Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was called the emperor

One

Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was born in Fengyi, Pei County, and was born in Feng County, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Liu Bang, born in 256 BC and died in 194 BC, was the founder of the Han Dynasty. In the year Liu Bang was born, King Hao of Zhou, the last king of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, surrendered to the state of Qin and died in the same year, and the Eastern Zhou perished. Around the year that King Zhou Ping moved eastward, Rome's founding king, Romulu, was born. Thirty years before Liu Bang's birth, the hierarchical conflict that lasted for more than 200 years in the Roman Republic ended, and the Roman commoners obtained the same suffrage as the aristocracy, and the political system changed from an aristocratic republic to a democratic republic. When Liu Bang was thirty-five years old, Qin unified China. Qin Shi Huang abolished the feudal system and implemented the county system, sounding the death knell of the monarchical feudal system that lasted for more than 1,000 years and ran through the third dynasty of the Xia and Shang dynasties. Liu Bang's establishment of the Han Dynasty marked the completion of China's transition from a monarchical feudal system to a totalitarian monarchy and entered the era of absolute monarchy. Liu Bang is the first person to be the emperor from the grassroots, and he is the person whose capital other than real ability is equal to zero, but he is not the last.

It's not surprising that we don't know much about Liu Bang's background. Liu Bang was the first grassroots emperor, and his father Liu Taigong was a farmer, not a noble family, so naturally he had no family background to show off. However, Liu Bang is the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, a generation of heroes, and God naturally can't say nothing when he was born. It is said that his mother once rested by the river and dreamed that she was dating a god. At that time, lightning flashed and thundered, and the sky was dark. Mrs. Liu cared about his wife, and hurriedly ran to investigate, but found that there was a dragon wrapped around his wife's body. Soon Mrs. Liu became pregnant, conceived in October, and gave birth to Liu Bang. Therefore, although Liu Bang's father was only a farmer, he was a dragon species, so he later became the emperor. Of course, this story is likely to have been fabricated by someone after Liu Bang's success in order to put gold on his face, and it may also be an invention of Empress Lu, who was very good at this.

According to historical records, Liu Bang was "upright and long-faced", with a beautiful beard and 72 black moles on his left leg. That is to say, Liu Bang has a towering nose bridge, and the heavenly court is full, and the photo book says that this is a natural emperor. Liu Bang is a big man, he is lazy at home, he doesn't work, and he is often beaten by his father Liu Taigong. After Liu Bang became an adult, he left his hometown Feng County and went to the neighboring Pei County to become a civil servant, and became the chief of the Surabaya Pavilion, which is equivalent to the director of the police station and a section-level cadre in charge of the security of Surabaya. Liu Bang should still have read some books, after the unification of the Qin State, he burned books and pit Confucianism, stipulating that all officials should be teachers, and if they want to be civil servants, they must study law and pass the civil service examination. Therefore, Liu Bang is not an illiterate old man, he just doesn't learn. Liu Bang is very rude to people, and everyone he works with has been teased by him. He especially hated Confucianism, and when he saw him, he would insult him. It is no wonder that Qin Shi Huang reused Legalist figures, burned books and pit Confucianism, and Confucianism was naturally despised, just like the stinky old nine during the Cultural Revolution, Liu Bang was also a layman, and he could not be affected by secular prejudices. Liu Bang is also greedy and lustful, and often drinks on credit in the wine shop, and gets drunk as soon as he drinks. At the beginning, the restaurant often bullied him, and the price of wine sold to him was several times higher than usual, and Liu Bang didn't care. Later, strange things happened to Liu Bang one after another, and the wine sold to him by the restaurant was often discounted.

Once, Liu Bang went on a business trip to Xianyang, the capital of Qin, and happened to see Qin Shi Huang traveling, waving flags, standing in a forest of halberds, and noisy drums, and the style was extraordinary. Liu Bang was so envious that his saliva flowed out, and he sighed and said, "Oh, the eldest husband should be like this!" "In those days, to say such things was to lose your head, and it was sinful to even think about it. There are only three people in the world who have this kind of thought, one is Chen Sheng, and the primary school students all know that when he rebelled, he issued the eternal swan song of "The prince will have a kind of Xiangning". The other is Xiang Yu, who also saw Qin Shi Huang's guard of honor and said: "He can take his place." "Then there is Liu Bang. It can be seen that Liu Bang was only envious at this time, and he had no idea of becoming an emperor. Chen Sheng was just dissatisfied with his current situation, fantasizing that one day he would become a prime minister and be crowned a wife and son, and he did not have the idea of replacing Qin Shi Huang, and it was Xiang Yu who really had the idea of becoming an emperor. They all made history later, Chen Sheng started, Xiang Yu continued, and Liu Bang finished.

Liu Bang's wife Lu Pheasant is also a female middle dragon and phoenix. Liu Bang's experience of finding this wife is worth mentioning. Lu Pheasant's father, Lu Gong, is a single father, and the single father is today's Shanxian County, Shandong Province. Lu Gong has a feud with others, and he can't mix in his hometown. It just so happened that he was good friends with the county magistrate of Pei County, so he ran to Pei County to avoid trouble. When the officials of Pei County heard that the county magistrate had come to the distinguished guests, they all came to send money and pat their ass. Xiao He is the chief official of Pei County, equivalent to the Minister of Personnel, and is responsible for the general reception of guests. He told everyone: "Those who give gifts of less than 1,000 yuan can only sit in the hall." Liu Bang swaggered in and said, "Congratulations to 10,000 yuan!" Lu Gong was shocked when he heard this, and thought to himself which local tyrant was this, so generous? Hurried out. Liu Bang actually didn't bring a penny, he came to eat white food, but Lu Gong didn't care at all. It turns out that Lu Pingping likes to give people face-to-face every day. As soon as he saw that Liu Bang was extraordinary in appearance and imposing, he liked him in his heart, and hurriedly invited him. Xiao He saw that the old man was going to be fooled, and hurriedly reminded him: "Liu Ji likes to talk big, and he can't do anything." Lu Gong didn't care at all. Whether Xiao He really said this sentence is debatable in the historical records. "Historical Records: Xiao Xiangguo's Family" said: "Who is Xiao Xiangguo, PlaNet People are also." The text is harmless, and it is the main official. When Gaozu was clothed, how many people protected Gaozu with officials. It means that Xiao He is the head of the county organization, and when Liu Bang has not yet made a career, Xiao He often covers him. With their relationship, Xiao He would not hurt Liu Bang so much in front of Duke Lu. In any case, Xiao He later completely changed his opinion. Liu Bang didn't give in, and went straight to the position of the guest of honor and sat down. After the banquet, Duke Lu left Liu Bang behind. Lu Gong said: "I usually like to give people faces, and I have read countless people. I see that you have a strange face, rare in the world, and will be unspeakably precious in the future, please love yourself. I have a daughter, and I want to marry her to you as a daughter-in-law. This Lu Gong's temperament was too anxious, but his wife was angry, and Mrs. Lu said: "Don't you often say that our daughter has a good life and has to marry a nobleman?" The county magistrate of Peixian County proposed to you, but you didn't agree, why did you marry her to a poor bastard like Liu Ji? Lu Gong said, "What do you know about the Taoist family?" "Married his daughter to Liu Bang. If you want to say that this Lu Gong can pinch and calculate, he sees that Liu Bang is a real dragon and will ascend the throne as an emperor sooner or later, and the ghosts don't believe it. But the world is going to be chaotic, he must know it. If a person like Liu Bang is placed in peacetime, that is, a petty official who eats and drinks, he will not have a big future. Heroes in troubled times are swarming, heroes don't ask where they come from, a daring person like Liu Bang must be more comfortable than a cautious person like Xiao He. Lu Gong is not a fortune teller, he just has a political vision and made a political investment in his daughter. He became Yingzheng's mother - win hemp!

Lu Hou is not an ordinary person, she has helped Liu Bang's career a lot. It is mainly manifested in her firm encouragement and support for Liu Bang to do great things, and to help Liu Bang create a superstitious aura of a true son. It is said that once Empress Lu was weeding in the field with her two children, and an old gentleman passed by and asked them for water. Empress Lu was very enthusiastic about the old man, not only giving him drink, but also food. The old man couldn't repay him, so he showed Empress Lu his face. After reading it, the old man said in a loud voice: "Madam, you are a noble person in the world!" Empress Lu was very happy, and asked him to show the two children as well, and the old man said, "The reason why you can get rich and rich is all because of this son of yours." "In ancient times, women had no status, and mothers were more precious than children. After Liu Bang went home, Empress Lu told him that there was an old man who gave our mother and son a face-to-face, saying that we are all rich and noble people, why don't you go and let him see it? When Liu Bang heard this, he hurriedly chased out, found the old man, and asked him to give him a face. The old man said, "Both the lady and the child look like you, and you are very valuable in terms of countenance." Liu Bang thanked the old man and said, "If you are right, I will definitely repay you in the future." "Later, Liu Bang became the emperor and sent someone to find the old man, where can he find it?

The old man may have just said some compliments to repay Empress Lu for a meal, or he may really be a blind fortune teller. If this is an ordinary person, he may smile after listening to it, and it will pass, and he will not take it too seriously. Those who are interested may also use this to inspire themselves. But he is Liu Bang, a person who saw Qin Shi Huang's honor guard and sighed "The husband should be like this", and the old man woke up the person in his dream with a word. I even think that this old man was probably arranged by Empress Lu in order to activate her husband's sleeping potential. This Empress Lu is not an ordinary village woman, she will guard a greedy and lustful husband with peace of mind, and live a life facing the loess with her back to the sky, but a woman whose heart is higher than the sky. If this is a time of peace, Empress Lu can only sigh to himself, but it is a troubled time, and opportunities favor people with hearts. The reason why Liu Bang dared to rebel, and later competed with Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, for the world is inseparable from the hints, encouragement and support of Empress Lu.

Empress Lu not only used superstition to encourage her husband to do great things, but also weaved one mysterious aura after another for her husband. Qin Shi Huang built the Afang Palace, and built a mausoleum in Lishan, and recruited a large number of migrant workers from all over the world, mobilizing 800,000 people at the most. Liu Bang, as the head of the Surabaya Pavilion, was responsible for transporting the coolies to Lishan for the county to repair the tomb. These coolies were not normally assigned, and Qin Shi Huang said that under his rule, the people were not subject to conscription. These people were all sent to labor reform as criminals, and the laws of the Qin Dynasty were dense and harsh, and people could easily break the law, and free coolies were endless. The people who were sent to repair the tomb and build the Great Wall basically went and never returned, so most of these people fled without going far. Liu Bang estimated that when he reached his destination, he was afraid that there would be no one left. I can't pay the difference, and according to the laws of the Qin Dynasty, dereliction of duty is to kill the head. Liu Bang's heart was crossed, and he said to the rest of the people: "Don't follow me, run for your life, I'm going to hide too." More than a dozen bold people in the team immediately expressed their willingness to stay and make a revolution with Section Chief Liu. On this day, they were going to cross a river. Liu Bang asked a man to explore the way ahead, and the man came back and reported: "There is a big snake in front of you, hurry up and turn back." Liu Bang was already drunk, and with the strength of the wine, he patted his chest and said: "Go forward boldly, I'm afraid of a ball!" Liu Bang took the lead and stepped forward, drew his sword, and cut the snake into two pieces. Originally, killing a python was not a big deal. But a well-intentioned person made up a story and deified it. Here's the story. Someone passed by the place where Liu Bang cut the snake and saw an old woman crying there. Passers-by asked her why she was crying? The old woman said, "I cried because someone had killed my son." The passer-by asked, "Why was your son killed?" The old woman said, "My son is the White Emperor, and he turned into a snake and stood in the way, and was killed by the Red Emperor." "The White Emperor Shaohao is the ancestor of Ying Qin, and the Red Emperor is the Yan Emperor. The White Emperor was the emperor of the Qin Dynasty, and the Red Emperor was of course Liu Bang, so the royal family surnamed Liu was later called Yan Liu. Liu Bang's snake slaying rebellion was deified as he would overthrow the Qin dynasty and replace it. But this story is likely also made up by Empress Lü. Liu Bang was an outlaw at that time, the day was precarious, and it was too late to escape, how could he have the heart to overthrow the Qin Dynasty and become the emperor? He is surrounded by fugitive criminals, and he does not have such qualities. Empress Lu was influenced by her father, Lu Gong, and has always dreamed of wealth and nobility, and only she can make up such a story. After hearing this, Liu Bang felt very useful, and he was even more unsightly, and the people around him became more and more afraid of him. We don't know if Xiang Yu knows this story. If he had known about it a long time ago, but he didn't take it seriously and put Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, it could only show that Xiang Yu lacked a string in politics. Liu Bang has already announced that he has a few romantic figures, but Xiang Yu is ignorant and has always been a fool!

Empress Lu is indeed a master of god making. When Liu Bang just rebelled, in order to avoid the pursuit of the government, he hid in Mangdang Mountain at the junction of Henan, Anhui and Sulu all day long. It is difficult for ordinary people to find him, but Empress Lu can easily find him. This is actually not difficult to understand, Lu Hou is most familiar with Liu Bang's habits! But Empress Lu can even add fuel to this and make up a myth that is very beneficial to Liu Bang. Liu Bang himself felt strange: How do you know where I am hiding? Do you have special abilities? Lu Hou said: "There are often clouds above your head where you are hiding, and I can always find them as long as I follow the clouds to find them." When Liu Bang heard this, he felt even more that he was not an ordinary person. The people in Pei County who heard this story felt that Liu Bang was the chosen one, and there must be a head start in the revolution with him, and everyone wanted to take refuge in Liu Bang. It is said that behind every successful man there is a virtuous helper, which is not unreasonable. Empress Lu not only used superstition to cheer up her husband and strengthen her husband's confidence, but also helped him publicize and shape his image, which played an important role in the early days of Liu Bang's rebellion. "Historical Records" said that Empress Lu was resolute and assisted Liu Bang to pacify the world, and Han Xin, Yingbu and other meritorious officials were killed, all of which were personally done or came up with ideas. Mrs. Qi is Liu Bang's favorite concubine, and Liu Bang once had the idea of making Mrs. Qi's son Zhao Wang Ruyi the crown prince. As soon as Liu Bang died, Empress Lu cut off Mrs. Qi's hands and feet, made her an adult, threw her into the toilet, and cruelly took her son Liu Ying, Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty, to watch. It can be seen how "powerful" Lu Hou's heart is. Because of this, she was able to reign in the dynasty for 16 years after Liu Bang's death, becoming the first de facto empress in Chinese history.

Two

Qin II favored Zhao Gao and was lascivious day and night. He restarted the construction of Afang Palace, and recruited 50,000 strong men to guard Xianyang for military training. These people, dogs, horses, birds and beasts consumed a lot of food, and Xianyang could not supply it, so they transferred it to the county. The migrant workers who transported the grain brought their own grain, and people within 300 miles of Xianyang were forbidden to eat this batch of grain.

Under the repressive rule, the people are struggling to make a living. In 209 BC, in July of the first year of Qin II, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled. This was the first violent revolution in Chinese history launched by the people at the bottom for the purpose of changing the dynasty, and its scale and far-reaching impact were unprecedented, marking that the change of dynasties led by the aristocracy characterized by the Zen concession system and the Tangwu Revolution in China became history, and the violent revolution of overthrowing the monarchy from the bottom up became the main form of changing the dynasty. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were both farmers. Chen Sheng worked as a long-term worker when he was young, and once, when he was working in the field, he suddenly threw down his hoe halfway and came up with a sentence: "Gou Fugui, no forget!" The people who worked together laughed at him for being stupid and said, "You are a long-term worker, and plowing is your life, where do you get rich?" Chen Sheng sighed and said, "Alas, how does the little sparrow know the ambition of the wild goose!" ”

Qin Shi Huang ruled the world, in order to ensure that the Great Qin Dynasty was forever solid, and his descendants ruled the country for all generations, he sent 300,000 troops to the north to attack the Xiongnu, and requisitioned hundreds of thousands of people to build the Great Wall. He also built the Afang Palace and sent troops to attack Lingnan. Several major projects have mobilized millions of manpower before and after, and countless people have died, and the people of the world are miserable. In the Qin Dynasty, the common people took 25 families as a group, the rich lived on the right side of Lu, and the poor lived on the left side of Lu. The Qin Dynasty conscripted soldiers and people, and the government did not care about the equipment, and the conscripts had to pay for their own equipment and expenses. So in the beginning, it was the wealthy people who lived in Luyou who were conscripted, because they were the only ones who could afford to buy equipment. When the rich ran out, they began to recruit the poor from the left. Once an authoritarian regime disturbs the lowest groups, it is not far from extinction.

In this year, the Qin State levied 900 poor people from Luzuo to guard Yuyang. Yuyang is in what is now Miyun County, Beijing. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were appointed as the commanders of this team and were escorted to their destination by two officers. At that time, it was the rainy season, and when I walked to Daze Township, the road was interrupted and I could not move forward. Daze Township is forty miles southeast of today's Suzhou City, Anhui Province. Obviously, in this case, they will definitely not be able to walk to Yuyang according to the stipulated time. The Qin Dynasty was known for its harsh laws, and the Qin government did not have force majeure. According to the law, if time is delayed, all the people will have to be killed. As the saying goes, a rabbit will bite when it's urgent. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang summed up together: "If we flee now, we will be caught and killed; If you rise up and rebel, you will die. Anyway, it's all dead, it's better to go out and do a big vote. Chen Sheng said: "The world has been suffering for a long time! I heard that Qin II's buddies and brothers were at the bottom of the line, and it was not his turn to sit in the big position, and the emperor should be the eldest son Fusu. However, Fusu often admonished the emperor, which made Qin Shi Huang unhappy and was sent outside to lead troops. It is said that he did not commit any crime, but was killed by Qin II. The people thought he was a good man, but they didn't know that he was dead. Xiang Yan, the general of the Chu State, fought many victories and was deeply loved by the Chu people, and some people thought that he was still alive. If our team is under the banner of Fusu and Xiang Yan, there will definitely be many people responding. It can be seen that Chen Sheng usually reads books and newspapers, and knows a little about current affairs, but he is not a fool who only knows how to work hard. Wu Guang agreed with Chen Sheng, and the two of them found someone to divination, and the fortune teller knew what they wanted to do, so he said: "Everything you want to do will be successful, but you still have to ask the ghosts and gods if they are unlucky." A word woke up the dreamer, and the two said, "This is teaching us to establish prestige!" So he took a piece of cloth, wrote the words "Chen Shengwang", and stuffed it into the belly of the fish caught by others. The pawn bought fish to cook, and found the silk book in the fish's stomach, and couldn't help muttering in his heart. Chen Sheng asked Wu Guang to go to the nearby temple at night, light a bonfire, and shout in imitation of the voice of the fox fairy: "Great Chuxing, King Chen Sheng!" The soldiers were shocked. The next day, everyone looked at Chen Sheng and whispered.

Wu Guang is popular, and the soldiers all obey his orders. The escorted officer was drunk, and Wu Guang provoked him with words, and the officer beat Wu Guang, arousing public anger. Wu Guang snatched the officer's sword and killed him, and Chen Sheng also stepped forward to help and killed the two captains. The two men gathered the guards together and said, "When it rains heavily, we have missed the deadline and committed a capital crime. Even if they were not put to death, six or seven out of ten would not survive as pawns. If a strong man doesn't die, he has to die vigorously. The prince will have a kind of Xiangning! Everyone happily obeyed their orders, under the banner of Fusu and Xiang Yan, in order to obey the will of the people. Set up an altar oath, Chen Sheng proclaimed himself a general, and appointed Wu Guang as the captain. Chop wood for soldiers, uncover poles for flags, and launch an uprising, which is known as the Daze Township Uprising in history. The heroes of the world responded one after another, and soon, the uprising swept the whole country like a fire, and even Confucius's eighth grandson, Kong Kun, ran away from the national strength and defected to Chen Sheng. Chen Sheng was like a bamboo, and when he arrived in Chen County, he already had six or seven hundred military vehicles, more than 1,000 cavalry, and tens of thousands of soldiers.

The heroic fathers of Chen County patted Chen Sheng's sycophants and issued requests one after another, asking Chen Sheng to establish himself as the king of Chu. Chen Sheng heard that Zhang Er and Chen Yu of Daliang were knowledgeable, so he asked for their opinions. The two replied: "Qin practiced tyranny, destroyed the country, and tyrannized the people. The general was born and died, and eliminated violence for the world. Now that you have just arrived in Chen County, you can't wait to be the king, which is to expose your selfishness to the world. It is hoped that the general will not be the king and immediately lead his troops westward. Send people to support the descendants of the kings of the six countries, cultivate party henchmen for themselves, and increase enemies for the Qin Dynasty. When there are more enemies, the forces will inevitably be dispersed, and the more allies there are, the stronger the military will be. In this way, the Qin State had no soldiers in the field and no one to defend the city, so the general could destroy the tyrannical Qin, occupy Xianyang, and order the princes of the world. The princes of the dead country will be grateful to you, and your imperial cause will be accomplished. Now that you only occupy one Chen County and claim to be the king, I am afraid that everyone in the world will wash and sleep. Chen Sheng didn't listen, set himself up as the king, and founded the country with the name Zhang Chu. Chen County is in what is now Huaiyang District, Zhoukou City, Henan Province.

It can be seen that Chen Sheng's so-called "ambition of the bird" is only a small goal, and he does not have the great ideal of ending tyranny and building a reasonable society. "The prince and the prince will have a kind of peace", which truly expressed the wish in his heart, that is, to be a prince and general. Therefore, after capturing the big city of Chen County, he couldn't wait to be called king. Compared with Liu Bang's envy of Qin Shihuang's pomp and disdain for Xiang Yu's replacement, Chen Sheng's pattern is still a little smaller, which determines the height of his career. Maybe this has something to do with Chen Sheng's long-term work and lack of opportunity to see the world, right?

When Chen Sheng launched the uprising, Liu Bang had already broken away from the organization before him and went to the mountains to fight guerrillas. Chen Sheng called on the people of the world to rise up and rebel, and many counties responded one after another, killing the officials of the Qin Dynasty and defecting to Chen Sheng. When the news reached Pei County, the county magistrate was very afraid. As soon as he summed it up, it was better to take the initiative to revolution, so as not to be rebelled against and lose his head. The county commander told his subordinates Xiao He and Cao Shen his thoughts, and Xiao and Cao said: "Your Excellency is the official of the Qin Dynasty, and you usually offend people. Now that you want to rebel, I'm afraid the people of Peixian County won't listen to your orders. It's better to find the exiled outlaws first, there are hundreds of them, and use them to suppress the people, who dares to disagree? As soon as the county order heard that it made sense, he ordered Liu Bang's brother-in-law Fan Hao to find Liu Bang back. At this time, Liu Bang already had hundreds of people under him.

