Before Xiang Yu started his army, he had no experience of being a leader. The people he had during the Western Expedition were a ragtag group. Even after a period of training, their combat capabilitie

Before Xiang Yu started his army, he had no experience of being a leader. The people he had during the Western Expedition were a ragtag group. Even after a period of training, their combat capabilities should be very limited. And Xiang Yu led this group of poorly trained soldiers on an expedition thousands of miles away, marching and fighting in an unfamiliar environment. Not only did the troops not break up, but they returned in triumph. In the era of war and chaos, if your talents are not enough to convince the public, how can your subordinates entrust you with their lives and follow you wholeheartedly to bleed and sacrifice. And Xiang Yu was talented enough, so he was able to lead what was probably the smallest expeditionary force in history, go to the place where the enemy had the strongest troops, and return in triumph. From this point of view, Sima Qian's evaluation of Xiang Yu's "extraordinary talent" is not false. This is exactly what people and all the people before Xiang Yu's lifetime believed. Of course, these people include Xiang Yu's main political and military opponents Liu Bang and Han Xin. Han Xin and Liu Bang had a strategic dialogue related to their prospects before they prepared to fall out with Xiang Yu. At that time, Han Xin asked Liu Bang: How does the king think he compares with Xiang Yu in terms of bravery, benevolence and strength? No one may be able to say the actual connotation of bravery, benevolence and strength, but it should be a comprehensive assessment of the overall quality of fighting for the world. In response to Han Xin's question, Liu Bang pondered for a long time, and finally said helplessly: It's all worse. Liu Bang is also a very conceited person, and he always feels very good about himself. If he is not sincerely convinced and willing to be defeated, he will never lower his arrogant head. The questioner Han Xin also had the same views as Liu Bang. This shows that Liu Bang's self-evaluation is not false at all, but a recognized fact. What happened later also proved this point. All confrontations between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu basically ended with Xiang Yu's victory. So, is it because Liu Bang's level is too poor that led to this ending? Of course not. Liu Bang is also a very smart man. He is versatile in politics and military affairs. No one can beat him except Xiang Yu. But compared with Xiang Yu, this extreme intelligence is nothing, and the decathlon has become incompetent in decathlon. It's really a bad move, and the hands and feet are tied. Just because the difference was so small, I couldn't win even one set. Therefore, Xiang Yu's intelligence is not only the most authoritative identification of Liu Bang and others, but also the most powerful support of facts.

So, how did Xiang Yu reach such a height? The answer is, natural qualifications coupled with acquired hard work. Innate aptitude may be easy to understand, but acquired hard work will not be supported by facts. Everyone knows that when Xiang Yu was a boy, he also studied books, swords and the art of war, but he gave up halfway and did not see where he worked hard. But precisely because of his talent, even if he only dabbles in it and fails to learn it, his level of attainment is beyond the reach of others. This is just a taste of Xiang Yu's efforts. It sounds like a joke, but without this little taste, there would be no Xiang Yu in the future. Someone once said, "Xiang Yu was only 24 or 25 years old when he first debuted. Before that, he had only dabbled in studying books, swordsmanship, and military tactics. Yet, he was still the best in poetry, martial arts, and military tactics at the time, and he commanded the heroes. In the end, all the smart people in the world joined forces to kill him. It’s hard not to admit that he was a genius. In the past, when commenting on Sima Qian’s academic height, the ancients compared Wang Xizhi’s words with Li Du’s poems. For comparison, I think that one branch cannot compare its length. Xiang Yu's talent should also be viewed in this way. His talent is all-round and cannot be limited by one branch.

Probably because Xiang Yu did not kill Liu Bang at the Hongmen Banquet, he was called a simple and honest man by future generations. I really don’t know which book these impressions come from. Anyway, Sima Qian never wrote like this. How did Sima Qian remember it? Another four words, fierce and cunning thief, this is the impression Xiang Yu left on history. What does "treacherous and cunning thief" mean? It probably means being unruly and cunning, and very difficult to get along with. It may be similar to what we call today "very cunning" and "very thief". Anyway, it is definitely not comparable to a simple and honest man. Therefore, people may think that the eyes of the ancients were particularly difficult to use. How could they regard a simple and honest man as a cunning and cunning thief? Or people might say that the reason why Xiang Yu got the opposite impression of being a fierce and cunning thief was entirely prompted by his performance at the Hongmen Banquet.

