Why did Xiang Yu fail?

In October of the third year of Qin Ershi, Liu Bang attacked Xianyang and stationed troops to establish hegemony. Where is the bully? In Bailuyuan, Chang 'an District, Xi. Shaanxi writer Chen wrote a book called White Deer Plain, which was the overlord of Liu Bang's garrison. At this time, Zhao Gao killed Qin Ershi and made Zi Ying emperor, but Zi Ying dared not call him emperor again. He changed his name to King Qin. When Liu Bang's army arrived, Zi Ying was dressed in white mourning and was ready to commit suicide with a silk scarf around his neck. He knelt on the side of the road and surrendered to Liu Bang, who won a great victory in the struggle to destroy Qin.

Victory is a test for Liu Bang. Why do you say that? Because we have explained in the last episode, Liu Bang's characteristic is "good wine and lust". He likes wine, meat and women. You can imagine how much wine there is in Qin Gong. How much meat is there? How many women are there? A hillbilly from a remote place entered the palaces of Qin Shihuang and Qin Ershi and saw so much wine, so much meat and so many beautiful women. What would happen? Liu bang's reaction is normal, and he will live here tonight.

But his general Fan Kuai advised him not to live. This place is not ours, so we can't live in it. Let's live in the barracks. Liu bang said that won't do. I said in my early years, "Be a gentleman." Today is finally here. I'm not staying here tonight? No, I want to live here. Fan Kuai advised him, but he wouldn't listen. At this time, Sean came to persuade him. Sean said, Pei Gong, don't live here. Who lives here? This is the place where the monarch of the Qin Dynasty lived. Do you want to be the second Qin Dynasty? Fan Kuai's words are unpleasant to hear, but good medicine tastes bitter, and advice when most unpleasant is helpful to the disease, but when most unpleasant is the case, it is better to do it. Let's quit Qin Gong and go back to the army. Let's live in Bailuyuan. Then persuade Liu Bang to listen this time.

Liu Bang is a man who knows how to be a man. He showed great generosity when his mind took a turn for the better. Not only did he not live in Qin Gong, but he also did three things: The first thing was not to kill Zi Ying. After Zi Ying surrendered, he became his prisoner, and all his generals said they would kill him. Isn't this the illegitimate child of Qin Shihuang? Won't you kill him? Liu bang said that if he didn't kill him, he surrendered. People have surrendered. Why should we kill them? This is unlucky. Don't kill him.

The second thing is the third chapter of the Constitution. Liu bang called together the elders of Qin State and said, "The whole world is suffering from Qin for a long time, and everyone has been under the brutal rule of Qin Dynasty." . He said, I know that the rule of the Qin Dynasty depended on severe punishment and severe law, very severe punishment and severe law. To what extent? What do you mean, "slander will be punished, and plain words will abandon the market"? If anyone slanders the imperial court, slanders the emperor and wants to exterminate the nation, even if you don't slander, you two will whisper and behead in the street. He said, I know the people of Qin have had enough. Today, I am Liu Banglai, and I will make three chapters with you. Which three chapters? What do you mean, "When the murderer dies, the injured and the thief make amends"? If you kill someone, you will pay the price. If you hurt someone or steal from them, you will be sentenced according to the seriousness of your crime. These three articles, murder, wounding and theft, are the only ones we are guilty of, and we don't care about the rest. This is called "Three Chapters of the Constitution", from which the idiom "Three Chapters of the Constitution" comes.

The third thing is not to reward, because after his "Three Chapters of the Constitution", the people of Qin were very happy to have such a generous and kind person, so they took cows, sheep, pigs and wine to work. Liu bang said, thank you, thank you, thank you, fellow villagers. We have rations, and everyone's life is not easy. The bitter days have passed for a long time. Don't be afraid, I'm not here to conquer you, I'm here to liberate you. People in this place of Qin can suddenly imagine "Why are you so happy?" Everyone wants Liu Bang to stay as the king of Qin, but they are afraid that Liu Bang will not stay or cannot stay as the king of Qin. Liu bang is very popular. From this example, we can see the first reason why Liu Bang was able to step by step and finally seize the national political power. What is the reason? Keep a clear head in the face of victory and an open-minded attitude towards things that can be coached.