Whether Xiao He and Cao Shen's idea was to eat inside and out, and colluded with Liu Bang in advance, we don't know. Xiao Hepei, a native of the county, was appointed as the chief official because of his good writing of official documents, which is equivalent to the county personnel minister. When Liu Bang was still a cloth cloth, Xiao He covered him several times. Liu Bang was the pavilion chief, and Xiao He often protected him. Liu Bang went to Xianyang on a business trip, and the gift money given by others was 300 yuan, but only Xiao He gave 500 yuan. The difference between these two coins has been remembered by Liu Bang for a lifetime. Cao Shen is the prison Peng of Pei County and Xiao He's subordinate. They clearly had a bad idea. The officials appointed by the Qin Dynasty are all cool officials, who usually help the court do all the bad things, and there is no one who does it at a critical moment. Fan Hao found Liu Bang, but the county order regretted it. He was afraid that he would not be able to control Liu Bang, so he hurriedly closed the city gate and sent troops to guard it. He also wanted to attack Xiao He and Cao Shen, which frightened the two. They climbed over the city wall and defected to Liu Bang. Liu Bang did not launch a strong attack on Peixian, but launched a psychological war. He wrote a letter and shot an arrow into the city. The letter said: "The world has been suffering for a long time. You defend the city for the county order, but at present, there is a rebellion everywhere, and your city will be breached sooner or later. It's better for you to take the initiative, kill the county order, choose a capable person to be the leader, and respond to the rebellious princes, which is good for everyone. Otherwise, on the day the city is broken, everyone will have to die, which is not worth it. As soon as the people of Pei County heard that it made sense, everyone killed the county order together, opened the city gate, and took Liu Bang in, and they wanted to worship Liu Bang as the county order. Liu Bang was very modest at this time, he said: "If there is chaos today, heroes rise together, if we don't find a capable person to lead everyone, we will be defeated in the future." It's not that I cherish myself, I'm afraid that it won't be the material, and I'll delay everyone. You'd better find someone better than me to do it. "Xiao He and the others usually have a higher position than Liu Bang and are more capable, but they are all civil officials, and they are timid, afraid that if the rebellion fails, the Qin government will settle accounts with them and destroy their nine clans. Therefore, they all left a way back for themselves and competed to give up the big position to Liu Bang. The fathers and elders of Pei County also said: "We usually hear that all kinds of strange things have happened to Liu Ji, and this person will develop sooner or later." And the result of divination is also the most auspicious for Liu Ji. It can't be wrong to let him do it. Liu Bangqian gave up many times, but no one dared to sit in that position. So everyone elected Liu Bang as Pei Gong, worshiped the Yellow Emperor and Chi You, and ordered the people. Liu Bang, Xiao He, Cao Shen, Fan Xu and others recruited troops and horses, and pulled up a team of two or three thousand people. They used red as the color of their banner, because legend has it that the snake that Liu Bang killed was the White Emperor, who was the Red Emperor. It can be said that at this time, Liu Bang was already thinking about how to overthrow the Qin Dynasty and replace it, with a high starting point, clear goals, full fermentation of public opinion, and opportunities naturally favor those who are prepared.

Look back at Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. After Chen Sheng's uprising, various counties killed local Qin Dynasty officials in response to Chen Sheng. Zhou Zhang, also known as Zhou Wen, a native of Chen County, once served as a soothsayer under the Chu general Xiang Yan, and was a little famous. He boasted about Haikou, saying that he knew the art of war, and Chen Sheng was bluffed by him and named him a general. In the second year of the Second Emperor, in 208 BC, Chen Sheng sent Zhou Zhang to the west to attack the Qin state. Along the way, Zhou Zhang's ranks continued to grow, and by the time they arrived at Tongguan, the army had grown to hundreds of thousands. Qin II was shocked, and hurriedly pardoned the coolies who built the mausoleum in Lishan, issued them weapons, and ordered Shaofu Zhang Han to lead them to meet Zhou Zhang. Zhou Zhang's army was a rabble, and although it was large in number, its combat effectiveness was not strong. Zhou Zhang is just a mouthful general, and Zhang Han is a famous general at the end of Qin. Zhou Zhang was not an opponent, and was defeated by Zhang Han and fled. Zhang Han then chased after him, and then defeated Zhou Zhang's army at Mianchi, Henan, and Zhou Zhang committed suicide.

Zhang Er and Chen Yu were celebrities in the Wei State, and Qin destroyed the Wei State and offered a heavy reward to hunt them down. The two fled to Chen County, where they lived incognito and made a living by showing the gates to the village. Chen Sheng captured Chen County, and the two took refuge in Chen Sheng. They advised Chen Sheng to support the descendants of the kings of the six countries and not to establish themselves as kings, but Chen Sheng did not listen. Later, they asked Chen Sheng to allocate an army to them to conquer Zhao in the north, and Chen Sheng agreed. Chen Sheng sent his friend Wu Chen to lead this army north, and soon captured most of the Zhao state. Wuchen established himself as king under the instigation of Zhang Er and Chen Yu, but Chen Sheng had no choice but to admit it. When Zhou Zhang marched to Xianyang, Chen Sheng ordered Wuchen to lead the Zhao army westward to cooperate with the attack on Guanzhong. Zhang Er and Chen Yu persuaded King Zhao to support his troops and sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight. Until Zhang Han defeated Zhou Zhang, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang failed, Xiang Liang was killed, and Zhang Han led the army to attack Zhao State, these two old gentlemen were still dreaming of peace there. If it weren't for Xiang Yu's defeat of the Qin army, this great uprising at the end of Qin initiated by Chen Sheng would probably have been completely suppressed.

It can be seen that Zhang Er and Chen Yu persuaded Chen Sheng to be the descendants of the kings of the Six Kingdoms, but they were actually hiding their selfish intentions, and they were not a magic weapon to win. Divide the descendants of the six kings, if you don't send troops, it won't work, and if you send troops, you will weaken yourself. When the Qin Dynasty suppressed the rebellion, it must have taken Chen Sheng and Wu Guang first. In order to preserve their strength, the princes will inevitably stand by and will not come to the rescue. So, what is the role of separation? Later, Zhang Er and Chen Yu were besieged by the Qin army, and the rescuers of all the princes from all walks of life watched from the wall. If it weren't for Xiang Yu breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat and fighting the Qin army alone, Zhang Er, Chen Yu and Da Zhao Guo would all be cold.

At this time, Yan, Zhao, Qi, Wei and other countries rebelled one after another and established themselves as kings. Xiang Yan's son Xiang Liang and nephew Xiang Yu also raised troops in Wu to respond to Chen Sheng. Chen Sheng named Wu Guang as a false king, supervising the generals to attack the military town of Xingyang. After Zhang Han defeated Zhou Zhang's army, he marched to Chen County, where Chen Sheng was located. Sanchuan County guarded Li You's defense of Xingyang, Wu Guangjiu couldn't take it, and Zhang Han was coming. Wu Guang's general Tian Zang advocated encircling the point to send reinforcements, fearing that Wu Guang would not obey, so he falsely spread Chen Sheng's will and killed Wu Guang. Tian Zang gave Wu Guang's head to Chen Sheng, and Chen Sheng gave Tian Zang the Great Seal of Ling Yin and appointed him as a general. Tian Zang and the Qin army fought a decisive battle in Aocang, Tian Zang was killed, and the army was defeated. Zhang Han attacked Chen County, Chen Sheng was defeated, and fled to Ruyin, which is now Fuyang City, Anhui Province, where his father was killed by his coachman Zhuang Jia in Xiacheng. Chen Sheng's reign as king lasted only six months in total.

Chen Sheng called the queen, his father-in-law once went to look for him, and the people who used to carry the long work with him remembered that Chen Sheng had said in the past, "Gou is rich and noble, and he never forgets each other", and also came to him, wanting to get some light. Chen Sheng does not treat his father-in-law as a distinguished guest, and does not bow to him. The old man said angrily: "You took advantage of the chaos in the world, stole the honorific title, and neglected the elders, and the rabbit's tail couldn't grow." "I didn't listen to Chen Sheng's stay, slapped my ass and left. At first, Chen Sheng warmly received his co-workers. But one of them lacked heart, and after a long time, he got carried away and turned out the rotten grain of Chen Sesame when Chen Sheng was lowly. Someone said to Chen Sheng: "That little hair of yours is a fool, and his mouth is open, which damages your prestige." Chen Sheng also felt very shameless, so he killed the man. In this way, all Chen Sheng's old friends found an excuse to leave him, and there was no one close to Chen Sheng. Chen Sheng appointed Zhu Fang as Zhongzheng and Hu Wu as the secretary, specifically supervising the ministers. His generals went out to fight, and whenever they made a mistake, they were arrested and punished. Those who are loyal to strict inspection, and those who do not like their eyes will be punished directly, and will not be handed over to the responsible officials according to the procedures. The people who are close to them are some sycophants, so everyone is not convinced. Sima Qian believed that Chen Sheng's uprising soon failed for this reason.

Looking at Chen Sheng's performance after the rebellion, he is almost an emperor in the opposition. He just didn't succeed, otherwise it's hard to say if he would have done better than the emperor of the Qin dynasty. In this book, I will occasionally compare some of the leaders of the West, especially Greece and Rome, in order to reveal where different leaders and different approaches can take a country. I have translated a large number of works of Greek and Roman historiography, and I have a certain advantage in mastering historical materials. I think it would be appropriate to compare Rome's founding king, Romulu, with Chen Sheng.

Luo Mulu was born around the time of King Zhouping's eastward migration, and he and his younger brother Remus were abandoned at birth. The story begins with the Trojan War. It is said that after the fall of Troy, Prince Enias broke out of the siege with his people, fled to Italy, settled in the territory of the Latins, and established the kingdom of Alba by his descendants. The throne passed to two brothers, Numito and Amulio, with the elder brother Numito succeeding to the throne and the younger brother Amulio inheriting the property. Amulio had a lot of money and took the throne of Numito. To ensure that Numito's descendants would not compete for the throne, Amulio killed all of Numito's male descendants, leaving only Numito's daughter Elia. But he was still not at ease, and sent Illya to the temple of the Stove as a priest. According to the law, the priests of the temple of the Stove were required to remain virgins, and those who violated them were to be put to death, so as to ensure that Ilia would not have children. Unbeknownst to her, Ilia was pregnant, and Amulio did not execute Illya at the intercession of her daughter Anto, but ordered that once the child was born, it should be disposed of immediately. Ilia gave birth to twins, and the king ordered the servants to take the children to the Tiber and throw them away. It was also the fate of the Romulu brothers, the Tiber River was overflowing, and the servant wanted to save trouble, so he did not go to the depths of the river, and threw the wooden basin containing the two children from a distance. The flood took the brothers away, where they were discovered by a pig farmer and brought home to raise.

When the two brothers grew up, they liked to fight and were famous far and wide. It was also fate that Amulho's reign did not end well, and one day, the brothers recognized the grandson of Numito. Of course, this matter cannot be hidden from Amulho, and without further ado, it is necessary to act quickly. Luo Mulu urgently mobilized the brothers who were fighting together on weekdays, which were nothing more than some kings, farmers and herdsmen, fugitives and slaves, and urgently organized an army, tying grass to the top of the wooden stick as a banner, which was similar to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's unveiling pole as a banner. The brothers joined forces to overthrow Amulho's rule and put their grandfather Numito back on the throne.

The two brothers don't want to be rich second generations and wait to inherit their grandfather's throne. They decided to lead their men to the place where they grew up to build a nation and build a business. During the founding of the city of Rome, the brothers had a dispute over the location, and a fight ensued, and Remus was killed. After the city of Rome was built, Romulus became the first king of Rome. He organized those fit for service into legions, and the rest as civilians; A hundred elites were elected from among the commoners to form the Senate, which was to be implemented after prior consultation. He established a system of king, senate, and military and civilian powers, a power structure that was later inherited by a republican form of government, which provided the institutional guarantee for Rome to grow and dominate the West.

Great politicians establish excellent systems and set an example for future generations, and political nouveau riche only have power in their eyes, which may be the difference between Luo Mulu and Chen Sheng.

Chen Sheng and Wu Guang died, but Qin II was not happy for long. Soon, even more powerful characters appeared.

Three

Liu Bang erected the banner of rebellion and established himself as the Duke of Pei, so it was naturally indispensable to attack the city and conquer the city, fight and kill. I won't say much about the places he attacked. I'm writing a biography, not a history. I only talk about things that can reflect Liu Bang's character, and leave other things to historians to verify. My purpose is to reveal why he was able to succeed while others such as Xiang Yu failed.

Yongya is a native of Pei County and a fellow villager of Liu Bang. After Liu Bang captured his hometown Fengyi, he handed over the city to Yongya to guard. The Wei general Zhou Shi led his army to attack Feng and Pei, and sent someone to tell Yongya: "Fengyi used to belong to Wei. Now that Wei has conquered dozens of cities, if you surrender to Wei, Wei will make you a marquis and guard Fengyi. If you don't surrender, we will take Fengyi and kill all the people of the city. "Zhou Shi used the same tricks that Liu Bang used when he attacked Dapei County. Yongya has always looked down on Liu Bang, but now under the leadership of Liu Bang, the boss is reluctant. Wei surrendered, which was in his hands, and he surrendered without much thought. Liu Bang led the troops to attack Fengyi, but the troops were weak, and he couldn't defeat them, so he fell ill in a hurry, and had to lead the army back to Peixian.

Liu Bang hated Yongya and Fengyi's children for betraying him, but he was helpless. After Chen Sheng's death, Jing Ju was established as the king of Chu by Chen Sheng's subordinate Qin Jia. Liu Bang heard that Jingju was in Liuxian, so he went to take refuge. Liuxian County is in the east of Pei County, which is now Liuzhuang Town, Weishan County, Jining City, Shandong Province. It happened that Zhang Liang also gathered a hundred and ten people to go to the king of Chu, and the two met on the road. Zhang Liang is a wise multi-star, the so-called sage, natural insight into heroes, at that time he took refuge in Liu Bang, Liu Bang worshiped him as a general, equivalent to the logistics minister in the army.

Jang Liang was a Korean nobleman whose ancestors had many prime ministers. When Zhang Liang was twenty years old, Qin destroyed Korea, and Zhang Liang did not become an official in South Korea because of his young age. When Korea fell, Zhang Liang had 300 servants, and when his younger brother died, he did not bury him, but took out all the family's money to find assassins, to assassinate Qin Shi Huang and avenge Korea. Zhang Liang found a strong man who could make a hundred and twenty pounds of iron spine, and when Qin Shi Huang was traveling east, Zhang Liang and the strong man sniped Qin Shi Huang in Bolangsha. Hercules smashed an iron cone into one of Qin Shi Huang's auxiliary cars, but Qin Shi Huang was not in it and escaped. The Qin people searched for the murderer everywhere, and Zhang Liang fled to Xiapi and went incognito. Although the Qin State was autocratic, there was no Skynet to help, and Zhang Er, Chen Yu and Zhang Liang all lurked smoothly. It is said that here Zhang Liang received a copy of the "Art of War" taught by a mysterious old man, and he often studied it and became resourceful. Zhang Liang was not idle when he fled in Xiapi, but was a chivalrous man, when Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Bo killed people and hid with Zhang Liang. This experience came in handy at the Hongmen Banquet and rewrote history. Zhang Liang used the "Taigong Art of War" to offer advice to Liu Bang many times, and Liu Bang often adopted Zhang Liang's strategies. Zhang Liang also told other rebel leaders that none of those big bosses could understand. Zhang Liang said: "Pei Gong is probably a person sent by God. So he concentrated on assisting Liu Bang.

Liu Bang did not borrow the army from Jingju. At this time, Zhang Han killed Chen Sheng and killed him to the east. Liu Bang and the Qin army fought in Xiao County, which was unfavorable, and turned to attack Dangshan County, which was taken in three days, and the Dangshan army of five or six thousand people was collected. He led his army back to Fengyi, but he still failed to defeat it. At this time, he heard that Xiang Liang was stationed in Xue County, so he led more than a hundred cavalry to meet Xiang Liang. Xue County is in today's Xuecheng District, Zaozhuang City, Shandong Province. Xiang Liang was very good to Liu Bang, and he was very generous, allocating 5,000 military horses to Liu Bang and giving 10 five major generals. The five doctors were knights in the Qin and Han dynasties, and their rank was not low. Liu Bang led this new force to attack Fengyi, and this time it was finally successful, and Yongya fled to Wei. Fengyi is the place where Liu Bang was born, which belonged to Pei County in the Qin Dynasty and changed to Feng County in the Han Dynasty. The betrayal of Liu Bang by his father and fellow villagers has become a pain that Liu Bang can never erase in his heart. But the Yongya who betrayed Liu Bang did not disappear, and we will talk about it later.

In July of the first year of Qin II, Chen Sheng rebelled in Daze Township. In September, Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Yu killed the Huiji County Guard and responded to Chen Sheng. The seat of Huiji County is now Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Xiang Liang appointed himself as the county guard of Huiji, and Xiang Yu was the general. Chen Sheng was defeated and killed, and the general summoned Ping to falsely pass on Chen Sheng's holy decree, worshiped Xiang Liang as the king of Chu and went to the Zhu Kingdom, and ordered Xiang Liang to lead the army to attack the Qin army. Xiang Liang led 8,000 troops across the Yangtze River, and Chen Ying, Duibu, and Pu led his subordinates to take refuge, and the force grew to 60,000 or 70,000. At this time, Xiang Liang was sure that Chen Sheng had been killed, so he summoned the generals to Xue Cheng to discuss the matter. Liu Bang traveled from Peixian to Xuecheng to meet Xiang Liang, Xiang Yu had just captured Xiangcheng and also came here, and the two powerful opponents at the end of Qin met for the first time. At this time, Xiang Yu was only twenty-four years old, and Liu Bang was already forty-seven. This age gap played a very important role in the later Chu-Han rivalry.

This year, Fan Zeng was seventy years old. When he usually stays at home, he likes to think about things that are tricked and intrigued. The world is in chaos, how can a person like Fan Zeng settle down? He came to Xiang Liang to give him an idea: "Chen Sheng is undefeated, so there is no reason." Qin annihilated the Six Kingdoms, and Chu was the most wronged. King Chu Huai was deceived into going to Qin, and there was no return, and the people of Chu were distressed until now. Therefore, Mr. Nangong of Chu said: 'Even if there are only three families left in Chu State, sooner or later the Qin State will be destroyed.' 'Chen Sheng was the first to revolt, and he did not set up the descendants of the king of Chu and set himself as the king, which will definitely not last. Your Excellency raised troops from Jiangdong, and the generals of Chu State defected to the generals one after another, because the general's family has been in Chu for generations, and they were able to recover Chu and support the descendants of the King of Chu. Xiang Liang was the son of the slain Chu general Xiang Yan, and when he heard this, he felt that it made sense, so he sent people to find the descendants of King Chu Huai. Xiong Xin, the grandson of King Chu Huai, was herding sheep for others at this time, and Xiang Liang made him King of Chu Huai to meet the wishes of the people of Chu; Chen Ying was appointed as the Shangzhu State, and the capital must be in Xuyi. Xiang Liang proclaimed himself Wu Xinjun. Zhang Liang always wanted to recover Korea, so he took the opportunity to say to Xiang Liang: "You have already set up the descendants of the King of Chu as the king, so simply set up the descendants of the King of Han as well, which can strengthen your power." Xiang Liang sent someone to find Han Cheng, made him the king of Han, appointed Zhang Liang as Situ, and gave the king of Han more than 1,000 soldiers to recover the land of Korea.

Fan Zeng's idea seemed convenient and feasible, with the help of the residual influence of the Chu State, he could strengthen himself more quickly, but in fact, it was actually a snake to add to it. Chen Sheng is just an unknown farmer, and he still responds. He failed mainly because of the underestimation of the enemy. Chen Sheng's sense of small farmers is too strong, and he just won such a big city as Chen County as the king, coupled with improper employment and rash advances, resulting in failure. The state of Zhao, which he had single-handedly supported, refused to send troops to cooperate in the attack on Qin, leaving Zhou Zhang isolated and defeated by Zhang Han, proving that the feudal princes could only disperse their own forces and not necessarily benefit themselves. Fan Zeng's concept is outdated, like Zhang Er, Chen Yu and other relics of the Six Kingdoms, he did not notice that the times had changed, and he also fantasized about restoring the monarchical feudal system, which laid the foundation for Xiang Yu's defeat later. Among the famous strategists of our time, only Zhang Liang saw the situation clearly. This matter will not be listed for the time being.

Xiang Liang led his army to defeat the Qin army led by Zhang Han at Dong'a, Shandong, and defeated it at Dingtao, Shandong. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang engaged the Qin army at Yongqiu, and the Qin army was defeated, and the Qin general Li You was killed. Yongqiu is today's Qixian County, Shandong, and Li You is the son of Li Si, the prime minister of Qin, and was the county guard of Sanchuan at that time. Soon after, Li Si was framed by Zhao Gao and sentenced to be beheaded and razed the three clans. Xiang Liang won consecutive battles and began to light up the enemy. Song Yi admonished: "If you win a battle, the generals will underestimate the enemy, and the soldiers will be lazy, and they will lose the battle." This is the case now, but the army of Qin is increasing. I'm really worried about you. Xiang Liang didn't listen. Soon, Qin II mobilized all his troops to reinforce Zhang Han. Zhang Han launched an attack on the Chu army, defeated the Chu army at Dingtao, and killed Xiang Liang. After Xiang Liang's death, Zhang Han also made a mistake, which caused him to lose all his previous achievements, and in the end, even the Qin Dynasty was buried. He thought that the Chu army was no longer to be worried, so he crossed the Yellow River to attack the Zhao state, leaving two characters more powerful than Xiang Liang behind. It can be seen how important it is to chase the poor bravely! The Zhao army was defeated by the two armies, and was instantly defeated, and Zhao Wang Xie, the general Chen Yu and the prime minister Zhang Er all fled into Julu City, and were besieged by the Qin general Wang Li. Julu is in what is now Xingtai City, Hebei Province.

When Xiang Liang had an accident, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were attacking Waihuang County. Waihuang is in today's Minquan County, Henan Province. It was rainy from July to September. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang couldn't attack for a long time, so they turned to attack Chen Liu. Chen stayed in Kaifeng City, Henan Province. At this time, the news of Xiang Liang's death came, and the army fell into a panic. Obviously, it was very dangerous to continue to hold on, and the two discussed with the general Lu Chen and decided to lead the army east. In 207 B.C., in the third year of Qin II, King Huai of Chu moved the capital from Xuyi to Pengcheng, which is now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Soon, King Chu Huai merged the armies of Lü Chen and Xiang Yu and led them personally. Liu Bang was appointed as the magistrate of Dangjun, and he was named Marquis of Wu'an, commanding the troops stationed in Dangjun. Feng Xiangyu is the Marquis of Chang'an, and his name is Lu Gong; Feng Lu Chen is Situ, and Lu Chen's father is Ling Yin. Xiang Yu followed his uncle Xiang Liang to raise troops, and this family belongings was fought hard by their uncle and nephew. King Chu Huai was found by his uncle and nephew from the sheepfold, and now, Xiang Liang's bones are not cold, and King Chu Huai deprives Xiang Yu of his military power, and Xiang Yu's mood can be imagined. The two sides thus formed a bond, and it is estimated that it was at this time that Xiang Yu first had the idea of killing King Chu Huai. Liu Bang was not suspicious either because of his small strength, or because he was older and more tactful, or because King Chu Huai wanted to use him to fight against Xiang Yu, so his military power was not affected.

Zhao asked Chu for help many times, and King Chu Huai made strategic arrangements. His troops were divided into two routes, one led by Song Yi, and went north to rescue Zhao State. Song Yi was appointed as the general, Xiang Yu was the second general, and Fan Zeng was the last general, and all the generals listened to Song Yi's orders and respected Song Yi as the "champion of the son". The other route was led by Liu Bang to advance westward and attack Guanzhong, the seat of the central government of Qin. King Huai agreed with the generals: "Whoever enters the pass first and pacifies the pass will be the king of the pass." It can be seen that later Xiang Yu divided the princes and implemented the established policy of the Chu State. At that time, the Qin army was still strong, and it often chased the rebels to fight, and everyone thought that the person who entered the customs first must have had his brain in water. Only Xiang Yu reacted positively because he hated the Qin people for killing his uncle Xiang Liang and was willing to fight with Liu Bang in Guanzhong. The veterans under King Huai all said: "Xiang Yu is brave and good at fighting, and he is ruthless." The last time he attacked Xiangcheng, he killed none of the people in Xiangcheng. Wherever he passed, no one could live. In the past, the state of Chu sent troops many times, and Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang failed, because they were too rash against the enemy. This time, we might as well send an old and respectful person to lead the army to the west, and know righteousness to the father and brother of the Qin State. For a long time, the people of Qin have suffered greatly from tyranny, and if they go to a kind elder and don't abuse them, they should be able to attack. Xiang Yu was too strong to send him. Pei Gong has always been magnanimous and can be up to the task. Therefore, King Chu Huai refused to let Xiang Yu participate in the Western Expeditionary Army, and sent Liu Bang to lead the Western Expedition. Judging from the results, King Chu Huai's arrangement this time was correct, but it also offended Xiang Yu again. Liu Bang collected the remnants of Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang's defeated generals, and arrived at Yangcheng and Gangli through Dangshan County, where he confronted the Qin troops stationed in Gangli and defeated the two Qin armies.

