Battle of Wei River

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Battle of Wei River

Date	204 BC
Location	Wei River, China
Result	Han victory

Combatants

Han Dynasty

State of Qi, Western Chu

Commanders

Han Xin

Tian Guang, Long Qie

The Battle of Wei River (濰水之戰) was fought in 204 BC between the Han and a combined force of Qi and Western Chu. The famous general Han Xin led the Han force, while the Qi were led by Prince Tian Guang (田廣), and the Chu were led by Long Qie (龍且). It is one of the most important battles of the Chu-Han Contention.

In 205 BC, Han Xin has captured most of today's Hebei and Shanxi provinces, the principalities of Zhao and Dai, and is starting to march on today's Shandong province or the principality of Qi. At this time, Prince Tian Guang, persuaded by noted diplomat Li Yiji (酈食其), has decided to acknowledge the leadership of Han and its king Liu Bang. However, Liu Bang did not officially notify Han Xin of this fact and Han Xin decided to launch a surprise attack against Qi anyway under the counsel of Kuai Che (蒯徹), and Tian Guang's forces was totally surprised. He fled and sought assistance from King Xiang Yu of Western Chu, pledging fealty. Xiang Yu sent a strong expeditionary force, including some elite cavalry, under Long Qie to relieve Qi, and thus this battle came about.

Han Xin knew that Long, noted for his personal bravery and fighting prowess, was too arrogant. The night before the battle, he set a trap for Long by building a makeshift dam with sandbags to lower the water level in the Wei river. Indeed, Long was counseled to fight a slow battle of attrition since he had forces to spare. Long declined, since he believed he had overwhelming forces (the force ratio is about 1:3 in favour of Chu) and belittled Han Xin as a coward as a result of an incident when Han Xin served in the Chu forces. In this well-known incident, Han Xin crawled between the legs of some hooligan to avoid conflict when he was outnumbered.

The next morning, Han Xin marched across the lowered river and attacked then made a fake retreat, tricking Long into leading his army in charging across the river. When about one quarter of the Chu armies has crossed, Han signalled for his men to open the dam. This succeeded both in drowning many of the Chu soldiers and isolating Long Qie with a small detachment. Cut off by the river, Long Qie had nowhere to go and was cut down in battle. The rest of the Chu army disintegrated when Han Xin continued to press his attack. Prince Tian Guang fled and was eventually caught and killed.

This battle was strategically significant because it costed Xiang Yu between half and a third of his forces, including many veterans, depleted Chu of important reserves and preventing any future possibility of Xiang Yu fighting successfully on two fronts. Eventually, Xiang Yu was deprived of elbow room and lost the war.