About Qin, Baiyue and the other six kingdoms

Battle of Baiyue

After the Qin Imperial Army destroyed the six eastern kingdoms, Qin Shihuang, a talented and resourceful man, set his sights on the land of Baiyue in the south and launched a war against Baiyue. During the war, the land of Baiyue was also called Lingnan in a general sense, which is now Guangdong and Guangxi. In the war between Qin and Baiyue, total massacres occurred three times. The first time was in 219 BC when Qin Shihuang ordered Tu Sui to lead an army of 500,000 people to attack Baiyue southward; the second time was when the Qin army took office in 214 BC. Under the leadership of Xiao Xiao and Zhao Tuo, they attacked the Battle of Baiyue. This battle pacified the land of Baiyue, unified Lingnan, and established the three counties of Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiangjun. The third time was in 210 BC, when Qin general Zhao Tuo attacked Historians generally call the Battle of Ouluo a continuation of the Second War. In short, these three times are collectively called "Qin Shihuang's three expeditions to Lingnan". Of the three wars between the Qin army and the indigenous armies of Guangdong and Guangxi, this article focuses on the most important and tragic first war.

The first war between Qin and Baiyue was also called the "Qin-Ou War" in history, but there are relatively few records in history books. There are only a few relevant records in a few books such as "Huainanzi". I think the main reason for this is that Qin general Zhao Tuo separated from the Qin court shortly after he captured Baiyue in 214 BC. At the end of Qin Dynasty, he refused to send his Qin army troops north to fight against the anti-Qin uprising army, blocking the The relationship between Guangdong and Guangxi and the Central Plains, and the establishment of the South Vietnam Kingdom after the fall of the Qin Dynasty. According to current sayings, the South Vietnam Kingdom is a local separatist regime. Today’s historians have never known much about the history of local regimes, so for this reason, we The understanding of this war is limited to a few historical records. But we can also see from the few historical materials that this was also a very cruel war. We can also see from one aspect that the price paid by the Qin army to unify China was quite astonishing.

The reason why this war was also called the "Qin-Ou War" in history was mainly because the original leader of the Baiyue indigenous troops was Yiyu Song, the leader of the Xiou Kingdom (the location of the Xiou Kingdom is in what is now Guangxi ), in fact, the Baiyue Army participating in the war was not only the Xiou Army, but other Yue people and other indigenous armed forces in the Baiyue area also participated in the war, but the commander-in-chief was the leader of the Xiou State, Yi Xusong, and the main force was the Xiou Army. Many historians believe that the name "Yi Xu Song" is the name of the leader of the Baiyue Aboriginal Army. However, there are also different opinions. They say that the three words "Yi Xu Song" are probably the name of the commander-in-chief of the Baiyue Army on the battlefield. The password is because the three characters "Yi Xu Song" are very similar to the "one, two, three" in Zhuang and Cantonese in Guangdong and Guangxi today. The Qin army is an outsider. In this war, the Qin army did not go deep into the hinterland of Guangdong and Guangxi. We probably don’t know much about the details of the Ou Army, so it’s possible that the slogan shouted by the commander of the Baiyue Native Army on the battlefield was taken as the commander’s name. However, it can be confirmed that the leader of the Baiyue Army in that war was indeed the leader of the Xiou Kingdom. As for whether the leader was called Yi Yusong? If not, what was the name of the leader of Xiou Kingdom during the war? Why did the Xiou Army shout "one, two, three" on the battlefield? These can no longer be verified.

In history, the opponents of the Qin Army are generally called the Xiou Army. However, in order to take into account the other Yue soldiers in Guangdong and Guangxi at that time, the opponents of the Qin Army are collectively referred to as the "Hundred Army". "Vietnam Army" is actually mainly the army of Xiou. (If we look at the current geographical location, it is mainly the Guangxi army that fights the Qin army.)