At the same time, Song Yi led his army north to rescue the state of Zhao, which was besieged by the Qin army. When Song Yi walked to Anyang, he stopped advancing, and this stay was forty-six days. Xiang Yu demanded that the Yellow River be crossed immediately and an attack on the Qin army; Song Yi wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight. It seems that Song Yi is also a man on paper. The two caught fire, Xiang Yu killed Song Yi, and King Chu Huai had no choice but to appoint Xiang Yu as a general. The Chu army broke the cauldron and sank the boat, broke the Qin army, killed the Qin general Su Jiao, captured the main general Wang Li, and the Qin general Shi Jian burned himself to death. Wang Li is the grandson of Wang Qian, a famous general who destroyed Chu. This is the famous Battle of Julu, after which Meng Tian's army was wiped out, and the Qin State was already vulnerable.

The main force of the Qin army led by Xiang Yu and Zhang Han fought hard, not mentioned. Liu Bang led his troops to the west, met Peng Yue in Changyi, and the two soldiers were united. Changyi is in Juye County, Heze City, Shandong Province today. Peng Yue is a fisherman in Junoze, and usually works as a thief in addition to fishing. After Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang revolted, the locals were also ready to move. Zezhong teenagers gathered more than 100 people, and everyone elected Peng Yue as the leader. Peng Yue tried his best to refuse, but the young man insisted on it, and Peng Yue agreed. He made an appointment with everyone, and the next day when the sun came out, and those who were late were killed. When it was time to assemble, more than a dozen people were late. Peng Yue said: "I'm old, you have to let me be the head." We have an appointment first, and those who are late will be killed. Gathered today, so many people were late. I can't kill them all, just the last one. After saying that, he pulled the man out and cut off his head, put incense on the table, offered the head, and ordered his subordinates. Everyone was so shocked that they didn't dare to raise their heads. Peng Yue conquered the city, collected stragglers, and the team grew to more than 1,000 people. This time, Peng Yue took refuge in Liu Bang. Liu Bang and Peng Yue led an army to attack Changyi, but did not capture it. Peng Yue had no great ambitions, and immediately returned to his old nest, Juyeze, and Liu Bang continued to move west.

On this day, Liu Bang came to Gaoyang Township, and the people of Gaoyang came to ask for a meeting. Gaoyang is in Kaifeng City, Henan Province, and belonged to Chenliu County in Qin. Li likes to read in his life, but his family is so poor that he makes a living by showing the gate to the village. Despite his humble status, the local wise men and heroes did not dare to look down on him, and they all called him a "madman". After Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang rebelled, dozens of generals under them came to Chen Liu. Li Sheng found that they were all vulgar and greedy, and could not listen to the words of knowledge, so he hid and waited for the changes. Liu Bang came to Chenliu, and there was a knight under him who happened to be Li Sheng's fellow villager. Li Sheng said to this fellow villager: "I heard that Pei Gong is arrogant and looks down on people, but he has great talents. I like to associate with this kind of person, but unfortunately no one introduces me to them. You go back to Pei Gong and tell him, 'There is a gentleman in our mid-standing who is over 60 years old and eight feet tall, and everyone calls him crazy, and he says he is not crazy. The knight said, "Pei Gong does not like Confucianism, and when someone wearing a Confucian hat comes to visit him, he will take off their hat and pee in it." He often scolds people when he talks, don't tell him that you are a Confucian student. Li Sheng said, "You can report it for me." The knight found an opportunity to relay Li Sheng's words to Liu Bang.

Liu Bang came to Gaoyang, stayed in a hotel, and sent someone to summon Li Sheng. When Li Sheng came in, Liu Bang was asking the two women to wash their feet and ignored Li Shengai. Li Chang didn't bow down, and asked Liu Bang with his head and face: "Do you want to help the Qin State attack the princes, or do you want to lead the princes to defeat the Qin State?" Liu Bang scolded: "You nerd! The world has been suffering for a long time, so everyone joined forces to overthrow the tyrannical Qin, how can they help the Qin State? Li Sheng said unhurriedly: "Since it is an insurrectionary soldier who punishes Qin, he shouldn't be so rude to the elders." When Liu Bang heard this, he kicked open the footbath, got dressed, invited Li Sheng to take a seat, and apologized to him. Li Sheng talked to Liu Bang about the strategy of combining vertical and horizontal during the Warring States Period, and Liu Bang listened to it with relish. Liu Bang invited Li Sheng to dinner and asked him if he had any good ideas. Li Sheng said: "The rabble gathered at the foot and organized the stragglers, and there were less than 10,000 people in the full fight. Just like that, you still want to go directly to the level, isn't this drilling into the tiger's mouth yourself? Chen Liunai is the most important in the world, extending in all directions, and there is a lot of grain stored in the city. I have a friendship with the county commander, please send me as your messenger, and I will let him listen to you. If he is disobedient, you will lead an army against him, and I will be your answer. Liu Bang sent Li Sheng first, and he led his troops to follow behind, and Chen Liu was quickly taken down. Liu Bang named Lisheng as the king of Guangye, and Lisheng often acted as a lobbyist for Liu Bang and sent envoys to the princes. He introduced his younger brother Li Shang to Liu Bang, who appointed Li Shang as a general and led Chen Liubing to assist Kaifeng, but without success.

Liu Bang gave up the attack on Kaifeng, advanced to the north, and the Qin general Yang Xiong fought in Baima, and then fought in Quyudong, Yang Xiong was defeated, fled to Xingyang, and was sent by Qin II to show the public. Baima County is today's Huaxian County, Henan Province, Quyu is in Zhongmu County, Henan Province, and Xingyang is in the west of Zhengzhou. In April of the third year of Qin II, in 207 BC, Liu Bang led his army south to attack Yingchuan, probably because of stubborn resistance, after the city was captured, a massacre occurred. Yingchuan County is in today's Yuzhou City, Henan Province. Liu Bang entered the territory of South Korea because of Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang did not do much in Korea, so he led the army to follow Liu Bang. This shows that Zhang Liang is good at strategizing, but he is not a general.

Liu Bang led the army to attack Nanyang, and the first battle of the county defense was unfavorable, and he retired to Wancheng. Wancheng is located in Wancheng District, Nanyang City, today. Liu Bang wanted to cross Wancheng and attack westward, but Zhang Liang dissuaded: "Although you are anxious to enter the pass, there are still many Qin soldiers in front, and they occupy dangerous terrain and are not easy to deal with. If we don't take Wancheng today, the defenders of Wancheng will inevitably copy our back road, and we will have to face the powerful Qin army in front, which is too risky. Liu Bang was as good as a stream, led the army to kill back from other roads overnight, and when he arrived at Wancheng at dawn, he surrounded it. Nanyang County Shou saw that the general trend had gone, and he pulled out his sword and wanted to wipe his neck!

Four

Just when the Nanyang County Guard was about to commit suicide, his doorman Chen Hui stopped: "If you want to die, you don't have to rush time. He climbed over the city wall, found Liu Bang, and said, "I heard that I have an appointment with King Huai, and the one who enters Xianyang first will be crowned king." You are now besieging Wancheng, which is surrounded by dozens of cities. The officials and the people here thought that if they surrendered, they would die, so they desperately defended the city. Now, if you storm, the casualties must be large. If you abandon Wancheng and head west, Wancheng will definitely copy your back road. If you go forward, you will lose the covenant of Xianyang, and if you turn back, you will face the mighty city of Wancheng. From your point of view, it is better to allow Wancheng to surrender and reward its defenders. Turn him into your man and lead his soldiers west with them. When the unconquered cities hear about this, they will surely open their doors and invite you into the city, and you will have an unhindered journey. Liu Bang attacked Yingchuan and slaughtered the city in retaliation, causing Nanyang to defend desperately. If all cities were like this, how could he get to Xianyang? So he readily agreed. In 207 BC, in July of the third year of Qin II, Nanyang County Shou surrendered, and Liu Bang named him the Marquis of Yin and Chen Hui as the Marquis of Qianhu. Liu Bang led his army to the west, unimpeded along the way. Wherever Liu Bang passed, there was no crime in autumn, and the Qin people were overjoyed.

Both ends of the table. After Xiang Yu wiped out Wang Li's army in the Battle of Julu, he led his army across Zhangshui, and Zhang Han retreated to the Thorn Plain, avoiding without fighting. Thorn Plains is in the southern part of Julu, in present-day Pingxiang County, Hebei Province. Qin II sent someone to reproach Zhang Han, and Zhang Han sent the chief Shi Sima Xin back to Xianyang to ask for instructions, Sima Xin waited for three days, and Zhao Gao was nowhere to be seen. Seeing that the situation was not good, Sima Xin hurriedly fled back from the path. Zhao Gao really sent people to wait for him on the road. He told Zhang Han that even if they won the battle, they would be suspicious of Zhao Gao, and if they lost the battle, they would definitely be scapegoated by Zhao Gao, and advised Zhang Han to make plans as soon as possible. Zhang Han was frightened and cornered, and led his army to surrender to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu sealed Zhang Han as the king of Yong, and Sima Xin as the general, and led the army to the west. In order to avoid future troubles, Xiang Yu treacherously killed all 200,000 Qin troops. Wang Li and Zhang Han's armies were wiped out, and the Qin Dynasty lost its barrier and was ready for its demise. But Xiang Yu's brutality also caused him to lose Guanzhong later, and gave Liu Bang a piece of feng shui treasure land rich in emperors.

Just when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu's armies were about to collapse and the Qin Empire Building was about to collapse, the Qin Dynasty court was also undergoing great changes. In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang made his last tour of the East and died in the Dune Palace. The eunuch Zhao Gao conspired with Prime Minister Li Si to forge the edict of Qin Shi Huang, abandon the eldest son Fusu, and support the youngest son Hu Hai as the emperor, which was for Qin II. Qin II was mediocre, indulged in pleasures, ignored the government affairs, and completely handed over the affairs of the court to Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao was autocratic, changed the law, and implemented strict punishment. Everyone in the courtiers is in danger and wants to make trouble. Qin II restarted the construction of the Afang Palace, and built a straight road and a gallop road for the emperor to parade; Expropriation and expropriation, and conscription continued. The people complained. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted, and Shandong was in turmoil. Li Si wanted to advise the emperor many times, and had conflicts with Zhao Gao. The emperor trusted Zhao Gao, threw Li Si into prison, and sent Zhao Gao to try Li Si's case. Zhao Gao tortured Li Si, and Li Si was in unbearable pain, so he was beaten into a trick. While in prison, Li Si wrote to Qin II to defend himself. The defense statement was sent to Zhao Gao, but Zhao Gao held it down, saying: "What right does the criminal have to go to the letter?" "Zhao Gao sent his guests to pretend to be the imperial historian, the confessor, and the servant to review Li Si, and sent more than a dozen people before and after. As long as Li Si retracts his confession, he will be beaten until Li Si does not dare to change his confession. Later, Qin II sent someone to inspect the case, but Li Si thought it was still the same as before, and did not dare to retract his confession and expressed his acceptance of the verdict. When the case was played, the second was overjoyed and said: "If there was no Mr. Zhao, I would have been betrayed by the prime minister." In 208 B.C., in July of the second year of the second year, Li Si was "sentenced to five punishments, and beheaded Xianyang City." This history has been explained in the biography of Yingzheng.

Zhao Gao wanted to control the power of Qin alone, and was afraid that other ministers would not be convinced, so he came up with an idea to test the attitude of the ministers. He asked people to sacrifice a deer to Qin II, saying that it was a horse. The second laughed and said, "Did the prime minister make a mistake and take the deer for a horse?" He asked the people around him, some were silent, some patted Zhao Gao's fart, said it was a horse, and some said it was a deer. The second suspected that there was something wrong with his brain, and since then he has been hiding in the deep palace and never seeing his ministers again. Afterwards, Zhao Gao secretly found fault with those who said it was a deer. From then on, everyone was afraid of Zhao Gao and didn't dare to say that he was not.

Zhao Gao often said to Qin II: "The thieves in the Kanto region can't make any waves. "Xiang Yu defeated the Qin army in the Battle of Julu and captured Wang Li and other generals. Zhang Han's army was defeated in successive battles and wrote a letter requesting reinforcements. The Kwantung region was basically reversed, and the anti-king armies of all walks of life were advancing westward. In August, Liu Bang led tens of thousands of troops to capture Wuguan and carry out a massacre. Wuguan is in Danfeng County, Shaanxi Province today, and Hangu Pass, Xiao Pass, and Dasan Pass are collectively called "Qin's Four Stops". Liu Bang sent someone to contact Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao was afraid that Qin II would be angry and his life would not be guaranteed, so he and his son-in-law Xianyang Ling Yan Le and his younger brother Zhao Cheng conspired: "The emperor does not listen to the advice, and now the situation is critical, and he wants to use us as scapegoats." I want to abolish the present and set up a child instead. The child was kind and simple, and the people said that he was good. Zhao Gao found Lang Zhongling to do the internal response, falsely claimed that there were thieves, and ordered Yan Le to lead troops to chase him. Zhao Gao didn't even worry about this son-in-law, and hijacked his mother-in-law to his own house in advance. Yan Le led more than 1,000 soldiers to the palace gate and asked the officials guarding the palace gate, "There are thieves running in, why don't you stop them?" The gatekeeper said: "The courtyard of the deep palace is strictly guarded, where can the thieves enter?" Yan Le stopped talking nonsense, immediately killed him, led the officials to break into the palace, shooting arrows while walking, the eunuchs and palace people were frightened, scattered and fled, the rebels were killed, and dozens of people died. Lang Zhongling and Yan Le broke into the emperor's residence together, and the second was furious and ordered the left and right to escort the driver, but the left and right did not dare to make a move. When the second saw a eunuch standing beside him, he said to him, "Things have come to this point, why didn't you tell me earlier?" The eunuch's answer was very classic: "I dare not say that I can live until now." If I had said earlier, my head had already moved, and I would have survived until this time? Yan Le stepped forward and said, "You have the right to be willful, act arbitrarily, and kill innocents indiscriminately, and everyone in the world will rise up against you, so you should cut yourself off as soon as possible." The second said, "May I see the prime minister?" Yan Le said, "No." II said, "I want to be the king of a county." Yan Le disagreed. The second said, "Then be a marquis of ten thousand households." Yan Le still didn't allow it. The second said: "Then I will be ordinary people with my wife and children." Yan Le said, "I was ordered by the prime minister to kill you for the people of the world." You said that the sky is broken, and I don't dare to report it. "Ordered the sergeant to come forward, and II committed suicide. Hu Hai was twenty-four years old when he died, and he had been emperor for three years, the year being 207 BC. Zhao Gao prepared to appoint the second's nephew Gongzi Ying as the king of Qin, and let Ziying fast for five days and succeed to the throne. Ziying and his two sons conspired: "Zhao Gao killed the second, and he was afraid that the ministers would kill him, so he pretended to make me king." I heard that Zhao Gao had an agreement with the Chu people to destroy the Qin clan and call him Wang Guanzhong. Today, he asked me to go to the temple after fasting, and he must have wanted to kill me in the temple. If I call myself sick, he will come by himself. As soon as he came, we killed him. Ziying followed the plan, and Zhao Gao really ran over by himself. Ziying killed Zhao Gao in the palace and exterminated his three clans.

Ziying did not dare to be the emperor. In 207 BC, in September of the third year of Qin II, Ziying ascended the throne and became the king of Qin. He also wanted to keep the Qin State, so he sent troops to guard the pass, Liu Bang was furious, and he wanted to attack the pass, but was stopped by Zhang Liang. It is located in the south of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province today. Zhang Liang said: "The Qin army is still strong and cannot be underestimated. Please send someone to plant more flags on the mountain first, as a suspicious soldier. Then he sent Li Shiqi and Lu Jia to lobby the generals of the Qin State and buy them with a lot of money. General Qin was really willing to make peace, Liu Bang wanted to agree, and Zhang Liang said: "Only the generals want to rebel, and the soldiers probably won't agree." Because of negotiations, the enemy has relaxed its vigilance, so it is better to take the opportunity to attack them. Liu Bang adopted Zhang Liang's strategy and broke the Qin army in Lantian. In October, Liu Bang was stationed in Bashang before all the anti-king armies, and the prince of Qin was on a white horse, tied a rope around his neck, sealed the emperor's seal, knelt on the side of the road, and surrendered to Liu Bang. Ziying was king for only forty-six days.

Some of Liu Bang's generals persuaded Liu Bang to kill the King of Qin. Liu Bang said: "When King Huai sent me to lead the Western Expeditionary Army, it was because I was more tolerant of people. Besides, they have already surrendered, and it is unlucky to kill those who surrender. "Leave the child in the care of the officials. A month later, Xiang Yu led his army into Xianyang, slaughtered the city, killed Ziying, burned the palace of Qin, and the fire was not extinguished for three months, and the once invincible Great Qin Empire was wiped out in the raging flames. In Ziying's body, Liu Bang's tolerance and Xiang Yu's violence were fully demonstrated.

Ying Zheng died of illness thirty-seven years after ascending the throne, Qin II was killed three years after he ascended the throne, Ziying was deposed forty-six days after being called king, and the national fortune went from extreme prosperity to decline and then to extinction, just in the flick of a finger. Qin unified China in 221 BC and fell in 197 BC, leaving the empire at the age of twenty-four.

Jia Yi said in "On the Passage of Qin": "However, Qin is a small place, leading to the trend of ten thousand times, and the order of eight states and dynasties is in the same column, and it has been more than 100 years; Then take Liuhe as the home, and Cuihan as the palace; One husband is difficult and seven temples, dead people's hands, for the world to laugh, why not? Benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and the offensive and defensive forces are different. "Blaming the reason for the fall of the Qin Dynasty on the lack of benevolence and righteousness is not at all, it is true that the Qin Dynasty died because of tyranny, but in fact, what is it? But how to make the rulers dare not commit violence, and how not to commit violence, is the key. Jia Yi only said the effect, and the unrestrained power is the reason. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption, and totalitarian autocracy is the source of tyranny and chaos.

In 208 BC, in September of the second year of Qin II, Liu Bang, the Duke of Pei, accepted the appointment of King Huai of Chu and led his army to the west, passing through the four provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Shaanxi, which lasted for one year, attacked Xianyang and overthrew the Qin Dynasty. When Liu Bang went out on the expedition, the soldiers brought out were very miscellaneous, they were stragglers collected from all over the country, and when they reached Kaifeng, there were less than 10,000 people, and when the garrison was overpowered, there were only 100,000 people, and the combat effectiveness was not strong. So why was he able to successfully attack Xianyang and destroy the once invincible Qin Empire? First of all, he had to thank King Chu Huai for sending him this beautiful trip. The two main armies of Qin led by Wang Li and Zhang Han were all sent to Zhao, and as a result, Julu fought and 400,000 troops were eaten by Xiang Yu in one bite. Liu Bang did not have the main force of the Qin army along the way, so he was able to go all the way west to Yaoguan. Secondly, it is also due to Liu Bang's strategy of combining rigidity and softness. Liu Bang accepted Chen Hui's suggestion, let Wancheng go, and sent Li Shiqi, Lu Jia and others to lobby all the way, and surrendered the soldiers without a fight, which received good results. Xiang Yu often slaughtered cities, while Liu Bang rarely used such extreme methods, so he encountered less resistance. Finally, Liu Bang also benefited from the infighting of the Qin court. The killing of Li Si, Zhao Gao's coup d'état, and Ziying's killing of Zhao Gao, the internal strife of these ruling groups greatly weakened the power of the Qin State, making the Qin Dynasty's defenders more detached from morality, allowing Liu Bang to successfully break through the pass and take Xianyang directly.

When Liu Bang entered Xianyang, his generals all competed for gold and silver treasures, and only Xiao He entered the Prime Minister's Mansion of the Qin Dynasty, collected the books and books inside, and hid these things. Therefore, he had all the information of the Qin government, such as military fortresses, household registration, which places were strong and which places were weak, etc., which were of great help to Liu Bang in the Chu-Han War, and even more beneficial to the establishment of rules and regulations in the early Han Dynasty

Liu Bang was naturally greedy and lustful, and his status was humble in the past, he was only a section-level cadre, so he naturally couldn't enjoy national-level treatment. The palaces, dogs and horses, beauties, gold and silver treasures of the Qin Dynasty are dizzying, Liu Bang drooled when he saw it, and he couldn't bear it anymore, so he wanted to live in it and not leave. Fan Xu dissuaded: "Do you want to own the world, or do you just want to be a rich man?" The emperor of the Qin Dynasty died because he had these luxurious things, what is the use of asking for these things? Hurry back to Bashang, don't stay here! "Liu Bang is already itching, where can he listen to it? At this time, Zhang Liang spoke: "The Qin government has implemented tyranny and lost the hearts of the people, so you have a chance to come here." Those who drive out tyrants for the people should remain simple. Now, as soon as you arrived in the Qin Kingdom, you want to get into the gentle countryside and not come out, which is tantamount to 'aiding and abusing'! Advice is good for deeds, and good medicine is good for disease. Fan Xu is right, you have to listen to persuasion! "Although Liu Bang is a scoundrel, he has two great gods on his body: knowing people and being good at their duties and obeying advice. He can not listen to Fan Xu's words, but he has always obeyed Zhang Liang's words. He swallowed back the saliva that had flowed to his mouth, left the Qin Palace, and returned to the army as a tyrant.

Five

Liu Bang convened a meeting of the elders and heroes of Guanzhong County. Liu Bang spoke: "Fathers and elders, for a long time, you have been oppressed by the evil laws of the Qin Dynasty and have suffered unspeakably. I agreed with the princes that the first person to enter the customs would be the king of Qin. According to the agreement, I should be the king of Guanzhong. Therefore, I have made three chapters with you: death to the murderer, and punishment according to the law for the wounding and theft. The rest of the laws of the Qin Dynasty were abolished, and the officials and common people remained unchanged. I am here to eliminate violence and peace, and not to oppress the people, so you don't need to be afraid. I withdrew my army to the throne in order to wait for the arrival of the princes and restore order. He also sent people to the counties and villages of the Qin government officials to make his intentions known. The people of Qin were overjoyed and competed for cattle wine to reward the army, but Liu Bang did not accept it, saying: "There is a lot of grain stored in the warehouse, enough to eat, and I don't want the people to break the bank." The Qin people were even happier, and they were all worried that Liu Bang would not be the king of Qin.

Although Liu Bang stationed the army on the tyrant, he did not enjoy the ready-made glory and wealth, and he was unwilling in the end. Someone guessed his thoughts, so they gave him an idea: "The terrain of Qin is dangerous, and the degree of wealth is ten times greater than that of the world. Now I heard that Zhang Han surrendered to Xiang Yu, and was named King Yong by Xiang Yu, and will govern Guanzhong. If he comes, Guanzhong probably won't be yours. Hurry up and send troops to guard Hangu Pass, and don't let the princes' armies in. Requisitioned the army in Guanzhong, strengthened his own strength, and kept Zhang Han out. Liu Bang thought it made sense, so he did it.

