Chapter 306: Armchair Strategy

In the Eastern Han imperial court, there was a deathly silence.

Liu Bang's hands remained on his knees, his fingernails digging deep into his flesh, but he couldn't feel the pain.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen dead people; during the Chu-Han Contention, corpses littered the fields, and he had seen it.

But that was the battlefield, two armies facing off, a life-or-death struggle.

It wasn't like this, not being buried alive without any dignity.

Ying Zheng remained expressionless.

He should be happy; after the Battle of Changping, the Six States had no power to fight back, and the Great Qin's path to unification was completely clear.

But he couldn't smile.

He looked at the Zhao soldiers being buried alive on the sky screen, those Qin people who wore black clothes just like him.

They were also subjects of the Great Qin.

They won, but they won so tragically, so bloodily.

Zhao Kuo's deputy general looked at the sky screen, his face deathly pale, his whole body trembling.

He turned his head to look at Zhao Kuo—at this very moment, Zhao Kuo was still alive, still a spirited general.

"General..." the deputy general's voice was trembling.

Zhao Kuo looked at the scene of himself dying from arrows on the sky screen, and then at the 400,000 compatriots being buried alive.

He suddenly laughed, a laugh uglier than crying, more desperate than crying.

"Armchair strategy..."

He muttered to himself, "The sky screen says I am 'armchair strategy.' It means that I, Zhao Kuo, only know how to read books and brag; once I actually get on the battlefield, I am a piece of trash."

Lian Po stood at the gate of the military camp, looking at the news of his replacement on the sky screen.

He didn't cry, nor did he make a scene, just remained silent.

He had held Changping for three years, and the Qin army hadn't been able to advance a single step.

He used the clumsiest method to protect the Zhao State.

But he couldn't protect the King of Zhao's stupidity.

"Three years..."

Lian Po muttered to himself, "I held for three years, only to be dismissed."

King Xiaocheng of Zhao sat in the palace, his fingernails digging into the armrests of the dragon throne, drawing blood.

The sky screen told him that he would fall for the scheme, he would change the general, and he would bury all of Zhao's 400,000 elite troops.

He hadn't changed the general yet, but he knew he definitely would.

The feeling of knowing it was a pit and still jumping into it made him want to vomit blood.

Bai Qi stood at the gate of the Qin military camp, looking at the scene of himself ordering the burial of the surrendered soldiers on the sky screen.

There was no expression on his face, no guilt, and no pride.

A young deputy general beside him asked with a trembling voice: "Lord Wuan, the sky screen says you... buried 400,000 people alive."

Bai Qi did not answer.

He looked at the scene of Zhao Kuo dying in battle on the sky screen and suddenly said:

"If Zhao Kuo hadn't advanced recklessly, he wouldn't have had to die."

The deputy general was stunned.

Bai Qi turned around and walked into the tent.

He knew that this blood debt would have to be repaid sooner or later.

On the sky screen, comments from later generations began to drift by.

【Netizen·Armchair Strategist Himself】

Zhao Kuo: I have read many military books.

Bai Qi: I have seen many corpses.

Zhao Kuo:... Goodbye.

【Netizen·Historical Researcher】

The Battle of Changping was actually a political battle.

The Qin State was fighting the Zhao State, but it shocked the Six States.

The news of 400,000 people being buried alive spread, and the Six States were scared out of their wits.

【Netizen·Lian Po is Old】

Lian Po held for three years without losing; the King of Zhao thought he was cowardly and replaced him with Zhao Kuo, who dared to attack, and lost everything in one go.

Facts prove that a general who can defend is harder to find than one who can attack.

【Netizen·Human Butcher Bai Qi】

Bai Qi is a God of War, but also a Human Butcher.

Killing those who surrender is inauspicious; he didn't have a good end either.

In the Eastern Han imperial court, someone finally broke the silence.

Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng stood up, his voice calm but filled with unquestionable majesty.

"The Battle of Changping, Bai Qi won, but he didn't win cleanly."

"Not killing those who surrender is a rule from ancient times."

"Bai Qi broke this rule."

"Four hundred thousand people are not four hundred chickens; you can't just kill them because you want to."

"I use Bai Qi for his ability, but I will not learn from him in killing."

Han Gaozu Liu Bang took a deep breath, and the playfulness on his face completely disappeared.

