The History of China - #18 - E. Zhou 7: Shifting Loyalties, Uneasy Alliances

Episode Date: April 18, 2014

Qin's power continues to grow unabated, as the other states struggle to put aside their own differences long enough to deal with this emergent threat to their balance of power. As hastily put together "Vertical Alliance" might have the capacity to check Qin encroachment, but the King of Qin has dispatched his own agents to foreign courts to lure them away from their allies by promising them the moon and stars... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The History of China podcast is available for download and subscription through SoundCloud, the iTunes Music Store under Podcasts, and most recently has joined the Spotify network. Also, please join us on our official website, thehistoryofchina.wordpress.com, as well as on Twitter via the handle at THOCpodcast, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com slash thehistoryofchina. Hello, and welcome to the History of China. Episode 17, Shifting Loyalties, Uneasy Alliances Last time, we went over Qin's early defeats by Han and Wei, its subsequent reformation

at the hands of Shan Yang, and finally its rise to power within the Zhou Empire. This week, Qin really begins to flex its newfound muscle, much to the chagrin of its neighbor states. You'll recall from last time that in 364 BCE, Qin had irrefutably asserted its power over Wei, formerly the preeminent power of the Zhou states, by soundly defeating the combined Wei and Han armies at Ximeng, when they had attempted to invade Qin. So absolutely crushing was the Qin victory that it was only through the diplomatic intervention of Zhao to the north of Wei that both aggressor states were allowed to continue to exist.

Zhao, as it were, was a rising star among the warring states. It had begun its existence as the most geographically large, but militarily weakest, of the three formerly Jin states, and it was due to Zhao's relative weakness, in fact, that Wei had so easily secured the state's permission to invade Zhongshan back in 408 BCE. Much of Zhao's military and economic weakness stemmed from its location, which was along the northern border of the Huaxia Empire, in much of modern-day Inner Mongolia, Hebei, and portions of both Shanxis. In other words, it was the first line of defense against the dreaded Xiongnu tribes of the north and west. These steppe peoples

of Central Asia had haunted the Chinese since time immemorial, and throughout history will be known by many names, the Morduchanyu, the Gortuks, the Khitan, the Huns, the Uyghurs, and most infamously, the Mongols. While disparate, nomadic, and quite frequently too much at odds with one another to pose a serious threat to the outside world, as of now, the various Xiongnu tribes near Zhao's borders were all equally enjoying this period of instability within China, and taking full advantage of the easy raiding opportunities it presented. Now this is not to say, of course, that the Chinese were just sitting idly by on passive defense, waiting for the next barbarian

attack to clean up after. On the contrary, in Zhao, as well as almost all of the other Chinese states, the Warring States Period was a time of vast territorial acquisition and expansion into the quote-unquote unsettled regions, which, of course, conveniently forgets that there were, in fact, almost always people already living there. You know, just the wrong people. But back to Zhao and Wei's relations, though. In spite of the huge favor Zhao had done Wei, existentially saving it and all, Wei decided to return the favor by invading Zhao less than a decade later, in 354 BCE.

So how's that for gratitude? Then again, given the history between the three genes, this sort of backstabbing was just the status quo. Zhao, the weakest of the former Jin states, knew it was in a hopeless situation against Wei's might. In short order, the Wei armies had encircled and laid siege to the Zhao capital city, Handan. Unable to break the siege itself and facing total defeat, the Duke of Zhao, and I should say that at this point, the Duke of Zhao was one of the only rulers which had not yet adopted the title of king, threw a Hail Mary play and sent an emissary to Qi,

the powerful state to its eastern border, to plead for intervention. The king of Qi, both newly enthroned and having just upgraded himself from duke to king, certainly had no love for Wei, but moreover knew that if he did nothing, Wei would ultimately annex both of its lesser neighbors. Remember that prior to its partition, Jin had easily been the most powerful state in the Zhou Empire. Now that the regional power of the northeast was Qi, its king had a vested interest in making sure a reunification of Jin did not occur. Thus, he dispatched his army to aid Zhao, under the dual command of Generals Tianji and Sun Bin. Together, the two generals of Qi concocted a bold, audacious, and ingenious plan.