In mid-November, Xiang Yu led the army of the princes to the front of Hangu Pass. I saw that the gate was closed, and Xiang Yu's army couldn't enter. When Xiang Yu heard that Liu Bang had pacified Guanzhong, he was furious and ordered Di Bu and others to attack Hangu Pass. After all, Liu Bang's army is a rabble, and he has not fought any hard battles along the way, and it is all up to Xiang Yu to drag down the Qin army alone, as well as the internal strife of the Qin court, so that he can take advantage of the situation and attack Xianyang. Now, when he met Xiang Yu, who destroyed the main force of the Qin army, where was his opponent? Hangu Pass was taken without much effort. In mid-December, Xiang Yu marched to the place of play. Liu Bang's Zuo Sima Cao was uninjured when he heard that Xiang Yu was furious and prepared to attack Liu Bang, perhaps thinking that he had worked hard and that Liu Bang had treated him badly; Perhaps because he felt that Xiang Yu was too strong, Liu Bang was not an opponent, and in order to protect himself, he wanted to submit a petition first, so he sent someone to tell Xiang Yu: "Liu Bang wants to be the king in Guanzhong, appoint Ziying as the prime minister, and take all the treasures of Qin as his own." "The death of Ziying may have something to do with Cao Wuxian's small report. At that time, Xiang Yu had an army of 400,000, known as one million; Liu Bang had an army of 100,000, known as 200,000. Fan Zeng was very trusted by Xiang Yu at this time, and Xiang Yu called him Ya Father, that is, his godfather. Fan Zeng persuaded Xiang Yu to attack Liu Bang, in order to stimulate Xiang Yu, he added fuel and vinegar and said: "Liu Bang was greedy for money and lustful when he was in Shandong, but after entering the customs, he didn't take anything and didn't get close to women, which is enough to show that he has great ambitions." I sent someone to observe his cloud qi, all of them are in the shape of a dragon and tiger, showing five colors, this is the qi of the son of heaven! You have to do it right away, don't miss the opportunity. Xiang Yu accepted Fan Zeng's suggestion, rewarded his soldiers, and prepared to attack Liu Bang early the next morning.

Liu Bang had a traitor on his side, igniting the flames of war. There was also someone on Xiang Yu's side who extinguished the flames of war, and this person was Xiang Bo. As mentioned earlier, after Zhang Liang's failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang, he fled to Xiapi and went incognito to escape the pursuit of the Qin Dynasty officials. Here, Zhang Liang got acquainted with a person, and he was Xiang Bo. Xiang Bo is Xiang Yu's uncle, back then, Xiang Bo killed people, and Zhang Liang saved his life. Now, Zhang Liang is in trouble, Xiang Bo reciprocates Li and wants to save Zhang Liang's life, so he ran to Liu Bang's army overnight and told Zhang Liang about Xiang Yu's preparation to attack Liu Bang. He asked Zhang Liang to go with him, not to stay and die. Zhang Liang introduced Xiang Bo to Liu Bang. Liu Bang pointed to the oath of heaven, saying that he sealed the treasury and sent people to guard the letter to Guguan, which had no other meaning, just to wait for Xiang Yu to arrive. He asked Xiang Bo to go back and convey his intentions to Xiang Yu. Early the next morning, Liu Bang, accompanied by Zhang Liang and Fan Xu, went to Hongmen to meet Xiang Yu and make amends in person. Xiang Yu said: "This is what your Zuo Sima Cao said without injury, otherwise, how can I do this?" With the cooperation of Zhang Liang and Fan Xu, Liu Bang was able to get out and leave. As soon as he returned to the barracks, Liu Bang immediately killed Cao Wuxian. Regarding the details of the Hongmen banquet, Xiang Yu's biography will also be introduced.

Fan Hao is also a native of Pei County, the husband of Lu Hou's sister Lu Xiao, and Liu Bang's brother-in-law. Before following Liu Bang's rebellion, Fan Xu made a career of killing dogs and selling meat. The county commander of Peixian County wanted to rebel and sent Fan Hao to recruit Liu Bang. The county order repented, and Fan Xu fled with Liu Bang. Liu Bang seized Pei County and was elected as the Duke of Pei, with Fan Hao as his retainer. Fan Hao is a fierce general, Liu Bang went west, all the way to attack the city and pull out the village, Fan Hao is often the first to climb the city, killing countless enemies. Fan Xu can fight, and his mind is not simple. Liu Bang wanted to stay in the palace of the King of Qin and enjoy it, so he listened to the advice of Fan Xu and Zhang Liang and withdrew from the hegemony. This time in the Hongmen banquet, if it wasn't for Fan Hao breaking into the big tent to protect Liu Bang, Liu Bang would probably have died under Xiang Zhuang's sword, and there would be no later Han Dynasty.

A few days later, Xiang Yu's army marched into Xianyang and began to slaughter the city. Where Xiang Yu passed, the slaughter of the city was commonplace, which was also an important reason for his defeat in the battle between Chu and Han. Those who love to kill will make many enemies. Xiang Yu burned the Qin Palace, and the fire burned for more than three months, and how many people were turned into ashes under the anger of the puppet. Even the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang was poisoned by Xiang Yu. Killing is to overhaul goods and satisfy the desire to plunder for yourself and your soldiers. Xiang Yu collected the treasures and beauties of the Qin Dynasty and led the army back to the east, where he passed, there was a ruin. The people of Qin were disappointed, but because they were afraid, they did not dare to disagree.

Xiang Yu sent someone to return to King Chu Huai, but King Chu Huai never waited to see Xiang Yu, and only gave two words: "As promised". At the beginning, King Huai refused to let Xiang Yu and Liu Bang lead the army to the west together, but sent him north to rescue Zhao, which delayed the time and caused Xiang Yu to enter Xianyang later than Liu Bang, which made Xiang Yu hold a grudge. Xiang Yu said: "The position of King Huai was given by Xiang Liang of my family, and he has no size to fight the world, so why should he have the final say?" The people who stabilize the world are the generals and I, Xiang Yu. So pretending to respect the king as the righteous emperor is actually treating him as a puppet and depriving him of all power.

In troubled times, whoever controls the army has the final say. King Chu Huai sent two armies out, and both armies were victorious, but he lost control of them and became the commander of the light pole.

In 206 BC, in February of the first year of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu established himself as the overlord of Western Chu, and took the nine counties in the territory of Liang and Chu as his own territory, and set the capital at Pengcheng. Xiang Yu violated the agreement of King Huai of Chu and renamed Liu Bang as the king of Han, with Ba, Shu and Hanzhong as his territory, which is equivalent to today's Chongqing, Sichuan and southwestern Shaanxi, with the capital of Nanzheng. To say that the territory that Xiang Yu gave to Liu Bang cannot be considered small, Liu Bei in later generations was called the emperor and divided the world for a while, but it was just such a big place. But Bashu is not as good as Guanzhong after all, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan seven times, failed to compete for Guanzhong, and the majestic plan of enterprising the Central Plains came to naught. Xiang Yu assigned Liu Bang there, which obviously meant derogatory. Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng were already suspicious of Liu Bang, but the two sides had already made peace and did not want to break the agreement. Therefore, they came up with an excuse to justify themselves: "The road to Bashu is difficult and dangerous, and the exiled people of the Qin State live there, so Hanzhong also belongs to Guanzhong." It means that Xiang Yu did not violate the original agreement. It was this decision to be both a bitch and an archway that ruined Xiang Yu. A certain great man has a poem: "It is advisable to chase the poor with the remaining bravery, and not to sell the name of the overlord", which is to criticize Xiang Yu for not killing Liu Bang and treating the bitch to the end, but he lost his life for a worthless chaste archway. Xiang Yu cut the pass into three pieces and gave them to three Qin generals: Zhang Han was the king of Yong, and Xianyang was his territory to the west, and the capital was wasted; Sima Xin was the king of Sai, with Xianyang to the east to the Yellow River as the territory, and the capital was Liyang; Dong Peng is the king of Zhai, and the upper county is the territory, and the capital is Gaonu. Gaonu is located in present-day Yanchang County, Shaanxi Province. Sima Xin was originally kind to Xiang Liang, and Dong Fei was meritorious in persuading Zhang Han to surrender, so he was able to be crowned king. The other princes were also rewarded.

Xiang Yu wanted these three people to spy on Liu Bang and block his way back to the east, but he was afraid that they would sit big, so he divided the pass into three and let them restrain each other. It's just that in this way, they also lost the ability to resist Liu Bang. Guanzhong is the capital of the emperor, which gave birth to the Zhou Dynasty and the Qin Empire, and when you occupy here, you have the capital to compete for the Central Plains. But when it's split into three, it's nothing. Xiang Yu is wrong again and again, for Xiang Yu's mistake, Han Xindong is like watching the fire.

Liu Bang was furious and wanted to send troops to attack Xiang Yu, but Zhou Bo, Guan Ying and Fan Xu tried their best to dissuade him. Xiao He admonished: "No matter how bad Hanzhong is, it's better than death, right?" Liu Bang said: "How can you die?" Xiao He said: "Our troops are not as good as others, and we have lost a hundred battles, of course, we are going to die." Shang Tang and Zhou Wuneng stoop to one person and win the trust of the people, I hope that the king will go to Hanzhong to take office, support the people there, recruit wise men from all sides, collect the taxes of Bashu, and recover the three Qins, so that the world can be profitable. Liu Bang's biggest advantage is that he knows people well and is good at doing things, and immediately appointed Xiao He as the prime minister and led the army to Hanzhong. At the same time, he asked Zhang Liang to bribe Xiang Bo with a lot of money, and asked Xiang Yu to give him all the land of Hanzhong. In April, the princes and soldiers quit and went to their respective feudal states to take office. Xiang Yu allocated 30,000 soldiers to Liu Bang and escorted Liu Bang to Hanzhong to take up his post. According to historical records, tens of thousands of people in the state of Chu and various vassal states followed Liu Bang to Hanzhong because they admired Liu Bang's personality. However, it is suspicious at this time. The world is in turmoil, and everyone suffers. It was not easy to settle down, it was because everyone wanted to return to their homeland and live a stable life, how could tens of thousands of people voluntarily go to the remote Bashu to live a life of self-exile because they admired a person? Zhang Liang sent Liu Bang to Baozhong, and the two said goodbye. Zhang Liang is a South Korean and has always been loyal to South Korea. King Han returned to the country, and he wanted to go back to assist King Han. Before leaving, Zhang Liang persuaded Liu Bang to burn all the plank roads he walked on, not only to prevent the princes from sneaking attack, but also to show Xiang Yu that he had no idea of going east. Liu Bang complied.

After Xiang Yu left the customs, he sent people to move Emperor Yi out of Pengcheng. Xiang Yu said: "The place where the ancient emperors lived was thousands of miles away, and they had to live upstream. He moved Emperor Yi to Chenxian County in Changsha, which is now Chenzhou City in Hunan Province, and forced Emperor Yi to set off immediately. The ministers found that the big ship of Emperor Yi was about to sink, and they abandoned the ship one after another.

Xiang Yu is stubborn and self-serving, and he will repay him. Qi general Tian Rong disobeyed Xiang Liang's orders many times, and did not send troops to accompany Xiang Yu to the west to conquer Qin, Xiang Yu held a grudge and did not give him a seal. Chen Yu and Zhang Er are the generals of Zhao State, and they used to be brothers in life and death, but there were conflicts at the moment of life and death. After the Battle of Julu, Chen Yu gave up his military power in anger and did not march to Xianyang with Xiang Yu. When Xiang Yu divided the princes, he named Zhang Er as the king of Changshan, and only named Chen Yu as the marquis. Tian Rong rebelled, established himself as the king of Qi, gave Peng Yue's general seal, and ordered him to raise troops in Liangdi. Tian Rong gave Chen Yu the army again, Chen Yu defeated Zhang Er, the king of Changshan, and Zhang Er defected to Liu Bang. Xiang Yu was furious and led his army north to attack the state of Qi. The world had only been settled for a few months when civil war broke out again.

Han Xin, a native of Huaiyin, has a poor family, and it is estimated that he has not studied the law well, and he is not qualified to get an errand in the government, and he cannot work in business to support himself, so he often goes to other people's houses to eat, so everyone dislikes him. One day, Han Xin went fishing in the city, and an old woman who was washing clothes saw that he was hungry and gave him some food. Han Xin was grateful and said, "I will definitely repay you well." The old woman said angrily, "A dignified man cannot support himself, and he is embarrassed to speak wildly." I pity you for being so hungry that I gave you food, where can I expect you to repay! A local stunned young man insulted Han Xin in public, saying: "Although you are not small and like to carry swords and swords, you are actually very timid in your heart." If you have any kind, kill me; If you don't have a seed, you will get under my crotch. Han Xin looked at the man for a long time, didn't say a word, lay on the ground, and passed under the man's crotch. The whole city laughed at him and thought he was a coward.

Xiang Liang led his army across the Huai River, and Han Xin came to take refuge with his beloved sword, but he did not make any name for himself. After Xiang Liang's defeat, he followed Xiang Yu again, and Xiang Yu appointed him as Langzhong. He gave advice to Xiang Yu many times, but Xiang Yu did not adopt it. Xiang Yu divided the world, Han Xin left Xiang Yu and followed Liu Bang into Hanzhong. At this time, Han Xin was still not famous, and Liu Bang only asked him to be a petty official in charge of reception. Once, Han Xin violated the law and deserved to be punished for the crime. The thirteen people who were sentenced together had already lost their heads, and when it was Han Xin's turn, Han Xin raised his head. At that time, the supervisor was Xiahou Ying. Xiahou Ying is also a native of Pei County, and used to be a horseman in the county government. When Liu Bang was the head of the Surabaya Pavilion, every time Xiahou Ying sent a guest back, he passed by Liu Bang and chatted for a long time. Later, Xiahouying was admitted to the county civil service and had a very close relationship with Liu Bang. Once, when the two were playing, Liu Bang accidentally injured Xiahou Ying. Someone sued Liu Bang, and according to the laws of the Qin State, wounding someone is a felony. Xia Houying testified in court that Liu Bang did not harm him. Later, the case was retried, and Xiahou Ying was imprisoned for more than a year and tortured hundreds of times. But he did not change his confession, and Liu Bang was finally found not guilty. Later, Xiahou Ying rebelled with Liu Bang in Pei County. With this relationship, the friendship between Xiahouying and Liu Bang is certainly not ordinary. Han Xin said to Xiahou Ying: "Didn't the king want to fight for the world, why did he kill a strong man?" Xiahou Ying was deeply shocked, and saw that he was extraordinary, so he let him go. After talking with Han Xin, Xiahou Ying appreciated Han Xin very much, so he introduced him to Liu Bang. Liu Bang appointed Han Xin as the commander of Zhisu, that is, a quartermaster, and did not look at him differently.

Han Xin talked to Xiao He many times, and Xiao He was very important to him. Liu Bang's subordinates were all from the east, and none of them wanted to stay in that poor country in the northwest. As soon as they reached Nanzheng, dozens of generals had already fled. Han Xin estimated that Xiao He had mentioned him to King Han many times, and King Han didn't need him, so he also joined the ranks of the fugitives. When Xiao He heard that Han Xin had escaped, he didn't have time to report to Liu Bang first, so he chased after him. Someone told Liu Bang: "The prime minister has fled." Liu Bang was furious, as if he had lost his left and right hands.

Six

After a day or two, Xiao He came to see Liu Bang. Liu Bang turned his anger into joy, and asked Xiao He: "Why did you run away?" Xiao He said: "How dare I escape? I'm going to chase the escapees. Liu Bang asked, "Who are you chasing?" Xiao He said: "Han Xin." Liu Bang scolded Xiao He: "There are so many generals who have escaped, you don't chase them." You chase Han Xin, fake! Xiao He said: "Other generals are easy to find, and people like Han Xin can't find a second one in China." If you want to stay in Hanzhong for the rest of your life and be a king, you don't need Han Xin. If you want to compete with Xiang Yu for the world, except for Han Xin, no one can count on it. It's up to you what you think. Liu Bang said: "I also want to go back, how can I stay in this place for a lifetime?" Xiao He said: "If you want to fight back to the east, you can use Han Xin, and Han Xin will stay; If it can't be used, Han Shin will still escape. Liu Bang said: "For your sake, I will appoint him as a general." Xiao He said: "Even if he becomes a general, Han Xin will not stay." Liu Bang said: "Then I will appoint him as a general." Xiao He said: "That's great! Liu Bang wanted to send someone to find Han Xin and worship him as a general. Xiao He stopped: "Your lord, you are usually arrogant and rude, but now you are like a child in your respect, which is why Han Xin fled." If you are sure that you want to worship Han Xin as a general, you should choose an auspicious day, fast, set up a worship platform, and the number of rituals will be all there. Liu Bang agreed. This is the story of Xiao Heyue's pursuit of Han Xin.

Liu Bang didn't know Han Xin, just because Xiao He said this, Liu Bang wanted to worship Han Xin as a handsome, which shows how much Liu Bang trusts Xiao Hede! Although Liu Bang is as close as brothers to Fan Xu, Xiahou Ying, etc., the weight of their words is far inferior to Xiao He and Zhang Liang, which is very different from Xiang Yu's bias and belief in Xiang Bo and his suspicion of Fan Zeng, which shows that Liu Bang's knowledge is really much higher than Xiang Yu. Han Xin's later performance proved that Liu Bang and Xiao He knew people well. When the generals heard that Liu Bang was going to pay homage to the generals, they were very happy, and everyone thought that Shuai Yin belonged to him. When they found out that the person Liu Bang wanted to worship was Han Xin, one by one his tongues spit out more than a foot long.

After the ceremony was held, Liu Bang asked Han Xin: "The prime minister has mentioned the general many times, what kind of insight does the general have to enlighten the widow?" After being modest, Han Xin asked Liu Bang: "Your king, you are fighting for the world in the east, is your opponent King Xiang?" Liu Bang said, "Yes." Han Xin asked: "The king himself estimates, in terms of bravery, good fighting, benevolence and strength, can you compare to King Xiang?" Liu Bang was silent for a long time and said, "I'm not as good as King Xiang." Han Xin gave Liu Bang a deep salute and said, "I also think that the king is inferior." However, I have stayed with King Xiang, and I will tell you about King Xiang's personality. King Xiang roared angrily, and a thousand people would be scared. However, he could not appoint talented generals, so he was nothing more than a puppet. King Xiang was respectful and loving when he saw people, and spoke kindly. If someone is sick, he will cry bitterly, give his delicious food to others, and take care of him. But when employing people, if someone makes meritorious service, he should be added to the official rank, but he pinched the engraved official seal in his hand, and he was reluctant to give it to others until the edges and corners were polished. This is called the kindness of a woman. King Xiang dominated the world, and the princes bowed down to him, but he gave up Guanzhong and took Pengcheng as his capital. He violated the agreement of Emperor Yi and made people close to him kings, and all the princes were indignant in their hearts. When the princes saw King Xiang driving Emperor Yi to Jiangnan, they all went back one after another, drove their own king away, and seized good territory. Wherever King Xiang passed, he was either crippled or destroyed, and the world was full of complaints, and the common people were separated from him. It's just that he is too strong, and everyone dares to be angry but dare not speak. He is nominally the overlord of Western Chu, but in fact he has lost the support of the people. So although he is strong, he can be easily weakened. If the king can do the opposite and reuse the brave warriors of the world, who does he want to die? Use the cities of the world to reward meritorious heroes, who will disagree? In line with the wishes of the soldiers who miss their hometown and hope to return to the east, they will raise rebels, who can stop them? The three kings of Guanzhong sealed by Xiang Yu have long led the children of the Qin State to fight abroad, and the dead are innumerable. They also deceived their own soldiers and surrendered to the princes. When he arrived in Xin'an, King Xiang deceived and killed more than 200,000 soldiers of the Qin State, and only spared Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Peng, and the Qin people hated them to the bone marrow. The state of Chu was strong, coerced the Qin people, and with these three people as kings, the Qin people had no feelings for them. When the king entered the Wuguan, Qiu did not commit any crimes, abolished the harsh laws of the Qin Dynasty, and agreed with the people of Qin for three chapters, and the Qin people did not want you to be their king. According to the agreement between King Huai and the princes, the king should be the king of Guanzhong, and all the people in Guanzhong knew about it. The king did not get Guanzhong, and was assigned to Hanzhong, and the people of Qin State all hated it. Now the king raises his troops to the east, there is no need to fight, as long as he sends a proclamation of the crusade, Sanqin will submit to the king. Liu Bang was overjoyed after hearing this, hating that he didn't know Han Xin earlier. So, Liu Bang listened to Han Xin's strategy, dispatched troops, and prepared for battle. Xiao He stayed to collect the rent of Bashu, provide support for the army, and do a good job in logistics support.

Han Xin's wonderful analysis accurately hit Xiang Yu's three major dead ends: First, the uneven distribution of spoils, and the recurrence of disasters is not far away. In fact, the sub-sealing system is no longer appropriate, and Han Xin, like most people at that time, did not see it at this point. Second, the Guanzhong Plain, which gave up the world and opened up the two dynasties of Zhou and Qin, must be in Pengcheng, a battlefield that extends in all directions and has no danger to defend, which is a great opportunity for Liu Bang. 3. The three generals pitted the Qin army and were hated by the Qin people, and Liu Bang made three chapters of the law, and was loved by the Qin people, and the people's hearts were in favor of Liu Bang. Later, things developed as Han Xin said.

In 206 BC, in August of the first year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the king of Han, adopted Han Xin's strategy and led his army from the old road to the north out of Chencang, which opened the prelude to the struggle between Chu and Han. Chen Cang in today's Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. Xiang Yu's three kings in Guanzhong are really vulnerable, as Han Xin said. Yongwang Zhanghan led his army to meet the battle, but was defeated by the Han army and fled. The two armies fought again at Haoqi, and Zhang Han was defeated again, fled back to the ruined hill, and was trapped in the city by Liu Bang. It is located in the east of today's Qianxian County, Shaanxi Province. Liu Bang quickly pacified Zhang Han's territory. Zhang Han was a famous general at the end of Qin, and even so, let alone other kings. The Han army advanced to Xianyang, and Sima Xin, the king of Sai, Dong Peng, the king of Zhai, and Shenyang, the king of Henan, surrendered one after another. In less than half a year, except for Zhang Han who occupied the waste mound and fought for the trapped beasts, the entire Guanzhong area was owned by Liu Bang. Liu Bang dredged the place where the Yellow River was blocked, opened the royal gardens of the Qin Dynasty for the people to cultivate, and once again bought the hearts of the people.

Liu Bang sent people out of Wuguan and borrowed Wang Ling's army to meet his father Liu Taigong and Empress Lü. Xiang Yu got the news and sent troops to intercept it in Yangxia, but Wang Ling's army could not advance. Wang Ling is also a native of Pei County, lives in Nanyang, and has thousands of men under his command. Xiang Yu took Wang Ling's mother hostage and wanted to use her to blackmail Wang Ling. Wang Ling sent an envoy to negotiate with Xiang Yu, and Wang Ling's mother secretly told the envoy: "Please help me convey to Wang Ling and serve the King of Han well." King Han is a generous elder, and he will eventually get the world. Don't be distracted by me. After saying that, he died with his sword. Xiang Yu was furious and put Wang Ling's mother in the pot to cook. Wang Ling has since returned to Liu Bang. Xiang Yu's willfulness can be seen from this.

Xiang Yu did not let Han Wang return to China because of Han Wangcheng's lack of merit and Zhang Liang did his best for Liu Bang, so he simply killed him, renamed Zheng Chang as Han Wang, and ordered Zheng Chang to resist the Han army for him. Zhang Liang fled from South Korea from Xiaodao and defected to Liu Bang. Zhang Liang was not in good health, so he rarely led troops to fight, and only stayed by the side of King Han to give advice. In this way, because of his willfulness, Xiang Yu sent Liu Bang a resourceful master of strategy. Zhang Liang wrote to Xiang Yu: "King Han just wants to get back what should belong to him according to the agreement between King Chu Huai and everyone, and when the goal is achieved, he will stop and dare not take a step further east." Xiang Yu was overwhelmed by Tian Rong and Chen Yu, and after seeing Zhang Liang's letter, he dispelled the idea of attacking westward. As it turned out later, this was a fatal decision. Because Liu Bang had just occupied Guanzhong at that time, his foothold was not stable, and people were panicked. If he attacked him at this time, Liu Bang would probably have lost all his efforts. Liu Bang has long had the ambition of Lingyun, which is Xiang Yu's biggest disaster, and everyone else is a mustard disease. The White Emperor and the Red Emperor said that it was like "counting the romantic characters and looking at the present dynasty", which had long exposed Liu Bang's ambitions, but Xiang Yu turned a deaf ear. With such poor political sensitivity, how can it be undefeated? Zhang Er, the king of Changshan, was defeated by Chen Yu and defected to Liu Bang. Liu Bang married his daughter Princess Lu Yuan to Zhang Er's son Zhang Ao, and the two formed a family of children and daughters, which is a later story.