But at the same time, Liu Bang also made a mistake. Liu bang is not a man who does not make mistakes. He will make mistakes and make wrong decisions. At that time, an unknown counselor made a suggestion to Liu Bang: You should send troops to guard Hangu Pass now, because Hangu Pass is the only way to enter Qin from the Central Plains. He said, if you keep Hangu Pass, Qin will be yours. Liu bang felt that this made sense and immediately sent troops to guard Hangu Pass.

At this time, we knew that Xiang Yu was fighting in the north, and Xiang Yu put down the war situation in the north. He also came to Guanzhong area with his own army. When we drove to Hangu Pass, Liu Bang's army locked Hangu up and couldn't get in. How could Xiang Yu be affected by this? He immediately gave orders to Ying Bu and Ying Bu to attack me. Liu Bang's army could not defeat Xiang Yu. After the First World War, Xiang Yu opened the Hangu Pass, and Xiang Yu's army arrived in Hong Men. This situation is not good for Liu Bang. At this time, a traitor appeared in Liu Bang's own team. An official named Sajima and a man named Cao betrayed Liu Bang. What kind of official is Sashima? Sima is a military judge. In fact, we can know that the author of Historical Records is Sima Qian, and his surname is named after an official. Sima Jia was originally a military judge, not a historian. This Cao Wushang ran to report to Xiang Yu that this Liu Bang was very bad and ambitious. He went to Qin king Palace and took all the gold and silver with him to be king in Guanzhong. Xiang Yu flew into a rage and immediately ordered that all our soldiers should have a good meal tomorrow morning and kill Liu Bang for me.

What was the situation then? Xiang Yu has 400,000 troops, claiming to be 1 million, and Liu Bang has 100,000 troops, claiming to be 200,000. If Liu Bang fights with Xiang Yu, it is called "throwing eggs at stones", and it is not an opponent at all. It can be said that Liu Bang is in danger at the moment. Fortunately, an informant came out of Xiang Yu's team at this time. Who is this man? Xiang Yu's uncles Xiang Bo, Xiang Bo and Sean are good friends. He knows that Sean is in Liu Bang's army now, and the army will leave tomorrow. Under the cover of the nest, there will be no eggs left, and the fire at the gate will also affect the fish in the pool. When the army passes by, Sean may die in the war. So he rushed from Hong Men to Bashang overnight and informed Sean. At that time, Hong Men was forty miles away from Bashang. After Xiang Bo told Sean about this situation, Sean said, let me think about it. Xiang Bo said, forget it. If you left, why did you end up with Liu Bang? Come with me quickly. Sean said, no, he said, I'm Wang Han, and Wang Han asked me to come here to help Pei Gong. It is not generous to leave without saying goodbye now. I had to tell Pei Gong, so Sean immediately went to see Liu Bang and reported the situation to him. Liu Bang said, "What can I do?" Sean said, "Who gave you the idea to guard Hangu Pass?" ? Liu bang said, alas, there is no counselor. He said that as long as I closed this door, this place was mine. Sean said it was a bad idea. Please think about it. Can you beat Xiang Yu? Sima Qian wrote: "Pei Gong is speechless". Liu bang was silent for a long time and said, "It's not true," but he really couldn't beat it. "What can I do?" So what should we do? Sean said that there is only one way to ask Xiang Bo to intercede.

So Sean invited Xiang Bo in, and Liu Bang said, Xiang Bo, look at this. I'm afraid the general misunderstood me. How dare I betray this general? I sent troops to guard Hangu Pass. That's to guard against robbers. How can I become a general? Tell me, tell me, tell me. Xiang Bo said ok, I'll help you talk about it, so Xiang Bo returned to Xiang Yu's army overnight at night, so he said it again, and then said, nephew, my good nephew Liu Bang, you'd better not kill him, because he is a hero, and Qin has just been destroyed by us, so you killed the hero, which makes no sense. Xiang Yu agreed.

The next morning, Liu Bang took Sean and Fan Kuai from Bashang to visit Xiang Yu in Hong Men. Liu bang said so. He said, General, when I worked with the general under Chu Huaiwang, I accepted the order of Chu Huaiwang to attack. The generals fought in Hebei and the ministers fought in the south. I didn't expect that. I was so careless that I won the first prize. I'm really sorry, but it doesn't matter. Am I not honored to see the general again? Pretend to be a grandson.

