Even now some newspapers say that Fan Ju was a famous man of far-reaching wisdom in the history of the Qin State, inheriting the past and opening up the future, and was a famous politician and military strategist who made great achievements in politics and diplomacy in ancient China. However, history cannot bear to look closely, and if you look closely at the history books and excavated historical materials, you will find that Fan Ju's merits in the cause of the unification of the Qin state have been seriously exaggerated. In fact, Fan Ju is far more powerful than the work!
Fan Ju's historical exploits have been grossly exaggerated
Fan Ju is famous in history for his strategy of "long-distance friendship and close attack", and most historians in history believe that this strategy proposed by Fan Ju played an important role in the unification of the six kingdoms of the Qin state. Not really! This argument gives people the illusion that before Fan Ju came to power, especially during Wei Ran's reign, the Qin state had been pursuing the erroneous military line of "long-range attack and close friendship", and Fan Ju had only begun to correct this mistake. This was completely confused by Fan Ju's remarks. The purpose of Fan Jujin's statement was not to discuss the foreign policy of the Qin state at all, but to attack Wei Ran. At that time, Fan Ju first arrived in the Qin Kingdom, and his relationship with King Zhao was very shallow, so he "did not dare to speak inside, but first talked about foreign affairs, in order to observe the admiration of the King of Qin." It happened that Wei Ran was attacking the Qi state's Gang and Shou at this time, and Fan Ju seized this handle and proposed the so-called "long-distance and close-range attack" strategy to impress King Zhao. However, if we only look at the Chronicle, we can see that during the forty-two years of Wei Ran's reign, the foreign policy of the Qin state was originally "long-distance friendship and close attack". The most frequent attacks by the Qin state were Wei, Han, and Chu, rather than Yan and Qi, and the locations of the battles were from near and far, and it was through these battles that the Qin state encroached on a large area adjacent to the Qin state. The attack on Qi Zhigang and Shou was only an accidental battle, and did not indicate the consistent policy pursued by Wei Ran. How can we exaggerate the role of Fan Ju's suggestion of "long-distance and close-range attack"?
To put it bluntly, the so-called "long-distance and close-range attack" strategy is not mysterious and sophisticated, but only common. Just imagine, when the secluded Qin state in the western region still maintained a certain military strength, could it go on an expedition across the mountains and rivers without regard to logistical support and the danger of being attacked by a combined attack? Fan Ju's strategy of "long-distance and close-range attack" did not contribute originally, but it was beneficial to further strengthen King Zhaoxiang's correct military struggle line. That's all!
In addition, Fan Ju's merits for the phase have three points:
The first was to end the dictatorship of the Wei Ran family. Wei Ran was the most credited to King Zhaoxiang's ascension to the throne, Empress Xuan and Wei Ran had a relationship with the clan nobility, and the family had been under the dictatorship of the Qin state for decades, and the biggest problem of the Wei Ran family was to oppose the appointment of keqing and divide up a large number of lands. Because of Fan Ju's advice, King Zhao expelled Wei Ran, Gaoling, Huayang, and Jingyang Jun from the capital and returned them to their respective fiefdoms, at this time Empress Xuan had already died, ending the despotism of the Wei Ran family in the Qin state, which was of certain progressive significance.
Second, the State of Qin strengthened its control and contact with Ba and Shu. Since the surrender of Bashu during the reign of King Huiwen, Bashu under the administration of Shu Shou Zhang Ruo and his successor Li Bing had great political and economic development, and militarily, the threat to the Chu state was also great. However, since the ancient Shu Road is difficult to travel, from Qin to Shu there are many dangers and obstacles. Therefore, during Fan Ju's period, he began to build a plank road, "a thousand miles leading to the Shu Han", strengthening the control and connection between the Qin state and the Bashu region, making bashu a stable grain production base for the Qin state, and the Qin state also occupied an important geographical advantage in containing and attacking the Chu state.
