«——【Preamble】】 ——»
During the period of the struggle between Chu and Han, the emergence of Fan Zeng directly affected the trend of the struggle at that time. Fan Zeng's wisdom made his opponent sigh, Liu Bang said, "Xiang Yu has a Fan Zeng and can't use it, so he is captured for me." "What role did Fan Zeng play?
«——【Fan Zeng's Strategy·】——»
In the process of opposing Qin, its strategy played a key role, accelerating the demise of Qin; When Chu and Han were fighting, his strategy was not adopted by Xiang Yu, and the original strategy was destroyed, so that Fan Zengzhong left in anger and unfortunately died in the middle of the road.
Xiang Yu expelled Fan Zeng because of Chen Ping's discordant plan, and unfortunately killed himself on the bank of the Wujiang River. In "On Liyang Hou Fan Zeng" and "Yafu and Yafu Culture", Fan Zeng is discussed, but his strategy is not discussed in a concentrated manner, which seems to be a shortcoming.
Using "although Chu has three households, the death of Qin will be Chu" as a slogan and goal, it does have appeal. Wang Yinglin of the Song Dynasty said in the first volume of "Tongjian Q&A" "Pit Zhusheng": "Those who are bad for Qin are not fallacies, but worse than the Duke of Chu's 'Three Households Died in Qin'." "You can see the role of slogans.
Determine the policy of "establishing the king of Chu Huai and ordering the world to cut down Qin". At the time of Chen Shi, there were already many descendants of the six kingdoms of the princes in various places as kings or self-established kings. Chen Shi did not stand on his own and was killed.
At that time, the people believed that only the descendants of the six kingdoms were qualified to be kings, and the rest could not be kings.
Fan Zeng's strategy was approved by Xiang Liang, and was also adopted by many anti-Qin forces in the Xue Cheng Society, including Liu Bang. As soon as Fan Zeng appeared, he kicked off the anti-Qin prelude. "From the people's expectations" is its core.
This decision originated from the people, obeyed the will of the people, whether it was a slogan or a king of Lichuhuai, it was all based on the will of the people. This is the fundamental policy of opposing Qin. It's a pity that Xiong Xin was later killed by Xiang Yu, which ruined Fan Zeng's strategy and was used by his opponent Liu Bang as a reason to crusade against Xiang Yu.
Fan Zeng's purpose was to establish the kingdom of Great Chu from the expectations of the people. This is the purpose of establishing Xiongxin as the king of Chu, but unfortunately this plan was not realized.
«——【·Changes in the clouds·】——»
The changes in natural phenomena brought about by the change of clouds were quite mysterious in ancient times, and there seemed to be all kinds of hints from God. "The Timing General Examination" Volume 4 "Wangqi Sutra: If there is fog on June 3, the year will be ripe" "The Timing General Examination" Volume 5 "Wangqi Sutra: Fog on July 3, the year is ripe"
"Wangqi" soon became a kind of religious activity of the ancients, and was often used in military affairs, "Mozi" Volume 15: "Where there is a great general, there is a small general, there is a past, there is a coming, there is a defeat, and those who can understand this can know success or failure, good luck and evil."
"Wangqi" often looks at the gas of the region and judges the spirit of the king; Look at the anger of people, and infer the wealth of people. But it is more based on the qi of the region and the qi of someone, judging whether it is the qi of the Son of Heaven. During the Qin and Han dynasties, "Wangqi" was popular, and it was often connected with "Wang Qi" and "Qi of the Son of Heaven", and many of them were related to regions.
As a ruler, the most important thing to watch out for is to replace him with a person who has the "breath of the Son of Heaven." "Historical Records: Gaozu Benji": "Qin Shi Huang Chang 'has the spirit of heaven in the southeast. So he traveled east to kill him. ""Suoyin" quotes "Erya" cloud "Oh, the town also." ”
It can be seen that Qin Shi Huang's parade is directly related to "the southeast has the spirit of the son of heaven". At that time, Qin Shi Huang recruited magicians, "waiting for the stars to be qi up to 300 people", including some "qi seekers". Qin was not at ease with the rule of Chu after all.
Chen Sheng, Xiang Liang, and Liu Bang did raise troops in the southeast. Liu Bang later became the son of the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that the profound influence of "Wangqi" on the society at that time: since then, various dynasties have attached great importance to the Qi of the Son of Heaven, and many behaviors are caused by "Wangqi".
Fan Zeng was not only a general, but also a military strategist. Home is to have a vision, be good at observation, analyze concretely, and be able to predict future development trends. From the perspective of "hope", he speculated that "the one who wins the king of the world will be Pei Gongye".
At the same time, Fan Zeng did not rely solely on the legal persuasion of "Wangqi", but first analyzed Liu Bang's motivation and external manifestations in detail, and put forward strong behavioral evidence. Use a comparative method: when Liu Bang was in Shandong, he was greedy for money and lustful, and had no ambitions; Now that I have entered the customs, I am not greedy for money, I am not lustful, and this ambition is not small.
This really speaks for itself. In addition, it is desirable, the shape is a dragon and tiger, and the color is colorful, and this shape and color is the breath of the Son of Heaven. This is linked to Qin Shi Huang's "southeast has the spirit of the son of heaven". Xiang Yu had to believe it, so he prepared to attack Liu Bang the next day.
