During the uprising in Peixian County, Xiao He was obviously a bigger official than Liu Bang, so why did he follow Liu Bang later?

In September 207 BC, Liu Bang led 3,000 troops in Peixian County and formally launched an army to resist Qin. Seven years later, Liu Bang held a coronation ceremony on the banks of the Sishui River, and the Han Dynasty began.

Friends who are familiar with the history of the Han Dynasty should be familiar with this record. However, many friends may have a question about the history of Liu Bang's uprising.

Before the uprising in Peixian County, Liu Bang, Xiao He was obviously more powerful than others. Why did Xiao He follow Liu Bang after the uprising?

First of all, let’s talk about Xiao He. Xiao He was a man with a very high level of education and a very smart mind. He was very easy-going and good at recognizing talents. Fan Kuai, Cao Shen, Xia Houying, and Zhou Bo, the father of Zhou Yafu, one of the famous generals of the Western Han Dynasty, were all friends of Xiao He, plus Xiao He served in Pei County. Although he was only a small civil servant, Xiao He still had a certain reputation in the local area.

Let’s talk about Liu Bang. At that time, Liu Bang was still a small pavilion chief in the Qin Dynasty. Liu Bang was ordered to escort laborers to Lishan to build the imperial mausoleum for Qin Shihuang. Because of the huge project of building the imperial mausoleum, he was physically exhausted. It is said that after building a mausoleum, the emperor would usually kill people to silence him in order to keep the secret of the mausoleum. The laborers naturally knew that many of them escaped on the way to Lishan Mountain.

Liu Bang was a sensible man. He thought that if he kept running like this, all Lishan Mountain would be gone, so he stopped when he reached Mangdang Mountain.

Taking advantage of the darkness, he released all the remaining laborers and asked them to escape for their lives. He also wanted to escape for his life. Among them, there were a dozen laborers who followed Liu Bang everywhere.

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, due to the dark reign of the powerful ministers Zhao Gao and Qin II Hu Hai, the people were living in dire straits, which triggered the Dazexiang uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. The magistrate of Pei County wanted to respond to Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's uprising. Xiao He and Cao Shen also had official positions in Peixian County at that time. They advised the county magistrate to call back all the people who had fled the county to strengthen the strength of the rebel army. The county magistrate thought it was reasonable, so he sent someone to invite Liu Bang back.

When Liu Bang arrived at the gate of Peixian County, the county magistrate went back on his promise and ordered the city gates to be closed and captured Xiao He and Cao Shen. After learning the news, the two fled outside the city. Liu Bang heard the news and encouraged the people in the city to join forces. Kill the magistrate.

The county magistrate had already lost the support of the people because he was not considerate of the people. The people killed the county magistrate and greeted Liu Bang in Kaicheng. When they entered the city, Xiao He and Cao Shen tried their best to recommend Liu Bang. Everyone elected Liu Bang as their leader to lead everyone. .

The above is the entire process of Liu Bang being elected leader. What advantage did Liu Bang use to defeat Xiao He?

In fact, Liu Bang's greatest advantage lies in his ability to win over people's hearts and his excellent leadership skills. Previously, he was escorting laborers to build the imperial mausoleum, and allowed them to escape. In exchange for the loyalty of more than a dozen people, he also encouraged the people to kill the county magistrate, and the people came out of the city to welcome him. These two points also directly illustrate that Liu Bang's ability to win over people's hearts and leadership is still outstanding.

As for Xiao He, he actually does not have much ambition. Although he wanted to overthrow the rule of the Qin Dynasty in one fell swoop, he had no ambition to be the leader, otherwise he would not recommend Liu Bang to be the leader. A person with too much ambition would not be willing to be led by others.

Looking at Liu Bang, Liu Bang is ambitious, otherwise he would not be the leader of the uprising. You must know that the uprising is very risky. If it fails, you will lose your life and property, but Liu Bang wants to use the uprising. Change your destiny. Once you succeed, you can enjoy all the glory, wealth and fame.

Although Xiao He is good at strategy, good at understanding people, and rich in knowledge, Xiao He does not have particularly strong leadership skills.

Such a person is only suitable for strategizing as a strategist, not for leading a rebel army. The people who led the rebel army not only had leadership skills but also courage. Although Xiao He was not a timid person, he was still inferior to Liu Bang in some things.

To sum up, although Xiao He is better than Liu Bang in terms of fame, he does not have the leadership skills of Liu Bang. After all, no matter how famous he is without leadership skills, it will not work. A good army has a good leader. By bringing everyone together, such an army will not be easily defeated.