Does everyone know that Xiang Yu is a simpleton? Seeing Liu Bang pretending to be a grandson, I was elated. Oh, you see, this thing was originally a misunderstanding. These are all your Sajima, the man named Cao. He said so. Why else would I be like this? Yu Gong accidentally betrayed his informant, so the first thing Liu Bang did when he got away from Hong Men was to kill Cao Wushang and "kill Cao". Why not kill him? The following story is the well-known Hongmen Banquet, from which Liu Bang got away. From this example, we can see that the second reason why Liu Bang was able to step by step and finally seize the national political power was simply to calm down and turn the corner.

Then, after Liu Bang and Xiang Yu reconciled, the situation in the world basically settled, and the State of Qin was destroyed, so from this year on, it was called the first year of Han Dynasty in history books. This sentence needs to be explained, that is, the calendar of Qin dynasty is headed by October, that is, October is the first month of the first year instead of January, so the calendar of Qin dynasty is still used in the first year of Han dynasty, and October is the first month of this year.

After the world was pacified, Xiang Yu began to enfeoffment the princes, because at this time the princes basically had a piece of territory and sealed the king. Suddenly sealed the 18 king. In the title, Xiang Yu's performance is unfair. If you have a good relationship with him, seal a big one, if you have a bad relationship with him, seal a small one, even if you don't like it, and then seal what yourself? The overlord of Chu, the overlord of Chu, came from here. He claimed to be the overlord of Chu. What did another king, Qi Wang and Qin Wang, seal for Liu Bang? The name Hanwang and Han also started from here.

Why was he named Hanwang? It was Fan Zeng's idea. Fan Zeng always thought that Liu Bang was the most dangerous enemy, so he told Xiang Yu that you should seal him to Hanzhong, the capital of which is called Nanzheng. Where is it? Right now in Hanzhong, Shaanxi, there is a place next to Hanzhong called Nanzheng, which is sealed to that place. Then check this place, the original Qin place, and divide it into three parts for the three generals of Qin. They surrendered to Qin and sealed the three kings, so this place was called Sanqin from now on.

Why is it sealed like this? It is to let General Qin San seal the king to block Liu Bang's way and prevent Liu Bang from coming back from Hanzhong. Is to put Liu Bang under house arrest in Hanzhong. Moreover, you should know that Liu Bang's troops are all Chu people. You said, take him to that place, how can they feel at ease? So it is unfair to Liu Bang. Liu Bang himself is full of anger, but Liu Bang knows very well that now is not the time to compete with Xiang Yu, so he swallowed the bitter fruit with his own tears, which is called biting his teeth and swallowing it into his stomach.

By April of the first year of Han Dynasty, all the vassals had returned to their fiefs, which were called "Kingdom of China". What's more, "ambition" means going. Going to his own country, Liu Bang also went to Hanzhong. At this moment, Sean came to say goodbye to Liu Bang, saying that I was originally the King of Korea and now I am going back to Wang Han. I have a suggestion before you go. I suggest you burn the plank road. What is the plank road? Let me show you a photo. This place is Hanzhong, which is Nanzheng. This place is Xianyang. From Xianyang to Hanzhong, the road is not easy. So many places need to build a road and a sidewalk on the mountain with wood. This is called plank road. Sean said that you burned this plank road, which relieved Xiang Yu, indicating that you accepted his gift with great pleasure, joy and satisfaction. You are going to burn the plank road in Hanzhong. Your wife, children and Kang have no ambition. Liu bang immediately adopted this suggestion and burned it.

After Liu Bang came to Hanzhong, the morale of the army was extremely unstable, because Liu Bang's troops were all Chu people, and he came out to fight with Liu Bang, hoping to return home dressed in gold. How did he end up in this place like an exile? Who wants to stay here and burn the plank road again? I think Liu Bang has no ambition, so can he have a future with him? So his generals and soldiers fled in batches, including Han Xin who came to find Liu Bang. This time, Xiao He found that Han Xin had escaped, chased Han Xin back overnight, and made Liu Bang worship Han Xin as a general. This is the famous story of "Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon".