Third, Fan Ju contributed little to the defeat of the State of Qin at the Battle of Changping to the State of Zhao. The use of the divisive meter Fan Ju in the Battle of Changping to counter-calculate the Zhao state, so that the Zhao state did not use zhao kuo without being incorruptible, played a certain role in the victory of the Qin state. However, this battle should be mainly attributed to the commander of the Qin army, Bai Qi.
Such a simple achievement, it is really difficult to call it a name.
Fan Ju's exploits were far inferior to Wei Ran and Bai Qi.1
King Zhaoxiang of Qin's ascension to the throne and the consolidation of his throne were mainly based on the support of his maternal uncle Wei Ran. King Zhao ascended the throne at a young age, and Wei Ran became his protector and regent. Thereafter, forty-two years before King Zhao, Wei Ran was appointed as a minister in the State of Qin, and although he briefly ceded the position to Meng Yujun, Lou Huan, and other guest secretaries several times, the actual authority was still in Wei Ran's hands.
Wei Ran, who was empress dowager Xuan's half-brother and had the merits of establishing The King of Zhaoxiang and expanding the territory, served as chancellor five times in succession during the reign of King Zhaoxiang: the first two years from 300 BC (the seventh year of Qin Zhaoxiang) to 299 BC (the eighth year of Qin Zhaoxiang King), the second from 295 BC (the twelfth year of Qin Zhaoxiang King) to 292 BC (the fifteenth year of Qin Zhaoxiang King), and the third from 291 BC (the sixteenth year of Qin Zhaoxiang King) to 288 (the nineteenth year of Qin Zhaoxiang King). The fourth term lasted for six years from 288 BC (the nineteenth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin) to 283 BC (twenty-four years of King Zhaoxiang of Qin), and the fifth was the longest, lasting nine years from 275 BC (the thirty-second year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin) to 266 BC (the forty-first year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin). In total, Wei Ran served as Qin Xiang for twenty-five years.
We can say that during this period, Wei Ran was the true ruler of the Qin state, at least one major decision-maker. It was also during this period that the State of Qin launched successive wars against the outside world, almost every battle was bound to be won, and it achieved unprecedented superiority in the military, encroaching on a large area of territory of Han, Wei, Chu, and Zhao, and laying the foundation for the unification of Qin. In this series of wars, it was Wu'an Jun Baiqi who established outstanding merits for the Qin state.
Subsequently, until the thirty-sixth year of King Zhao, Fan Ju of Wei began to enter Qin, entered the King of Zhao, provoked the relationship between King Zhao and Wei Ran, the Marquis of Yong, and gradually gained close trust. By the age of forty-one, King Zhao worshipped Fan Ju as his prime minister, and returned to Tao. Wei Ran withdrew from the political arena of the Qin state. However, Bai Qi, who was elected by Wei Ran, still served the Qin state, and in the forty-seventh year of King Zhao, he broke the Zhao army in Changping. The State of Zhao was the only force in the Eastern Princely States at that time that could compete with the State of Qin, and the Battle of Changping could be said to be an important major war in the late Warring States period. Since this great war, it is only a matter of time before the Qin state unifies the six kingdoms.
Looking back at the time before King Zhao ascended the throne, the situation was very different. At that time, the sphere of influence of the Qin state had just reached the yellow river and Yiyang line in the east, and the southern side had just captured Shu and Hanzhong. Geographically, only initial positions favouring the offensive were obtained. However, military success was achieved during the reign of King Zhaoxiang. In the fourteenth year of King Zhaoxiang, the Battle of Yique was the heaviest blow to Korea, and since then Korea has no danger to defend, and has almost become a vassal of the Qin state. In the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao, the Battle of Lin was a serious threat to the State of Wei, and from then on, the Qin army continued to attack the city of Daliang. In the twenty-ninth year of King Zhao, the Battle of Ying destroyed the base area of the Chu state in one fell swoop, forcing the king of Chu to move east, and from then on, the state of Chu was devastated and no longer became a force that could confront the state of Qin. In the forty-seventh year of King Zhao, the Battle of Changping crushed the last strong enemy of the Qin state, the State of Zhao, and its significance is self-evident.
