Detailed historical materials of the Battle of Julu

In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, the famous anti-Qin general Xiang Yu led the Chu rebel army in a major battle to annihilate the main force of the Qin army Zhang Han and Wang Li. The Battle of Julu - The Last Year of the Qin Dynasty, the world was in chaos, the princes were divided, and the warlords were fighting. In 208 BC, King Xie of Zhao was besieged by Qin general Wang Li and an army of 200,000 in Julu (now Pingxiang, Hebei). In desperation, he sent an envoy to King Huai of Chu for help. At that time, the Qin army was very powerful and no one dared to fight. Xiang Yu volunteered to avenge the Qin army for killing his uncle Xiang Liang, so King Huai of Chu appointed Song Yi as the top general, Xiang Yu as the second general, and Fan Zeng as the bottom general, and led an army of more than 60,000 to relieve the huge deer. After the Zhao army advanced to Anyang (now southeast of Caoyang, Shandong), Song Yi was intimidated by the Qin army's arrogance and stayed for 46 days without daring to advance. Xiang Yu denounced Song Yi's cowardly behavior and killed him. King Huai of Chu then made Xiang Yu the general, and placed the two rebel armies of General Yingbu and General Pu under his command. Xiang Yu first sent his generals Yingbu and Pu to lead 20,000 people as vanguards to cross the Zhang River and cut off the Qin army's grain transportation channels. Then, Xiang Yu personally led all the main forces across the river and ordered all the soldiers to burn their boats and carry only three days of dry food to show their determination to fight to the death. Xiang Yu said to the soldiers: "We are sending out huge troops this time. We will advance without retreating. We must defeat the Qin army within three days." Xiang Yu's determination and courage to break the cauldron and sink the boat greatly inspired the morale of the soldiers. The morale of the Chu army was high. One was equal to ten, and they fought bravely to the death. They defeated the Qin army in nine battles and nine victories. At this time, Qi, Yan and other reinforcements also rushed out of the camp to help the battle, and finally captured the Qin army commander Wang Li and killed his deputy general, thus solving the dilemma of Julu. [Edit this paragraph] Details of the Battle of Julu After the sacrifice of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, Xiang Liang summoned various rebels to discuss in Xue (now southeast of Teng County, Shandong Province), and accepted the suggestion of counselor Fan Zeng to make Mingxin, the grandson of King Huai of Chu Zhang Han, the king. , still called King Huai of Chu. Then Xiang Liang led the rebel army to defeat the Qin army in Dong'a (now northeast of Yanggu, Shandong). Liu Bang and Xiang Yu also defeated Qin in Chengyang (now southeast of Pucheng, Fan County, Henan), Yongqiu (now Qixian, Henan) and other places. The army killed Qin Sanchuan and guard Li You. After Xiang Liang won a series of victories, he was arrogant and underestimated the enemy. He was attacked by Zhang Han and even died. After Zhang Han defeated Xiang Liang's army, he thought that the main force of the peasant army in Chu had been eliminated, so he crossed the river to the north and moved his troops to Handan to attack the Hebei uprising army with Zhao Xie as king. Zhao Xie retreated to Julu (now southwest of Ping Township, Hebei Province). The Qin Dynasty sent Wang Li and hundreds of thousands of border guards to surround Julu. Zhang Han built a tunnel south of Julu to transport grain to Wang Li's army. Zhao Xieliang had few soldiers and was in danger, so he sent an envoy to ask King Huai of Chu for help. King Xiang Yu of Chu Huai and the leaders of the rebel army held an emergency military meeting in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and decided to divide the troops into two groups: one led by Liu Bang and headed west towards Guanzhong. On the other side, Song Yi was the top general, Xiang Yu was the second general, and Fan Zeng was the last general. They led the main force of the rebel army north to rescue Zhao. After the Zhao army advanced to Anyang (now southeast of Caoyang, Shandong), Song Yi was intimidated by the Qin army's arrogance and stayed for 46 days without daring to advance. Xiang Yu denounced Song Yi's cowardly behavior and killed him. King Huai of Chu then made Xiang Yu the general, and placed the two rebel armies of General Yingbu and General Pu under his command. In December 207 BC, Xiang Yu led the rebel army to Zhangshui in the south of Julu County. He immediately dispatched Generals Yingbu and Pu to lead 20,000 rebels across the Zhangshui to rescue Julu. The first battle was successful. Then, Xiang Yu led the entire army across the Zhang River, ordered the entire army to burn down the cauldron and sink the boats, and took only three days of food to show his determination to die if he did not win. He went straight to Julu with lightning speed, cut off the Qin army's food route, and surrounded the king. away from the army. Xiang Yu's determination and courage greatly inspired the soldiers. The Chu army surrounded Wang Li's army, and everyone's morale was high, and they became more and more courageous as they fought. One person is worth ten Qin soldiers, and ten can be worth a hundred. After nine fierce battles, Wang Li was captured alive and the Qin general Su Jiao was killed. Some of the other Qin army officers were killed and some escaped. The Qin army surrounding Julu collapsed in this way. At that time, more than a dozen people from various generals came to rescue Zhao. But they were afraid that the Qin army was powerful, so they all set up camps and did not dare to fight with the Qin army. This time, I heard the Chu army's earth-shattering shouts of killing, and crowded on the wall to watch. When they saw the Chu army charging into the Qin camp, they were so frightened that they stuck out their tongues and held their breath. When Xiang Yu defeated the Qin army and invited them to meet in the military camp, they all knelt on the ground and crawled in, not even daring to lift their heads. Everyone praised Xiang Yu and said: "The power of the general is really amazing. There is no second one since ancient times. We are willing to obey your command." From that time on, Xiang Yu actually became the leader of all the anti-Qin armies. After the siege of Julu was relieved, Zhang Han's army retreated to Jiyuan (south of Julu), and Xiang Yu's army was stationed south of Zhangshui. The two armies faced off. The Qin army's continuous defeats made Zhang Han no longer trust the Qin court. Xiang Yu seized the opportunity and sent General Pu to attack the Qin army on the south bank of Zhang River. Then he personally led the army to defeat the Qin army in sweat. Zhang Han stood firm in Jiyuan to confront Xiang Yu, and sent his general Sima Xin to the Qin court for urgent help. At that time, Zhao Gao of the Qin court was in power, was suspicious of the generals, and wanted to kill Sima Xin. Sima Xin sneaked back to Jiyuan and advised Zhang Han to make good plans as soon as possible. Zhang Han hesitated between surrendering to Chu and retreating. Xiang Yu sent General Pu to lead his army to cross Sanhujin (ancient Zhangshui ferry, southwest of today's Zi County, Hebei Province) day and night to cut off the Qin army's return route, and led the main force to defeat the Qin army. Under Xiang Yu's heavy blow, Zhang Han had no choice but to surrender to Xiang Yu in July 207 BC at the Yin Ruins south of Huanshui River (now Anyang, Henan) with 200,000 of his troops. The Battle of Julu was a great victory in the peasant war in the late Qin Dynasty. It basically destroyed the main force of the Qin army, reversed the entire war situation, and laid the foundation for the victory of the anti-Qin struggle.

Xiang Yu defeated 200,000 with 60,000. Such a disparity in results made countless people in later generations full of curiosity and admiration for him.