This question is very interesting, why did General Pu, who followed Xiang Yu to fight the world, disappear inexplicably in the later stages? This is not a novel, the author writes that he forgot someone. What is the situation with General Pu? Listen to JAL Jun's breakdown below.
1. General Pu and his people
As an important figure in Xiang Yu's early army, General Pu did not have an independent biography, and his deeds were basically hidden in the "History of Xiang Yu Benji". Therefore, we can only look for the clues of General Pu from the "Xiang Yu Benji". General Pu first appeared in the Xiang Yu Benji when he followed Xiang Liang to cross the river and fight against the Qin army. According to the record:
"Xiang Liang crossed the Huai, and the generals Tuobu and Pu also belonged to the army. Where there are 60,000 or 70,000 people, the army is under the command of Pi. ”
First of all, I think that General Pu should initially be the leader of an independent rebel army similar to Tuobu, and then he came to Xiang Liang's command, so General Pu had his own team; secondly, Xiang Liang's army had about 60,000 or 70,000 people, of which about 10,000 were Xiang Liang's Jiangdong disciples, about 30,000 were the troops of the submissive Chen Infant, of which 20,000 or 30,000 people should be general Pu and Tuobu's troops, so it seems that General Pu's troops at that time should not be weak.
Here is General Pu's second appearance. It was also the appearance of General Pu in the Battle of the Giant Deer, according to the record:
"Nai sent Dangyang Jun and General Pu to cross the river with 20,000 pawns to save the deer."
We all know that before the Battle of Julu, General Pu's old master Xiang Liang had been killed, and according to the records of the "Biography of Yingbu Lie", general Pu and Yingbu were returned to Song Yi's men, and then Song Yi was killed by Xiang Yu, and General Pu was returned to Xiang Yu's command.
We don't know what General Pu's record was in the Battle of the Giant Deer. But a battle that followed revealed to us that General Pu was indeed a fierce man who was good at fighting, and his bravery should not be under the cloth. According to the record:
"Before the covenant was completed, Xiang Yu ordered General Pu to lead his troops to three households day and night, and the army of Zhangnan fought against Qin and then broke it."
We all know the fierceness of the Qin army, and General Pu was able to lead the army to break the Qin army, which is enough to show that General Pu's bravery and good fighting. After that, General Pu appeared on the scene to kill Qin Pawn. According to the record:
Xiang Yu summoned the generals Tuobu and Pu to ji Yue: "The Qin officials are still in the crowd, and their hearts are not convinced, and if they do not listen to Guanzhong, things will be in danger, so it is better to kill them, and Du and Zhang Handan, Chang Shixin, and Du Wei will enter Qin." "So the Chu army attacked qin at night with more than 200,000 qin pawns in the south of Xin'an City."
From this record, I think that Xiang Yu discussed this matter with General Pu and Yingbu, which shows that Xiang Yu attaches great importance to General Pu in his heart and regards him as a confidant. In addition, General Pu was also Xiang Yu's right-hand man, so he could get Xiang Yu's trust to kill Qin Pawn.
However, after the killing of Qin Zhao, there was no more record of General Pu, and the general's deeds seemed to have come to an abrupt end. It has to be said that in these records, Xiang Yu's generals such as Long Ji and Zhong Liyi were not mentioned, but generals Tuobu and Pu appeared repeatedly, which showed their position in Xiang Yu's army.
From the deeds of General Pu, we can draw the following conclusions:
1. Wherever there is cloth, there must be General Pu; 2. General Pu is Xiang Yu's right-hand man and confidant; 3. General Pu is brave and brave in battle.
Second, General Pu joined the Han army
To tell the truth, there are many theories about the whereabouts of General Pu in later generations, and one of the most important theories is that General Pu joined the Han Army. First of all, it is worth mentioning that we do not seem to know whether he was a general with the surname Puming or whether his fief was Puguo and then he was made a general. If his fiefdom is Puguo and is a general, then it means that Pu is not his real name. Therefore, a theory has emerged that Is, General Pu joined the Han army.
It just so happened that among the Han army, there was a person who was named "Marquis of Thorn Pu", and this person was Chen Wu. Chen Wu's return to the Han army in the Chronicle of History was in October of the second year. Many people think that this second year refers to the second year of the Han Dynasty, but I do not agree, I think this second year should refer to the second year of Chu, that is, the Zhang Chu regime established by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. (Mr. Tian Yuqing has an article dedicated to this era number issue.) If it is the second year of Chu, the time at this time is 207 BC, that is to say, when Chen Wu entered the Han Dynasty, it was in 207 BC. According to the record:
"Entered the Han Dynasty in October of the second year, and attacked the military tian tian and the marquis of Gong."
The year 208-207 BC was a year of many changes, with the Battle of Julu in 208 and Liu Bang entering the pass in 207. That is to say, Xiang Yu pit killed Qin Pawn exactly during this time period. Therefore, I speculate that it is possible that General Pu witnessed Xiang Yu's killing of Qin And then became discouraged by Xiang Yu and then surrendered to Liu Bang.
After General Pu joined Liu Bang, he changed his name back to Chen Wu and no longer called General Pu. So why did such a completely different title appear before and after the "Records of History" for General Pu and Chen Wu? I guess this is a kind of secluded brushwork of Sima Qian. If the inference that Chen Wu was General Pu was true, then General Pu, as Xiang Yu's confidant, betrayed Xiang Yu, which was disloyal to Xiang Yu; later, General Pu's son participated in the rebellion and was killed, which was disloyal to the Han. Although General Pu experienced ups and downs, I am afraid that it would be unfavorable for the unfaithful people to establish a legend for this reason. Sima Qian was afraid that he had already suffered a lot in the calamity of Li Ling. Therefore, Sima Qian simply divided the deeds of General Pu into two paragraphs in the book, one written in the name of General Pu and the other in the name of Chen Wu. This kind of writing of the same deed in the name of two people is indeed rare.
3. General Pu died of illness or death in battle
To be honest, we have written a lot of inferences above that General Pu is Chen Wu, but in the final analysis, it is still inference, and it cannot be used as a complete basis to draw conclusions. To be honest, I think that General Pu disappeared later, most likely because General Pu died of illness or died in battle.
We know that at that time, there was a lack of medical treatment during the war years, and anyone could die suddenly. It may be that general Pu died suddenly at that time, and the deeds were suspended, so it could only be hastily destroyed. But this is only an inference and cannot be taken seriously.
The above is my inference, welcome to discuss together.
Text: JAL Tongjian Map: From the Network and The Site, Invasion and Deletion