It's a pity that he was betrayed by Xiang Bo and didn't attack. Fan Zeng borrowed Wangqi to get rid of Liu Bang, which was one of his strategies. There is no right or wrong way to do this. At the Hongmen banquet, he wanted Xiang Zhuang to assassinate Liu Bang, but he was unsuccessful because Xiang Bo blocked him.
The strategy of dividing the kings was adopted to restrict Liu Bang. Fan Zeng wanted to overthrow the Qin Dynasty, and his goal had been achieved; It will take time to establish the country of Great Chu and "after the restoration of Chu". He originally planned that King Huai would be the lord of the world, and King Huai would be the emperor, and the kings would be divided.
«——【Fan Zeng Strategy Evaluation·】——»
Fan Zeng's strategy has always been evaluated differently. Represented by Su Shi, Fan Zeng is considered to be a masterpiece; Represented by Hong Mai, Fan Zeng is not a masterpiece. In the era of Han rivalry, Han Gaozu was the first to be recommended, and he believed that "these three (Zhang Zifang, Xiao He, Han Xin) are all outstanding people, and I can use them, so I take the world."
Chen Ping thinks that "Xiang Wang's ministers and fathers", "Xiang Wang is jealous of believing in slander, and he will be punished internally", Chen Ping implemented the counter-plan, and it really worked, and the father heard that Xiang Wang was suspicious, and he was angry and said, "The world is decided, and the king does it himself!" Please return the bones!'"
The King of Han and his generals all thought that Fan Zeng was a wizard, a hero, and a virtuous general, but he was not reused by Xiang Yu, which was the reason for Xiang Yu's failure. When he said that he killed Song Yi, he did not point out that Fan Zeng was present. Song Yi, Xiang Yu, and Fan Zeng were generals, and each of them had a camp.
When he ordered the army, Fan Zeng should belong to the list of generals, and he only knew at this time. Therefore, Hong Mai's "Rong Zhai Essays" accuses "Yu Zhi of killing Zhao, killing the general Song Yi, increasing him to the last general, and sitting and watching" is unreasonable. Of course, Xiang Yu was not wrong to kill Song Yi.
The Qing people said that "step by step is a constraint for it", and the opponent said that Xiang Yu was negative. The covenant of the king is: the king who breaks the Tai into Xianyang first. There is no specific implementation plan for King Huai's agreement, but only a general agreement. Xiang Yu attacked the frontal fierce enemy, that is, Zhang Han's troops-Xiang Liang had died in battle.
There are two main differences between Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu: first, Fan Zeng established the king and wanted to establish a unified Chu state. Xiang Yu abandoned King Chu Huai, set himself up as a king, divided the princes and kings, and wanted to be the overlord, not the son of heaven. ”
Fan Zeng had already seen that Liu Bang was the one who would win the world in the future, so he wanted to eliminate Liu Bang's group; Although Xiang Yu also knew that Liu Bang was his opponent, he was indecisive about Liu Bang and had "women's benevolence".
Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu have many contradictions in terms of personality. Fan Zeng was originally a general under Xiang Yan, loyal to the Xiang family, and carefully planned for the Xiang family: Xiang Yu's noble descendants, with many aristocratic genes, can fight habitually, but they are rigid and self-serving, and the employment of people is mainly Xiang's, and non-Xiang's talents are not reused.
Hongmen banquet letter Xiang Bo's words, and the meaning of absolute increase is proof. Fan Zeng is already in his old age, experienced, although he has a plan, but he lacks patience to persuade, and often admonishes Xiang Yu as an elder.
Xiang Yu was young and willful, killed Song Yi, defeated Zhang Han, was brave, and shocked the princes, but he was rarely able to admonish. Han Xin was originally under Xiang Yu's tent, "Yu thought it was Langzhong." The number is to do Xiang Yu, and the feather is not used". Han Zhi Chen Pingyuan was under Xiang Yu's tent, and later ran to Liu Bang.
Fan Zeng's hatred of Qin is the hatred of the Great Chu and the hatred of the country, and it is the hatred of the country, which is intended to restore the society of the Chu State; Xiang Yu's hatred of Qin is the hatred of the Xiang family, grandfather Xiang Yan and uncle Xiang Liang were killed by Qin, and the Xiang family died everywhere. Xiang Yu was particularly hostile and violent towards Qin.
«——【·Conclusion·】——»
His strategic design directly influenced the course of the war. From the people's prestige is the basis of his design strategy, which has reference value today in the anti-Qin, his slogan of "although Chu has three households, the death of Qin will be Chu" and the strategy of "cherishing the heart of the king and grandson".
His exploits gradually became apparent in the war against Qin. Fan Zeng opposed self-establishment as the king, and wanted to establish the king of Chu Huai and establish the unification of the Chu state, but Xiang Yu violated Fan Zeng's intentions and strategies, exiled the king of Huai, killed the righteous emperor, established himself as the overlord of Western Chu, divided the princes, and continued to conquer, so that he failed to establish the state of Great Chu.
Fan Zeng inspected Liu Bang's behavior before and after, "combined" with his hope, and determined that Liu Bang was the political enemy who seized Xiang Yu's world, which was the foresight of the famous family. In view of this, Fan Zeng asked Xiang Yu to attack Liu Bang, tried to kill Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, and Xingyang besieged Liu Bang, which caused Liu Bang to die quickly.
Information sources:
Historical Records