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entity Updated 2026-08-23 Topics: History

邯郸 / Handan

《资治通鉴·周纪》15丨酒不醇引发的世界大战 adds the immediate prehistory of Handan’s siege. 魏惠王 attacks 赵国 and surrounds Handan after reading 楚国’s attack on 鲁国 as a distraction that may keep 楚宣王 from rescuing Zhao. This makes Handan the endpoint of the 鲁酒薄而邯郸围 causal chain.

邯郸 / Handan appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》16丨孙膑庞涓恩怨纠葛 桂陵之战 as the 赵国 city under 魏国 siege. The source uses the siege as the immediate reason Zhao seeks help from 齐国.

Handan’s source role is to define the obvious rescue target that 孙膑 refuses. A direct march to Handan would put Qi into the battlefield chosen by Wei; threatening 大梁 instead forces Wei to move, making 桂陵之战 possible.

《资治通鉴·周纪》17丨韩昭侯和申不害 adds the diplomatic afterlife of that siege. 魏惠王 returns Handan to Zhao as the credibility move that lets 魏国 and 赵国 form the 漳水之盟 under 秦国东进压力.

《资治通鉴·周纪》18丨中国历史上第一例人头税 adds Handan as a succession-struggle target. 赵范 tries to take it by surprise in 347 BCE, but fails and dies, giving the source its case for the “袭” category.

《资治通鉴·周纪》74丨还原完璧归赵真相！ adds Handan as the place where 和氏璧 appears in 赵国 before the Qin exchange crisis. The episode says 缪贤 buys the jade there and 赵惠文王赵何 then forces it into royal possession, making Handan the court setting before 蔺相如’s mission to Qin.

《资治通鉴·周纪》94丨杀神白起，长平之战中的“草包”名将？（3） adds Handan as the next Qin target after the 长平之战. 秦昭襄王 sends 王陵 to attack the Zhao capital, but the campaign goes poorly enough that he wants 白起 to replace him. Bai Qi’s refusal, grounded in Qin’s post-Changping exhaustion, makes Handan the test case for 战争成本与速决纪律 after a huge victory.

《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） rewinds slightly and explains why Handan is both tempting and hard. The episode describes it as Zhao’s high-walled, deeply defended capital, which means Qin’s depleted army cannot assume an easy assault even after Changping. 苏代 then turns the possible siege of Handan into 范雎’s personal worry: if 白起 takes it, Bai Qi’s rank and merit could eclipse the Qin chancellor.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（1） makes Handan the immediate survival line for Zhao in 258 BCE. After Changping, Zhao has little western buffer left, but the capital’s will is hardened by mass death and common anger. 王陵 fails against the city, Qin reinforcements raise casualties without creating a breakthrough, and Bai Qi treats a long-distance assault across terrain against a fortified capital as a campaign Qin should avoid.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（2） keeps Handan as the endpoint that alliance politics must actually relieve. 毛遂 wins 楚国’s agreement to aid Zhao, but Chu’s army would need 魏国 transit, and Wei’s own 晋鄙 stops at 邺城. Handan therefore remains endangered even after a diplomatic victory.

The same source makes Handan the setting for 新垣衍’s status-submission proposal. He enters the city by a side route and tries to persuade Zhao through 平原君 to honor 秦昭襄王 as western emperor. Handan is thus not only a siege target but the place where Zhao must choose between continuing resistance and a surrender-like diplomatic exit.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（3） makes Handan the place where that diplomatic exit is contested by 鲁仲连. Inside the besieged city, the argument shifts from whether aid can arrive to whether survival purchased by Qin’s emperor title would destroy Zhao and Wei’s remaining political autonomy.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（4） turns Handan from diplomatic setting into social breakdown under siege. The episode says the city has been surrounded for eight or nine months, with people driven to burning bones and exchanging children for food, while weapons are so depleted that soldiers improvise with wood. 李谈 / 李同 uses that contrast to force 平原君 to put household wealth, metal, women, and servants into the defense.

This adds a morale layer to Handan’s survival. Zhao is still waiting for Wei and Chu relief, but the city also needs internal time-buying through elite burden sharing: commoners and soldiers are more likely to keep resisting when the highest household visibly loses its protected distance from the siege.

《资治通鉴·周纪》97-1丨白起之死 records Handan’s relief as the event that turns Qin’s post-Changping pressure into political blowback inside Qin. Once 信陵君 has forced Wei’s army forward and Chu aid joins the fight, Qin suffers defeats around the Zhao capital, 王龁’s requests for help intensify, and 白起’s earlier refusal looks strategically correct. Handan therefore becomes the site whose survival preserves Zhao as a six-state barrier and helps trigger the 杜邮剑 ending of Bai Qi’s career.

《资治通鉴·周纪》98丨历史上首个老赖登场了！ adds a quieter Handan aftershock. 异人 / 子楚 has escaped with 吕不韦, but 赵姬 and young 嬴政 / 秦始皇 remain in the city during the hostile Qin-Zhao environment. Handan is therefore not only the relieved Zhao capital; it is also the dangerous childhood setting left behind as the chronicle prepares to pivot toward Qin.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-1｜今天聊聊 嬴政都有哪些残忍手段 gives Handan the endpoint that contrasts with the earlier rescue cycle. After 李牧 and 司马尚 have been removed, 王翦 defeats Zhao, 赵葱 is killed, 颜聚 flees, and Qin takes the city. The episode then makes Handan the site of 嬴政 / 秦始皇’s personal revenge against old enemies from his childhood danger there.

Qinji 129-2 adds a restored-Zhao afterlife during Qin’s collapse. 武臣 rules from Handan as Zhao king, but 李良 returns after being blocked by 王离, reads Wu Chen’s sister’s drunken etiquette failure as humiliation, and then attacks the city. Handan becomes the site where restored-state ambition breaks through status-insult defection rather than through a direct Qin siege.

Qinji 132 adds the next Qin-pressure phase. After 章邯 kills 项梁 at 定陶, he turns north, attacks Zhao, breaks Handan, moves the population away, and destroys the city. 赵歇 and 张耳 flee to 巨鹿, making Handan’s fall the immediate prelude to the Julu rescue crisis.

Hanji 182 moves Handan into the early Western Han rebellion branch. 陈豨’s huge retainer train fills Handan’s inns and alarms 周昌, helping trigger Liu Bang’s investigation. Later, when 刘邦 campaigns against Chen Xi, he judges Chen Xi’s failure to hold Handan as a major strategic mistake and uses local Zhao rewards plus 乐叔’s honor to stabilize the region.

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