Han Xin became a general and said to Liu Bang, Your Majesty, we can't stay here. Would you like to stay here? Liu bang said, I can't help anyone who wants to stay in this hellhole, can I? Han Xin said, there is a way. The key is timing. Now is the best time, Liu Bang said. Why? He said that the army's thoughts are still in the air and the world is still in chaos. Why did Han Xin say that? Because after Xiang Yu sealed these princes, this place in Shandong soon became chaotic. At that time, when Xiang Yu was king, he divided Qi into three parts. Like Qin, it was divided into three parts and sealed three kings. The three kings don't trust each other. In the struggle to destroy Qin, Tian Rong, the former prime minister of Qi, made the greatest contribution, but Xiang Yu didn't seal him. Xiang Yu doesn't like him. Tian Rong started to make trouble, and Qi also started to make trouble. Xiang Yu went out to pacify Qi, and then Han Xin said that this time was probably August of the first year of Han Dynasty. Han Xin said that this is the best time. Once the world is settled, no one wants to fight any more. It is time for someone to fight. We should go through the customs immediately. Liu bang said, now that my plank road has burned down, what should I do? Han Xin gave him an idea, eight words, "Build a plank road and sneak in". Of course, this "Build a plank road and sneak in", I have to explain it to you. This is not recorded in historical books, but actually a novelist's words. This incident happened in August of the first year of Han Dynasty, which opened the curtain of the Chu-Han War for more than four years. Here, we see the third reason why Liu Bang was able to step by step towards victory and finally seize the national political power. The reason is this: we have a firm belief in the face of adversity and a strategy of winning by surprise.

After Liu bang went through the customs, the war was not smooth. He used to be very tactful, because he took advantage, because Xiang Yu's troops were busy together, and he couldn't control it in the south. So Liu Bang took the army all the way to triumph, where did he hit in one breath? I called Pengcheng. Where is Pengcheng? Now Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, is the capital of Xiang Yu and the overlord of the West Chu. This can be said to be a very big victory. After Liu Bang's army entered Pengcheng, it was impolite. They ate and drank, opened all the good wines stored by Xiang Yu in Pengcheng, and received them day and night. Of course Xiang Yu can't stand it. That boy has occupied my territory. So Xiang Yu took a group of troops, all of whom came back from the north and south to fight Liu Bang.

This time Liu Bang didn't play as well as Xiang Yu. Although the number of Xiang Yu was small at this time, Liu Bang was beaten out of the water as a result. To what extent did this war go? There were 654.38 million people who killed Liu Bang, and the bodies of these 654.38 million people all fell into the river, blocking a river and turning it into a flood dam. To this extent, Liu Bang was almost completely annihilated.

At this time, with the help of God, a hurricane suddenly blew. The wind is blowing in the direction of Chu army, and sand and stones are flying. Chu army can hardly open his eyes. At this juncture, Liu Bangcai rushed out of this tight encirclement with a few people, and Liu Bangcai ran from Pengcheng to Peixian County. He wants to make his family smaller, because he still has a father, a wife, children and two children, namely Lv Housheng. One is the later Princess Luyuan, who wants to take the family back. As a result, she ran to Lv Hou, Pei County, and her father couldn't find it. Only two children were found. Liu Bang put his two children in the car, and his drivers, Xia Houying and Xia Houying, were also the people we talked about many times in previous lectures. Servant Xia Houying fled for his life in a carriage. In desperation, Liu Bang even did such a thing, pushing two children out of the car. He thought the car was driving too slowly, so he pushed two children over. After the push, Xia Houying immediately reined in the horse, jumped down, picked up the two children, put them in and ran for a while. Liu bang felt that this was not possible, and he pushed down two children. Xia Houying jumped out of the car and picked them up again, three times at a time. Liu bang stopped pushing the child down, which shows how embarrassing the situation was at that time and how ruthless this person was. As for his father Liu Taigong and his wife Lv Hou, of course, they were captured by Xiang Yu, so the war between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu was not so smooth.

In such a long process, other C's have become independent, and these C's are constantly changing their minds. They are all vacillating, and the wind blows to both sides, and then falls on Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. So a force like Liu Bang and Xiang Yu launched a tug-of-war in the Central Plains, winning here for a while and there for a while. Because at this time, Liu Bang's army and Xiang Yu's army confronted each other on the main battlefield, and others were watching. At this moment, Liu Bangpa sent his general Han Xin to Qi, took Qi down and watched.

