王翦 / Wang Jian (Qin)

王翦 / Wang Jian enters the wiki through 《资治通鉴·秦纪》105｜战争花样赵国李牧最会耍 only as a forward pointer. After explaining 李牧’s northern-frontier victory against 匈奴, the episode previews Li Mu’s later confrontation with Wang Jian in the Qin-Zhao final phase.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》111-1｜偌大的赵国竟亡于一个妓女之手 gives Wang Jian his first developed wiki appearance. In 236 BCE, while 赵国 is attacking 燕国, 秦国 sends Wang Jian, 桓齮, and 杨端和 against Zhao. The source says Wang Jian attacks Eyu and Liaoyang, making him part of Qin’s exploitation of Yan-Zhao conflict.

The episode also compares Wang Jian with 白起. Bai Qi is treated as terrifyingly competent but politically unsmooth, while Wang Jian is presented as a commander with more worldly caution and court survival sense. Wang Jian therefore enters the conquest branch not only as military capacity, but as a contrast between battlefield skill and political self-preservation.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》113｜李牧如何用一己之力阻秦国统一 makes Wang Jian the main Qin commander in the 229 BCE attack on disaster-weakened Zhao. The source stresses that even with Qin’s advantage, Wang Jian still faces 李牧 as the key obstacle until Qin’s bribery of 郭开 removes Li Mu and 司马尚 from command.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-1｜今天聊聊 嬴政都有哪些残忍手段 gives Wang Jian the payoff from that command-removal sequence. He defeats the Zhao army, with 赵葱 killed and 颜聚 fleeing, then takes 邯郸 and captures 赵迁 / 赵幽缪王. The source then keeps him stationed at 中山国 as a forward pressure point aimed at 燕国 rather than bringing him back to Xianyang with Ying Zheng.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-2｜燕国刺杀秦始皇为何会选荆轲 keeps Wang Jian mostly offstage but makes his position decisive for the episode’s pressure logic. Yan’s fear of Qin is not abstract: after Zhao’s capital falls, Wang Jian’s forward deployment helps make 燕太子丹 treat slow coalition repair as inadequate and consider assassination instead.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-2｜秦王大难不死之后干了件你不知道的事？ brings Wang Jian back as the executor of Qin’s retaliation. After 嬴政 / 秦始皇 survives 荆轲’s attack, he orders Wang Jian to attack 燕国, and the episode says Wang Jian defeats the Yan and 赵嘉 / 代国 joint force west of the Yi River. Wang Jian therefore links the failed palace assassination directly to Yan’s next battlefield disaster.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》116｜史上最惨太子：被父王亲手斩杀？！ extends that retaliation into Yan’s capital loss and the Chu command debate. With reinforcements, Wang Jian defeats the Yan-Dai coalition west of the Yi River and captures Ji in winter 226 BCE. Later, when Ying Zheng asks how many troops are needed to conquer 楚国, Wang Jian says 600,000 are required; after 李信 has answered 200,000, the host uses 锚定效应 to explain why Ying Zheng dismisses Wang Jian as old and overcautious, prompting Wang Jian to ask for sick leave.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》117-2｜学着点！秦朝武将竟然如此高情商？ vindicates Wang Jian’s 600,000-troop estimate after Li Xin and 蒙恬 are defeated by 项燕. 嬴政 / 秦始皇 personally asks Wang Jian to return, and the source treats the scene as a ruler admitting his own command-selection mistake rather than only blaming the failed young general. Wang Jian again requires 600,000 troops and asks for 蒙武 as deputy.

The same source makes Wang Jian a major case of 贪财人设式自保. Before and during departure he repeatedly asks Ying Zheng for estates around 咸阳, then explains that a suspicious ruler will fear a commander holding the whole state’s armed force if that commander appears to want nothing. In this reading, Wang Jian’s “greed” is a calculated performance of limited private ambition.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》118-1｜王翦率六十万大军 对战项燕！好戏开场了！ gives Wang Jian’s corrected Chu command its battlefield payoff. After Qin reaches Pingyu and Chu mobilizes under 项燕, Wang Jian refuses repeated challenges, keeps the army behind fortifications, and turns 秦国’s superior provisions into a waiting weapon. The source reads his later pursuit of the withdrawing Chu army as 坚壁耗敌式耐心: Wang Jian attacks only after Chu morale and supply have fallen while his own soldiers are rested, fed, and eager.

Qinji 118-2 extends the payoff beyond the first terminal battle. Wang Jian first attacks Chenying, neutralizing the 昌平君 problem that had helped break 李信’s campaign, then takes 寿春 and captures 楚王负刍. The episode keeps him with 蒙武 in the final attack where Changping Jun dies and 项燕 commits suicide, making Wang Jian the hinge between battlefield victory and 灭国后的郡县化过渡.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-3｜历史上第一位真正意义上“垂帘听政”太后 follows Wang Jian past Chu’s political endpoint into southern pacification. The source says he settles Jiangnan, subdues 百越, and establishes 会稽郡. It treats the notice as real southeastern expansion while cautioning that Qin’s deeper Lingnan incorporation belongs to a later post-unification campaign.

Connections

• 秦国 - state Wang Jian serves in the preview.
• 赵国 and 李牧 - later opponent state and commander named in the source’s closing hook.
• 桓齮, 杨端和, and 嬴政 / 秦始皇 - Qinji 111-1 co-commanders and ruler context.
• 燕国 and 弱国相争强国得利 - strategic opening created by Zhao’s Yan campaign.
• 白起 - source comparison for military ability and political survival.
• 秦国东进压力 - broader conquest pressure context.
• Qinji 113, 司马尚, 郭开, and 趁灾进攻时机 - final Zhao-front attack and indirect removal of the main opponent.
• Qinji 114-1, 邯郸, 赵葱, 颜聚, 赵迁 / 赵幽缪王, and 中山国 - final Zhao defeat, capital capture, and Yan-facing forward deployment.
• Qinji 114-2, 燕太子丹, 燕国, and 弱国刺杀式破局 - offstage military pressure behind Yan’s assassination turn.
• Qinji 115-2, 赵嘉, 代国, and 秦国东进压力 - post-assassination strike against the Yan-Dai coalition.
• Qinji 116, 李信, 蒙恬, 王贲, 楚国, and 锚定效应 - Yan capital capture and rejected 600,000-troop Chu estimate.
• Qinji 117-2, 项燕, 蒙武, 咸阳, and 贪财人设式自保 - failed first Chu campaign, Wang Jian’s return, and property-demand self-protection.
• Qinji 118-1, 坚壁耗敌式耐心, 同甘共苦式士气, 楚国, and 蕲南 - fortified waiting, morale reading, and decisive pursuit against Chu.
• Qinji 118-2, 昌平君, 熊负刍 / 楚王负刍, 项燕, and 灭国后的郡县化过渡 - Chenying, Shouchun, final resistance, and administrative aftermath.
• Qinji 119-3, 百越, and 会稽郡 - southern pacification and commandery setup after Chu’s fall.