Qin Crushes Zhao at Changping

In 262 BCE, after several years of attacks on the State of Han, the State of Qin captured the Han town of Yewang, cutting the Shangdang Commandery off from the Han heartland to the south. Faced with imminent conquest, Shangdang governor Feng Ting chose not to surrender to Qin. Instead, he transferred the strategic territory to the State of Zhao, located directly east. Recognizing that Qin control of Shangdang would leave Handan vulnerable to invasion, King Xiaocheng of Zhao accepted the territory and dispatched veteran general Lian Po to fortify the area against the encroaching Qin military.

Qin then sent General Wang He to take Shangdang, and the Zhao army gathered at Changping to hold it. After Zhao suffered a string of early defeats, losing outposts and officers, Lian Po established a fortified line along the eastern banks of the Dan River. Recognizing the logistical strain on Qin supply routes through the western mountains, Lian Po refused to engage in open field battles and entrenched his forces. This defensive strategy produced a grueling stalemate. Qin agents then went to Zhao with bribes, spreading word that Qin feared only Zhao Kuo, son of the celebrated general Zhao She, and that Lian Po would soon surrender. King Xiaocheng, already angry at Lian Po's losses and his refusal to fight, dismissed Lian Po and appointed Zhao Kuo, an untested commander prone to treating warfare with theoretical arrogance.