It's just that when dividing the world, Xiang Yu tried his best to achieve the greatest benefit for himself. Later generations accused Xiang Yu of dividing the world into even more fragmented parts than before the unification of Qin. They did not realize that this fragmentation reflected Xiang Yu's good intentions in trying to control the overall situation. In fact, Xiang Yu had already practiced the "building of the masses" advocated by later generations Jia Yi in advance. The concept of "the princes have less power". Xiang Yu's strategy established his dominance for a long time through enfeoffment. First of all, he took the land of nine counties from the king, which accounted for a quarter of China's territory at that time, and they were all wealthy places; secondly, in order to weaken the power of the princes who might threaten his hegemony, he divided the old Qin into four (Han, Yong, etc.) , Sai, Zhai), divided the old Qi into three (Qi, Jiaodong, Jibei), the Zhao of the near Chu was divided into two (Dai, Changshan), and the Yan was divided into two (Yan, Liaodong). Not only that, he also reduced Zhao's military strength into four (Dai, Changshan, Yin, and Henan), weakening Zhao's military group that was originally second only to Chu. Since San Qin was unswervingly loyal to Xiang Yu, Henan and Yin were also grateful to Xiang Yu, and the territory of Han, the kingdom of his king, was not completely under Xiang Yu's control. Xiang Yu had established a belt of strength spanning China's east and west from Pengcheng to San Qin. To the south of this strength zone, the three kingdoms of Jiujiang, Linjiang, and Hengshan were controlled by the old generals of Chu, and the Han Dynasty in the southwest was also the old tribe of Chu. It is not difficult to see that the scope of influence of Xiang Yu's camp is so spectacular that any vassal state that wants to make any changes dare not act rashly. The Han Dynasty, which Liu Bang was granted the title of, is adjacent to the Three Qin Dynasties. The situation is intriguing and forms a structure of mutual restraint. Liu Bang is the mortal enemy and natural enemy of San Qin, and the two sides will not form an alliance. Moreover, with Liu Bang on the side of Sanqin, Sanqin would never dare to cause trouble; and with Sanqin's blockade, Liu Bang could not get out of Sichuan and could not cause harm. Liu Bang's dead piece on the chessboard was used by Xiang Yu. This was a very clever chess move, but unfortunately no one pointed it out. Xiang Yu granted slightly inferior titles to the old kings of Han, Zhao, Yan, Qi, and Wei, and allocated good lands to the people under these kings who had no right to be granted titles, basically replacing the previous kings. For example, King Zhao Xie's territory was owned by Zhao Xiang Zhang Er; King Han Guang's territory of Yan was owned by Yan general Zang Tu. King Bao of Wei was transferred to the west of the old Wei Dynasty as king, and the eastern part of Wei State, namely Liang, was also under Xiang Yu's control . Theoretically speaking, except for the original Six Kingdoms, the others are not qualified to be kings, but Xiang Yu made them kings, so they should be grateful to Xiang Yu. This is Zhao Gao's ruling technique of "the humble ones are valued, the noble ones are humbled", and Xiang Yu practices it without any ambiguity.

Fourth, the Chu-Han War. Xiang Yu repeatedly won the battle against Liu Bang on the frontal battlefield. This was by no means a mere show of bravery. It would be difficult to win against a powerful enemy like Liu Bang unless he was superior in will, intelligence, and military skills. , not to mention the winning streak. There are at least three things that show Xiang Yu's excellence: First, Liu Bang captured Pengcheng, and Xiang Yu led his army back from Qi to rescue him. Liu Bang will definitely be on guard against this move, and will definitely deploy heavy troops on Xiang Yu's way south, and may be in charge of this line of defense. It was Han Xin; this was equivalent to the Maginot Line of defense in France before World War II; but Xiang Yu did not launch any attack on the prepared defense line, but instead made a large detour to the southwest of Pengcheng, taking him by surprise and achieving success with one blow; this move was more successful than the German army's defeat. The Qinot Line of Defense predates this by more than two thousand years. Second, Chu and Han were in a stalemate at Cheng Gao, and Peng Yue disturbed Liang. Xiang Yu came to rescue him, and Cao Jiu, who was left behind at Cheng Gao, would defeat Peng Yue in about half a month. It was true as he said. Unfortunately, Cao Jiu disobeyed the general's orders and was defeated by Liu Bang on the sixth day. Third, Xiang Yu was trapped in Gaixia, surrounded by water and unable to fly. Despite this, Xiang Yu was still able to lead eight hundred elite soldiers to break out of the encirclement at night, and the Han army did not notice it until dawn. Compared with Liu Bang who only took one or two followers with him every time he escaped, Xiang Yu's cleverness is really beyond the pale. No wonder Xiang Yu is always victorious in every battle. All this shows that Xiang Yu has achieved extraordinary success in using troops.

Furthermore, Xiang Yu was a tyrant who succeeded the Qin Dynasty. His first appearance on the historical stage and his exit from the historical stage were both extremely ferocious. Several massacres and pits were recorded in this historical period. , all have his share. Although he deliberately concealed his cruelty in the future and showed himself to be benevolent and loving, no matter how he concealed it, his cruel nature would eventually explode and harm society. His actions were incompatible with the times and were abandoned by the times. Not appropriate.