In October of the first year of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu secretly ordered the kings of Jiujiang, Linjiang and Hengshan to kill Emperor Yi in the river. Emperor Yi was only the nominal leader of the state, with no real power and no threat to anyone, so to speak, harmless to humans and animals. Xiang Yu can completely coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes. His move was a tyrant's act, and it provided the best reason for Liu Bang to move eastward. In 205 BC, in March of the second year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bangdong crossed the Yellow River and came to Luoyang. The third old man of Xincheng said to Liu Bang: "I have heard: 'Those who follow virtue prosper, and those who oppose virtue die'; Therefore, it is said: 'If you know that he is a thief, the enemy can be subdued.' Xiang Yu has no way, exiles and kills his lord, and is the public enemy of the world. The benevolent are not brave, and the righteous are not powerful. The king should lead the three armies to mourn for the righteous emperor, announce the princes, and crusade against Xiang Yu. In this way, people from all over the world will admire your great virtue, which is what the Three Kings did back then. Liu Bang adopted Dong Gong's suggestion, mourned for Emperor Yi, exposed his body, cried loudly, and mourned for three days. Liu Bang sent an envoy to tell the princes: "The world will establish a righteous emperor, and the north will do it." Now Xiang Yu exiled and killed Emperor Yi, which is a great rebellion. The widow personally mourned for the righteous emperor, and the princes all wore filial piety clothes. I sent all the troops in the pass, mobilized the soldiers of Sanhe, and crossed the Yangtze River and the Han River in the south, hoping to work with the princes of all walks of life to fight against the Chu people who killed the Yi Emperor. ”

At this time, Xiang Yu was conquest of Tian Rong of Qi State, completely unaware that Liu Bang was copying his back road. Tian Rong was defeated and fled to the plains, where he was killed by the plains. The Qi people surrendered to Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu reverted to his old ways, retaliated, burned down the Qi people's cities, and captured their children, exposing the true nature of the horseman. The people of Qi rebelled again, and Tian Rong's younger brother Tian Hengli Tian Rong's son Tian Guang became the king of Qi and erected an anti-Chu banner in Chengyang. Although Xiang Yu received the news that the Han army was marching eastward, he had already exchanged hands with the Qi army, so he wanted to fight back against the Han army after breaking the Qi. Liu Bang therefore had time to lead a total of 560,000 troops of the princes of the Five Routes into Pengcheng. Pengcheng had no danger to defend and soon fell, proving how stupid it was to abandon Guanzhong! As soon as Xiang Yu heard that the old nest had been opened, he left the other princes to continue to attack the Qi State, and personally led 30,000 elite soldiers back to Pengcheng. Liu Bang entered Pengcheng, thinking that he had won the victory, but the old problem was committed again, and he was busy accumulating treasures all day long, drinking and picking up girls, and was unprepared for Xiang Yu's arrival. The two armies fought a decisive battle at Pengcheng, and the Han army was defeated, with more than 100,000 people killed. The Han army fled to the southern mountains, and the Chu army pursued to Suishui to the east of Lingbi, the Han army retreated, and more than 100,000 people were squeezed into Suishui by the Chu army, and the water did not flow. The Chu army surrounded Liu Bang, and it was impossible to escape. At this time, God stepped in and saved Liu Bang's life. Suddenly, the northwest wind blew up, the trees broke, the houses collapsed, the sand and rocks flew away, and the day was like night. Xiang Yu's army was in chaos, and Liu Bang took the opportunity to escape, with only a dozen cavalry following him. The Battle of Pengcheng took place in 205 BC, in April of the second year of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang wanted to go back to Pei County to pick up his family, and Xiang Yu also sent someone to pick up Liu Bang's family. It can be seen that Xiang Yu has not been guarding against Liu Bang, otherwise he would have taken Liu Bang and Xiao He and other relatives hostage, which is a big negligence. Liu Bang's family all fled and were separated from Liu Bang. Liu Bang met his son and daughter on the way, put them in the car and took them away. Chu Jun was in hot pursuit, and Liu Bang was in a hurry and pushed the two children out of the car many times. Xiahou Ying, who drove for Liu Bang, said: "Although the situation is urgent and the car can't run, you can't throw the child away!" Liu Bang was furious and wanted to kill Xiahou Ying more than a dozen times. Thanks to Xiahou Ying's protection, the two children were out of danger with Liu Bang. Liu Bang's father and Empress Lü came out to look for Liu Bang, ran into the Chu army, and were captured by the Chu army, and Xiang Yu often put them in the army as hostages. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu are not idle people, but Liu Bang was able to abandon his own flesh and blood in order to escape for his life, and Xiang Yu was reluctant to Yu Ji at the last moment, which shows that Liu Bang obviously surpassed Xiang Yu in terms of ruthlessness. Of course, some people will think that Xiang Yu's children are long-haired, heroes are short-breathed, and they are the benevolence of women, and those who do big things don't care about small things, and Liu Bang is the real hero.

As soon as the princes saw that the Chu army was strong, they all turned around gorgeously and threw themselves back into Xiang Yu's arms. Sima Xin, the king of Sai, fled back to Xiang Yu and later died on the water.

The situation has taken a turn for the worse, and we must quickly find a way to save the situation. Liu Bang asked the ministers: "I want to dedicate the Kanto region and reward those who are capable, who can make contributions with me?" Zhang Liang said: "Yingbu, the king of Jiujiang, is the general of the Chu State, and he has a conflict with King Xiang; Peng Yue rebelled in Liangdi, and these two people could come in handy urgently. As for the Han King, your generals, only Han Xin can take charge alone. If you want to split the earth, seal it to these three people, and the state of Chu will definitely be defeated. Liu Bang adopted Zhang Liang's suggestion, which saved Liu Bang's career.

Seven

Jiujiang Wang Yingbu is a native of Lu'an, because he broke the law when he was young, his face was tattooed, so he is also known as Huang Bu. The Qin State built the Lishan Mausoleum, and Yingbu was also one of the laborers who repaired the tomb. Yingbu is politically minded and specializes in making friends with heroes and heroes. Later, he simply took his companions to fall into the grass and became a robber in the river. Xiang Liang raised troops in Jiangdong, and Yingbu led his army to surrender. After Xiang Liang's death, Yingbu was under the command of Xiang Yu. During the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu sent Yingbu to take the lead in crossing the river to attack the Qin army. After Yingbu won several battles, Xiang Yu led the whole army to cross the river. The Chu soldiers often win, the meritorious crown princes, the princes serve Chu, and Yingbu is indispensable. Xiang Yu often appointed Yingbu as the vanguard, and when he divided the heroes, Yingbu was named the king of Jiujiang, with Lu'an as the capital. However, Queen Yingbuphon was not so obedient. Xiang Yu conquered the state of Qi and recruited troops from Jiujiang, and Yingbu sent his men to lead thousands of troops under the pretext of illness. Liu Bang captured Pengcheng, but Yingbu still said that he was sick and stood by and watched. Xiang Yu was very dissatisfied with Yingbu, and sent messengers to rebuke him many times, and at the same time summoned Yingbu. Yingbu was too frightened to answer the call. Xiang Yu has Qi in the north and the Han King as his enemy in the west, only Yingbu is barely a friend, Xiang Yu appreciates Yingbu's talent and wants to reuse him, so he didn't attack Yingbu. After Liu Bang's defeat in Pengcheng, his army was stationed in Dangxian. One day, Liu Bang said to the left and right: "You waste, none of you can discuss big things with me." Sui He asked, "I don't know what big thing you're talking about." Liu Bang said: "Who can send an envoy to Jiujiang for me to persuade Yingbu to raise troops to betray the Chu State?" If I can stumble King Xiang for a few months, I will be sure to take over the world. Sui He said: "What's so difficult about this? I'll go! Liu Bang sent twenty people to Jiujiang with Sui He. Yingbu really betrayed Xiang Yu and raised troops to attack the state of Chu. A few months later, Yingbu was defeated and fled with Sui He to Liu Bang.

When Yingbu arrived, Liu Bang was sitting on the bed washing his feet. Liu Bang didn't pay attention to it, so he summoned Yingbu directly. Yingbu was furious, thinking, although I was defeated, I am also a king, and I have seen the people of the world, Liu Bang deceived people too much! Yingbu regretted this trip very much, thinking that it was a self-inflicted humiliation, and he had the heart to die at that time. However, when he said goodbye to Liu Bang and lived in the hotel, he found that the decorations in it were exactly the same as where Liu Bang lived, so he was overjoyed. It can be seen that Yingbu is also the same as Chen Sheng, he only has small goals in his heart, and has no lofty ambitions, which is easy to satisfy. Xiang Yu collected Yingbu's Jiujiang soldiers and killed Yingbu's wife and children. Yingbu collected thousands of remnants, Liu Bang gave some more soldiers, and the two armies were stationed together in Chenggao. The matter was not mentioned.

In May, Liu Bang arrived in Xingyang. The defeated troops in the Battle of Pengcheng all converged here, and Xiao He also recruited the old and weak personnel in Guanzhong who had not reached the service age and exceeded the service age, and sent them all here, and the Han army grew stronger again. There are no young adults in Guanzhong, which shows what this war has caused to Sanqin. Taking advantage of the victory, the Chu army pursued from Pengcheng and fought with the Han army between Jing and Suo in the south of Xingyang. There were many cavalry in Chu, and the Han army organized cavalry troops, appointed Guan Ying as the middle doctor, and Qin generals Li Bi and Luo Jia as the left and right captains, and fought with the Chu cavalry in Xingyangdong. The Chu cavalry was defeated, so the Chu army was unable to break through Xingyang and advance westward. Chu and Han entered the stage of strategic stalemate.

In June, Liu Bang made Liu Ying the crown prince. Divert water to irrigate the waste hill, Zhang Han committed suicide, and the waste hill surrendered. The last famous general of the Great Qin Empire came to an end in this way. Originally, with his ability, if he owned Guanzhong alone, he might be able to stop Liu Bang. But in that case, he won't say whether he will continue to listen to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu was not at ease with him, so he divided the pass into three. The other two were pure waste, and they were defeated before the battle, so that Zhang Han could not support it alone, and this feng shui treasure that gave birth to the emperors of the two dynasties was completely returned to Liu Bang.

In 204 BC, in the third year of the Western Han Dynasty, Wang Bao of Wei betrayed the state of Chu, and Liu Bang sent people to surrender. Wei Wangbao didn't listen, and said: "The king of Han is arrogant, likes to insult people, and scolds the princes and ministers like slaves, I don't want to see him again." Liu Bang sent Han Xin to crusade, the Wei army was defeated, Wei Wangbao was captured, and the Qin State of Hanxue set up three counties of Hedong, Taiyuan and Shangdang in Wei. Wei Wangbao has the courage and no strategy, and since he has offended the powerful Chu State, he should make friends with the Han. The strength is insufficient, and the two strong are offended, so why not die? After Liu Bang occupied Wei, he ordered Han Xin and Zhang Erdong to go down to Jingcheng and attack Zhao.

In October, Han Xin and Zhang Er led tens of thousands of troops to the east to attack the state of Zhao, and the king of Zhao and Cheng Anjun Chen Yu gathered troops at Jingchengkou to resist the Han army. Jingchengkou is in today's Jingcheng County, Hebei Province. The Zhao army claimed to be 200,000, which had the upper hand in numbers, and the Zhao army also occupied the home advantage and waited for work. Li Zuoche suggested to Chen Yu not to confront the Han army head-on, and to send troops to cut off the supply of the Han army, so that the Han army from afar would be in chaos without a fight. Chen Yu was a Confucian scholar, and he often talked about "volunteers don't need to deceive and trick themselves", believing that not fighting was a sign of weakness to the enemy, which made people look down on him, and refused to adopt Li Zuoche's strategy. Han Xin was overjoyed when he learned about it, and sent light cavalry carrying the banner of the Han army to ambush near the Zhao army camp overnight. The next day, Han Xin lined up with his back to lure the Zhao army into battle. The Han army had no way to retreat, and fought a decisive battle to the death. The whole battalion of the Zhao army was dispatched, and the camp was empty and captured by the Han army in ambush. The Zhao army could not win against the Han army, and returned to the barracks, but found that the camp had fallen into the hands of the Han army, so they thought that the war had been lost, so they collapsed, King Zhao was captured, and Chen Yu was killed. Chen Yu has been leading the army in Zhao since the Chen Sheng Uprising, and he is also a man of the hour in the late Qin Dynasty.

Han Xin's daughter offered a reward for capturing Li Zuoche. After Li Zuoche was captured, Han Xin loosened his ties for him, worshipped him as a teacher, and asked him for advice. Li Zuoche persuaded Han Xin to let the soldiers rest, pacify the people of Zhao State, and adopt the method of persuading Yan to surrender rather than attacking by force, and concentrate on dealing with Qi State. Han Xin took Li Zuoche's suggestion and sent an envoy to the Yan Kingdom, and the Yan king Zang Tu returned to the Han Dynasty.

The Han army was stationed south of Xingyang, building a road to the Yellow River and transporting grain stored by the Qin state in the Aocang granary as military rations. The Chu army repeatedly attacked the grain transportation channels of the Han army, and the Han army's food supply was tight. Chu and Han have been holding each other for more than a year, and the two sides are in a stalemate. Liu Bang and Li Shiqi discussed the strategy of weakening Xiang Yu, and Li Shiqi said: "In the past, Shang Tang crusaded against Xia Wei and sealed the descendants of King Xia in Qi Kingdom; King Wu cut down and sealed the descendants of the king of Shang in the Song Kingdom. The state of Qin betrayed its promises, invaded the princes, destroyed their communities, and left them with no place to stand. If Your Majesty can restore the throne of the descendants of the Six Kingdoms, their monarchs and ministers will definitely be grateful to Your Majesty, admire Your Majesty's noble sentiments, and compete to be your concubines. Virtue and righteousness have been done, Your Majesty will dominate in the south, and the State of Chu will only bow down to you. Liu Bang has always been good, and immediately said: "Good! Hurry up and engrave it, and Mr. will take it out for me and distribute it! Before Li Sheng left, Zhang Liang came in from outside, and Liu Bang told Zhang Liang all about Li Shiqi's plan and asked Zhang Liang what he thought. Zhang Liang said: "Who came up with the idea? You're in a bad situation! Liu Bang asked, "Why?" Zhang Liang said: "I will use the chopsticks in front of you to plan for you." In the past, the reason why Shang Tang and Zhou Wu divided the descendants of Xia Wei and King Shang was because they believed that the life and death of these people were in their own hands, but now, can His Majesty control Xiang Yu's life and death? One must not. After King Wu of Zhou defeated the king of Shang, he erected a plaque for the gate of Shang Rong's house, released the basket from the prison, and sealed the tomb of Bigan, can you, Your Majesty? Two must not. Open the granary of the giant bridge and give relief to the hungry; Can you distribute the money from Lutai to the poor, Your Majesty? Three can't. After the conquest of Yin Shang, Yanwu Xiuwen, reversed the war, and expressed to the people of the world that he would no longer use soldiers, Your Majesty, can you? Fourth, no. Hugh Ma Huashan Zhiyang, said that there is no need to fight anymore, Your Majesty, can you? Five, no. Herding the yin of the cattle and peach forest means that there is no need to transport grain and grass anymore, can you, Your Majesty? Six must not. People from all over the world have left their hometowns, abandoned their families and businesses, and come to His Majesty, just to get a piece of land where they can live in the future. Now that you have restored the throne to the descendants of the Six Kingdoms, who will stay and help you fight the world when they go to serve their respective masters, return to their homeland, and go to their relatives and friends? Seven can't. Unless the State of Chu is no longer strong, otherwise, the descendants of these six countries you have established will still take refuge in the State of Chu, how can it be of use to you? Eight can't. If you use that man's scheme, you're doomed! Liu Bang was eating, and after listening to Zhang Liang's analysis, all the rice in his mouth squirted out, and he scolded: "The bookworm almost ruined Lao Tzu's big thing!" "Ordered the seal to be destroyed immediately.

Li Shiqi is Liu Bang's important adviser and lobbyist, and he has come up with a lot of good ideas for Liu Bang, and he is definitely not a fool. As a Confucian student, his mind was full of anachronistic ideals that reproduced the prosperity of the Xia and Shang dynasties, or did Zhang Liang see the essence of the problem: the era of monarchy and feudalism is gone, not to mention, you Liu Bang is now in danger, who will obey you? If you concentrate your strength, you are afraid that you will not be able to defeat Xiang Yu, and if you scatter your forces, you will definitely lose. If Zhang Liang hadn't broken it, Liu Bang would have to repeat Xiang Yu's mistakes.

Chen Ping was a native of Yangwu County, which is in Yuanyang County, Henan Province. Chen Ping's family was poor when he was a child, and he lived with his elder brother Chen Bo. Chen Ping likes to read very much, and Uncle Chen farms hard, but lets him go on a study tour. Chen Ping is tall and a beautiful man. Someone asked Chen Ping: "Your family is so poor, why do you look white and fat?" His sister-in-law said, "It's just a matter of eating bran vegetables, it's better not to have such a brother-in-law." Uncle Chen heard this, and in a fit of rage, he drove his wife out of the house.

Chen Ping grew up, and when he reached the age of marriage, the rich didn't marry their daughters to him, and he didn't look down on the poor. There is a rich man named Zhang Ying in the same township, and his granddaughter has been married five times, and all five men have died, so no one dares to marry. Once, Zhang Ying followed Chen Ping to his house, which was in a poor alley, using broken straw mats as a door, but there were many rut marks left by the elders outside the door. Zhang Cheng went home and told his son, "I want to marry your daughter to Chen Ping." The son said: "Chen Ping's family is so poor that the bell rings, he is so lazy to do it, people in a county laugh at him, why should I marry my daughter to this kind of person?" Zhang Cheng said: "How can there be a person as good-looking as Chen Ping who will be poor for a long time?" "Insist on marrying your granddaughter to Chen Ping. Chen Ping's family was poor and couldn't afford the dowry, the gift money was lent to him by the Zhang family, and the wine and meat were also paid by the Zhang family. Zhang Cheng warned his granddaughter: "Don't serve wholeheartedly just because the Chen family is poor." Treat Chen Ping's brother like your father, and his sister-in-law like your mother. Since Chen Ping married the daughter of the Zhang family, he began to have more money, and the number of people he traveled with became more and more extensive. In the township, Chen Ping is the one who distributes the sacrificial meat. Chen Ping was very fair, and the fathers and elders praised each other. Chen Ping said: "Alas, I, Chen Ping, will one day dominate the world, and it will be as fair as distributing sacrificial meat." ”

After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled, Chen Ping bid farewell to his brother and sister-in-law, defected to Wei Wangjiao, and was appointed as a servant. Chen Ping gave the King of Wei an idea, but the King of Wei did not listen. Someone spoke ill of Chen Ping in front of King Wei, and Chen Ping fled. Xiang Yu came to the Yellow River slightly, and Chen Ping defected to Xiang Yu and was given the title of Qing first-class by Xiang Yu. King Yin rebelled, Xiang Yu sent Chen Ping to lead an army to conquer, and King Yin surrendered. Xiang Yu worshiped Chen Ping as the captain and gave him twenty eridium. Soon, Liu Bang captured Yindi, and Xiang Yu was furious and prepared to kill the generals who pacified Yindi. Chen Ping was afraid, sealed the gold seal and fled, and defected to Liu Bang. Liu Bang summoned Chen Ping and seven people to meet and invite everyone to dinner. After eating, Liu Bang invited everyone back to the hotel to rest. Chen Ping said: "I have something to say, and what I want to say can't be today." Liu Bang chatted with Chen Ping, very speculative, and asked Chen Ping: "What kind of official are you doing in Chu State?" Chen Ping said, "Captain." Liu Bang worshipped Chen Ping as a lieutenant on the same day, and asked him to be the escort of the car and supervise the escort of the army generals. The generals were in an uproar and said, "The king has only been a day after getting this deserter from the Chu State, and he doesn't know how good he is, so he went out to share the car with him, and asked him to supervise us." "Liu Bang heard that it was better for Chen Ping.

Zhou Bo and Guan Ying said bad things about Chen Ping: "Although Chen Ping looks like a talent, he may not have real skills. I heard that he committed adultery with his sister-in-law at home; In the state of Wei, the state of Wei did not tolerate him; fled to the state of Chu, and couldn't get along, so he came to us. Now, the king pampered him and let him supervise the generals of the various armies. We heard that Chen Ping accepted bribes from the generals, and those who gave more money got good positions, and those who gave less money got bad positions. Chen Ping is a repeated villain, so the king has to be careful. "Zhou Bo and Guan Ying are Liu Bang's iron buddies, and they are very heavy in front of Liu Bang. Liu Bang was suspicious in his heart and blamed the recommender Wei Wuzhi. Ignorance said, "What I am talking about is talent, and what Your Majesty asks is character." Now there is a person whose character is as noble as Osheng and filial piety, but it does not help the success or defeat of victory or defeat, what is the use of such a person to Your Majesty? Chu and Han competed, and what I recommend is a talent who can make a strange plan, and what I consider is whether his strategy is really beneficial to the country. As for adultery and bribery, there is no doubt at all. Liu Bang called Chen Ping and said to him: "When Mr. was doing things for the King of Wei, he was not loyal to the King of Wei, and he left halfway when he was doing things for the King of Chu. Chen Ping said: "I served the king of Wei, and the king of Wei could not take my good advice, so I left; King Xiang doesn't trust others, and the people he trusts and reuses are either the same surname or his wife's family, and he can't use talented people. I heard that King Han was good at employing people, so I came to defect. I came empty-handed, and I couldn't survive without receiving some gift money. If my plan works, you will take it; If there is no available, all the gift money is there, please hand it over to the government to seal, and I will resign and go home. When Liu Bang heard this, he quickly apologized, rewarded Chen Ping with a heavy amount of money, worshiped him as the captain of the army, and supervised all the generals. No one dared to chew their tongues again!

Eight

Liu Bang asked Chen Ping: "When will the world be troubled?" Chen Ping said: "King Xiang's ministers are only Fan Zeng, Zhong Liyi, Long Ji, and Zhou Yin, if the king can take out tens of thousands of catties of gold and use counter-plots to divide the relationship between the other party's monarchs and ministers, they can make them suspicious of each other." King Xiang was suspicious and easy to listen to slander, they would definitely kill each other internally, and if the Han army attacked them again, they would definitely be able to defeat the Chu State. Liu Bang said: "Okay! "Allocate 40,000 catties of gold and hand it to Chen Ping, let him use it as he pleases, and never ask how the money is spent. Chen Ping spent a lot of money and acted against the Chu army, declaring: "Zhong Liyi and other generals served under King Xiang, and they had a lot of credit, but they have not been able to tear the soil and seal the king, and now, they want to join forces with the King of Han, destroy the surname Xiang, and claim the king in his land." When Xiang Yu heard that, he really didn't trust Zhong Liyi and the others.

