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In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Comrade Guevara

From Peixian to the establishment of the Han Empire, Liu Bang spent 7 years defeating a series of powerful opponents, among which the most worthy of his awe and admiration was Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu. However, in addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang also admired another opponent very much, and regretted his death, and later generations of Sima Qian, Zhuge Liang, Su Shi and other big figures also admired him. This heroic man who impressed Liu Bang and others was Qi Wang Tian Heng.

Tian Heng, born in an unknown year, is a descendant of the Qi royal family at the end of the Warring States Period, after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised the banner of rebellion against the tyrannical Qin in Daze Township (209 BC), he followed his brother Tian Dan and Tian Rong to raise troops in Dicheng (now southeast of Gaoqing County, Shandong Province) to restore the country, and promoted Dai Tian Dan as the king of Qi. Soon after, Tian Dan was defeated and killed in a battle with the Qin soldiers, and Tian Rong established himself as the king of Qi and appointed Tian Heng as a general. Tian Heng was a natural general, not only brave in battle, but also full of strategy, under his command, the Qi army only took more than one year to occupy the land of Sanqi.

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Tian Heng is a natural god general who has restored the Qi Kingdom twice

After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, was crowned as a prince, and Tian Rong was stripped of his throne and defeated because he betrayed the Chu State and caused Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang to be killed by the Qin soldiers. After his defeat, Tian Rong fled to the plains, only to be killed by the locals. Subsequently, Xiang Yu burned down the city of Linzi, the capital of the Qi State, and slaughtered everywhere he passed, which made the people of Qi hate. Tian Heng saw that there was an opportunity, so he collected tens of thousands of stragglers, and then took advantage of the opportunity of Xiang Yu and Liu Bang's fierce battle in Xingyang, and was able to recover the large and small cities of Qi again.

After Tian Heng restored the state of Qi again, he established Tian Rong's son Tian Guang as the king of Qi and proclaimed himself the prime minister. After the situation between Chu and Han became clearer, Tian Heng listened to the lobby of Liu Bang's envoy Li Shiqi and prepared to lead the crowd to surrender to Han. But at this time, Han Xin, the commander of the Han army, attacked Qi State, broke through its capital Linzi, and forced Tian Guang and Tian Heng to flee. Before escaping from Linzi, Tian Heng mistakenly thought that he was betrayed by Li Shiqi, so he cooked him to death.

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Map of the situation of the Chu-Han War

After Tian Heng escaped from Linzi, he formed an alliance with the state of Chu to fight against the Han army, but suffered a crushing defeat at Gaomi, and even Tian Guang, the king of Qi, was taken prisoner (one said he was killed). After Tian Guang was captured, Tian Heng once again took up the burden of reviving the Qi State and established himself as king. However, in the face of the extremely fierce offensive of the Han army, Tian Heng was defeated in successive battles, and was finally completely defeated in Yingxia (northeast of present-day Laiwu City, Shandong Province), and was forced to flee to the great warlord Peng Yue, who occupied Liangdi. After Tian Heng's troops were defeated and fled, most of the cities in Qi surrendered without a fight, and Liu Bang also established Han Xin as the king of Qi because of the situation.

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Peng Yue was named King of Liang because he had helped Liu Bang eliminate Xiang Yu, and it was naturally impossible to take in Tian Heng. Therefore, Tian Heng led more than 500 die-hard men to flee to the island, planning to kill them again once the world changed. However, Liu Bang already knew Tian Heng's whereabouts at this time, and considered that if he was not appeased, he was afraid that there would be endless troubles, so he ordered the messenger to persuade him to surrender. Liu Bang declared that if Tian Heng was willing to obey Zhao'an, then he would be crowned a prince, but if he failed to obey the order, he would be requisitioned by the army.

