Zhao Yong

King Wuling of Zhao

King Wuling of Zhao (about 340 bc-295 BC), surnamed Zhao and named Yong, was born in Handan, Hebei Province. During the Warring States period, the sixth generation monarch of Zhao state, a famous politician, militarist and reformer in the pre Qin period, is the son of marquis Su of Zhao.

When King Wuling of Zhao was in power, he carried out "Hufu riding and shooting" militarily, which constantly promoted Zhao's military strength to become stronger and stronger, becoming a powerful country in the middle and late Warring States period, and even competing with Qin. Later, it engulfed Zhongshan state, defeated Linhu and Loufan, opened up Yunzhong, Yanmen and Daijun, and built "Zhao Great Wall".

In the 27th year of King Wuling of Zhao (299 BC), in order to focus on military and national affairs, King Wuling of Zhao abdicated the throne to his son, King Huiwen of Zhao, who was honored as the "father".

In the fourth year of King Huiwen of Zhao Dynasty (295 BC), King Wuling of Zhao encountered a sand dune rebellion. He was surrounded for three months and could not get food in the palace. Finally, he starved to death in the sand dune palace. After his death, the minister pursued his posthumous title of "Wuling", and later generations honored him as king Wuling of Zhao. Since he established the strong and prosperous state of Zhao, the monarch of Zhao officially became king.

King Wuling of Zhao was called "the first great man after the Yellow Emperor" by Liang Qichao.

Life figures

Funeral of the five nations

In the 10th year of marquis Su of Zhao Dynasty (340 BC), King Wuling of Zhao was born in Handan, the capital of Zhao state (now Hebei Province).

In the 24th year of the reign of marquis Zhao Su (326 B.C.), Zhao Yu, marquis Zhao Su, died. Ten thousand Ruishi from Wei, Chu, Qin, Yan and Qi came to the funeral. Before his death, marquis Zhao Su was a hero. He fought with Wei, Chu, Qin, Yan, Qi and other countries year after year. Zhao was just like a new overlord in the north.

In the later period of King Hui of Wei, marquis Su of Zhao followed Su Qin's advice and launched a series of joint vertical offensive against the state of Wei. As a result, the century old hegemony of the state of Wei was seriously weakened again, which was not enough to stop the southward advance of the state of Zhao and swept away the most powerful enemy for the development of the state of Zhao towards the Central Plains. After the death of marquis Zhao Su, King Hui of Wei immediately united the four states of Chu, Qin, Yan and Qi in the name of huimu, and sent elite soldiers to take advantage of the new king of Zhao when he was young.

For Zhao Yong, a 15-year-old boy, his father's funeral was really dangerous. If not, Zhao would be destroyed by the five countries. With the help of Feiyi, the important Minister of Zhao Suhou, Zhao Yong decided to take tit for tat tough measures to meet these evil mourners.

King Wuling of Zhao ordered the whole territory of Zhao state to be under martial law. The Zhao troops of Daijun, Taiyuan Jun, shangdangjun and Handan were on first-class alert, ready to fight at any time. By uniting Korea and song, the two countries located between Qin, Wei, Chu and Qi, Zhao, Han and song formed a character structure, which put Qin, Wei, Chu and Qi in a passive situation of being attacked on both sides or on three sides. He also bribed the king of Yue Wuqiang to attack Chu. First, he turned the attention of Chu, which had no border with Zhao, to its old rival Yue. Zhongfu Lou fan Wang beat Yan and Zhongshan. The state of Yan is one of the five weaker states. Under the strong attack of Loufan, the king of Yan Yi was very nervous and worried about the attack of Zhao and Loufan. Although Zhongshan is not a powerful country, because it is wedged into the territory of Zhao state, it is often ordered by Qi state to attack Handan, the capital of Zhao state, from behind, which poses a greater threat to Zhao state than the external enemies. Under the attack of Lou fan, Zhongshan had no time to take advantage of the fire and rob the state of Zhao. After removing the two powerful enemies of Yan and Chu, the Wei, Qi and Qin groups had no advantage over the Zhao, Han and song groups.

King Wuling of Zhao ordered the troops of the five countries who came to the funeral not to enter the border of Zhao. Only the envoys of the five countries were allowed to bring the condolence of the monarchs of the five countries into the country. The minister in charge of receiving the envoys of Zhao sent them directly to Handan. When Wei, Qin and Qi saw that the state of Zhao had a heavy army and strict guard, and that the alliance of Zhao, Han and song had become a reality, they had to give up the idea of taking advantage of Zhao. After the envoys of the five kingdoms came to Zhao, they saw the elite of Zhao gathered in Handan and the war was imminent. They did not dare to make any mistakes. After burying Zhao Su Hou with King Wuling of Zhao, they left in a hurry. The conspiracy of five states to Zhao initiated by King Hui of Wei was defeated by King Wuling of Zhao. Zhao Wuling had withstood the severe test when he first entered the throne.

In the first year of King Wuling of Zhao (325 BC), after King Hui of Wei attempted to seek Zhao, he began to make up for the rift between Wei and Zhao, and led the prince to the state of Zhao to congratulate King Wuling on his official accession to the throne. King Wuling of Zhao and Feiyi treated each other with courtesy. Han xuanhui, an important ally of Zhao state, and Prince Cang also came to congratulate Zhao Wuling on his accession to the throne.

Attack Zhongshan

In the third year of King Wuling of Zhao Dynasty (323 BC), Zhao state oppressed Zhongshan state and built a city near the border of Zhongshan (now North of Baixiang, Hebei Province).

