Post-Battle Terror Signaling / 战后恐怖震慑

Post-battle terror signaling / 战后恐怖震慑 is the pattern 《资治通鉴·周纪》95丨长平之战后秦国为什么没有灭了赵国（1） extracts from 白起’s conduct after the 长平之战. The source says the killing of surrendered troops, the Bai Qi platform / jingguan memory, and the release of 240 young survivors back to 赵国 function as psychological warfare against Zhao’s will to resist.

The concept is adjacent to 杀降安全困境 but not identical. The security dilemma asks why a victor may see captives as hard to guard, feed, or trust; terror signaling asks how the victor converts that violence and its memory into coercive pressure before the next campaign.

The episode also ties terror signaling to 战争成本与速决纪律. Because 秦国 is itself exhausted after Changping, fear becomes a substitute for some missing force: Bai Qi wants Zhao psychologically broken before 邯郸 can settle into a harder defense.

Key Claims

• Terror can be used as communication, not only punishment or battlefield cleanup.
• Releasing selected survivors can be part of the signal because they carry visible memory back to the target society.
• The tactic is most useful when the victor has won but is too depleted for easy direct conquest.
• Terror signaling may reduce resistance in theory, but it also deepens moral horror and long-term hatred.

Connections

• 白起, 长平之战, and 赵国 - source actor, battle, and target society.
• 杀降安全困境 and 战国战争残酷化 - related prisoner and violence frames.
• 战争成本与速决纪律, 秦国, and 邯郸 - exhaustion and follow-on campaign context.
• 战场信息控制 - adjacent information-shaping concept, though the signaling here happens after battle rather than before maneuver.