In April of the third year of the Han Dynasty, the Chu army trapped Liu Bang in Xingyang, and the situation was critical. Liu Bang asked for peace and was willing to take Xingyang as the dividing line, and the west of Xingyang would return to Han and the east to Chu. Fan Zeng persuaded Xiang Yu not to agree, and he was anxious to work in Xingyang, but Liu Bang was very worried. Xiang Yu sent an envoy to the Han camp, and Chen Ping ordered him to be imprisoned, that is, pigs, cattle and mutton. Chen Ping took a closer look and saw that it was the envoy of the king of Chu, so he pretended to be very surprised and said, "I thought it was the messenger of Yafu, but it turned out to be the envoy of King Xiang." "Ordered someone to take the prison away and replace it with rough food. The messenger came back and told Xiang Yu what had happened. It was supposed to be a not clever show, and it was easy to spot. Helplessly, Xiang Yu was too young, the city government was not deep, and he was stubborn and self-serving, so he became suspicious of Fan Zeng. The more Fan Zeng was eager to take Xingyang, the more Xiang Yu didn't listen. Fan Zeng was loyal, the two armies held each other, the surprise one wins, the idea is good, but Xiang Yu was suspicious, and he was angry and said: "The big things in the world have been decided, the king, you can do it yourself, please allow me to resign!" "I didn't do it, and I died of illness before I returned to Pengcheng.

In May, the city of Xingyang ran out of food. General Ji Xin said to Liu Bang: "The situation is urgent! I went to deceive the Chu army, and the king took the opportunity to go out of the city. At night, Chen Ping opened the east gate and released more than 2,000 women, and the Chu army killed them on all sides. Ji Xin rode in Liu Bang's car and shouted: "We have nothing to eat, King Han surrenders." The Chu army shouted long live, and they all ran to the east of the city to see the excitement. Liu Bang took the opportunity to lead dozens of cavalry to escape from the West Gate. Xiang Yu was furious and burned Ji Xin to death.

Liu Bang fled back to Guanzhong, mobilized troops and horses, and prepared to fight Xiang Yu again. Yuan Sheng said to Liu Bang: "Chu and Han held each other in Xingyang for several years, and the Han army was often in a passive state. This time, the king will go out of Wuguan, Xiang Yu will definitely lead his troops to the south, and you will deal with him in a deep ditch and a high base. In this way, Xingyang and Chenggao can take a breath. Send Han Xin and others to pacify Zhaodi in Hebei, connect Yan and Qi, and then it's not too late for you to return to Xingyang. In this way, there are many places for the Chu State to be guarded against, and the forces are scattered. The Han army will be rested, and then fight a decisive battle with the Chu army, and the Chu army will definitely be defeated. Liu Bang adopted his strategy and sent troops between Wan and Ye. Wan is Nanyang, and the leaf is in today's Ye County, Henan Province. Xiang Yu really took the bait and led the army to chase after him. Liu Bang defended tenaciously and did not engage him. Peng Yue defeated the Chu army at Xiapi, which was very close to Pengcheng, and Xiang Yu put down the siege of Liu Bang and attacked Peng Yue in the east. Liu Bang took the opportunity to occupy Chenggao. Xiang Yu defeated Peng Yue, turned back to capture Xingyang, and surrounded Chenggao. Liu Bang escaped from Chenggao, crossed the Yellow River to the north, broke into the bedrooms of Han Xin and Zhang Er early in the morning, seized their military talisman seals, and began to dispatch troops. Han Xin and Zhang Er got up and were surprised to learn that it was King Han who had arrived. Liu Bang ordered Zhang Er to stay in Zhao State, worship Han Xin as Xiangguo, and lead the army that Liu Bang did not take with him to attack Qi State. After Liu Bang fled, Xiang Yu captured Chenggao and wanted to advance westward, but the Han army held Gong County, and the Chu army could not advance.

Peng Yue attacked the city again in Xiang Yu's rear. In September, Xiang Yu ordered the great Sima Cao to defend Chenggao and lead his army to attack Peng Yue. Xiang Yu ordered Cao Zhi to hold out for fifteen days and not to fight. He will settle the beam in fifteen days and return to rendezvous. At that time, Han Xin was attacking the State of Qi, and Liu Bang had limited troops in his hands, and he was trapped between Xingyang and Chenggao several times, and he was in danger. At this time, Liu Bang came up with the idea of abandoning the area east of Chenggao, Tunbing Gongxian and Luoyang. Li Shiqi found that Xiang Yu had made a fatal mistake. After he conquered Xingyang, he did not leave enough troops to hold Aocang. Soldiers and horses go first before moving grain and grass, and Aocang is the granary of the world, which plays a pivotal role in the victory or defeat of the war. Xiang Yu was exhausted from battlefield to battlefield, and he didn't even notice this. Li Sheng suggested that Liu Bang immediately march to recover Xingyang, control the grain in Aocang, hold the strategic place of Chenggao, block the passage of Taihang Mountain, control the Hukou, hold Baimajin, and show the princes of the world that the Han army has the initiative to control the war. Liu Bang thought so. The fox mouth is in the north of Laiyuan County, Hebei Province, and Baimajin is in Huaxian County, Henan Province.

Li Shiqi said to Liu Bang again: "Now that Yan Zhao has been pacified, only the Qi State has not been taken. The Tian clan of Qi is very powerful, facing the sea in the east, Daiyue in the west, blocked by the Yellow River and Jishui, and adjacent to Chu in the south. The people there are cunning and changeable, and even if you send tens of thousands of troops, you may not be able to defeat them for a while. Why don't you send me to lobby the King of Qi and let him be the barrier to the east of my Han Dynasty. Liu Bang agreed.

Li Sheng came to the country of Qi and met Tian Guang, the king of Qi. Li Sheng is a man of tongue debate, so naturally he has to shake his lips and drum his tongue. Prior to this, the King of Qi heard that Han Xin was about to lead an army to attack the State of Qi, and had already deployed heavy troops to prepare to resist Han Xin. The history is now Jinan City, Shandong Province. The king of Qi adopted Li Sheng's suggestion, sent envoys to make peace with Han, removed the previous war preparations, and drank and carnivaled with Li Sheng every day. Han Shin's army had already set out, but had not yet crossed the Yellow River. Hearing that Li Sheng had already said that he would go down to Qi, Han Xin wanted to stop advancing. At this time, the debater Kuaiche said to Han Xin: "The general was ordered to attack the state of Qi, and the king of Han sent an envoy to negotiate with the state of Qi, but was there an order for the general to stop advancing?" Why stop without permission? Besides, Li Sheng was just a debater, and he won more than 70 cities in Qi with his incorruptible tongue. With tens of thousands of people, it took more than a year for the general to capture more than 50 cities in Zhao State. You have been working for many years, but your credit is not as good as that of a scholar? As soon as Han Xin thought it made sense, he led his army across the Yellow River.

Han Xin was greedy for merit, listened to Kui Che's bad idea, and treacherously attacked the Qi State, not only killing Li Sheng, but also laying the groundwork for his own demise.

In 203 BC, in October of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, Han Xin launched a surprise attack on Lixia. The state of Qi had already negotiated peace with the Han, was unprepared, and was defeated. The Han army advanced to Linzi, the capital of Qi, and at this time Li Sheng was still drinking with the king of Qi, completely unaware of what had happened. King Qi thought that he had been betrayed by Lisheng, so he gave birth to Lisheng in the oil pot, but it was useless.

Li Shiqi was a strategist and negotiator who made great contributions to Liu Bang's Han Dynasty, and finally ended up like this.

Continental culture does not seem to condemn such perfidy, and even regards it as a sign of wisdom. In the early years of Zhenguan, Tang Taizong sent Tang Jian as an envoy to surrender the Eastern Turks, and on the other hand, he sent Li Jing to attack the Eastern Turks. Like Li Sheng, Tang Jian had already said that he had surrendered the Jieli Khan of the Eastern Turks, but Li Jing ignored Tang Jian's life and death, and took advantage of the laxity of the Turks to launch a surprise attack and capture Jieli Khan alive. Tang Jian's luck was better than Li Sheng, and he escaped with his life in the chaos. The culture of success and defeat has contributed to this treacherous behavior.

Xiang Yu's absence is a good opportunity to recover Chenggao. The Han army challenged many times, but Cao Zhi stuck to Chenggao and refused to fight. Liu Bang sent someone to insult Cao Ji, who was a reckless man and could not bear the humiliation, and left Xiang Yu's order that he was not allowed to fight for fifteen days, and led the army to cross the river, and the Han army took advantage of his halfway crossing to attack it and break the Chu army. All the gold and silver treasures of the state of Chu fell into the hands of the Han army. Cao Ji and Sima Xin wiped their necks on the river, and the Han army captured Chenggao again, garrisoned troops in Guangwu, and used the grain of Aocang as military rations. Xiang Yu was attacking Peng Yue, and even under more than a dozen cities, when he heard that the Han army had captured Chenggao, he immediately led the army to kill back. The Han army was besieging the Chu general Zhong Liyi in the east of Xingyang, and when they heard that Xiang Yu was coming, they all ran to a fortified place to avoid danger. Xiang Yu is indeed powerful, but unfortunately he has no strategic mind. In this way, he struggled between Xingyang and Pengcheng until he exhausted all his resources.

The Chu army was also stationed in Guangwu to confront the Han army. Guangwu is northeast of today's Xingyang City, Henan Province. The disadvantage of the Chu army not occupying Aocang gradually became apparent, and a few months later, the Chu army experienced a shortage of food. Peng Yue and Yingbu fought guerrilla attacks in the rear of Xiang Yu to cut off the supply of the Chu army. Xiang Yu was very worried, but there was nothing he could do. So he came up with a "clever idea". After Liu Bang lost the Battle of Pengcheng, both his father and his wife were captured by Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu built a high platform, put a board on it, and put Mrs. Liu on the board. Xiang Yu said to Liu Bang: "If you don't come out again, I'll stew your father." Liu Bang's answer was even more absolute: "You and I are both courtiers of King Chu Huai, we used to be brothers, and my father is your father." If you're going to stew your daddy, get my share of it! Xiang Yu was furious and wanted to kill Liu Taigong. At this time, Xiang Bo came forward again. During the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang once had an appointment with Xiang Boyu to his in-laws. Xiang Bo said: "The general trend of the world is not yet known, you should take it easy." What's more, the people who are fighting for the world don't care about their families, and if you kill the old man, it will not do you any good, it can only increase hatred! Xiang Yu was right when he thought about it, so he didn't attack Mrs. Liu. In fact, it wasn't Xiang Yu's kindness, he was able to deal with Wang Ling's mother. The reason why Xiang Yu didn't kill Liu Taigong was because he couldn't beat Liu Bang at this time, and he needed to leave Taigong as a bargaining chip.

Xiang Yu couldn't make a plan, so he had another plan, and said to Liu Bang: "The world has been disturbing for so many years, all because of the two of us. I want to fight with you alone, fight it out, and stop making the people of the world suffer. "Xiang Yu has the power to pull out the mountain and carry the crown, where is Liu Bang his opponent? Liu Bang smiled: "I'd rather fight wits with you than brute force with you!" Xiang Yu ordered three strong men to go out to challenge, and a sharpshooter named Lou Fu in the Han army shot them all. Xiang Yu was furious and personally put on the battle. Lou Fu took an arrow and wanted to shoot Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu's eyes widened angrily, and he shouted. Lou Fu was so frightened that he didn't dare to shoot an arrow, turned around and fled back to the fortress, never daring to come out again. Liu Bang sent someone to inquire, only to find out that it was Xiang Yu who went out in person, and he couldn't help but be shocked. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang met and spoke in front of the two armies. Xiang Yu proposed to fight alone, but Liu Bang read out Xiang Yu's guilt: "Xiang Yu violated the agreement of King Chu Huai and sealed me in Shu Han, one crime; False Decree to Kill Qingzi Champion Song Yi, Crime 2; After rescuing Zhao State, he did not return to China to hand over to King Chu Huai, but hijacked the princes' armies and entered Guanzhong without authorization, crime three; burning down the palace of the Qin Dynasty, excavating the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, and embezzling the treasures of the Qin State, sin four; Killing the prince and infant of the Qin State is the fifth crime; treachery, killing 200,000 soldiers of the Qin State in Xin'an Keng, crime six; Divide one's own generals into good places and be kings, and drive away the original masters, sin seven; expelled Emperor Yi from Pengcheng, occupied the magpie's nest, robbed the land of the king of Han, took Liang and Chu as his own, ate more and occupied more, and committed eight crimes; sent someone to poison the righteous emperor, guilty of nine; The governance is unfair, the king's agreement is not kept, it is not tolerated by the world, and it is a great rebellion, and there are ten crimes. I led the rebels to unite the princes against the brutal thieves, and sent these survivors of tyranny against you, so why bother fighting you alone? "This is a text on Xiang Yu, it shouldn't have been read out in front of the two armies, otherwise Xiang Yu would have rushed over and beheaded Liu Bang without waiting to finish reading. Xiang Yu was so angry that he smoked, and the crossbowman who had already been secretly ambushed shot an arrow that hit Liu Bang's chest. Liu Bang reacted as fast as lightning, covered his feet and shouted, "The thief shot my toe." Liu Bang lay down in the barracks, and Zhang Liang insisted that he get up to work the army, so as to reassure the army, so as not to take advantage of the victory of the Chu army to attack. Liu Bang rose up to appease the soldiers, but because he was seriously injured, he was sent to Chenggao to recuperate.

Han Xin occupies Linzi, the capital of Qi. At this time, Qi Guo was no longer against Xiang Yu. The enemy of the enemy is a friend, and Qi Wang Tianguang asked Xiang Yu for help. Xiang Yu sent the general Long He to lead his troops to rescue Qi, and the two armies of Qi and Chu met in Gaomi, and the Chu army claimed to be 200,000. However, where is Long Ji's opponent for Han Shin? Some people persuaded the dragon to go deep and high in the ditch, not to fight with the Han army, and when its food and grass were cut off, they could surrender without a fight. Long He often won battles with Xiang Yu, but he inevitably underestimated the enemy, and looked down on Han Xin very much, thinking that a person who had to rely on the old lady who had to wash clothes to help and drill other people's crotch for food could have what he could do? Refuse to accept this clever suggestion. In 203 BC, in November of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, the two armies fought a decisive battle in Weishui. Han Xin sent people to block the river upstream in advance, and then led the dragon and crossed the river, taking advantage of its half-crossing, releasing the water to cut off the Chu army, and launched an attack on the army crossing the river. The Chu army was defeated, Long Ji was killed, and Tian Guang, the king of Qi, was captured. Guan Ying and Cao Shen also defeated other Qi generals respectively, and all Qi lands were pacified.

Nine

After Han Xin pacified the Qi Kingdom, he felt that his wings began to harden. Seeing that Zhang Er, who did not have much credit, was named King Zhao by Liu Bang, his psychology was inevitably unbalanced. He sent a letter to Liu Bang, in which he said: "The people of Qi are fickle and capricious, and the south is close to Chu. My officials are not big enough to suppress them, so please make me a false king. Liu Bang was struggling with Xiang Yu, and after seeing the letter, he was furious and scolded: "I'm trapped here, my life is in danger, I hope you can come to help me." It's good that you want to be your own king! Liu Bang said these words in front of Han Xin's envoy, and Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, who were on the side, hurriedly kicked him and said in his ear: "The Han army is not in a good position, Han Xin wants to be the king, can you forbid it?" It's better to push the boat down the river and promise him, so that he can settle down. Otherwise, I'm afraid he will change his mind. Liu Bang reacted quickly, immediately understood, and then scolded: "The big husband pacifies the princes, if you want to do it, you will be a real king, and you will be a fake king!" In 202 BC, in February of the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang sent Zhang Liang to the state of Qi with the seal of the king of Qi, named Han Xin the king of Qi, and ordered him to lead an army to attack the state of Chu.

When Xiang Yu heard that Long He had died in battle, he was scared and sent Xuyi Wu Shi to lobby Han Xin. Wu Shi said to Han Xin: "Today, the two kings are competing, and the decision of victory or defeat is in your hands. If you vote right, King Han wins, and if you throw left, King Xiang wins. King Xiang is destroyed today, and it will be your turn tomorrow. You have a friendship with King Xiang, why don't you oppose the Han Dynasty and join forces with King Xiang, and divide the world into three kings? Han Xin's strategist Kuaiche also analyzed the situation of the Chu-Han War for Han Xin, and persuaded Han Xin to maintain balance on both sides, divide the world into three parts, and live together, so that both Chu and Han did not dare to make a move. "I have heard that 'those who are brave enough to shake the Lord are in danger, and those who have made great achievements in the world will not be rewarded.'" 'You are now wearing the authority of the town lord, and you will return to Chu if you don't reward your merits, and the Chu people don't believe it, and you will return to Han, and the Han people will be terrified. There is no way out without independence. "It should be said that Wu She's and Kuaiche's opinions have a certain amount of truth, but Han Xin's brain is in water, so he just doesn't listen. Historians generally believe that he came because Liu Bang had the grace of knowing him, and felt that he should not betray Liu Bang; Second, he made great contributions to Liu Bang, thinking that Liu Bang would not be so unrighteous. But I think they were all wrong! If Han Xin's brain was really that simple, he wouldn't be Han Xin.

Han Xin's talent, I have already talked about it, so there is no need to repeat it. But why didn't he become a prince in the peasant uprising at the end of Qin, but only a minor official under Xiang Yu and Liu Bang? The reason is that he, like Xiao He, is capable but not courageous, but he is only a general but not a handsome talent. Han Xin pointed out the country for Liu Bang before he left Chen Cang, and he knew the situation in the world well. Therefore, he had long known that Xiang Yu was not Liu Bang's opponent, and decided to stand on the side of the strong in order to get a piece of the pie. He knew that Liu Bang was very generous in terms of small favors, and he was willing to give food, clothing, and even a mansion, but he was unwilling to tear the soil and seal the king. Therefore, he took advantage of the fact that Chu and Han could not hold each other and knocked Liu Bang's bamboo pole twice. He thinks that he has the most credit and excellent ability, Liu Bang doesn't dare to do anything to him, but he is overconfident. He said that Xiang Yu carved a chapter, and he was reluctant to reward his meritorious subordinates when the edges and corners were smoothed, as if he was stingy. But Xiang Yu is very generous in dividing the princes, he only needs a part of the world, but Liu Bang wants the whole world. According to Han Xin's logic, he should support Xiang Yu. Helplessly, Han Xin only has the strong in his eyes, even if this person can ignore the lives of his relatives for the sake of power. He only cares about the fame and fortune in front of him, and does not think about the fact that he will die of cunning rabbits and lackeys in the future. Historically, there are not a few people like Han Shin.

Obviously, in this case, the Republic is the best option. At the beginning of the founding of Rome, the invasion of the Sabine people was attracted because of the robbery of the Sabine women. The Sabines invaded Rome, and the two sides fought inextricably. At this time, the Sabine woman, who was already a mother, suddenly appeared on the battlefield with her child, separating the two warring parties, and the battle could not continue, and the two countries shook hands and made peace: Rome implemented a dual monarchy, one Roman and one Sabine; The number of senators increased by one hundred, the Romans one hundred, and the Sabines one hundred; The Sabines moved to the city of Rome and merged with the Romans to form a state. It's a win-win ending. The republican model forged the greatness of Rome, and later Rome defeated all foreign enemies and became the hegemon of the West, and its strength came from the republic.

Chinese culture congenitally lacked republican genes, and could only be improved by introducing foreign varieties, and there was no connection between the East and the West at that time. There are no two days, no one has two masters, and there can only be one winner among the three, so no matter what choice Han Xin makes, the final result may not be much different.

Kui Che saw that this person's brain was in water, and he was afraid that his life would be difficult to save if he mixed with him again, so he pretended to be crazy and left Han Xin.

Xiang Yu saw that all the princes had left him, and the military rations had been eaten up, and Han Xin sent troops to attack Chu again, so he was worried. Liu Bang lost no time in sending someone to negotiate with Xiang Yu and asked for Liu Taigong to be released. Xiang Yu took the opportunity to make peace with Liu Bang, and agreed to divide the world in the middle, with the chasm as the boundary, the west of the chasm belongs to Han, and the east belongs to Chu. The chasm is an ancient canal located between Xingyang and Chenggao. Xiang Yuman thought that the war could be ended, at least to enjoy a period of intermission, so he abided by the agreement, released Liu Taigong and Empress Lu, and led the army back to the east. However, the Chinese have lacked the spirit of contract since ancient times, and often the treaty becomes history before the handwriting is dry. Whoever abides by the treaty is unlucky. Liu Bang was about to go west, but was stopped by Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. Zhang Liang and Chen Ping said: "Han already owns more than half of the world, and the princes are dependent on us. The Chu army was exhausted, and it was the time when the heavens were going to destroy it. Now if you don't beat it down, it's to raise a tiger and wait for it to bite you in the future. Liu Bang took their advice.

Zhang Liang was resourceful and was regarded as the embodiment of wisdom for thousands of years. He came from an aristocratic background, but some of his practices were anything but aristocratic. His organization of the assassination of Qin Shi Huang can be regarded as a heroic act, and when the autocracy is armed to the teeth and the people are unarmed, assassination is a reasonable and legitimate choice. But he is too fond of intrigue and intrigue and does not speak honestly. In the battle of Yaoguan, he negotiated with the Qin army guards on the one hand, and carried out a surprise attack behind his back, which not only betrayed his promise, but also put his own negotiators in a dangerous situation, which was not an upright act at all. I even suspect that he was also responsible for his killing. What's more, in the final stage of the Chu-Han conflict, he repeated his old tricks, instigating Liu Bang to tear up the armistice agreement and carry out a sneak attack behind Xiang Yu, setting an extremely bad precedent in history. In civil wars, those who succeed are often those with the least moral limits. Therefore, the ancient Greeks said: "The villain of troubled times enjoys great fame". Zhang Liang was later forced to retire to save his life, and Han Xin died at the hands of a woman. Because, even the beneficiaries of the conspiracy did not dare to trust them. Those who are not honest themselves become victims of dishonesty.

In 202 BC, in October of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang pursued Xiang Yu to Guling. Guling is in today's Taikang County, Henan Province. Liu Bang, Han Xin, the king of Qi, and Peng Yue, the prime minister of Wei, made an appointment here to fight the Chu army, but Han Xin and Peng Yue's army did not appear as scheduled. The Chu army engaged the Han army, and the Han army was defeated. Liu Bang used his old trick again: the turtle cowered in the strong fortifications and did not dare to show his head. If you look back at the history of the Chu-Han War, you will find an interesting phenomenon. Liu Bang personally led the army to fight, and basically lost the battle. Especially when facing Xiang Yu, he only had to be beaten. Liu Bang's victories were all fought by his generals, not to mention Han Xin, Cao Shen, Guan Ying and so on are very good at fighting. Xiang Yu, on the contrary, his men always lose, but he has never been defeated. It can be seen that Xiang Yu is a good general, but Liu Bang is a good commander.

Liu Bang said to Zhang Liang: "If the princes don't listen to orders, how can they be good?" Zhang Liang replied: "The Chu army is about to be wiped out, but Han Xin and Peng Yue have not been assigned a fief, so it is natural for them not to come." If you can share the world with them, your king, they will come at once. King Han Xinfeng was not originally from your intention, he was worried. Liangdi was originally pacified by Peng Yue, and you worshiped Peng Yue as Xiangguo because of Wei Bao. Now that Wei Bao is dead, Peng Yue also wants to be crowned king, but you haven't made up your mind early. Now please take out the place north of Suiyang to Gucheng, seal Peng Yue as king, and seal the east of Chen County to the sea to Han Xin. Han Xin's family is in Chu State, and he never forgets his homeland. If you can cut out these two places, give them to these two people, and let them fight separately, you will definitely be able to defeat the Chu State. Liu Bang adopted Zhang Liang's opinion, and Han Xin and Peng Yue really led their troops to meet. Yingbu also came to Qixia and was named the king of Huainan by Liu Bang.

Han Xin, Yingbu and Peng Yue took advantage of Liu Bang's war to extort bamboo and commit a big taboo, laying the groundwork for their future downfall. Han Xin is Liu Bang's subordinate, and it is all thanks to Liu Bang's support that he has today. Later, he was also the first to be taken. Xiang Yu lost the world by engaging in the feudal system, Liu Bang has the model of the Qin State to learn from, how could he repeat Xiang Yu's mistakes? Liu Bang's descendants Xiao He, Cao Shen, Fan Xu, and Guan Ying have not been crowned kings, which is proof. Times have changed, feudalism is being replaced by absolute monarchy, but many people's minds have not yet changed, and as a result, they have been eliminated by the times.

