu Bang establish the Han dynasty
In addition, he was probably the greatest military strategist in Chinese history
Now let’s take a quick look at the background of the Battle of Jing Xing
Three years after the Battle of Ju Lu, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang
who had joined hands to overthrow Qin
turned against each other
and went to war for the control of ancient China
At this time, Liu Bang’s Han army and
Xiang Yu’s Chu army confronted each other in Xing Yang
And Han Xin led an army to defeat Wei state
which turned against the Han army
and captured the King of Wei, Bao, alive
After conquering Wei state
Han Xin proposed to Liu Bang that he led a strategic mobile force to
the north to continue to attack Zhao state, Dai state, and Qi state
and to eventually encircle Xiang Yu from the east
Liu Bang highly appreciated this proposal
so he gave Han Xin tens of thousands of troops
and also sent Zhang Er to assist him
This is the background of the Battle of Jing Xing
Zhang Er was originally an important strategist under the King of Zhao
However, in the Battle of Ju Lu
he had a conflict with a general of Zhao
who was his good friend at that time --- Chen Yu
and they turned against each other
(Please watch my video about the Battle of Ju Lu for more details )
Zhang Er then left Zhao state and joined Liu Bang
Zhang Er joined Han Xin in the Battle of Jing Xing this time
although he didn’t directly command the battle
he played an important role
I will talk about this in details later
When the King of Zhao, Xie
learned that Liu Bang had sent Han Xin to attack his state
he sent Xia Yue of Dai state to lead an army to garrison Wu County
Han Xin led his army to secretly advance on Wu County
and launched a sudden attack from the east of Wu County
on the Dai army stationed outside the county
Panicked, the Dai army was quickly defeated
and fled to the east to Zhao state
Han Xin ignored the enemy forces inside Wu County
and pursued the fleeing enemy non-stop
Finally, he caught up with the Dai army at Yu Yu and killed Xia Yue
Only then did Han Xin send Cao Can to lead an army back to
Wu County to eliminate remnants of the enemy forces
Liu Bang was overjoyed when he heard the news of the victory
He rewarded Han Xin with a negative large number of elite soldiers
Yes, you heard that right
It means that he transferred almost all the elite soldiers
in Han Xin’s hands to reinforce Xing Yang
Since the military situation in Xing Yang was critical at that time
and Liu Bang was his boss, Han Xin tolerated it and
continued to lead the remaining 30,000 troops to Zhao state
However, these troops were weak with little training
When the King of Zhao and
Chen Yu heard that Xia Yue had been killed
they hurriedly led an army of 200,000 soldiers to
guard the entrance of the Jing Xing Pass
Here I need to briefly talk about the terrain
Between the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain
lies a mountain range called the Tai Hang Mountains
There are only eight east-west valleys across the mountains
These valleys link the Loess Plateau and the North China Plain
and are called “Eight Passes of the Tai Hang”
Han Xin’s army was going to take the Jing Xing Pass
the fifth pass of the eight passes
to cross the Tai Hang Mountains to attack Zhao state
Therefore, Zhao state must guard the Jing Xing Pass
The Jing Xing Pass was long and narrow
If an army encountered an ambush in the pass
the whole army would be annihilated
Therefore Han Xin stationed his army
at the west entrance of the Jing Xing Pass and observed the situation
The Zhao army was also discussing ways to deal with Han Xin
Li Zuoche, a strategist of the King of Zhao
believed that after the Han army entered the Jing Xing Pass
their marching army would be stretched quite long due to the narrow path
If he could lead 30,000 soldiers and
take a shortcut to raid the Han army’s supply units while
the main force of the Zhao army was
guarding the east entrance of the Jing Xing Pass
the Han army would collapse after a period of time due to lack of provisions
This was a strategy that wouldn’t fail
However, the King of Zhao and
Chen Yu believed that the Han army was small and exhausted
If the Zhao army avoided the battle
it would be looked down upon by other warlords
Therefore they didn’t adopt this strategy
Han Xin received this news from his spy
and was finally relieved
At the same time, he secretly admired Li Zuoche
Only after repeated scouting to make sure that there was no ambush
in the Jing Xing Pass did Han Xin finally order his army to enter it
Entering the Jing Xing Pass safely was the key to this battle,
and this couldn’t have been done without the
information sent by Han Xin’s spy
When we think about it carefully,
we will realize that Han Xin’s spy was even able to learn
how decisions were made within the Zhao army’s command
which means that the spy had a high status in the Zhao army
and was well hidden
As I mentioned before, Zhang Er, who assisted Han Xin in the army
was once a powerful minister of Zhao state
So we have reason to believe that this spy
was planted in Zhao by Zhang Er
If Han Xin hadn’t obtained the accurate information
he would certainly not have entered the Jing Xing Pass easily
but would have thought of other ways to deal with the Zhao army
If that was the case, the battle wouldn’t have ended so quickly
Let’s get back to the battle itself
When Han Xin led his army to the front of Wei River
which was 15 kilometers away from the east entrance of the Jing Xing Pass
he ordered the army to stop marching
Then he made the most crucial arrangement of the battle:
he sent general Guan Ying to lead a light cavalry of 2,000 soldiers
each carrying a red flag of the Han army
to go straight to the hill next to the entrance of the
Jing Xing Pass via a small road in secret at night
and then lie in ambush on the hill
He told Guan Ying to go down the hill to steal the Zhao camp
and plant the Han flags all over it after the
entire Zhao army came out of their camp to fight the battle
After assigning the tasks
Han Xin ordered the rest of his army to rest
After dawn, Han Xin said to everyone
“We will have a group dinner after defeating the Zhao army today!"