The army laying siege to Handan was powerful, too powerful to directly confront with any certitude of victory. Instead, the liberation of Han Dan and Zhao would revolve around forcing the Wei army to react to Qi, and not the other way around. To that end, Sun Bin led a detachment into Wei itself, to the city of Pingling, where another sizable contingent of Wei soldiers was stationed. His goal was to engage the Wei force and lose, lose badly or at least make it appear so if his detachment could feign defeat convincingly enough sun suspected that the enemy commander general would think chi did not possess the strength to defeat wei's armies and his borders were secure and therefore send the greater bulk of his his forces to Handan to quickly end the siege of Zhao. Seeing what he thought to be the main strike force of Qi turned back in its first engagement, Wei's general Pang reacted just as Sun Bing had predicted he would. This paved the way for the second phase of Qi operations against Wei. General Tianji, leading the bulk

of the Qi army, now marched directly on the eastern capital of Wei, Daliang, and began his own siege of the city, while being careful to let messengers slip through his lines and rush to inform Pang Juan outside of Handan. General Pang, learning that he had not only been made a fool of, but his very kingdom was now existentially threatened, of course dropped everything. The Wei infantry and artillery would be much too slow to reach Daliang in time, and so Pang Juan left the Minjiao and rushed south with only his elite cavalry. This, of course, was exactly what the Qi commanders had wanted all along. Since his feigned retreat from Pingling,

General Sun Bin had taken his detachment of troops and hidden them directly along the fastest route from Handang to Daliang, and on the far side of the Yellow River, which the Wei cavalry would be forced across. There, they waited in ambush. Exhausted from the flight down from Zhao, the Wei cavalry were trapped and destroyed by Sun's forces as they made it to the far side of the river. General Pang himself was only barely able to escape, alone, and slink back to Wei in defeat and embarrassment.

But don't fear, we've not heard the last from General Pan Juan. For his part, King Hui of Wei, army greatly weakened, commander MIA and capital besieged, recognized that he had no choice but to sue for peace and the invasion and cede lands to Qi. Back in Qi, Generals Tianji and Sun Bin were hailed not only as returning victors, but as tactical geniuses. Their remarkably effective means of defeating Wei became so famous that it was included as the second entry of the 36 Strategies, a book for battlefield commanders almost as legendary as the Art of War. And without knowing the context of the Battle of Guilin, as the conflict came to be known,

the entry makes little sense, quote, besiege Wei to save Zhao, end quote. But with the relevant information we now possess its intent becomes clear if an enemy is too strong to be attacked directly strike at something he holds dear and is weak force him to abandon his attack and race to the defensive annihilated. It had then attacked Zhao and been humiliated by the Qi army. But did that put King Hui off his goal of territorial expansion? Don't be absurd, of course not. Not while there was still another neighbor it could attack, Han, to the south. And attack it did in 342. Before we get to the details, though, I should just pause and say that Wei's policy was less patently absurd than it sounds. Qinghui had spent the better part of its time since Guilin, repairing its diplomatic relationships with Qi and Qin. By the time the Wei army began its invasion of Han, they were reasonably sure that this time Qi would be friendly enough to Wei that it would just stay home. And that's all well and good until you remember that

while relations between Wei and Qi had indeed drastically improved in the intervening decade, Qi's foreign policy was unchanged. Keep the genes partitioned and prevent reunification. And so, when the Han emissary arrived in Qi, wailing about the impending destruction of his state, and how Qi must send its armies at once to subdue Wei once more, the king comforted the emissaries and assured them that Qi would help them out. Relieved and emboldened, the emissaries thanked the king of Qi and raced home to report the good news. Once they were gone, though,

General Sun Bin advised his king that while, yes, they had promised not to let Han be destroyed, there was nothing saying that they had to do it right away. Rather, Sun advised, let both sides deplete their strength against one another, and only intervene afterwards to secure victory. This would not only make Qi look like the hero for sweeping in and sparing Han from destruction, but would maximally weaken both states while preserving the Qi army's strength.

