Forging new swords to conquer Shu and Pacify Ba

  King Huai of Chu held a spear in his left hand and drew the sword of the King of Chu with his right, and the Chu army suddenly killed the sky. 300,000 cavalry and 1.2 million infantry rushed to the Shu army. First, it was the 10,000 Chu cavalry that charged horizontally, and the Shu cavalry saw that they were in a hurry. The horse rushed to fight back, but the other 20,000 Chu cavalry formed two vertical teams and rushed to the left and right wings. The Shu cavalry rushed to intercept, but the 10,000 Chu cavalry in front formed a horizontal row, almost running on the same line, while the Shu cavalry that came to fight back was uneven. Only saw the Chu army's 10,000 horses galloping together, 10,000 guns raised together, and the thousands of Shu riders who came up unevenly could not withstand the power of this simultaneous attack; suddenly, the Shu cavalry fell down 5,000. And the Shu riders who intercepted the 20,000 Chu cavalry on both sides were in a state of chaos, rushing to intercept the first ride of the Chu army, and the second ride, the third ride had already rushed past, and with one knife or one gun, they killed the Shu riders who were fighting, and at the same time, they took advantage of the speed and impact of the war horse's rush. The Shu infantry was in a state of chaos, and the casualties were heavy. At this time, the 1.2 million Chu infantry had already rushed to the front with three large ten-layer square arrays. This ten-layer square array is an attacking method that combines attack and defense. When the Shu army wanted to use cavalry to impact the Chu infantry array, the first layer of the Chu army held up their shields with their left hands and swung their knives with their right hands. The first and second layers of the Chu army drew their bows and shot arrows in turn, so the Shu cavalry could not get close to the Chu infantry array. A few who rushed to the front had already fallen off their horses and been shot by arrows. When the Chu infantry array met the Shu infantry, the Chu soldiers in the square array were holding shields with their left hands and swinging knives with their right hands. The second layer of soldiers held long guns, and the third layer was holding shields with their left hands and swinging knives with their right hands. Each layer of soldiers took turns attacking and defending, beating the Shu infantry back, killing countless people. Although the Shu generals were brave, they had never practiced a large-scale formation, and their overall strength was not as strong as that of the Chu army. Moreover, King Huai of Chu was invincible in his bravery, with one defeat, one branch of the spear, sweeping across thousands of troops, and no one in the Shu army could resist. The morale of the Shu army had long been low, while the Chu army saw their king so mighty, and their morale soared instantly, becoming more courageous as they fought. Therefore, the Shu army was able to resist for a long time at first, but later became defeated as soon as they were touched. The Chu army took advantage of the situation and pursued them closely, not letting go. The Marquis of Shu led his 700,000 remaining soldiers and fled desperately from Fengjie to Yunyang, and then from Yunyang to Liangping, and finally escaped back to the capital of Shu (Chengdu) in one breath, without even daring to look back. After this battle, the Marquis of Shu was indeed frightened by King Huai of Chu.

  The Chu and Shu armies clashed in Fuling County, Sichuan. The Chu army killed 80,000 Shu soldiers (10,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry), captured nearly 10,000 war horses, and seized 80,000 sets of armor and weapons, as well as a large quantity of grain and fodder. As a result, the Chu army's cavalry increased by 10,000 men, growing to 70,000 horsemen.

  The Chu army then marched from Badong County, Wushan County, through Fuling County, down to Yunyang County, and divided into two routes. One route was led by Tang Mi with 100,000 Chu soldiers, marching from Yunyang County, down to Liangping County, Dianjiang County, Yucheng (Chongqing), Luzhou City, Yibin City, Neijiang City, and advancing all the way to Ziyang City, nearing Chengdu City. The other route was led by King Hui of Chu with 100,000 Chu soldiers, marching from Yunyang County, breaking through Dazhou City, Bazhong City, Guang'an City, Nanchong City, Suining City, and approaching Mianyang.

  Half a year later, the two armies of King Hui of Chu and Tang Mi converged in Jianyang City. Along the way, the Chu army recruited local militia, gaining 50,000 soldiers, with 20,000 guarding Wushan, and 30,000 guarding Yucheng (Chongqing).