No one believed him but Han Xin didn’t mind
He ordered 10,000 soldiers to cross the Wei River first
and form up with their backs to the river
This arrangement was really contrary to military common sense
Forming up with their backs to the river
the soldiers were left with no way back
Han Xin’s subordinates were all speechless while
the King of Zhao and Chen Yu both couldn’t stop laughing
Only after these 10,000 soldiers were in formation
did Han Xin order the rest of his troops to cross the river
He crossed last with his command flag and drum corps
This was because Han Xin knew that the Zhao army wanted to
kill him therefore it would not attack before he crossed the river
Sure enough, when the Zhao army saw Han Xin’s command flag
the main force came out of the camp to attack the Han army
Han Xin ordered the 10,000 troops who had crossed the river first
to stay put while he himself led the other
20,000 troops to fight against the enemy
The two armies were fighting tooth and nail
After a while, Han Xin ordered his army to retreat
to the riverside while fighting, throwing away the command flag
drums, horses and many other items
You know, untrained soldiers can easily rout during a retreat
God knows how Han Xin managed to command
these inexperienced soldiers to retreat in an orderly manner!
When the Han army reached the riverside
the 10,000 reserve troops took over the battle from the main force
and fought with the Zhao army
Although these 10,000 soldiers had rested for a long time
the Zhao army was so large that the Han army was gradually losing the battle
Han Xin shouted
“There is no way back for you all, you will only die if you don’t fight bravely!
At the same time
the main force of the Han army also rejoined the battle after a short rest
The Han army tried their best and
barely managed to resist the waves of attacks from the Zhao army!
In the eyes of the Zhao soldiers who were still stationed inside their camp
the Han army was about to be driven into the river
and no one was there to collect the spoils of war
discarded by the Han army outside the camp
This made them think to themselves
“What are we still doing in the camp? If we don’t take action now
we won’t be able to get any military merit or spoils of war"
As a result, all of them came out of their camp
Some rushed to collect the spoils of war
and some ran to the riverside to join the battle
This was the moment that Guan Ying
who had spent most of the day hiding on the nearby hill, had been waiting for
Guan Ying and his soldiers quickly went down the hill
and occupied the camp of the Zhao army
They replaced all the Zhao flags with the red flags of the Han army
On the riverside, the Zhao army had been unable to win the battle
due to the desperate resistance of the Han army
This made them doubt both themselves and the Han army:
How come these poorly dressed and untrained soldiers had not been driven into
the river to feed the fish?
Could it be that God was helping them and not helping us?
Chen Yu, the commander of the Zhao army
wasn’t too anxious when he saw that the morale of his army
was shaken by the long battle
He ordered the Zhao army to stop attacking and
slowly withdraw to the camp
He planned to let his army rest and
to use the numerical superiority to drive Han Xin into the river tomorrow
Unfortunately, Chen Yu didn’t expect that
he could no longer see the sun the next day
The Zhao army was halfway back when they saw that
their camp had been occupied by the Han army
The Han army in the camp shouted to them, “The King of Zhao has been captured
and Zhao state has been conquered!
In an instant, the morale of the Zhao army was significantly shaken
Han Xin took this opportunity to attack the Zhao army with his main force
and Guan Ying also led his cavalry to attack the Zhao army from the other side
The morale of the Zhao army collapsed
and Zhao was defeated completely
Han Xin led his troops to wipe out the fleeing Zhao army
Chen Yu was killed and
the King of Zhao was captured
Zhao state was completely destroyed by this battle!
After the battle, Han Xin’s subordinates asked him
“Ordering the soldiers to form up with their backs to the river
is really contrary to military common sense
How come you won the battle with this arrangement?
Han Xin answered, “All my soldiers are untrained
If there is a way back, their first reaction
under adverse circumstances will be to run away
So I can’t give them that option
Everyone was fully convinced by his answer
But what Han Xin didn’t tell them was that
the formation could only prolong the time
that the Han army held on during the battle
while intelligence gathering and
the surprise attack were the keys to winning the battle!
Well, that's it for this episode
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