Qin Wei saw the wisdom of General Sun's advice, and sat on his hands while offering further placations to Han. The Han armies, meanwhile, convinced that the Qi would be arriving to back them up at, you know, any moment, attacked the invading Wei without reserve, and when no reinforcements arrived, found themselves outmanned and outmatched, approaching the brink of defeat within a year. Now was the time for Qi to strike,

and once again the dynamic duo of Sun Bin and Tian Ji were dispatched to face off with the Wei one more time. And it turned out to be a full reunion tour, since even after losing the last war, the Wei army was once again commanded by Pang Juan, whom Sun and Tian once more intended to play like a fiddle. The army of Qi encamped close, but not too close, to Wei's siege operations. Too far off to be directly visible in daylight, but close enough that their fires and smoke could be seen and counted by General Pang. Pang noted on the first night that there were enough cooking fires in the Qi camp

to feed more than 100,000 soldiers, which was a comparable number to his own force. But the next day came, and Qi did not attack. By the second night, something strange had happened. The number of cooking fires had been almost halved, as though the Qi army were undergoing large-scale desertions on the eve of battle. By the third evening, the number of soldiers capable of being fed by Qi's cooking fires was down to maybe 20,000. It seemed they were fleeing en masse.

Judging the Qi army to be in a state of full desertion, and with his own army's morale high after a series of crushing victories over the army of Han, Pang Juan determined that the time to deal with the Qi once and for all had come. He would ride them down as they fled and wipe them out. So on the fourth night, Wei mobilized, intending to strike under cover of darkness to maximize Qi's confusion and casualties. Pang Juan led his cavalry ahead to cut off the fleeing Qi, while the rest of the Wei army, consisting primarily of heavy infantry, would be led by Prince Shen, Pang's second-in-command, to close in and obliterate the enemy from behind.

As Pang rode through the now totally abandoned Qi camp, he noted that such was the disorder of the Qi army's flight that they had left most of their artillery and heavy equipment behind. Riding on, the way cavalry approached a pass through which the chi army must have passed during their retreat at the far side was something strange a single tree stripped of bark and pale white against the night's darkness approaching the, the way cavalry found nailed to it a note made out to General Pang. In the silence and stillness, Pang called for a torch in order to read what message his enemy had left for him. And holding up the lit torch to begin to read, Sun Bin and Tian Ji's true message to Pang Juan, arced through the night sky. A hail of 10,000 crossbolts ordered to fire the moment they saw a torch lit.

The Qi army's desertion and disheveled retreat had been yet another of Sun's elaborate ruses, luring Pang once again into an ambush. As Wei's cavalry was mowed down from the storm of crossbow fire from the 10,000 bowmen in place along the ridges of the pass, as well as the stationary chariots blocking the exit of the pass, they attempted to wheel around and retreat, only to discover that the Qi weren't about to let them go so easily. Unseen in the dark, they now discovered that the road had been lined with caltrops.

And if you're unfamiliar with what caltrops are, they're kind of like the ancient world's equivalent of landmines, area-denial weapons. They're simple to create, just two or more iron spikes welded together so that there's a stable base, most often a triad, and one spike pointing directly up. If you're familiar with the old children's game, they're kind of like giant sharpened jacks, and they're devastating against the feet of men, horses, camels, elephants, and any other beast an army might take to war. In fact, they're not even constrained to the ancient and medieval eras. Modern caltrops use hollowed pneumonic spikes to near instantly flatten the tires of any vehicle

that crosses them. Pang Juan's cavalry was decimated as it attempted to retreat, though Pang himself was not around to see it. He had been among the first to die in the hail of artillery, holding aloft as he was the fateful torch in the night. Routed and in panicked flight, the remnants of the Wei cavalry managed to make it out of the canyon and fled directly into the now-approaching main Wei host. This unexpected turn of events caused disruption and confusion throughout the infantry ranks. should they continue their advance or retreat with the cavalry

before a decision could be reached though the qi army made it for them by having advanced through the pass and crashed into their disheveled foe the way infantry broke into a full route to be picked off one by one as they fled through the night total casualties are unclear but what is certain is that way's military machine and any chance shen had been captured by the chi in the ensuing melee as dawn broke on the fifth day both the tactic of missing stoves. And just to be clear, it was undeniably genius. The outcome speaks for itself. That said, it relied on a pretty significant gamble, the assumption that Sun's foe, Pang Juan, would take as a given that the fires he saw could be accurately equated to the number of Qi soldiers encamped. How had Sun known that Pang would take the bait, especially given that he had already experienced firsthand