The Qin army’s strength and composition in this war are stated in almost all history books. When the Qin army mobilized 500,000 troops to attack Baiyue under the leadership of Tu Sui, it was recorded in "Huainanzi·Huanjianxun": "In the twenty-eighth year of Qin Shihuang (219 BC), the envoy Tu Sui sent out 500,000 soldiers for five Army, one army defends the territory of Tancheng, one army guards the Jiuyi fortress, one army is at the capital of Panyu, one army guards the border of Nanye, and one army retains the remaining Qianzhi water." But there is also a question here. What is the identity of the Five Route Qin Army? Attack at the same time? According to the local chronicles of Guangdong and Guangxi, the Qin army was the first to attack with 200,000 troops from Tu Sui 1st Road and Zhao Tuo 1st Road. But when did the remaining 300,000 people begin to join the war? Judging from the history books, the remaining 300,000 people should have been mired in the war when the frontline troops were mired in the war, that is, they were dispatched before Tu Sui wrote a battle report to Qin Shihuang about the lack of food in the troops, because Tu Sui mentioned his " The 500,000-strong army has suffered heavy casualties." And according to research, one of the Qin armies started attacking the Dongou and Minyue areas (mainly in what is now Fujian). This Qin army was also the last of the five to join the Guangdong and Guangxi battlefields. Where are the main soldiers of Qin's 500,000-strong army? According to local chronicles in Hunan and other places, the troops used by the Qin Army in this war are still mainly the troops that destroyed the Chu Kingdom. However, in order to adapt to the battle in the south, the Qin Army's 500,000-strong army also has no less than 100,000 troops. The original army of Chu State.

There is almost no historical record of the strength of the Baiyue Army in this war. It can only be seen from some archaeological data that the number of the Baiyue Army was far less than that of the Qin Army. , and Baiyue in Lingnan at that time was basically a barbaric land with inconvenient transportation, dense virgin forests, and harsh natural environment. Therefore, the total population of Guangdong and Guangxi at that time did not exceed 500,000 according to archaeologists' estimates. There are roughly 50,000 young and middle-aged people. This is also said in many unofficial histories that "the number of Baiyue indigenous soldiers is only one-tenth of the Qin army."

But no matter what, the Qin army has an absolute advantage in military strength, and the Qin army will not hesitate to win this war at any cost.

As for the course of the war, although the Qin army's half-million-strong army had an absolute advantage in terms of strength and far exceeded the Baiyue tribal army in terms of equipment, the course of the war made the Qin army feel... Hardships and pressures that were never imagined before the war. Before the war, the Qin army considered that there might be problems with food and grass, and also considered that the hot climate in the south would be unsuitable for most of the Qin soldiers who were born in the north; but the Qin army arrived in Guangdong and Guangxi It was later discovered that the harsh battlefield environment and the extraordinary ferocity and tenacity of the enemy were unexpected. Historical records record the tenacious resistance of the Baiyue Army, with the Xiou Army as the main force. Under the leadership of "Yi Xu Song", they fought a fierce and fierce battle with the Qin army. The Qin army struggled every step of the way, suffered setbacks, lost troops and generals, and was unable to enter the territory where the Yue people had lived for a long time. During the war, the Baiyue army was at the leader After "Yi Xu Song" died in the battle, he immediately selected a new leader, and retreated into the mountains and jungles to continue fighting with the Qin army. The Baiyue army even did not hesitate to fight with wild beasts, refused to surrender to the Qin army until death, and continued to attack the Qin army. The army carried out a sneak attack, cut off the Qin army's food route, and forced Qin General Tu Sui to write to Qin Shihuang to report that the Qin army's food and grass were insufficient. Qin Shihuang was forced to order a large number of migrant workers to dig Lingqu, which connected the Xiangjiang and Lijiang water systems, ensuring the Qin army's Grain transportation. In addition, the Qin Army has another biggest enemy - the hot climate. Most of the Qin Army soldiers are from the north, and most of them are from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and other places now. They are not adapted to the hot climate in the south. , the plague was rampant among the soldiers, which directly affected the combat effectiveness of the Qin army. The Baiyue Army, with the Xiou Army as the main force, under the leadership of the new leader Jie Jun, launched a counterattack against the Qin Army around 218 BC. The Qin Army was defeated. According to the records of "Huainanzi", the Qin Army " "Hundreds of thousands of corpses were lying on the ground bleeding," and the commander-in-chief of the Qin Army, Tu Sui, was also killed by a night attack force of the Baiyue Army in Guilin, Guangxi, forcing the Qin Army to "camp in a useless place and unable to retreat." The two sides have been in a stalemate and confrontation situation. According to academic discussions, the Qin Army's casualties were around 300,000, and the remaining 200,000 people all retreated to the northern border of Guangdong and Guangxi. However, the Baiyue Army also suffered heavy casualties and had no strength to continue the attack. The two sides formed a The situation of confrontation lasted for 3 or 4 years.