In 202 BC, in December of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu led his army to Qixia. It is in Lingbi County, Anhui Province today. The two armies fought a decisive battle. Han Xin led an army of 300,000 as the Chinese army, General Kong commanded the left army, General Fei commanded the right army, Liu Bang was behind, and behind him were Zhou Bo and General Chai. Xiang Yu's army numbered about 100,000. Han Shin's army went to battle first, but the battle situation was unfavorable and retreated. General Kong and General Fei launched an attack on the Chu army, the Chu army was unfavorable, Han Xin took the opportunity to kill back, and the Chu army was defeated. Han Xin's retreat should have been a strategy to attract Xiang Yu's army and outflank him left and right. It seems that Guqu is ambushed on all sides. Xiang Yu returned to the barracks, and the Han army and the armies of the princes surrounded the Chu army. At night, I only heard the Han troops on all sides singing Chu songs. Xiang Yu was shocked and said, "Could it be that the Han army has already occupied all the Chu States?" Why are there so many Chu people? That's how the idiom embattled comes from. In fact, this is Han Xin's heart-attacking tactic. Xiang Yu's confidence really collapsed. That night, Xiang Yu led 800 cavalry to break out of the siege and fled south, only after dawn did Liu Bang find out, and immediately ordered the cavalry general Guan Ying to lead 5,000 cavalry to chase and kill. Xiang Yu fled to Dongcheng and killed himself in Wujiang. Wujiang is in today's Anhui Province and County. Infants were beheaded 80,000 and pacified Chudi. The state of Lu could not hold on, Liu Bang showed Xiang Yu's head to the people of the state of Lu, and the state of Lu surrendered. Liu Bang buried Xiang Yu with the gift of Duke Lu. The five-year Chu-Han War came to an end.

When Liu Bang came to Dingtao, he immediately repeated his old tricks, broke into the military camp of Han Xin, the king of Qi, and took over Han Xin's army. During the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang did this more than once. At that time, he did this to fight the Chu army, but this time the purpose was different, because the most powerful opponent had already been eliminated. Obviously, Liu Bang has already begun to weaken Han Xin's strength. Han Xin can only obediently obey, his generals such as Fan Xu, Guan Baby, etc. are all Liu Bang's hardcore, he is just a professional manager. If he rebels, the army will not necessarily listen to him.

The princes from all walks of life have reported and strongly demanded that Liu Bang, the king of Han, ascend the throne as emperor. Liu Bang was very modest and resigned three times, but only "reluctantly" agreed "for the sake of the country's interests". In 202 B.C., in February of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang took the throne of the emperor in the sun of the water, in Dingtao District, Heze City, Shandong Province.

The vigorous peasant war at the end of the Qin Dynasty ended in this way, with one emperor replacing another. The war was divided into two phases, the first of which was the overthrow of the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, which had natural legitimacy. When tyranny is unbearable, resistance becomes the right. However, after the tyranny was overthrown, the nature of the princes changed because of the unequal distribution of the spoils and the civil war. The Chu-Han War was a war between Liu Xiang's two military groups for the power to enslave the Chinese, and the price of the war was the loss of a large number of people's lives, and the ultimate beneficiary was the Liu Bang group. Liu Bang was politically sophisticated, occupied the favorable territory of Guanzhong, showed greater resilience militarily, and finally won the war. Xiang Yu, on the contrary, was politically naïve, gave up favorable territory, and believed in Liu Bang's promise of peace when he was strategically stalemate and needed to win by surprise, which was taken advantage of by Liu Bang, leading to complete defeat. Civil wars, no matter how grandiose their slogans, always have the same result, that is, the most bottomless people emerge victorious, seize power, and become the new tyrants.

Liu Bang changed the title of Han Xin to the king of Chu on the grounds that Han Xin, the king of Qi, was familiar with the customs of Chu State, and Huaibei was used as a fief, and all of them were under Pi. Feng Peng Yue was the king of Liang, and the hometown of Wei was the fief, and the pottery was determined. Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan Mountain, was the king of Changsha, and Yingbu, the king of Huainan, Zang Di, the king of Yan, and Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao, remained unchanged.

Liu Bangding's capital is Luoyang. On this day, he held a cocktail party in Luoyang Nangong. Liu Bang said: "Princes, generals, please tell the truth and don't hide anything. Why did I win the world? Why did Xiang Yu lose the world? Gao Qi and Wang Ling said: "Your Majesty is arrogant and likes to insult people, Xiang Yu is kind and friendly to people. But His Majesty sent people to conquer the city, and after defeating it, he rewarded it to others, and shared the benefits with the people of the world. Xiang Yu is jealous of the virtuous, frames the meritorious, and is suspicious of the capable. When people win battles, he doesn't give credit to people; Get the land, and don't give people a profit. That's why he lost the world. Liu Bang said: "You only know one thing, but you don't know the other." When it comes to strategizing and winning thousands of miles away, my ability is not as good as Zhang Liang. Managing the country, pacifying the people, and ensuring an endless supply of supplies, I am not as good as Xiao He. Connecting a million army, the battle will be won, the attack will be won, I am not as good as Han Xin. These three people are all heroes among people. I can use them well, that's why I won the world. Xiang Yu has such a talent as Fan Zeng, but he can't trust and reuse, that's why he was defeated by me. ”

Contrary to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang knows people well, is good as a stream, and has excellent discernment ability. Liu Bang wanted to set the capital Luoyang, and Lou Jingjin, a Qi person, admonished: "Qindi is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and there are four large fortresses, and the defense is strong. In the event of a sudden emergency, millions of people can be summoned immediately. Due to the long-term development of the Qin people, the land in Guanzhong is fertile, and the water and grass are abundant, which is the so-called country of abundance! His Majesty entered the customs and set the capital there, and if Shandong was in turmoil, the hometown of the Qin Dynasty could still be preserved. You cannot win a battle with a man without choking him by the throat and holding him down on his back. Now that His Majesty controls the hometown of the Qin Dynasty, he is also stuck in the throat of the world and holds down the back of the world. Liu Bang asked the ministers, who were all from Shandong, and said: "The Zhou Dynasty ruled for hundreds of years, and the Qin Dynasty died after only two generations." There is Chenggao in the east of Luoyang, there are Kunshan and Mianchi in the west, backed by the Yellow River, facing Yichuan and Luoshui, the terrain is dangerous, and there is no problem as the capital. Liu Bang consulted Zhang Liang's opinion, and Zhang Liang said: "Although Luoyang has these dangerous places, its middle zone is only a few hundred miles in size, the land is barren, and it is not a place to use it. There are Kunshan and Hangu Pass on the left side of the pass, and there are Long and Shu on the right, and the fertile field is thousands of miles. There is a rich and fertile Bashu in the south, and a Huyuan that can be grazed in the north. Fence off on three sides and defend them, and control the princes only to the east. When the princes were stable, they used the Yellow River and the Wei River to transport the world's grain, and supplied the Jingshi to the west. Once the princes have an accident, they can go down the river and transport materials. This is the so-called golden city of thousands of miles, the country of abundance! Lou Jing was right. Liu Bang ordered the car to drive west on the same day and set the capital in Chang'an. Bai Lou Jing is Langzhong, called Fengchunjun, and given the surname Liu.

Zhang Liang was sick, and after following Liu Bang into Guanzhong, he began to lead his health, did not eat food, and did not go out. Zhang Liang said: "My family has been the Xiangguo of the King of Han for generations. After the fall of Korea, I did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to avenge Qin for Korea, and the world vibrate. Now, I am the emperor's military advisor with a three-inch tongue, and I am the marquis of ten thousand households, as an ordinary person, my position can not be higher, and I am satisfied. I don't want to worry about human affairs anymore and concentrate on cultivating. Sima Guang greatly appreciated Zhang Liang's political wisdom. He said that with Zhang Liang's wisdom, he should know that cultivating the Tao and becoming an immortal was pure nonsense. Among the three heroes praised by Liu Bang, Han Xin was killed, and Xiao He was imprisoned because he was not satisfied. Therefore, Zhang Liangcai pretended to be a god and regarded fame and honor as nothing. Zhang Liang is a person who knows how to protect himself.

Generally speaking, the comments of historians such as Sima Qian and Sima Guang are pertinent. There is only one point, they are all royal literati, so they cannot really touch the essence of the monarch and the monarchy. Indeed, Zhang Liang's name is cultivation, which is actually to avoid disaster. Zhang Liang strategized and made immortal contributions to Liu Bang's establishment of the Han Dynasty, but he was not in charge of the army like Han Xin, and he was not in charge of officials and money and food like Xiao He, so he did not pose a threat to Liu Bang's status, and he just retired after success. The real reason is that Zhang Liang conspired with Liu Bang many times and instigated Liu Bang to commit treachery. Liu Bang is an absolutist monarch, and it is impossible to believe in his strategy. If he doesn't retreat, he may only bring humiliation on himself like Xiao He.

Ten

Liu Bang is a filial son, the Han Dynasty is known as ruling the world with filial piety, Confucius said: Filial piety and good offenses, rare! It can be seen that "filial piety" is an effective tool for maintaining absolute monarchy. Liu Bang had to go to worship Mrs. Liu every five days, and at the beginning, both sides used the gift of father and son of the family. Later, Mrs. Liu listened to the housekeeper's words and changed to Liu Bang's courtesy. Liu Bang was shocked, so he respected Liu Taigong as the emperor. Liu Taigong became the first living emperor in Chinese history. The Emperor Taishang who preceded him was Qin Shi Huang's father, Yingyiren, but he had been dead for many years when he became the Emperor.

Xiang Yu's general Zhong Liyi had a good relationship with Han Xin in the past, and after Xiang Yu's death, Zhong Liyi fled and defected to Han Xin. Liu Bang hated Zhong Liyi, and when he heard that he was there with Han Xin, he issued an edict to arrest people. Someone took the opportunity to falsely accuse Han Xin of rebellion, Ah Yi obeyed the will, and there has never been a shortage of villains who fell into the well, which is probably because some people speculated that Liu Bang was dissatisfied with Han Xin, and hurriedly handed over the knife in order to ask for merit and reward. Liu Bang asked the generals how to deal with it, and they all said: "Hurry up and send troops and kill that kid." Liu Bang was silent and asked Chen Ping again. Chen Ping asked: "Does Han Xin know about the letter to denounce Han Xin?" Liu Bang said: "I don't know." Chen Ping asked: "Who is more of Your Majesty's elite soldiers than the Chu State?" Liu Bang said: "No more than Chu State." Chen Ping asked again: "Are Your Majesty's generals better at using troops than Han Xin?" Liu Bang said: "It's not as good." Chen Ping said: "Your Majesty's soldiers are not as good as Chu Guojing, and the generals are not as good as Han Xin, if you send troops to attack Han Xin, it will force him to rebel, I am worried about your safety." Liu Bang asked, "What should I do then?" Chen Ping said: "In ancient times, the Son of Heaven had the habit of patrolling and meeting with princes. His Majesty traveled, claiming to be on a tour of Yunmeng and meeting with the princes in Chen County. Chen County is in the west of the Chu State. When Han Xin heard that the Son of Heaven had come out to inspect, he would inevitably come to greet him with confidence, and take the opportunity to catch him at that time. In this way, there is no need to mobilize the people, just use a wrestler. Liu Bang did as Chen Ping said. Han Xin was afraid, killed Zhong Liyi, and came to see Liu Bang with his head. It can be seen that Han Xin can endure the humiliation of his crotch, not because he is smart, but because his kneecaps are really not hard. Liu Bangke was unequivocal and ordered the samurai to arrest Han Xin and put him in the back car. Han Xin complained: "Some people say: 'The cunning rabbit dies, and the lackey cooks; The high bird is exhausted, and the good bow is hidden; The enemy country is broken, and the ministers are killed. And it came to pass. The world has decided, it's time for me to get out of the pot. Liu Bang had nothing to say, only said: "Someone sued you for rebellion." "Ordered Han Xin to be tied up. Soon, Han Xin was renamed the Marquis of Huaiyin.

Han Xin knew that Liu Bang was suspicious of his talents, and often called himself sick; Usually depressed, ashamed to be with Zhou Bo, irrigation baby, etc. Once, when Han Xin went to Fan Xu's house, Fan Xu was very respectful to him, claiming to be a minister, and said: "I didn't expect the king to deign to come to the minister's house." Han Xin went out and laughed at himself: "I am so cheap that I am in the company of people like Fan Xu." Liu Bang once discussed with Han Xin how many soldiers the generals could bring. Liu Bang asked, "How much can I bring?" Han Xin said: "Your Majesty can also bring 100,000." Liu Bang asked again: "Then how much can you bring?" Han Xin said, "The more I have, the better." Liu Bang smiled: "You are so capable, how could it fall into my hands?" Han Xin patted his ass and said: "Your Majesty can't lead troops, but he is good at leading generals, that's why I was caught by you." Besides, Your Majesty is an innate ability, which is beyond the reach of man. Indeed, in the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang himself hardly won any battles. He was able to defeat Xiang Yu all thanks to the strength of Han Xin and other generals. It can be seen that Han Xin is actually not convinced by Liu Bang. Liu Bang is good at generals, but he was not captured after being defeated by Liu Bang, Liu Bang caught him with a trick, can Han Xinyan be really convinced? Han Xin put himself in a very awkward position: on the one hand, he was dissatisfied with the status quo, and on the other hand, he did not have the courage to take the lead alone, and this contradiction forged his tragic fate.

Liu Bang talked about meritorious deeds and rewards, and dissected the meritorious heroes as the marquis. Xiao He Gong was the first, was named the Marquis, and had the most food. The heroes were not convinced, saying: "We are all stubborn and stubborn, more than 100 battles, and less than 100 battles." Xiao He didn't work hard, he just danced and wrote, and he talked about it, but the credit was on top of us, why? Liu Bang said: "Are you familiar with hunting? When hunting, it is the dog that hunts the wild beast and the rabbit; It is man who releases the dog and indicates where the beast is. You are like a dog that can catch a beast, and Xiao He is the one who issued the instructions. The ministers did not dare to speak again. Zhang Liang, as a strategist, also had no military exploits. Liu Bang asked him to choose 30,000 households as food. Zhang Liang said: "At the beginning, I left Xiapi and met the emperor in Chenliu, which was probably the time that God handed me over to His Majesty. Your Majesty used my tactics to hit from time to time. I hope to be sealed in Chenliu, and I dare not ask for 30,000 households. So he named Zhang Liang as the marquis. named Chen Ping as the marquis of the household, but Chen Pingtui said: "This is not my credit. Liu Bang said: "I used Mr.'s strategy to defeat a strong enemy, isn't this a credit?" Chen Ping said, "If it weren't for Wei Wuzhi, how could I have a chance to work for you?" Liu Bang said: "You, you are a person who does not forget his roots!" At the same time, Wei Wuzhi was rewarded.

Liu Bang because the world was initially decided, the children were young, and there were few brothers, in view of the Qin State's implementation of the county system, no family to help him, and finally died in isolation, so he sealed the princes with the same surname to pacify the world. Therefore, the Han Dynasty inherited the system of the Qin Dynasty, which was mainly based on the county system, mixed with the sub-feudal system before the Qin Dynasty, but made strict restrictions on the sub-feudal system, and the children of non-Liu surnames were not crowned kings. Xiao He, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Fan Xu and other civil and military warriors were rewarded with feudal marquis, but only Shiyi could enjoy the taxes of the fiefdom and had no right to rule, which was equivalent to the shareholders of the company's preferred shares. Its status is not statutory, but derives from the granting of the monarch, and many descendants are denied the right to dividends for various reasons. Most of them were officials in the court, completely lost their political status as nobles, and completely became the emperor's domestic slaves. In Rome, these people would be placed in the Senate and become the leading elite. The Senate is known as the temple of kings, and it exists as an independent authority that forms a check and balance on the power of the monarch. At this point, the process of China's transition from monarchical feudalism to absolute monarchy, which had begun since the collapse of the Zhou Dynasty, was completed.

Liu Bang has made more than 20 great meritorious heroes, and the rest have not yet been rewarded, and they continue to fight day and night. Once, Liu Bang saw the generals sitting on the ground muttering on the road, so he asked Zhang Liang: "What are they talking about?" Zhang Liang said, "Your Majesty, don't you know? They're plotting rebellion! Liu Bang was taken aback and said, "The world has been settled, why should they rebel?" Zhang Liang said: "Your Majesty revolted as a common man and relied on these people to win the world." Now that His Majesty has become the Son of Heaven, the people he has sealed are all relatives and friends, and the people he has killed are all ordinary enemies. The officials of the army's merit book have calculated that there is not enough land in the world to be rewarded. These people were afraid that everyone would not be rewarded by His Majesty, and they were afraid that they would be killed for offending His Majesty, so they gathered together to prepare for rebellion. Liu Bang said worriedly: "What should I do then?" Zhang Liang asked: "Your Majesty, who is the person you hate the most in your life and everyone knows?" Liu Bang said: "Yongya and I have an old enmity, which has embarrassed me many times, and I want to kill him, but because he has a lot of credit, I can't bear to do it." Zhang Liang said: "Hurry up and reward Yongya first, and the ministers will be relieved." So Liu Bang held a drinking party, sealed Yongya as the Marquis of Shifang, and urged the prime minister and the imperial history to determine the merits and implement the reward. After the reception, the ministers were all overjoyed and said: "Yongya can be crowned a marquis, and I have no problem waiting." Liu Bang took Xiao He's high merit, and gave Xiao He to bring a sword and wear shoes to the palace, and he didn't have to trot when he went to court.

It can be seen that Liu Bang is by no means a person who will repay his eyes. As long as it is beneficial to his own rule, he can even reward enemies who once shared the sky, and Yongya is a clear example. He later killed Han Shin and the others because these people posed a threat to his rule, not because they usually offended him. All politicians should have such a mind. Claudius was a tribune of Rome and was loved by the lower classes. He was caught cheating with Caesar's wife and will be prosecuted according to the law. Caesar wanted to gain Claudi's support, not only denied it and took the initiative to cuckold, but also supported Claudi and formed a political ally with him. Because of this mind, you can achieve a career.

Liu Bang abolished all the cumbersome etiquette and harsh laws of the Qin state, and everything was simple and easy. Although he did so, it also brought some side effects. His subordinates are a bunch of big bosses, familiar with each other, and don't pay attention to etiquette. They often drink together, and when they drink too much, they will fight for merit, and when they are drunk, they will shout and scream, draw their swords and cut down pillars, which is completely unorthodox. The more Liu Bang looked at it, the more unpleasant it became. Confucian uncle Sun Tong was a doctor at the time of Qin II, and when he saw that the Qin Dynasty was not good, he fled back to his hometown in Shandong and took refuge in Xiang Liang, and later in Xiang Yu. After Liu Bang captured Pengcheng, Shusun Tong switched to Liu Bang. Seeing that Liu Bang hated the vulgar behavior of his subordinates, Shusun Tong proposed to formulate a set of court rituals for Liu Bang. Liu Bang knew that he was also a rough person, and he asked his uncle and grandson to formulate etiquette that he could accept. Shusun Tong gathered a group of Confucian scholars and practiced day and night in the field for more than a month, and finally mastered the etiquette. After reading it, Liu Bang said: "I can do this." "In 200 BC, in October of the seventh year of the Han Dynasty, Changle Palace was completed. The ministers came to congratulate in accordance with the etiquette established by Shusun Tong. The princes and ministers were all trembling, respectful and orderly. Goshi enforced the law on the sidelines, and those who behaved inappropriately were kicked out. Until the end of the party, no one dared to make a noise. Liu Bang was very satisfied and said: "I only know today how noble it is to be an emperor!" "I rewarded my uncle and grandson. Qin annihilated the Six Kingdoms, took all the etiquette of the Six Kingdoms, and absorbed the part of it that respected the monarch and suppressed the subjects. Shusun Tong added and lost Qin's etiquette, but he basically copied it, and even the official name and the name of the palace rarely changed.

Confucian scholar Lu Jia often talked about "poems" and "books" in front of Liu Bang, and Liu Bang scolded: "Lao Tzu will win the world immediately, what is the use of poetry and books?" Lu Sheng said: "Can you win the world immediately, can you cure the world immediately?" Shang Tang and Zhou Wu went against the grain and obeyed, and only by using both civil and military forces could they achieve long-term stability. Once upon a time, Wu Wangfucha, Zhi Yao of the Jin Kingdom, and Qin Shi Huang were all destroyed because of their reckless military force. If after the Qin State unifies the world, implements benevolent government and imitates the ancestors, can the world fall into your hands? Liu Bang was a little embarrassed to hear this, and said: "You help me analyze why Qin lost the world, why I seized the world, and the success or failure of ancient governance." Lu Sheng wrote twelve articles, and each of the last one was applauded, and Liu Bang called long live left and right, and Liu Bang named his book "New Language". From the perspective of absolute monarchy, Lu Jia and later Jia Yi both analyzed it well, and they were also insightful at that time. But if you look at it today, or from the perspective of the Greco-Roman contemporaries, they are all self-servants.

After Qin Shi Huang destroyed the six kings, he attacked the Xiongnu in the north and Baiyue in the south, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians. After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and became emperor, he also wanted to make a difference in foreign conquests. The Xiongnu prince Mao Dun killed his father, Mandanyu, and became the new Xiongnu Danyu. Mao Dun exterminated Donghu to the east, drove out the Yueshi to the west, annexed Lou Fu and Baiyang Henan King to the south, controlled the Western Regions and Northeast China, took back all the Xiongnu lands seized by Meng Tian, and began to invade Yan, Dai and other places belonging to China. At that time, China was in the stage of the struggle between Chu and Han, the army was in chaos, and Maotun had no opponents, so it was able to grow savagely, and there were more than 300,000 people under his command. Liu Bang sealed the king of Han in the north and set the capital of Mayi, which is today's Shuozhou in Shanxi, and asked him to guard against the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu besieged Mayi, and Han Wangxin surrendered.

In 200 BC, in October of the seventh year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang personally drove to conquer Han Wangxin, and Han Wangxin fled to the Xiongnu. It was snowing heavily, and it was freezing cold, and two or three out of ten of the soldiers froze their fingers. Liu Bang was stationed in Jinyang, and when he heard that Mao Dun was in Daigu, he prepared to attack him. Liu Bang sent people to reconnoitre, and Mao Dun deliberately hid the sturdy soldiers, cattle and horses, and all the scouts saw were some old, weak, sick and disabled. After the more than a dozen scouts sent by Liu Bang returned, they all said that the Xiongnu were vulnerable. Liu Bang was an old fox after all, and he sent Liu Jing, that is, Lou Jing, to envoy the Huns to listen to the truth. Liu Jing came back and reported to Liu Bangyu: "When the two countries are at war, they should slap their swollen faces and become fat, and show their best side to their opponents." When I went to the Huns, all I saw were the old, weak, sick and disabled, which must have been to show weakness, secretly ambush strange soldiers, and catch us off guard. I don't think the Huns can fight. Liu Bang just became the emperor and was trying to show his ambitions, but now the army has set off, but Liu Jing poured a basin of cold water on his head and face, and he was furious in his heart, and scolded: "Qi Manzi just relied on his tongue to make an official position, and now he dares to shake my military heart!" "Ordered Liu Jing to be locked up and locked up in Guangwu.

Liu Bang arrived at Pingcheng before the main army, which is the city of Datong in present-day Shanxi Province. Maudun sent 400,000 elite cavalry, and the two monarchs of the north and south who had just ruled the world met. This Mao Dun is not an ordinary person, he was originally the crown prince of Touman Shan Yu, but Touman empathized and was ready to deprive him of his inheritance. So he trained an army that was completely under his commands, and he made an arrow, and whoever he shot at it, his men had to shoot the arrow at him, and the offender would be put to death. In order to test the degree of obedience to the orders of his subordinates, he first tested his own wife, and those who did not dare to call his wife were executed. In the end, he shot an arrow at his father, Touman, and seized power. After a series of battles, Mao Dunshan Yu controlled the vast area from Yinshan in the south, to Lake Baikal in the north, to the Liaohe River in the east, and beyond the Green Mountains in the west, and the Xiongnu entered its heyday.