the deadly effectiveness of Sun Bin and Tian Ji's deceptions? Jonathan Webb from the Art of Battle website, which itself has a great animated PowerPoint of the Battle of Maling, and I'll be linking to both on the episode's companion post. Webb offers an insightful analysis into the psychological factors Sun Bin's strategy relied on for success. He writes that the tactic, quote, illustrates the intelligence dilemma commanders and their intelligence staffs, which they hopefully possess, face when trying

to assess the enemy's capabilities, intent, and objectives. If one assumes that the decreasing numbers of stoves indicates a deception plan, how is one able to recognize when the enemy soldiers are actually deserting? One simple answer is to use multiple sources. An effective reconnaissance would have gained the Wei commanders more insight into the Qi army's capabilities. However, Sun Bin's deception plan was accepted more easily because it intelligence and analyzing behavior through the matrix of his own expectations and desires. In this, Sun Bin's genius for knowing the enemy proved vastly superior. While Pang Juan's reaction may have been interpreted simply as anger and arrogance, fact, the more fundamental issue may be termed fostered misperception. Sun Bin's having exploited a tendency he recognized in Peng Juan by structuring events to sustain and nurture it.

In modern military terms, Sun Bin was able to get inside the enemy's decision cycle and completely defeat Weii the peace forced on t'wei following the disaster at ma ling was harshly punitive What's more, with the Wei military and command structure decimated, it was now critically vulnerable to Qin in the west, which wasted little time in reasserting control over the long-contentious Hexi border area. With the eastern bank of the Jiang River once again under Qin control, Wei's ancient western capital of Anyi was within easy striking distance. Therefore, the king of Wei had no choice but to abandon An Yi and permanently move his seat of power to Daliang in the southeast.

As the end of the 4th century BCE approached, it was becoming undeniably clear that Qin's power could not be contained by any one of its neighbors. But even Qin could be effectively counterbalanced if the other states could be convinced to band together against it. This system of alliance, called Hezong, or the Vertical Alliance, would eventually incorporate five of the warring states, Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, and Chu, with Qi conspicuously abstaining. Even Chu, long the boogeyman of the Zhou Empire, was finding itself under increasing pressure from its north and west as Qin began

occupying and fortifying Sichuan, and so was not only convinced to join in the vertical alliance, but its king Huai to also become the alliance's leader. With ancient China's NATO now assembled, they collectively agreed that passively waiting for Qin to strike next, yet choosing the time and place of battle, was an untenable strategy. Instead, the alliance would need to go on the offensive and launch a preeminent strike to curtail the rising power once and for all. Thus, in 318 BCE, the five states launched a joint invasion of Qin. The joint force advanced across the Jiang River to the only feasible entrance into Qin from the east, Hangu Pass. And Hangu, a narrow strait through a high canyon, was the very definition of what Sun Zu had referred to as contentious ground, easy to defend and nearly impossible to attack.

And since it was virtually the only gateway into Qin's interior, it had been heavily fortified against incursion. The combined armies of the Vertical Alliance flooded into Hangu Pass and were stopped utterly by the Qin fortifications therein. When the armies of Qin counterattacked, the alliance was crushed. Such a crushing defeat of their collective might, along with the ever-present suspicions and distrust that ran just beneath the surface of the Vertical Alliance's members, spelled the end of the most promising check

against Qin dominance that would emerge during the Warring States period. Now, it was Qin's turn to go on the offensive once again. Qin's first target at first seems a rather odd choice given its relative strength the kingdom of chu was outwardly a military juggernaut at over one million strong the chu military positively dwarfed the standing armies of any of the other states but internally chu's command structure was deeply flawed marred by systemic corruption, inefficiency, and constant in-house feuding. With the vertical alliance dead and buried, Chu had been free to pursue a new defensive alliance, this time with Qi directly. Qinghuai and Qingshuan had sealed their pact in 314 BCE, and in short order, Qin realized what a monkey wrench these

two powerful states could throw into their designs. So long as Chu and Qi were united, not even Qin would be able to subdue them. Into this conundrum stepped the prime minister of Qin, Zhuang Yi. Zhuang traveled to the Chu capital city, Yin, and gained an audience with King Huai. Zhuang, authorized by the King of Qin, promised the return of 600 li of territory, previously seized by Qin, and all this in return for Chu dissolving its alliance with Qi. Now to explain the li a moment, the modern measurement is standardized and means exactly 500 meters. But prior to this standardization, the measurement varied, sometimes widely, depending on the place and time, from as little as 400 to as much as 600 meters.