Until 214 BC, after the Lingqu grain channel was fully opened and the grain and grass were sufficient, Qin Shihuang recruited "all the dead people, sons-in-laws, and Jiaren as soldiers" (probably businessmen and prisoners, etc. ) nearly 100,000 plus the remaining 200,000 Qin Army troops, the Qin Army once again concentrated 300,000 troops and launched the final general attack on the Baiyue Army. At this time, the Baiyue Army, according to many unofficial records, was only a few Only a thousand men. It can also be seen from here that in the previous counterattacks and three or four years of armed confrontation, the tens of thousands of people in Baiyue had long been exhausted. In the end, the Qin army almost encountered no major resistance. Occupying all of Lingnan and setting up three counties including Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiangjun, this can be regarded as the second Qin attack on Lingnan.

In a narrow sense, the Qin-Ou War was a war between the Qin Dynasty and the Xiou Kingdom entrenched in Guangxi, but in fact it should be said to be a war between the Qin Dynasty and the entire southern Baiyue nation. This war perfected China From then on, Guangxi and Guangdong became the provinces of the Chinese territory. Although at the end of Qin and the beginning of Han Dynasty, the Qin general Zhao Tuo established the Nanyue Kingdom and became independent. It has also defeated the Han army's attacks several times, but the South Vietnamese army also consumed a lot of money. During the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the Nanyue Kingdom withdrew its imperial title and reconciled with the Han Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, 100,000 Han troops went south to attack the South Vietnam Kingdom. The Nanyue Kingdom After the previous wars against the Han, casualties were already heavy and they were unable to resist the powerful Han army. In the end, the King of Nanyue led more than 400,000 registered people in South Vietnam to surrender to the Han Dynasty. Since then, the land of Guangdong and Guangxi has never been separated from the mainland of China.

But the war was cruel after all. Not to mention that the Qin Army lost more than 300,000 horses in three wars. The people in Guangdong and Guangxi also suffered heavy losses. Historical materials record that the Qin Army After the second war, all the troops stayed in Guangdong and Guangxi. These Qin people merged with the locals and became the ancestors of the current people in Guangdong and Guangxi. The nearly 300,000 Qin soldiers left behind made an indelible impression on the development of Guangdong and Guangxi. However, according to the research of historians, during the Peasant War in the late Qin Dynasty and the Chu-Han War, Guangdong and Guangxi were not battlefields. At this time, Guangdong and Guangxi were almost independent of the Qin Dynasty. However, it is recorded in the book "Population of Chinese Dynasties" that in At the end of the Qin War, the population of Guangdong and Guangxi was only over 400,000. If the nearly 300,000 Qin soldiers who were left behind are deducted here, it means that the original Baiyue people in Guangdong and Guangxi were reduced from 500,000 before the Qin-Ou War. It was reduced to 100,000 people. During this period, there was no literature on the epidemic of plague in Guangdong and Guangxi. Of course, it is not ruled out that the Qin people still could not adapt to the climate in the south after the war, resulting in acclimatization and population decline. But I think the war caused the population to decline. The main reason for the decrease should be that during the war, at least nearly 400,000 Vietnamese died or fled to Southeast Asia.

Until the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Nanyue Kingdom, which had been established in Guangdong and Guangxi, was known as "a million-armed people" in the early days of the founding of the country. However, according to historians' analysis, the total population of the Nanyue Kingdom was the largest (roughly around the time of Empress Lu after Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty). During the reign of the Han Dynasty, there were no more than 800,000 soldiers, and the number of soldiers was only about 100,000 at most. "Millions of armored soldiers" was an exaggeration to show the country's prestige. When the Han Dynasty finally surrendered, only the number of South Vietnamese who surrendered was registered There are more than 400,000 people. If you include those who are not included in the records, it is estimated that it will not exceed 600,000.

In any case, this war also promoted the integration of the Chinese nation. Although the integration of nationalities often requires brutal wars, the Qin army brought advanced production technology and contributed to the development and development of Guangdong and Guangxi. The foundation for construction was laid.