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Tian Heng and the 500 heroes who followed him

Tian Heng thought that although he could swear to the death, the price was to ask more than 500 die-hard people to follow him to be martyred, so he couldn't bear it, so after thinking about it again, he decided to follow the envoy to Luoyang to make a pilgrimage to Liu Bang. However, when he walked to the corpse village only 30 miles away from Luoyang, Tian Heng committed suicide in the post station under the pretext of bathing. According to the narration of the two disciples who followed Tian Heng, the reason why the lord committed suicide was that he was unwilling to bow down to Liu Bang, who was his equal, in the past, and Li Shiqi's younger brother Li Shang was an official in the court, so he felt guilty.

According to the doorman, Tian Heng sighed before he died: "The reason why the emperor summoned me is just to eliminate hidden dangers, and want to see how I look, now this is only 30 miles away from Luoyang, if you cut off my head, you ride a fast horse to the emperor, I think my appearance will not change, and you can also avoid death." After speaking, Tian Heng drew his knife and killed himself. The envoy was shocked when he heard this, but the matter had come to this point, so he had to take two doormen and go to Liu Bang with a box containing Tian Heng's head.

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Tian Heng committed suicide

Liu Bang was shocked when he saw Tian Heng's head and listened to the envoy's report, so he said to the courtiers with tears in his eyes: "Isn't it enough to show that the three brothers of Tian Heng got up from the commoners and finally became kings in Qidi? Now in order to save the lives of all his subordinates, and he does not want to wronged his own will, he has taken such an extreme way, which is really remarkable! After speaking, Liu Bang went to worship the two disciples as captains on the spot, and ordered to build a grave for Tian Heng in the corpse township, and bury him ceremoniously according to the standards of princes and kings.

(Tian Heng) then self-defeating, so that the guest to serve his head, from the messenger to play the high emperor. The emperor said: Huh, there is a husband! From the cloth clothes, the three brothers are more kings, isn't it virtuous! For it, he wept for it, and worshiped the two guests as the captain, sent 2,000 people, and buried Tian Heng with the king's ceremony. See Historical Records · Vol. 94.

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

Portrait of Liu Bang

Unexpectedly, on the day of Tian Heng's burial, the two doormen dug two deep pits in front of the grave of the deceased master, and then killed themselves inside. Liu Bang was shocked when he heard the news, and praised the two as righteous men again and again, and then ordered to appease the other disciples who were still on the island, and all of them were required to enter the court as officials. However, Liu Bang did not expect that after hearing the news of the suicide of the deceased master, more than 500 doormen also committed suicide and martyrdom, and none of them entered the court as officials or lived alone. When the news reached Luoyang, Liu Bang was shocked and moved, and ordered the burial of these righteous men.

The deeds of Tian Heng and the five hundred disciples who lived and died together aroused universal admiration and admiration, both at that time and in later generations. For example, Sima Qian sighed: "Tian Heng's high festival, the guest Mu Yi and died from Heng, is not the most holy, and Yu is therefore listed" (see "Historical Records· Volume 94"); When Zhuge Liang lobbied Sun Quan, he also took Tian Heng as an example, saying that "Tian Heng, the strong man of Qi, still abides by righteousness and does not disgrace" (see "Three Kingdoms· Shu Shu · Volume 5"); And Su Shi also commented with emotion: "Instead of being punished by Han Xin, how can it be better to die Tian Heng's Festival" (see "Dongpo Complete Works· Volume 100").

In addition to Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's most admired opponent restored his homeland twice, and 500 heroes were willing to die for him

The statue of Tayoko on Tayoko Island

Today, the island where Tian Heng lived has been named Tian Heng Island, and on the top of Tian Heng, the highest peak on the island, not only a giant statue of him is erected, but also the "Tomb of 500 Righteous Soldiers" with a circumference of 30 meters and a height of 2.5 meters, and a large number of famous people come to mourn every year. It can be seen that although history has passed through thousands of years, the integrity of loyalty and righteousness hidden deep in the hearts of human beings has not disappeared and still resonates from time to time.

bibliography

Sima Qian (Western Han Dynasty): Historical Records, Zhonghua Book Company, 1982 edition.

Ban Gu (Eastern Han Dynasty): Book of Han, Zhonghua Book Company, 1999 edition.

Sima Guang (Song): "Zizhi Tongjian", Zhonghua Book Company, 2015 edition.