It can be seen from this that from a military point of view, the reason why the Qin state was able to unify the six kingdoms was mainly decided during the zhaowang period. By the time of King Zhuang Xiang and the reign of King Qin, the Qin army's war against the Six Kingdoms had been like a devastation, and only in a few cases did it encounter some resistance, and those resistances were only lingering, and the vast majority of the situations were overwhelming.
Forty-one years ago, the military victories of the Qin Zhaowang period could not but be attributed first and foremost to Wei Ran, and secondly to the famous general Bai Qi, who was elected by Wei Ran. The role of Bai played until the Battle of Changping in the forty-seventh year of King Zhao. From this, it can be seen how important a role Wei Ran and Bai Qi played in the process of unifying the Six Kingdoms of Qin.
Of course, a contradiction later arose between Wei Ran and King Zhao, but this was only a contradiction between the monarch and a foreign relative, a regent, and a hero for personal power. This contradiction does not indicate any important differences between Wei Ran and King Zhao in the foreign policy of the Qin state, let alone negate Wei Ran's role in the cause of the unification of the Qin state.
Ma Yong said in "After Reading the Yunmeng Qin JianShu": "When we summarize Fan Ju's phase karma, we can say that it is greater than the merit. For example, in terms of contributions to the great cause of the unification of the qin state, Fan Ju was not enough to be compared with Wei Ran and Bai Qi. However, the reason why history relished Fan Ju and ignored Wei Ran was because Wei Ran's exploits were one battle after another, and written in history became a boring running account, and Fan Ju left a long speech, which made a deep impression on people. ”
Fan Jujin slandered King Zhaoxiang, causing Bai Qi to commit suicide.
"History" recorded: Bai Qi, is a native of Guodi. He was good at using soldiers and served King Qin Zhao. 昭王十三年（前294），白起封为左庶长，带兵攻打韩国的新城。 In this year, Hou Yong served as the chancellor of the Qin state.
The following year, Bai Qi again created Zuo Geng, attacked the combined forces of Han and Wei, engaged in battle at Yiqu, beheaded 240,000 enemies, captured their general Gongsun Xi, and took five cities. Bai Qi was promoted to lieutenant. He crossed the Yellow River and seized a large area of land east of An-eue in Korea up to the Wadi River.
In the third year, Bai Qi was again enthroned as Da Liang Zao. Defeated the Wei army and captured sixty-one large and small cities. In the fourth year, Bai Qi and Keqing mistakenly attacked Yuancheng and immediately pulled out the city. In the fifth year thereafter, Bai Qi attacked the Zhao State and captured the City of Light Wolf.
In the seventh year after that, Bai Qi attacked the Chu state and occupied five cities, including Yan and Deng. The following year, he attacked the State of Chu again, occupied the capital of the State of Chu, Ying, burned the tomb of the former king of the State of Chu, and went east to Jingling. The King of Chu fled the capital and fled east to move the capital to Chen. The State of Qin then made Yingdi a southern county. Bai Qi was given the title of Wu Anjun (武安君), and he took advantage of the situation to attack Chu and pacify the counties of Wu and Qianzhong.
昭王三十四年（前273），白起进攻魏，拔取华阳，使芒卯败逃，并且俘获了赵、魏将领，斩敌十三万人。 At that time, Bai Qi engaged the Zhao general Jia Yan and sank 20,000 soldiers of the Zhao state into the Yellow River.
昭王四十三年（前264），白起进攻韩国的陉城，夺取了五个城邑，斩敌五万人。 Forty-four years ago (263 BC), Bai Qi attacked the Nanyang Taihang Road in Korea, blocking this passage.