But regardless of which measurement one takes, we're still talking about the king of Chu being asked to dissolve his state's alliance with one of the most powerful states in the kingdom and in return he would get between two hundred and forty and three hundred and sixty square miles of territory It's pretty ridiculous, no matter how you cut it. And what's more, King Huai's ministers warned him that Zhang Yi should not be trusted to even hold up his end of this piddling bargain. But for whatever reason, Huai really, really wanted those particular 600 li back, and so severed his alliance to Qi, which, you can be sure,

the King of Qi was none too happy about when king huai sent a messenger to reclaim the lands promised chang revealed his true colors surprising exactly nobody and confusion at Huai's claim, asserting that he had only ever offered six, not six hundred, of his own territory in exchange for the end of Qi-Qiu relations. Flagrantly bamboozled, Huai immediately declared war on Qin. But Zhang Yi had been quite busy since Qi had sent word of its dissolution with relations to Qi. He had been in contact with the king of Qi, understandably still fuming about Chu's betrayal, and manipulated him into joining Qin in counterattacking his erstwhile ally. Attacked on two fronts, even the military might of Chu could not withstand the dual

assaults of Qi and Qin, and was forced to admit defeat shortly thereafter. And just pour some lemon juice on the salt already on its wound, Qin would demand yet another 600 li from Chu in return for peace in 313. This peace was fleeting, but for the moment, Chu could take stock and replenish its strengths, for Qin was about to undergo a rough period of rule. In 310, the ancient King Huiwen finally died and was succeeded by the 19-year-old crowned prince Yingdan, who took the name King Wu of Qin.

Before he could start implementing much in the way of new policy, however, he broke his knee during a contest of strength, and from the records seemed to have developed deep vein thrombosis, which embolized into his bloodstream. He began hemorrhaging from his eyes, and shortly thereafter died at the age of 23. Unprepared for such a freakishly unexpected death, Qin was thrown into a minor state of turmoil and official paralysis, which lasted for almost a year before Wu's younger brother, Prince Yingji, was at last placed on the throne as King Zhao Xiang in 306. But in 299, Qin was back and ready to go, and renewed its efforts at

subterfuge against Chu by inviting King Huai to an, quote, interstate diplomatic conference. When Huai arrived in Qin, he was arrested and locked away for what would end up being the rest of his life. The two states would remain locked in conflict, culminating in 278 BCE, when the Qin army would finally overcome Chu defensive positions and capture its capital, Ying. Qinghuai's heir, the crowned prince of Chu, was forced to flee eastward and, without a real capital, float from city to city on a temporary basis. So, now we come to the Qin general Bai Qi. General Bai, though largely unknown in the West, is a famous, or in some circles infamous, military commander of the warring states period. As the military commander of Qin at this critical phase phase he is going to feature prominently in much of the rest of this episode as well as next week's episode so he is worth taking a minute or what is now Mei County in Shanxi Province.

His career as military commander for Qin spanned more than 30 years, and he remains well known, even today, for both his battlefield prowess as well as his brutality. Adding together the admittedly apocryphal, or at least guesstimated, casualty counts of his various battles and campaigns, he is responsible for the deaths of more than 890,000 enemy soldiers and seized 73 cities. His battlefield and command prowess earned him the official title Wu'an Jun, meaning the Lord of Martial Peace. Behind his back, though, Bai had another nickname,

