When Ishihara Masao mentioned Nogi Nogi through his second son, he naturally thought of Zhao Kuo, who has been controversial in China for thousands of years. The term "paper talk" originated from him.

However, here comes the question. What about the paper that came from the Warring States Period? The earliest paper (Caihou Paper) is recognized as being invented or successfully improved by a eunuch named Cai Lun who lived in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Even if paper existed before this, it would not have become a common writing medium during the Warring States Period. After all, bamboo slips were the mainstream writing medium in that era.

Ishihara Hideki noticed his father's thoughtful look and said, "What are you thinking about?"

Ishihara Masao suddenly smiled and said: "I thought of Zhao Kuo, a famous loser in Chinese history. Of course, this is a common view of him by the public, and he is also one of the representatives who follows what others say.

However, I don’t think so. In my personal opinion, Zhao Kuo was the most outstanding young general in the Zhao Kingdom at that time.

It was not that he had no military life at all, it was just that he had never commanded a large army independently, nor was it a temporary appointment by King Zhao or a counter-intentional plan by the Qin State.

In the Battle of Changping, whether it was Qin or Zhao, the number of troops deployed on the battlefield in the early stage alone exceeded 400,000. If this number is added to the number of logistics supplies, it would be even more.

For the Qin State, this was a battle that cost a lot of money. In the later stages of the Changping War, the Qin State also carried out a larger-scale domestic mobilization. All males over the age of 15 were required to enlist in the army to fight for a war.

reinforce.

For the State of Zhao, it was a war that it could not afford to lose. The King of Zhao at that time would not have been so stupid as to appoint Zhao Kuo, who had no military combat experience, to command such a large number of Zhao troops."

He paused here and raised his hand to signal his son to pour him a glass of whiskey. He wanted to give the other person a nice talk.

Ishihara Hideki, who understood what he was doing, stood up and not only brought Karuizawa 30-year-old single malt whiskey, but also a whiskey classic glass.

The two classic whiskey glasses placed in front of their father and son are by no means cheap. They are both made by Japan's most famous Edo Kiriko.

Hideki Ishihara opened the cork and poured some into two classic whiskey glasses. One was for his father, and the other was for himself.

Masao Ishihara picked up the wine glass with his right hand, took a sip, and continued unhurriedly: "This is back to the official start of the Battle of Changping. The option before King Zhao was to choose one of the two.

Either appoint the veteran general Lian Po, or use Zhao Kuo among the young generals. The former's achievements are all based on cavalry confrontation, and there is no precedent for a major victory over the Qin army.

When Zhao Kuo's father, Zhao She, defeated the Qin army of 100,000 men, Zhao Kuo participated in relevant planning and planning in the army.

Furthermore, the area where the Changping Battle took place was not conducive to cavalry warfare at all, but was conducive to infantry mountain warfare. Lian Po's tactics were to use defense, and when the Qin army ran out of food and grass, they would naturally retreat.

Zhao Kuo's tactics were more bold and he adopted an active attack. For King Zhao, to be precise, not only for King Zhao, but also for most kings, they would tend to adopt a more secure strategy.

Therefore, it is reasonable for Lian Po to be appointed commander.

This reminded me again of the Second World War, when Hitler in Germany adopted Manstein's Sickle Plan to attack France, instead of adopting a battle plan of tug-of-war and war of attrition with France like in World War I.

The Manstein plan was extremely risky. In the end, it was successful. If it failed, it would also be a devastating blow to the German army."

Ishihara Hideki continued: "If King Zhao had adopted Zhao Kuo's tactics from the beginning and appointed him as commander-in-chief, he would have been able to turn decay into magic and change the direction of history.

At that time, Bai Qi only had more than 400,000 Qin troops in his hands. The commander of the Qin army before that was Wang Lu, not him.

A one-on-one encirclement and annihilation battle, with the intention of annihilating the opponent completely, can definitely be said to be unprecedented and unprecedented. Under the circumstances at that time, the difficulty was even more unimaginable.

It also shows that Bai Qi's courage is not ordinary, but surprisingly big. In other words, he has great confidence in his military commanding ability."

While gently shaking the glass of wine in his right hand, Ishihara Masao continued to talk to his son: "The main reason that really made King Zhao make up his mind to replace Lian Po with Zhao Kuo was that he couldn't afford it.

During the confrontation between the Zhao army and the Qin army, Zhao's military supplies, food, grass and other materials began to fail to reach the front line.

The King of Zhao knew very well that if the two sides continued to be exhausted like this, the Zhao army would collapse immediately before the Qin army came over, and many people would starve to death first.

Not only that, in terms of politics and diplomacy, other countries not only cannot count on it, but also sit on the sidelines and watch the fight between tigers, and even wish that both Qin and Zhao would suffer in a fight, so that someone could benefit.

In terms of economy, if the Zhao State still had extra money, how could it not buy food? It is precisely because there is not much money in the treasury that it is powerless.

Under all kinds of forced desperation, King Zhao had no choice but to use Zhao Kuo. After all, Lian Po was still stubborn and decided to continue to adopt a defensive strategy.

Lian Po's gold-for-gold style of play really made Zhao Guo unbearable. At this point, Zhao Wang thought that while the people were still strong and able to fight, they would have a chance to give it a try.

"

Hideki Ishihara pointedly pointed out: "The real root cause of Zhao's defeat in the Battle of Changping was the emptiness of the national treasury.

Zhao Kuo had to find someone to take the blame for his military failure, so Zhao Kuo shouldered the blame. Even though more than 400,000 Zhao troops were surrounded by the Qin army, there was no sudden collapse.

The Zhao army also carried out many organized and staged breakout attacks against the Qin army, which not only put the Qin army under great pressure, but also paid a heavy price.

One of the triggers that prompted Zhao Jun to finally surrender was that Zhao Kuo personally led a breakout and was shot and killed by the Qin army.

During the more than forty days of siege during which Zhao Kuo was alive, Zhao's army not only did not appear in chaos, but was also well organized. This shows that Zhao Kuo's military commanding ability is extraordinary.

In addition, Zhao Kuo also had a series of problems such as his own mistakes in military judgment. Furthermore, his opponent Bai Qi was even more powerful."

Masao Ishihara said seriously: "Shopping malls are like battlefields. This requires not only personal talent in business, but also strong capital."
Chapter completed!