昭王四十五年（前262），白起发兵进击韩国的野王城，野王投降，使韩国的上党郡同韩国的联系被切断。 Seeing that the road to the mainland was extinct, the Korean Shangdang Taishou Feng Ting surrendered to Zhao and asked for Zhao's protection, and Zhao Guo accepted the Shangdang and made Feng Ting the Prince of Huayang. As a result, a fierce large-scale war between the Qin state and the Zhao state, that is, the Battle of Changping. In the Battle of Changping, he adopted a roundabout and mobile strategy and tactics, defeated the Zhao army, killed more than 400,000 prisoners, and shocked the world.
Originally, after the Battle of Changping, the situation was extremely favorable to the Qin state. Bai Qi prepared to take advantage of the victory to destroy Zhao and attack Han. In October 259 BC, the Qin army once again captured Shangdang, and then Bai Qi ordered Wang Gong to lead a route to attack Zhao Wu'an Pi prison, and Sima Ji to lead another army to attack Taiyuan. Bai Qi himself led the main force to stay in Shangdang and prepare to attack Handan. However, after waiting for two months, he was given the order to strike the soldiers. Originally, King Zhaoxiang listened to Fan Ju's words and believed that the Qin army had been outside for a long time, and should let the soldiers rest, and allowed Han and Zhao to make peace. Bai Qi was helpless, so he had to return to China, and the plan to take advantage of the situation to destroy Zhao became a failure. Bai Qi was a person of Wei Ran's appointment and kindness, and ben was dissatisfied with Fan Ju's words to the King of Zhaoxiang and causing Wei Ran to be expelled from the political arena, and this time Bai Qi's upcoming battle achievements were destroyed by Fan Ju, presumably Bai Qi was very angry. Since then, the contradiction between the two has become increasingly acute.
The conditions agreed upon by the State of Qin for the retreat were: to cut off Han Yuanyong and Zhao Liucheng. However, after the State of Qin withdrew, only Korea sacrificed Yuanyong, and the State of Zhao was unwilling to cut the Six Cities, and also united with Qi and other states to resist Qin. To this end, the King of Qin wanted to send Bai Qi to lead an army to cut down Zhao, but Bai Qi was dissatisfied with Fan Ju on the one hand, and on the other hand, he believed that the best time to cut down Zhao had been lost. The Zhao army was prepared and defended, and the same enemy was fearful, and Zhao moved around, marrying Wei and Yan, even good Qi and Chu, and their domestic reality, their friendship with each other, and at this time, Zhao Wei could not be cut down. Bai Qi's analysis makes sense. However, King Zhaoxiang had already made up his mind, did not listen to Bai Qi's advice at all, and sent the Fifth Master Wang Ling to lead an army to cut down Zhao. Wang Ling's army was frustrated in its attack on Handan, and there were many casualties among the generals. At this time, King Zhaoxiang of Qin remembered Bai Qi again. However, Bai Qi was due to negative qi, and the second was to see that there was no hope of victory in this hasty attack, and simply said that he could not afford to be sick. King Zhaoxiang ordered Bai Qi to replace Wang Ling, Bai Qi refused to accept the illness, and the front line was gradually defeated, and King Zhaoxiang was so anxious that he ordered Fan Ju to personally persuade Bai Qi. Although Bai Qi was very disgusted with Fan Ju, in addition to worrying about the illness, he still focused on the overall situation and objectively analyzed the reasons why there was absolutely no possibility of victory in this attack on Zhao. Fan Ju had long been prepared to replace Bai Qi with his own private party Zheng Anping, so Fan Ju did not use Bai Qi's analysis of the reasons for the failure to persuade King Zhaoxiang to retreat, but instead bent his intention to provoke King Zhaoxiang. At the instigation of Bai Qi, King Zhaoxiang was furious, saying that without you Bai Qi, I could still destroy Zhao, and immediately sent Wang Gong to replace Wang Ling, and increased his army to continue to attack Handan. Contrary to his wishes, the Zhao state was extremely defensive, and reinforcements from various countries came one after another, and Wang Gong stayed in Handan for eight or nine months without any progress, and many soldiers were killed and wounded.
