In 206 BC, Liu Bang conquered Xianyang one step ahead of Xiang Yu, and ordered the army to block Xiang Yu outside Hangu Pass, Xiang Yu had 400,000 soldiers and horses, so he forcibly invaded, and then garrisoned at Hongmen, after this incident, Xiang Yu's relationship with Liu Bang was tense.
At that time, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu's strength was very different, and a frontal fight would definitely be a fiasco, so Liu Bang adopted the strategy of the strategist Zhang Liang to slow down the army; and Xiang Yu's adviser Fan Zeng saw through this incident that Liu Bang would be the biggest threat to Xiang Yu in the future, and he suggested to Xiang Yu that he should attack first and kill Liu Bang.
So Xiang Yu set up a banquet, feasted Liu Bang, this is a Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang will not know, and he decided to go to the banquet, it can be seen that he has some understanding of Xiang Yu's personality, if Liu Bang does not go to the banquet, Xiang Yu will definitely eradicate him, but Liu Bang went, Xiang Yu will hesitate.
Indeed, at the banquet, Xiang Yu did not order liu bang to be killed from beginning to end, and Liu Bang used the excuse of going to the toilet and summoned Fan Huan out, which is recorded in the "History of Xiang Yu Benji": "Pei Gong got up to go to the toilet, because of the invitation Fan Out. After Liu Bang explained a few words to Fan Duo, he quickly cut a short distance and fled.
But the Hongmen banquet was full of Chu troops, why did Liu Bang go to the toilet to escape? The truth is finally revealed. One of the reasons for this is the construction of ancient toilets, which were known to people who lived in rural areas in the 1970s and 1980s and had pigs at home, and that pigs were often next to the toilets, which could be used reasonably and easily disposed of.
And in the 1970s and 1980s, archaeologists found a number of groups of Han Dynasty pottery toilets in Xunyang, Shaanxi, thus learning about the shape of the han dynasty's latrines, and in addition to a variety of data, it can be learned that in ancient times, there were not a few people who escaped under the pretext of going to the latrines (the ancient latrines are as shown in the picture).
Liu Bang could also completely hide his identity from the latrine to the pigsty, and then use local materials to hide his identity, avoid the eyes and ears of the Chu army, and leave Xiang Yu's camp, and during this period, Xiang Yu, in order to humiliate Fan Duo, let people put on pig elbows, which shows that The Chu camp did raise some pigs, and the construction of the latrines in the camp was together with the pigsty.
The second reason is that Xiang Yu, Liu Bang wants the world, Xiang Yu can not not feel the crisis, so he set up a banquet to invite Liu Bang, if Liu Bang does not come, he and lead the army to attack, but Liu Bang came, and behaved calmly, which made Xiang Yu become very hesitant in his heart.
Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Bo looked anxious, so he pretended to dance the sword and wanted to assassinate Liu Bang, but he failed, and it was very clear whether he was an enemy or a friend, but Xiang Yu still did not order Liu Bang to be killed, so that Liu Bang had a chance to escape, and also fell into the evaluation of "the benevolence of a woman".
Moreover, Fan Duo later left the Chu camp safely, and the battle between Chu and Han was a foregone conclusion from this Feast at the Hongmen Gate, and Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, and Fan Duo won Liu Bang's trust and became Liu Bang's right-hand man.