He said with rare seriousness: "This Zhao Kuo, he read many military books and spoke eloquently about fighting, fooling the King of Zhao into a daze."

"But once he actually got on the battlefield, he couldn't hold out for a single battle."

"It's not that he was stupid; it's that he didn't know how much he didn't know."

"Fighting a war is not reading books; whether you read books well only decides if you can pass the imperial examination, not whether you can come back alive from the battlefield."

Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, turned the bamboo slip to a new page and wrote the two characters "Changping."

Then he stopped to think for a while, his tone heavy: "The stupidest thing King Xiaocheng of Zhao did was not replacing Lian Po, but that he shouldn't have fought the Qin State over Shangdang."

"Shangdang was the land of the Han State; Feng Ting offering the city was originally intended to burn the flames of war onto the Zhao State."

"The King of Zhao was greedy for those seventeen cities and gambled away the national destiny of Zhao."

"Greedy for small gains and suffering a big loss—that's exactly what this is."

Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, shook his head, his tone filled with both regret and mockery: "Lian Po held for three years, and the Qin army didn't get any advantage."

"His strategy was correct—drag it out."

"The Qin army came from afar, their supply lines were long, and if dragged out long enough, they would naturally withdraw."

"The King of Zhao didn't understand military affairs; fooled by the Qin State's counter-espionage, he replaced the veteran general."

"Don't doubt the person you use, don't use the person you doubt; the King of Zhao doubted Lian Po but didn't doubt Zhao Kuo—if this isn't a dim-witted ruler, what is?"

Emperor Taizu of Song, Zhao Kuangyin, looked at the sky screen and shook his head: "Bai Qi's encirclement wasn't formed in a day."

"When Zhao Kuo led his troops in, Bai Qi was closing the door to beat the dog step by step."

"If Zhao Kuo had been even a little cautious and sent scouts to explore the path, he wouldn't have plunged headlong into the encirclement."

"But he was too confident, thinking there was no battle in the world he couldn't win."

"And the result? He gambled away his own life and the lives of 400,000 Zhao soldiers."

Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang, gave the most direct and ruthless comment: "Bai Qi is a ruthless man."

"Ruthless in battle, even more ruthless in killing."

"Four hundred thousand surrendered soldiers, buried just like that."

"I also killed people when conquering the world, but I killed enemies on the battlefield, not those who put down their swords. Bai Qi's move was too dirty."

Emperor Qianlong shook his folding fan and slowly summarized: "After the Battle of Changping, the Six States of Shandong no longer had the ability to stop the Qin State's iron cavalry."

"Bai Qi used 400,000 lives to clear the path for Ying Zheng to unify the world."

"But Bai Qi himself didn't have a good end. A few years after the Battle of Changping, he was ordered to die by the King of Qin."

"When he fell on his sword at Duyou, he said himself: 'I deserved to die. At the Battle of Changping, hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers surrendered, and I tricked them and buried them all; that is enough to deserve death.'"

"He knew his killing karma was too heavy and would have to be repaid sooner or later."

The golden light on the sky screen began to retract.

Liu Bang finished reading the comments and looked at the phantom of the 400,000 wronged souls, suddenly sighing:

"That kid Zhao Kuo didn't die badly in the end. At least he died in battle, not buried alive."

Ying Zheng glanced at him, his gaze like a knife.

"Dying well means not dying badly? Then those 400,000 people died for nothing?"

Liu Bang opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but seeing Ying Zheng's expression, he swallowed his words.

He thought for a moment and said: "If the King of Zhao had kept using Lian Po to hold, Bai Qi might not have been able to take it."

Ying Zheng did not retort this time.

The light gate closed, and the sky screen dissipated.

But the story of the Battle of Changping remained in everyone's heart.

Four hundred thousand people buried alive in one night, the river water stained red, the land soaked in blood.

Two thousand years later, local farmers could still dig up white bones while plowing the fields—

Those bones were shattered, shattered by swords, shattered by people stepping on them.

Some people were heroes when they were alive, but after they died, they became just a number on the sky screen.

Ying Zheng stood up, patted the dust off his robe, and walked out of the hall.

【The Battle of Changping, one of the ten great battles in history, has been counted!】

【Everyone, guess which battle will be counted in the next episode?】 ===== CHAPTER 307 =====