The Xiongnu army surrounded Liu Bang in Baideng for seven days. Baideng is Baishan Mountain, located five kilometers east of Datong. The Han army could not save each other inside and outside, and the grain and grass were cut off. Liu Bang adopted Chen Ping's strategy and sent people to bribe Mao Dun's Yan family, that is, the wife of Xiongnu Shan Yu. Yan Shi blew the wind on the pillow side of Mao Dun, saying that Liu Bang, like His Majesty, was also a founding king, not a general person, maybe he had set up an ambush, and was waiting for the Huns to take the bait, so don't act rashly. Coincidentally, the traitor army who had a date with Shan Yu was in a hurry, and he became suspicious, thinking that they had joined forces with Liu Bang to set up a trap for the Huns. So, he let go of the encirclement by a corner. It just so happened that there was a heavy fog in the sky, and Liu Bang and the Han army took the opportunity to escape. An ambitious foreign war launched by Liu Bang was thus defeated. It is not so much that Chen Ping's trick saved Liu Bang, and Mao Dun was misled by his wife and lost a God-given opportunity, but that Mao Dun Shan did not have a plan to annex the Han Empire at this time. Like Liu Bang, this Mao Dunshan Yu is also a king of the unified Xiongnu, and the country is still unstable, and he can't take the risk of fighting with a giant as big as himself, which may be the real reason why the Huns let Liu Bang go. In order to seize power, this Mao Dun once brutally killed his ex-wife and father, how could he be blown by the wind next to his wife's pillow? For the same reason, Liu Bang also understood that Mao Dun was not easy to mess with, so he got off the donkey and returned to the class. This was the beginning of the Han-Hungarian Hundred Years' War, which ended with the defeat of the Han Empire in its first battle. Two big countries, on the same continent, with different cultures, levels of development, and lifestyles, will have a contest sooner or later. Decades later, Liu Bang's great-grandson Liu Che conquered the Xiongnu, defeated the Huns to pieces, and had to flee into Siberia to avenge the siege of Baideng.

Liu Bang corrected his mistakes as quickly as he admonished, and as soon as he arrived in Guangwu, he immediately pardoned Liu Jing and said, "I didn't listen to you, so I was trapped in Pingcheng." I killed a dozen of the scouts I sent out. "Feng Liu Jing 2,000 households as the marquis of Guannei. Liu Bang walked south, passing by Qu Rebellion, and praised it. said that the places he walked through, except for Luoyang, were the best here, and Chen Ping was named the Marquis of Qu Rebellion, and the entire Qu Rebellion was given to him as a food town. Chen Ping went on expeditions with Liu Bang many times, and six strange tricks, each time Liu Bang increased his fiefdom. Han Sheng persuaded Xiang Yu to set the capital in Guanzhong, but Xiang Yu did not listen. Han Sheng just complained: "The Chu people are crowned by the monkey", and he was put into the pot by Xiang Yu. Comparing the two, you can know why Xiang Yu failed.

Maudun constantly violated the northern border. Liu Bang was very worried, so he asked Liu Jing for a plan. Liu Jingxian made peace and suggested that Liu Bang marry the eldest princess to Mao Dun. After Empress Lu found out, she cried day and night, saying that I am such a baby bump, you can bear to throw her to the wild land of the Huns? Liu Bang was soft-hearted and couldn't make up his mind. Later, I still found a woman from a different family and pretended to be a princess to marry. This was the foreign policy adopted by the early Han Dynasty towards the Xiongnu, which was a last resort when the enemy was strong and weak after the defeat of the war against the Xiongnu. The policy of peace and proximity played an important role in the peace and stability of the early Han Dynasty, and in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, China's national strength was strong, and the policy of peace and proximity was abandoned, and the Huns could not find the north, which is a later story.

The policy of peace and proximity is actually peaceful diplomacy, but why did the Han emperor marry his daughter, instead of the Xiongnu Shan Yu marrying his daughter? I'm afraid this is still the concept of the heavenly kingdom at work, how can the emperor of a big country be the son-in-law of a small country? So I can only wronged the princess of the big country and go to the desert steppe to suffer.

During this period, there was an assassination incident. Guan Gao was the Xiangguo of Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao, and Liu Bang came back from Pingcheng and passed through Zhao. Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao, was the son of Zhang Er and the son-in-law of Liu Bang. Liu Bang has always been arrogant in treating people, and he is arrogant to this son-in-law, beating and scolding him at every turn. Guan Gao used to be a doorman of Zhang Er, and he was very angry about the humiliation of the young master. In the eighth year of the Han Dynasty, in 199 BC, Liu Bang conquered Han Wangxin and passed through Bairen County, which is today's Longyao County, Xingtai City. Guan Gao sent people to ambush him at the hotel, preparing to kill Liu Bang when he stayed overnight. Liu Bang felt that the cypress was homophonic and unlucky, so he did not stay there. Later, the matter was exposed, and Zhang Ao, Guan Gao and others were arrested. Zhang Ao did not participate in this matter, Guan Gao was tortured in every way, and always insisted on exculpating the young master and taking all the blame. Liu Bang was moved and released Zhang Ao and Guan Gao. After being released from prison, Guan Gao committed suicide. This incident can also reflect Liu Bang's personality from one side. In general, as long as he does not pose a threat to his regime, he is relatively tolerant of people.

Xiao He built Weiyang Palace and built the palace extremely magnificent. When Liu Bang saw it, he was furious and said: "The world is turbulent, and we have been suffering from war for many years, and our success or failure is still unknown, so why overbuild?" Xiao He said: "It is precisely because the world is undecided that I can take the opportunity to build a palace." Moreover, the Son of Heaven has the four seas, and the palace is not magnificent, so it cannot show your supreme authority. Once in place, future generations do not have to build again. When Liu Bang heard this, his heart was overjoyed. It seems that Xiao He not only governs the country in a way, but also has excellent sycophant skills. It's obviously to the emperor's favor, but it sounds like he is serving the people.

The Weiyang Palace was completed, and Liu Bang held a drinking party in the front hall of Weiyang to feast the princes and ministers. Liu Bang raised the jade cup to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor Liu Taigong. Liu Bang said: "In the past, you always said that I was lazy and would not make a fortune, so it was better for Liu Zhong to farm and be profitable." Now, is it my family business that is big, or is it my second brother's family business? The ministers shouted long live and laughed for amusement. Later, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu's elder brother Liu Xiu often canceled that Liu Xiu would only farm and had no interest. But after Liu Xiu's death, Liu Xiu carried the banner of rebellion and finally seized the world. It seems that honest people may just not come across the right opportunities, and they don't necessarily lack ability.

Eleven

Chen Xuan, the prime minister of Zhao State, rebelled in Daidi, and Liu Bang personally led the army to pacify and set up his son Liu Heng as the acting king. Liu Heng was the later Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty.

Before going to work, Chen Feng went to resign to Han Xin. Han Xin said to Chen Xuan: "The most elite army in the world is deployed in the place under your jurisdiction, and you are the person trusted by the emperor. If someone tells the emperor that you have rebelled, the emperor will not believe it. The second person denounces, and the emperor will be suspicious. The third person denounced, and the emperor would definitely be angry and take over the army himself. I and you should be together inside and outside, and the world can be profitable. Chen agreed. Liu Bang conscripted Chen Xuan, Han Xin said that he was ill, did not go to the same line, and secretly sent someone to contact Chen Xuan. Han Xin planned to falsely pass on the holy decree with his retainers, pardon criminals and official slaves, and attack and kill Empress Lu and the crown prince. The guest's younger brother reported to Empress Lü, who conspired with Xiao He to trick Han Xin into the palace and kill him in the bell room of Changle Palace on the grounds that Liu Bang defeated Chen Feng and that the princes and ministers should enter the palace to congratulate. This happened in 196 BC, in the winter of the eleventh year of the Han Dynasty, five years after Liu Bang became emperor.

Sima Guang said that Han Xin knocked on Liu Bang's bamboo pole at a critical moment, and Liu Bang had long wanted to kill him, so he underestimated Liu Bang! Yongya led Liu Bang's fellow villagers to rebel, almost causing Liu Bang's revolutionary career to die at the beginning, Liu Bang not only did not kill him, but also named him the Marquis of Shifang; Guan Gao plotted to assassinate and was pardoned by Liu Bang. It can be seen that Liu Bang is not a person who must be repaid. Han Xin is one of the three heroes admired by Liu Bang, who can unite an army of millions, win the battle, attack and win, and lay down half of the country for Liu Bang, which is more dangerous than anyone else. In order to consolidate his rule, Liu Bang deprived him of his military power and demoted him to the Marquis of Huaiyin. Han Xin didn't learn from Zhang Liang, faded out of Vanity Fair, and protected himself, but like a resentful woman, he made his dissatisfaction public everywhere, making Liu Bang jealous of him. It can be said that Han Xin was killed, not because he offended Liu Bang, but because he made it difficult for Liu Bang to sleep.

When Liu Bang was conscripting Chen Xuan, he recruited troops from the Liang State. Peng Yue, the king of Liang, learned from Han Xin and said that he was ill and sent his subordinates to Handan to participate in the war. Liu Bang was furious and sent someone to reproach Peng Yue. Peng Yue was scared and wanted to go to apologize to Liu Bang in person, but was stopped by his generals. Hu persuaded Peng Yue to rebel, but Peng Yue refused. Liang's servant committed a crime and fled to Liu Bang to denounce Peng Yue and Hu for rebellion. Liu Bang sent people to arrest Peng Yue and send him to Luoyang for detention. The division convicted Peng Yue of conspiracy, and Liu Bang pardoned Peng Yue, abolished him as a concubine, and sent him to Shudi. It was also Peng Yue who deserved to be unlucky, he ran into Empress Lu on the way to the place of exile. Peng Yue redressed his grievances to Empress Lü, saying that he had not committed a crime, hoping to allow him to return to his hometown of Changyi, and asked Empress Lü to help intercede with Liu Bang. Empress Lu agreed. When he arrived in Luoyang, Empress Lu immediately persuaded Liu Bang to kill Peng Yue and cut the grass and eradicate the roots. Peng Yue was razed to the three tribes, and Luoyang was the head. In this way, Empress Lu killed two of the most prominent princes of the contemporary era in a row, removed the big trouble for the Han Dynasty, and surpassed Liu Bang in terms of ruthlessness. When Liu Bang rebelled, Empress Lu helped him build momentum and made up many myths for Liu Bang. Now, he has helped Liu Bang eliminate two of his most powerful potential enemies. She and Liu Bang are really a match made in heaven, so after Liu Bang's death, she was able to reign in the dynasty for more than ten years and became the de facto ruler of the Western Han Dynasty.

In 195 BC, in July of the 11th year of the Han Dynasty, King Yingbu of Huainan rebelled. When Han Shin was killed, Yingbu was very scared in his heart. Peng Yue was punished, and Liu Bang made him into meat sauce and rewarded it to all the princes. This is the terror tactic of an authoritarian emperor. After seeing Peng Yue's meat sauce, Yingbu's fear in his heart can be imagined. He, Han Xin, and Peng Yue are all princes of the opposite sex under Liu Bang, and they are the ones who hold the army in their hands. The rabbit dies and the fox is sad, and the thing hurts it. Peng Yue didn't want to sit still and decided to rebel. He secretly ordered people to gather an army in case of an emergency. People have to be unlucky, and there are always villains around them. Yingbu suspects that the middle doctor Ben Hyuk is committing adultery with his favorite little wife, and prepares to arrest Ben Hyuk. Ben He fled to Chang'an and denounced the Yingbu rebellion. When Yingbu saw Ben He fleeing, he felt bad and sent troops to rebel.

Liu Bang was ill and wanted to send the prince to lead an army to conquer Yingbu. Shangshan Sihao said to the prince's uncle Lu Shizhi: "The prince leads the troops, and if he wins the battle, he is still the prince, and his status will not improve; If the battle is lost, disaster may come. You hurry up and ask the Queen Mother to find an opportunity to tell the emperor: 'Tu Bu is a fierce general in the world and is good at using soldiers. The generals are His Majesty's peers, and letting the prince lead these people is equivalent to letting the sheep command the wolves, how can they be moved? If he found out, he would have to call west. Although the emperor is sick, he can use the car and lie down to command, and the generals dare not do their best. Although the emperor works hard, he has to cheer up for the sake of his wife and children! Empress Lu complied and cried to Liu Bang. Liu Bang also thought that the crown prince Liu Ying was overwhelmed by his responsibilities and went out with illness himself.

Shangshan Sihao is the four old people who live in seclusion on Shangshan, who are already over eighty years old at this time, and their beards and hair are white, so they are called Sihao. They believed in the study of Huang Lao and were the doctors of the Qin Dynasty. After Liu Bang became emperor, he heard their names and wanted to invite them to come out as officials. The four old men understood Liu Bang's virtue and didn't want to be insulted by Liu Bang when they were too old, so they refused. At this time, Empress Lu was already old, and Liu Bang favored the younger Mrs. Qi. Liu Bang believes that the crown prince Liu Ying is too weak and not like himself; Mrs. Qi's son, Zhao Wang Ruyi, was more like himself, so he moved the idea of changing the crown prince. Mother is more precious than son, and Empress Lu was very anxious, so she asked her brother Lu Shizhi to ask Zhiduoxing Zhang Liang for advice. Zhang Liang asked them to invite Shangshan Sihao out to assist the prince. At a banquet, Liu Bang saw that the crown prince Liu Ying was followed by four old men with white hair, so he asked what was going on. When he learned that they were Shangshan Sihao, Liu Bang was taken aback and said, "I have been looking for you for many years, but you have avoided it, why did you follow my son?" Si Hao said: "Your Majesty despises scholars and insults them at every turn, and we don't want to humiliate ourselves, so we hide it." Now we have heard that the prince is kind and filial, respects talented people, and everyone in the world is vying to serve the prince, so we have just come out of the mountain. Liu Bang said: "Please teach the prince with all your heart." Uncle Sun Tong and the ministers also strongly objected, and Liu Bang dismissed the idea of changing the prince.

In 195 BC, in October of the twelfth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang and Yingbu fought in Qixi, Yingbu was defeated and fled, and was later killed in Poyang Lake. Qixi is in today's Su County, Anhui Province. In this battle, Liu Bang was hit by the arrow.

In this way, the three generals who helped Liu Bang the most in the Chu-Han War all suffered the same fate. The biggest thing they have in common is that none of them are from Pei County, so they are not Liu Bang's descendants. Among the three, Han Xin has the strongest ability and the greatest credit, and has the closest relationship with Liu Bang, and died the earliest. In China's totalitarian regime, the monarch and the heroes seem to be the natural enemies. Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Bang is an open-minded emperor, but he still can't help but kill the heroes. This is a necessary measure to stabilize the regime, and it is a matter of system that is decided by the whole world.

During the same period, Rome achieved Western supremacy. In 753 BC, the legendary king Romulus founded the kingdom in Rome. In the early days, he also encountered the same dilemma as Liu Bang. In a power struggle, he kills his younger brother, who is fighting with him for the throne. However, he did not continue on the path of autocracy. He established a senate to bring together the elites who were fighting with him and shared power with the king, the senate and the popular assembly as the troika of Roman power. The Senate was an intermediary force, a bridge between those in power and the people. The troika restricts each other, and the power of one loses the other. In more than 700 years, Rome from the royal government to the republic, and from the republic to democracy, during which except for the overthrow of the royal government caused by foreign interference wars, all the changes were peaceful, there was no civil war or subversive social turmoil, Rome's national strength steadily increased, from a single city-state to develop into a large empire across Europe, Asia and Africa, with the Mediterranean Sea as the inland sea, multi-country, multi-ethnic mixed empire. Turning to Livy's "History of Rome", we can see that although famines, plagues and wars continued in this country, except for the civil war in the last years of the republic, there has never been a tragic mass extinction of the population during the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty, let alone a record of cannibalism. The two Great Qins in the East and the West are both hegemons, one is autocratic and the other is republican, and the main difference lies in this.

At the beginning of Liu Bang's administration, many princes and kings were divided, but those were all expedient measures. Later, Han Xin and others were killed, Lu Juan and others rebelled, and the king with a different surname was basically eliminated. Liu Bang learned the lesson that the Qin Empire did not have the help of his own family when the world rebelled, and it collapsed in an instant, and believed that the feudal system could not be completely abandoned. Xiang Yu divided the king with a different surname, and the world was separated from morality, so Liu Bang thought that his own children were reliable and would not dig his own grave after death, so he swore with the ministers to kill the white horse: those who are not surnamed Liu shall not be crowned kings, and a group of children surnamed Liu were sealed. Some of these kings surnamed Liu later launched the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, proving that their own families were equally unreliable in the face of power. Liu Bang maintained the county system of the Qin State, and the feudal system and the county system were mixed, complementing each other, restricting each other, and defending the imperial power, which was used by successive Chinese rulers until 1911, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown and the Republic of China was established, and finally came to an end. At this time, 2113 years had passed since Liu Bang became emperor, and the life span of the mixed imperial system established by Liu Bang and the troika established by Luo Mulu was almost the same. However, the Chinese dynasty is like the old and the new, and the Roman troika is like the Roman architecture for thousands of years, but it has changed owners. The Roman system of government was later refined by Montesquieu and inherited by modern Americans. Americans joined the independence of the judiciary, and the old trivial system of the king (consul), the senate, and the citizens' assembly developed into a modern new system of separation of legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Liu Bang returned to the dynasty and passed by his hometown Pei County. Liu Bang held a drinking party, invited his fathers and children to drink, and found 120 children to teach them to sing. Liu Bang wrote a poem by himself, made it into a tune, and sang it to himself: "The wind is blowing and the clouds are flying, Weijia is returning to his hometown in the sea, and the warriors are guarding the Quartet!" "Let the children sing along with him. Liu Bang sang and danced, generous and sad, and couldn't help but cry. Liu Bang said to his fathers: "The wanderer misses his hometown. Although I set the capital in Guanzhong, after a thousand years of life, my soul will still like Peixian. Besides, I rebelled as Pei Gong, drove out the rebellion, and finally seized the world. Let Pei County be my fiefdom for bathing, exempt everyone from forced labor, and not have to pay taxes for generations. "Feng County is Liu Bang's birthplace, but he betrayed Liu Bang at the beginning of Liu Bang's uprising, and this time he also enjoyed the same treatment as Pei County under the intercession of Pei County's fathers and elders.

Xiangguo Xiao He asked Liu Bang for instructions because of the narrow area of Chang'an and the large vacant land in Shanglinyuan, hoping to let the people go in and farm. Liu Bang was furious and said: "Xiangguo accepted bribes from merchants and even helped them intercede to occupy my garden. "Ordered the court lieutenant to cure Xiao He's sin and put shackles on Xiao He. Tingwei is equivalent to the current Minister of Public Security and President of the Court. A few days later, a guard surnamed Wang asked Liu Bang when he was on duty, what crime did Xiao He commit, and Liu Bang was so cruel to him? Liu Bang said: "I heard that Li Si is the prime minister of Qin, and all the good things are attributed to the emperor, and some bad things are attributed to himself. Now, Sangkook accepted the favor of the merchants and helped them ask me for land in order to please the people, so I did him. Wang Weiwei said: "Xiao Xiangguo asked for land for the people, that is what he should do, how can you doubt him?" Back then, Chu and Han fought, Chen Feng and Yingbu rebelled, His Majesty was in turmoil outside, and Xiao Xiangguo guarded Guanzhong, and as soon as he stomped his foot, you said goodbye to Guanzhong. He didn't work for his own benefit at that time, and now he is holding money, and he is sick in the brain? Besides, Qin died because he couldn't hear different opinions, and Li Si shared the fault, what is there to learn? Why should you be suspicious of Sangkook? After hearing this, Liu Bang was very unhappy. On the same day, someone was sent to release Xiao He. Xiao He is already old, and he is usually cautious, but at this time he came barefoot to thank him. Liu Bang said: "Xiangguo can not be polite. You ask me for land for the sake of the people, I don't agree, I'm just a tyrant like Ji, and Xiangguo is a good prime minister. I deliberately locked Xiangguo in order to let the people know that I am not. It seems that Liu Bang is blaming Xiao He for doing good things in front of him, dwarfing himself. From this incident, we can also see that even in the last stage of his life, Liu Bang can still listen to the advice of the contrary ear and follow the advice.

However, he was also as suspicious as other elderly authoritarian rulers. Someone slandered him, saying that Fan Xu would send troops after his death to kill King Ruyi of Zhao. Liu Bang is very precious to this son, he once had the idea of changing the prince, and when he heard it, he was furious, and immediately sent Chen Ping to kill Fan Xu. Fan Hao is Liu Bang's buddy and brother-in-law, and the brother-in-law of Empress Lu, who made great contributions to Liu Bang's birth and death. But even with this relationship, it almost lost its head because of a false accusation. Chen Ping, fearing that Empress Lu would retaliate, did not kill Fan Xu, but arrested him and sent him back to Chang'an. By the time they arrived in Chang'an, Liu Bang had already died, and Fan Xu had been released by Empress Lü.

Liu Bang was hit by a stray arrow during the conquest of Yingbu, and his walk was painful. Empress Lu invited a good doctor to see Liu Bang, and the doctor said, "This disease can be treated." Liu Bang scolded the doctor and said: "I take the world with a three-foot sword as a flat-headed commoner, isn't this destined by God?" My little life is in God's hands, what can I do when Bian Que comes? "If he refuses to be cured, he will give the doctor fifty pounds of gold and send him away. But I think Liu Bang should know that he has reached his limit and doesn't want to involve the doctor. He knew the virtues of Empress Lu, and once he couldn't cure it, the doctor would be unlucky. It is rare for an emperor who crawled out of the pile of dead people to have such good thoughts at the moment of life and death. Liu Bang is different from Zhu Yuanzhang, who is also a grassroots emperor, and has never shied away from his humble background. This shows that he is a very confident person, and in this regard, he is more self-contained than Xiang Yu, who was born in the aristocracy.

Liu Bang was seriously ill, and Empress Lu asked: "After Your Majesty is 100 years old, if Xiao Xiangguo is no longer there, who can replace him?" Liu Bang said: "Cao Shen can." Empress Lu asked Cao Shen who would replace him, and Liu Bang said: "Wang Ling, but Wang Ling is a little stunned, and he can ask Chen Ping to help him." Chen Ping is very smart, but it is difficult to be alone. Zhou Bo is loyal and has little culture, but he must be the one who can protect the surname Liu in the future, and he can make him a lieutenant. "The lieutenant is equivalent to the Minister of Defense. Lu Hou asked who else, and Liu Bang said: "That Lao Tzu doesn't know either." In 194 BC, in April of the twelfth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang died in Changle Palace.

Liu Bang was born in cloth, did not study literature, had an open-minded temperament, knew people well, and followed advice. He learned the lessons of the fall of the Qin Dynasty, summed up the advantages of the Zhou and Qin systems, and established a mixed autocratic system, in which counties and states supervised and restrained each other, greatly consolidating the centralization of power, which was used by the Chinese for more than 2,000 years. Qin Shi Huang began the transition from monarchical feudalism to totalitarian monarchy, and Liu Bang completed the process. Liu Bang's proclamation as emperor marked the formal formation of the totalitarian system that had been constructed since the Shang Dynasty reform, replacing the monarchical feudal system of the Xia and Shang dynasties. The aristocratic class completely lost its relative independence, and Chinese society evolved from the old three-element structure of kings, nobles, and commoners to a new three-dimensional structure of emperors, slaves, and slaves, and the class antagonism became more acute and the contradictions became more difficult to reconcile. From then on, social change in China was no longer driven by the aristocracy, but by the warlords and the grassroots, and the aristocratic revolution was replaced by a mob revolution.