In desperation, King Zhaoxiang, who was bent on going his own way, personally went to Bai Qi's mansion and forced Bai Qi to come out of the mountain. King Zhaoxiang even said, "Although the king is sick, he will lie down for the widow." Speaking of this, Bai Qi had to put out his own views and plates, he said: "May the great king read the plans of his subjects, release Zhao and raise the people, and change the princes." Soothe their fears, cut down their arrogance, and destroy the way, so that the princes and the world can be determined, why should they take Zhao as the first priority? However, King Zhaoxiang did not listen to him at all, thinking that Bai Qi was arrogant and deliberately looking at his jokes, and immediately stripped Wu Anjun of his title, demoted him to Shiwu, and moved to Yin Mi (west of Lingtai County, Gansu). Due to illness, Bai Qi did not leave Xianyang at that time, and after three months, the news of the defeat of the Qin army at the front came, and King Zhaoxiang was even more angry with Bai Qi, and ordered him to start immediately and not to stay in Xianyang. Bai Qi had to leave with illness, and Fan Ju and his cohort told King Zhaoxiang that Bai Qi was dissatisfied in his heart and had a bad intention. King Zhaoxiang ordered his emissaries to immediately chase after Bai Qi, and Du You, who was in the western ten miles of Xianyang, caught up with Bai Qi, and the emissaries ordered him to commit suicide according to the instructions of King Zhaoxiang. Bai Qi was killed by the sword. Fan Ju, as the Zongheng family, stirred up dissension between King Zhaoxiang and Bai Qi, which eventually led to the suicide of a generation of famous generals, which was a great loss to the Qin state.
The private party appointed by Fan Ju collaborated with the enemy to surrender, causing the Qin state to lose its city and lose its land.
At first, Fan Ju could not see the King of Wei because of his family's poverty, so he threw himself into the door of the Middle Doctor Xu Jia as a doorman. King Wei Zhao sent Xu Jia on an envoy to the State of Qi, and Fan Ju followed him, and with his eloquent talent, he was deeply respected by King Xiang of Qi. The King of Qi wanted to keep him as a guest, and gave him ten catties of gold, cattle, wine and other things, but they all refused. When Xu Jia returned to China, he not only did not praise his high style and bright festival, but also falsely accused him of taking bribes and betraying intelligence in reverse. Wei Qi tortured him to the point that his teeth were broken, and his body was completely skinny, and he wrapped him in a mat and abandoned it in the latrine, allowing the guests to pee on it. Fan Ju pretended to be dead and was thrown into the suburbs. After returning home, he entrusted his friend Zheng Anping to hide himself under the pseudonym Zhang Lu, and let his family mourn, so that Wei Qi was convinced that he was dead. Half a year later, King Qin Zhao sent his envoy Wang Ji to visit Wei. Zheng Anping managed to get Fan Ju to secretly meet with Wang Ji. After the conversation, Wang Ji discovered that Fan Ju was a rare debater, and brought him and Zheng Ping'an back to the Qin Kingdom, and Fan Ju was able to escape from danger. When wang ji of the State of Qin brokered a bridge between him and gave him a kind word, Fan Ju was able to interview the King of Zhaoxiang, who was appreciated by the King of Zhaoxiang, and later worshiped Fan Ju as a friend. Because Zheng Anping and Wang Ji were kind to Fan Ju, Fan Ju sought an opportunity to repay them.
After the Battle of Changping, Qin's attack on Handan failed, and Hedong and Taiyuan Counties were lost, which had a lot to do with Fan Ju's appointment of private parties. Zheng Anping and Wang Ji were both Fan Ju baoren, Zheng Anping was a general, and Wang Ji was Hedong Shou. According to the Qin Law, "Those who appoint others and those who are not good shall be guilty of their sins." Wang Ji's fornication with foreign enemies and Zheng Anping's surrender of his troops were all capital crimes. Therefore, in 255 BC, Fan Ju was sentenced to death along with Wang Ji.