So in this case, Xiang Yu is anxious, because now Xiang Yu's food is not enough, so Xiang Yu came out to tell Liu Bang that there are frequent wars in the world, isn't it because of the two of us? Don't we both want to be the boss? So this war between you and me is not to make people all over the world fidgety? If you are a man, you come out and we have a fight, okay? Leave everyone out of this, okay? Surely this Liu Bang won't agree? What is Xiang Yu? "Pull out the mountain vigorously" and lift the tripod. If the two of them fight, Xiang Yu will slap Liu Bang's head, so how do they fight? Liu bang giggled, little brother, I prefer fighting wits to fighting courage. Don't do that. Xiang Yu said, you say it, and Liu Bang said, I say it, and Liu Bang will beat Ma Xiangqian, saying that Xiang Yu should not be too arrogant, and I will conquer you. That's the teacher of justice, because you committed ten major crimes, and then started counting one by one. Xiang Yu, who couldn't stand this, flew into a rage and pulled out a bow and arrow and shot it through, hitting Liu Bang in the chest. This time, after being shot by an arrow, Liu Bang will instinctively bend down. He was shot by an arrow in this place. Instinctively, he bent down and hugged his feet. Then he shouted, boy, you hit my foot, but you actually hit my chest. You reacted quickly and went back.

Back to the barracks, this injury is very serious. And then everyone said that's no good. You can't recover Please apply some medicine quickly and patrol after you come out. Then Liu Bang applied some medicine, then sat on the chariot and patrolled the barracks, indicating that I was fine and stable.

So this story can explain some problems, and it is obvious that Xiang Yu's performance is really that Han Xin dares to criticize him. When you two army troops are fighting, you can't figure out how to practice and duel alone. Liu bang is indeed better intellectually. So, here we see the fourth reason why Liu Bang went to victory step by step and finally seized the national political power. The fourth reason is to maintain high morale in the face of strong enemies, and there are ways to deal with them immediately.

In September of the fourth year of Han Dynasty, the battle could not be fought. Liu Bang couldn't eat Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu didn't have enough rations. At this time, the two families began to make peace, and they negotiated anyway. The two sides talked about it and finally decided to take the gap as the boundary. Xixia belongs to Han in the west and Chu in the east. Where is the gap? Now in Zhongmou, Henan, this is the famous Chu River Han boundary. Now that we are playing chess, there is another boundary between Chu and Jianghan on the chessboard, which is the gap. After this peace agreement was reached, Xiang Yu returned Liu Bang's father and daughter, and then returned to the East with his own army and his own Chu State. Liu bang also assembled his own army and prepared to return to the western regions. At this time, Sean and Chen Ping made a suggestion to Liu Bang, saying that we couldn't go back. Sean and Chen Ping said this. He said: "There were too many Han dynasties, and all the governors attached them. Chu soldiers are tired of food, and this day is also Chu Wu. It is better to take it because of its opportunity. Today, the so-called' self-preservation and tiger raising' was released. " What do you mean? That is to say, in the world, we won more than half of the Han Dynasty, and the governors also supported us. Xiang Yu's soldiers were exhausted and had no food. It's time to destroy Chu. If you don't take the opportunity to destroy him, you are raising a tiger as a menace, and you are raising a tiger as a menace. Liu Bang accepted this suggestion. In October of the fourth year of Han Dynasty, he led the troops eastward, and he also fought all the way.

Then at this time, Liu Bang was still unable to destroy Xiang Yu, because other governors were still watching, so Liu Bang asked Sean again: "Why?" What should we do about it? Sean said, this is all you have now. It's called being reluctant to part with children and not being able to trap wolves. You must be willing to be separated from your children now. You have to promise Han Xin and Peng Yue. If they join hands to destroy Chu, let's share the world equally. Liu Bang said, yes, so he promised them, so he began to make a vow to be knighted, saying that if Han Xin destroyed Chu, which place would be yours, and after Peng Yue destroyed Chu, which chess piece would be yours, you. Let's go after the two of them receive this. So Han Xin went south from Qi, and Han Xin was here. When Linzi went south, Liu Bang's army came in like this, as well as Peng Yue's army, and Xiang Yu's own army also had rebels. Then he completely surrounded Xiang Yu's army, and then let the soldiers sing the songs of Chu, which made Xiang Yu fall into an ambush and be besieged on all sides. Finally, Xiang Yu was eliminated in Wujiang River. Liu bang seized the national political power.

After Liu Bang seized the national political power, he once discussed with ministers why Liu Bang succeeded and why Xiang Yu failed. His heroes put forward some reasons, but Liu Bang said, you only know one, but you don't know the other. There is another important reason. What is the more important reason? Please see the next episode, the mystery of Liu Bang, the man of the Han Dynasty. Thank you!