Zhao's hinterland is a serious threat to the territorial integrity of Zhao. Zhongshan state was originally the Baidi nationality, and was known as Xianyu (also known as Xianyu) in the spring and Autumn period. In 406 BC, Wei Wenhou sent LeYang to lead the Wei Zhao allied forces to attack Zhongshan through the state of Zhao. Later, when Zhao and Wei met each other, Zhongshan became an enclave far away from Wei, and it was difficult for Wei to form a strong control over Zhongshan. Less than 30 years after Wei occupied Zhongshan, Zhongshan got rid of the control of Wei and was able to recover.

Zhongshan state is just wedged in the central area of Zhao state. There is only a small piece in the northeast corner of the whole territory that borders Yan state, and the rest is owned by Zhao state. Zhongshan split the territory of Zhao. Daijun, Handan, shangdangjun and the old capital Jinyang (now southwest of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province) are the four important towns of the state of Zhao. Because of the barrier of Zhongshan, the traffic is very difficult. Zhao is a country with nomadic civilization in the north and farming civilization in the south. There is a serious trend of division. The central government of Zhao, who lives in Handan in the south, has less control over Zhao. Moreover, Zhongshan is a country established by nomadic people. It is inserted between Handan, an important town of agricultural civilization, and Daijun, an important town of nomadic civilization, which makes Daijun deviate from the central government of Zhao, and Handan has stronger centrifugal force.

Although Zhongshan is not a powerful country, it is in the heart of Zhao, which brings great threat to Zhao's national security and unity. The neighboring states of Qi and Yan colluded with Zhongshan to deal with Zhao. Qi and Yan regarded Zhongshan as the best partner to contain Zhao, and they gave a lot of financial support to Zhongshan. Because of the obstruction of Qi and Yan, Zhao had never relieved himself of this serious trouble. Although the monarchs of several generations of the state of Zhao wanted to do something, the great cause of the state of Zhao was greatly restricted by the restriction of Zhongshan. Although Zhao Suhou defeated Qi, Wei and Yan again and again, he did not make substantial progress in solving the problem of Zhongshan. After Zhao Wuling ascended the throne, he inherited the will of his ancestors and launched an attack on Zhongshan with the help of Feiyi. Feiyi is a descendant of the fat people of Baidi nationality.

Northward strategy

In this year, Gongsun Yan, the Prime Minister of Wei, launched a movement of five kingdoms to fight against Zhang Yi, the Prime Minister of Qin Dynasty, who was trying to win over Qi, Chu and Tu Wei. King Wuling of Zhao didn't accept Wei's request for alliance, saying that Zhao's strength was still very weak and he didn't have the qualification to be king. Instead, he lowered himself and let the people call himself king. As a result, the movement of five prime ministers of Wei was defeated by Chu and forced to seek peace.

In the fourth year of King Zhao Wuling (322 BC), King Zhao Wuling and King Han Xuan met in the district to study the Countermeasures of Zhao and South Korea to deal with the complicated international situation at that time. At the same time, Zhao and South Korea also worked out the details of the marriage. The marriage between Han and Zhao was a political marriage made by Marquis Zhao Su before he died. In the fifth year of King Zhao Wuling (321 BC), King Zhao Wuling married a woman of the Korean royal family as his wife.

King Zhao Wuling saw that the war for hegemony in the Central Plains was in a state of entanglement, and it was difficult to decide the outcome in a short time. Therefore, King Wuling of Zhao changed the southward strategy of marquis Su of Zhao, and adjusted the strategy of Zhao to march northward into Hu.

On the state of Yan

In the 11th year of King Wuling of Zhao (315 BC), serious civil strife occurred in Yan, a neighboring country of Zhao. Previously, the king of Yan was bewitched by the Su Dynasty and Lu maoshou and abdicated the throne to Xiang Bangzi, which caused civil strife. Prince Yan Ping contacted King Xuan of Qi to attack his son, and King Xuan of Qi agreed. As a result, Prince Ping and general city were gathered to attack Zizhi, who was invincible. The next year, Zizhi countered and the city was killed. Kuang Zhang, the general of Qi, led the army into Yan, and the army of Qi killed Zizhi and yanwang Kuai. After the victory of the Qi army, the Yan people were greatly dissatisfied with the plunder. Prince Ping could not stop it. Seeing this, King Zhao Wuling decided to intervene in Yan's internal affairs, and sent Lechi to Han to meet Yan's son. Originally from Zhongshan, Lechi was an envoy of King Wuling of Zhao to the state of Qin.

The political behavior of Zhao Wuling and Wang yingliyan in Korea is related to the interests of many countries. King Wuling of Zhao wanted to establish a new king of Yan, so that King Yan could be grateful to Zhao and form a solid alliance with Zhao. At the same time, King Zhao Wuling wanted to destroy the alliance between Yan and South Korea. Although Zhao and South Korea have formed an alliance, in order to restrict Zhao, South Korea still formed an alliance with Yan, forming a potential attack on Zhao, in case Zhao is unfavorable to South Korea. Young master Yan was admitted to Korea in accordance with this treaty. After Zhao Wuling and Wang Yingli took the post of young master, because of the return of the hostage, the alliance between Yan and South Korea was automatically lifted, so the new Yan king, Zhao Wuling and Wang Yingli, should not form an alliance with South Korea to attack Zhao again. After dismantling the Han Yan alliance, it is conducive for Zhao to control the two neighboring countries respectively.

South Korea's idea is almost the same as Zhao's, but from a different angle. South Korea thinks that although yangongzizhi is the new yanwang advocated by Zhao, South Korea, as a pledge of yangongzhi, has the most direct right to decide whether to let yangongzhi return. South Korea could have killed gongzizhi at the request of Prince Yanping and Qi, but South Korea did not. Gongzizhi is very grateful to South Korea. South Korea agreed to take over Zhao

Chinese PinYin : Zhao Yong