Zhao Defeated
Zhao Kuo assumed command in July 260 BC of an army reinforced to approximately 400,000 men. Zhao Kuo took part of his army and attacked the Qin camp. Bai Qi responded with a Cannae manoeuvre. The first group of the Qin army withdrew toward the Qin fortress and drew Zhao Kuo after them. The second group of 25,000 cavalry, and 5,000 light cavalry with bows and crossbows, remained behind to spring the trap.
When the Zhao attack reached the Qin fortress, the Qin cavalry ambushed the Zhao Kuo's rear while the Qin light cavalry surrounded the Zhao fortress. With the enemy trapped Bai Qi ordered the Qin to counter-attack. The Zhao army was split in two and its supply lines cut. Zhao Kuo was unable to continue his attack or return to the Zhao fortress; his army dug in on a hill and awaited relief.
Since 295 BC, Zhao foreign policy had been dominated by opportunism and had frequently shifted between hezong (合縱) (anti-Qin alliances) and lianheng (連橫) (pro-Qin alliances). Thus, as the battle in Changping unfolded, Zhao was unable to secure support from either the State of Chu or the State of Qi. King Zhaoxiang of Qin used this opportunity to mobilize additional forces against Zhao from Henei, in modern-day Henan province; he bestowed one grade of noble rank to the population and ordered all men over the age of 15 to Changping to bolster the encirclement.
Zhao Kuo hill fortification was besieged for 46 days. In September, having run out of food and water, his desperate army made several unsuccessful attempts to breakout. The general was killed by Qin archers while leading his best troops. The Zhao army finally surrendered.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Changping
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“For us artists there waits the joyous compromise through art with all that wounded or defeated us in daily life; in this way, not to evade destiny, as the ordinary people try to do, but to fulfil it in its true potential—the imagination.”
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