Ren Tu, or the Butcher of Humans. To date, there has been no record found to indicate that General Bai Qi ever suffered defeat in a single military engagement. So, yeah, if Bai Qi shows up in a battle, you'll know where to lay your bets. But rewinding for a moment back to 294, even while it pounded Chu into the dirt, Qin had opened up a new theater of operations, this time against Han. Han was both one of the weakest of the warring states,

as well as being strategically important as the corridor to China's interior from Qin. This made Han a very tempting target, and all the more so, since the alliance between Han and Wei had once again soured into petty bickering and war. As such, both were too busy fighting one another to notice that, oh yeah, Qin was still, you know, right there. And Qin was only too happy to remind them by sending General Bai Qi to capture one of Han's westernmost fortresses. Wei and Han were quick to put aside their differences for the moment and reunite to face ch'in's advance their pooled militaries Qin army held the dual advantages of superior equipment and a unified, battle-hardened force led by one of the greatest generals of the age.

So rather than attack, they opted to adopt a posture of passive defense, against which, the hope was, Qin's offensive would break. The contact between the two armies, though called the Battle of Yichui, was less a battle and more of an entire front. The area of conflict stretched for miles and included fortresses, cities, and defensive positions along mountain ranges and rivers. General Bai Qi noted that his opponents were allies of necessity only, and that exploitable tensions still bubbled just below the surface of the Han and Wei armies. The solution to the question of Han and Wei's overwhelming numbers would be surprisingly simple.

Only battle one of them at a time, since neither state would be overly keen to defend the other. In short, divide and conquer. After scouting out his enemy's defensive perimeter, Bai Qi sent a detachment to draw the Han defenders out of their positions by using small-scale ambushes and hit-and-fade attacks. When the Han had been sufficiently lured into pursuing their attackers, the main Qin army struck the still-encamped Wei position, who now stood alone. After being forced into a defeat and retreat, the Wei commanders began to lob accusation after accusation at their allied commanders from Han, that they had deliberately allowed Wei to be left exposed and had refused to assist as they'd promised.

The Han army was understandably quite taken aback at such allegations, given that they had just been chasing their own attackers around the mountains, with little luck pinning them down. The bad blood between Han and Wei ended up unmaking their partnership mid-war, and the Han army essentially picked up their ball and went home, opting to preserve their own strength by ceasing to reinforce or support the increasingly beleaguered Wei positions. This was, of course, exactly what the Qin army had been hoping for,

and they were now free to finish off Wei one position at a time, without interference from Han whatsoever. The tantrum Han flew must have somehow seemed like a good idea at the time, but as the last of Wei's resistance was crushed, and the Qin army, of course, now turned right around to squash the ally-less Han military, the error of that decision became rather obvious. Outmatched, outthought, and now even outnumbered by Qin, the Han army attempted to retreat, but was ridden down by the Qin cavalry

and wiped out, ensuring no one made it back to the relative safety of Han's walled cities. I must reiterate that the Han and Wei had, on paper, outnumbered their Qin adversaries by more than two to one. Yet by the end of the Battle of Yicheng in 293 BCE, the allied Wei and Han armies lay in absolute ruin, with almost two-thirds of their soldiers, at least 150,000 men, killed. In stark contrast, Bai Qi's victory had cost his army of 120,000 soldiers, at most 8,500 casualties. It is difficult to overstate just how crushing Qin's victory had been. In order to spare themselves from complete annihilation, the kings of Han and

Wei were forced to cede great portions of their territories to Qin. But while this bought them some time, it now only delayed the inevitable. The two states that had for so long stood as the main bulwarks against Qin incursion into the central Yellow River Valley, were now mortally, irreparably weakened. And now that the might of Qin had crossed the Yellow River itself, the destruction of Han and Wei had suddenly gone from worst nightmare scenario to merely a matter of time. Next time, the King of Qin will begin his invasion of Zhao to the north, and officially end the Zhou Dynasty once and for all.

But Zhao, once the weakest of the Three Jin, will prove to now be a much tougher nut to crack than Qin had anticipated, following a massive series of reforms, including the Zhao armies adopting the stylings, armor, and battle tactics of the Xiongnu barbarians in the northern wilds beyond their walls. Thank you for listening. You don't have to be living an ocean away to dread the idea of going to the post office. The lines, the jostling, it's a real bother. Thankfully, there's Stamps.com to save you the hassle.

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