Did the 500,000 elite standing army really go south when the Qin Dynasty perished?

The Qin empire swept the six countries with troops and ruled the world by force, but it only existed for 14 years and then died.

Where did the millions of regular troops that the Qin Empire was proud of go in the great turmoil at the end of the Qin Dynasty? Why didn't they save the country on the eve of the empire's demise?

It is rumored that the Qin Dynasty perished because Qin Shihuang sent 500,000 elite troops south to March 100,000 troops. Is that really the case?

Let's talk about it today

In a recent popular novel, the author vividly described such a plot: Qin Jun, who had hundreds of thousands of troops in Lingnan area, refused to lead his troops back to the capital when the Qin Empire was in chaos and was about to perish. With noble national feelings, he said that Qin Shihuang was dead. If Qin Jun withdrew, the situation in the south would be irreversible. The Lingnan Corps' participation in the Central Plains War was unfavorable to the whole nation, and it could not save the capital for the sake of national justice.

Such a scene reminds us of national heroes, and we can't help but admire the disappearing Daqin Empire, but is this really the case?

The answer is of course no!

After the Qin Dynasty unified China, it organized its own army into three legions, one was the Central Legion guarding Guanzhong, the other was the Great Wall Corps guarding the north, and the other was the Lingnan Corps.

Among the three main legions, the Central Legion has the least strength, but it is the most elite. Most of them are descendants of meritorious veterans, and they are the lineal of Qin Jun.

The Great Wall Corps has about 300,000 troops, and its overall strength is the strongest. It is the ace army against Xiongnu, the northern enemy, and the commanders are Meng Tian and Wang Li, the famous soldiers of Chi.

Lingnan Legion claims to be 500,000. In fact, there are not many regular troops. One purpose of Qin Shihuang's sending troops to Lingnan was military expansion, and another purpose was to engage in economic development and open up wasteland to increase population. So there are a large number of semi-militarized immigrants in Lingnan Legion. These people are not the standing army of Qin in the strict sense, but are somewhat similar to militia in nature.

We think that if there are 500,000 regular troops of the Qin Empire in the south, then these people can completely sweep the world when Chu and Han strive for hegemony. After all, Liu Bang only assembled more than 400,000 miscellaneous troops at that time, and Xiang Yu was only tens of thousands of elites. 500,000 Qin Jun's standing army is invincible.

The reason why they did nothing, waited for the reunification of the Han Dynasty, and finally brought about their own destruction was definitely not the national justice, just because they were weak and powerless.

At that time, people were only for the benefit of themselves and their own groups, so there was no concept of national justice. The concept of state is only in modern times.

During the rebellion at the end of Qin Dynasty, peasant rebels invaded Guanzhong, and the Qin Empire defeated its vanguard with the central army and the improvised Lishan prison army, thus eliminating the main forces of Chen Sheng and Guangwu.

Wang Li led the Great Wall Army south, joined forces with Guan Zhongjun, defeated the Hebei Rebel Army and wiped out the main force of the Rebel Army.

But in Julu, they met Xiang Yu, who fell from the sky and lost in the Battle of Julu. ..

200,000 people, the main force of the Qin Empire, were captured here and all were killed. With the destruction of the main force, the Qin empire also collapsed.

The remnants of the Lingnan Legion were wiped out and surrendered after the reunification of the Han Dynasty.

This is the ultimate fate of the main army of the Qin Empire.