  The Lord of Shu saw that the Chu army was approaching in two routes and was about to reach Chengdu, so he urgently sent a letter to Duke Huiwen of Qin (who had not yet been crowned king) for help. Duke Huiwen of Qin received the letter from the Lord of Shu asking for help, and immediately summoned his civil and military officials to discuss it. He said: "Now King Huai of Chu is leading an army of 200,000 to attack Shu and has reached Chengdu. The Lord of Shu has asked me for help. If I send troops to rescue him, Qin and Chu will inevitably become enemies, and one day they will fight each other. If I don't rescue him, Chu will destroy Shu and move north to take over the land up to Nanzheng. What do you all think? Should we rescue or not?" Gan Long said: "If the Chu army destroys Shu, it will definitely move north to take Hanzhong. At that time, if we send troops to resist the Chu army, it will become a confrontation between Qin and Chu. The Chu army is powerful, and based on the current strength of the two countries, I fear that Qin cannot withstand Chu. It's better to take advantage of the fact that the Lord of Shu still has tens of thousands of soldiers in Chengdu, and have our lord order a general to lead 100,000 elite troops south to enter Chengdu, under the pretext of helping Shu, but actually taking this opportunity to take over Guangyuan as preparation for taking over Shu in the future. King Huai of Chu has a large army of 200,000, but after a year of continuous fighting, he is already exhausted. Chengdu is far from the capital of Chu, and the Chu army's reinforcements are weak. The combined forces of Qin and Shu will be able to withstand the 200,000-strong Chu army, and with time, the Chu army's food and grass will not last, and King Huai will naturally retreat. Our lord can then control Shu without shedding blood." Duke Huiwen of Qin listened and said: "Good!" He immediately ordered General Sima Cuo to lead 100,000 elite Qin troops to rush to Chengdu to resist the Chu army. The Lord of Shu knew that Qin was a country of tigers and wolves, and inviting the Qin army into Shu to protect the country was like inviting a wolf into one's home. But he had no other choice, because if he didn't do this, King Huai would definitely not spare Shu, and the Chu army would definitely destroy the Shu army. He had no way out, and his hope for survival forced him to invite the wolf to resist the tiger. As a result, the Qin army finally arrived in Shu, and Chengdu was temporarily preserved. However, from then on, Shu owed a debt of gratitude to Qin that could never be repaid, and Shu became a puppet state of Qin, with its army becoming a puppet army of Qin. Sima Cuo's 100,000-strong Qin army occupied Mianzhu, Deyang, and the outskirts of Chengdu, tightly controlling the Lord of Shu's army.

  The army of King Huai of Chu marched from Badong and Wushan to Chengdu and Mianyang, swallowing the entire Chongqing area, northwest Guizhou and eastern Sichuan in one go. After nearly a year of running and continuous battles, the soldiers and horses were already very tired. At this time, the Shu state's army in Chengdu still had 150,000 troops, together with the 100,000 Qin troops led by Sima Cuo, totaling 250,000 soldiers. King Huai of Chu saw that the Qin general Sima Cuo was leading 100,000 Qin troops to rescue the capital of Shu, and the Qin and Shu armies only defended without fighting, so he had to temporarily give up his plan to destroy the state of Shu. He led the army back to the capital of Chu, Jingzhou, in 324 BC (the third year of King Huai of Chu). The Wuguan was established, governing a vast area including Baxi and eastern Sichuan. Later, the Wuguan was changed to Bayuguan, with its administrative center moved from Wushan to Yucheng (now Chongqing), covering an area equivalent to the current provinces of Bazhong, Nanchong, Suining, Ziyang, Yibin in the east and the entire city of Chongqing. The Qianzhongguan was no longer a small piece of land in northeastern Guizhou during the time of King Wu of Chu but expanded to cover the entire province of Guizhou. In just over a year, King Huai of Chu had expanded his territory by 1,500 miles and gained new lands that were twice as large as those acquired by King Wu of Chu. The news reached the capital of Chu, where the whole nation was jubilant, the people's spirits were lifted, and the morale of the soldiers was high. On the way back to the army, another 50,000 troops were recruited to garrison Bayu.

  King Hui of Chu led the great army back to Jingzhou, and ordered generals Qu Zhuang and Tang Mie to lead 100,000 troops each from Jiujiang and Changsha, marching south to capture Xiangtan, Zhuzhou, Hengyang, Chenzhou in Hunan Province, as well as Yuzhang (Nanchang), Yichun, Fuzhou, Ji'an to Ganzhou in Jiangxi Province. The territory expanded by a thousand miles, and six new counties were established. At this time, the territory of Chu had reached 7,500 miles, with a population of over 30 million, occupying the entire provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Guizhou. The administrative region was divided into eight prefectures and 54 counties, with an army of 1.1 million soldiers. In these two years, Qin expanded its territory without making any progress, only increasing its military by 100,000 troops, but basically controlled Shu in terms of military power. At this time, the population of Qin was still over 7 million, but it had a military force of 700,000, with a ratio of soldiers to civilians three times that of Chu, which can be described as exhausting its military strength. However, in terms of overall national strength, Qin was still far behind Chu. If King Hui of Chu also expanded his military and prepared for war like Duke Huiwen of Qin, without regard for the lives of his people, then the army of Chu would have become 3 million strong.

  The King of Qin, Huiwen, ordered the great general Sima Cuo to lead 100,000 troops to rescue Shu, which was undoubtedly a public provocation to Chu's King Huai. This was difficult for King Huai, who had a strong and overbearing personality, to swallow. However, the queen of Qin's western palace was King Huai's sister, and the queen of Qin's southern palace, Mi Xiu, was also King Huai's cousin. How could they become enemies? From then on, the relationship between Qin and Chu deteriorated from being friendly to hostile, eventually leading to a decisive battle in 325 BC at Hanyin Pingchuan, where 200,000 troops of Chu clashed with over 200,000 allied troops of Qin and Shu. This was the famous Battle of Hanyin.