In China's history, there have been too many good brothers who have turned against each other. One of the earliest pairs is Chen Yu and Zhang Er during the period of the chu and Han dynasties. The interval between them and each other's death was only a few months. Finally, although it is Chen Yu who completely failed, to specifically investigate who is sorry for whom, it is necessary to carefully analyze it.
Zhang Er was a Member of the Great Liang Dynasty and was originally a protégé of the Duke of Wei. Later, he escaped in violation of the law, went into exile in the Waihuang area, married a rich and beautiful woman who remarried in the local area, and used the financial resources of his wife's family to build his reputation. At this time, Chen Yu, who was also a Liang person, met Zhang Er through the introduction of a friend. As soon as the two saw each other, Chen Yu was young, so he treated Zhang Er with the courtesy of his father, and the two became good friends of "neck-to-neck friendship".
After the Qin Dynasty destroyed the State of Wei, the local sheriff heard of Zhang Er and Chen Yu's names and feared that they would rebel, so they set a reward for their arrest. Zhang Er Chen Yu could only hide his name and flee to Chen Di, where he became Li Zheng to make a living. Once Chen Yu made a mistake and was beaten severely by a small official on the ground. Chen Yu was beaten, but he wanted to stand up and resist, but he was stepped on by Zhang Er and could not move. When the little official finished playing and leaving, Zhang Er gave a lecture to Chen Yu, who was already blue in the nose and swollen face: "Brother, how did I tell you in the first place?" Do you really want to die on the body of a small official because of a small humiliation? Chen Yu also felt that Zhang Er was right and humbly accepted the criticism.
At this point in the story, the author wants to talk about his feelings. We cannot say that the opening of the ear is wrong, and his reasons are indeed very good. But if you think about it in a different way, if you are Chen Yu, what will your heart think? As his eldest brother who "took the father's business", he neither rescued nor interceded when he was severely beaten, but fell into the well, which cannot be called righteousness! If Zhang Er had been able to ask the petty official to let Chen Yu go, or to take the place of his brother, then Chen Yu's psychological feelings would definitely be different, and things would not be so dramatically reversed in the future.
At the end of qin, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled, and Zhang Er and Chen Yu went to defect. Chen Shengjiu admired the names of the two and left them as staff. The two had urged Chen Sheng not to claim the title of king in Chen Di, and it was better to claim the throne after destroying the Qin Dynasty and after entering Xianyang, so that all the princes of the world would obey. However, Chen Sheng did not listen, and still claimed the title of king in Chen Di. Zhang and Chen saw that Chen Sheng was not a lord who could assist him, so they took advantage of the opportunity of the general Wu Chen to recover Zhao's land and followed him.
Wu Chen's actions in Zhao Di went well, and Zhang Er and Chen Yu persuaded Wu Chen to establish himself as the King of Zhao. After Wu Chen obeyed, he appointed Chen Yu as a general and Zhang Er as the right chancellor. This is also the peak of the two brothers' careers during the honeymoon period. But soon after, Wu Chen's sister drank too much wine and insulted the general Li Liang. Li Liang rebelled against Zhao, Wuchen was killed, and Zhang Er and Chen Yu escaped. The brothers then divided into two groups, and Zhang Er found Zhao Xieli, a descendant of the State of Zhao, as the King of Zhao, while Chen Yu organized the direction and defeated Li Liang when he attacked. Relying on the efforts of these two people, Zhao Di temporarily restored peace.
After Li Liang was defeated, he defected to the Qin Dynasty general Zhang Handan and led troops to attack the capital of the Zhao state, Handan. Zhang Handan's forces were strong, and Zhang Er and Chen Yu did not dare to fight each other, so they fled with King Xie of Zhao into Julu City. After that, Chen Yu left the city and collected tens of thousands of remnants in the north to prepare to rescue Julu. But when he turned back, Zhang Handan and the other Qin army king left together and surrounded julu with a water leak. In the following months, Zhang Er sent letters to Chen Yu many times to come to the rescue, but Chen Yu never dared to go deeper. Zhang Er was furious and sent two generals, Zhang Yi and Chen Ze, to summon them again. Chen Yu could not get away with it, and could only hand over to the two men and five thousand horses to rescue the deer. As a result, it can be imagined that Zhang Di and Chen Ze were killed on the battlefield and never returned.
After a while, the combined forces of the princes came to the rescue of julu, but they all moved around the periphery and did not dare to enter the army. In the end, it was Xiang Yu who broke the cauldron and defeated the combined forces of Zhang Handan and Wang Li in one fell swoop, and lifted zhang Er's siege. At the celebration banquet, Zhang Er complained that Chen Yu could not be saved when he saw death, and also asked him where Zhang Yi and Chen Ze were. Chen Yu defended himself, but his ears did not listen. Chen Yu took off the general's seal in a huff, claimed that he did not want this position, and then got up to go to the toilet. Zhang Er listened to the words of his subordinates and hung up the general's seal himself. When Chen Yu returned, when he saw this situation, he was furious and led his henchmen to the Yellow River to live a life of fishing and hunting. What was originally a good brother has since turned against him.
Here, I also have to say that Chen Yu did have his bitterness when he saw that he was not saved. He once told Zhang Di and Chen Ze that even if he went to the rescue of tens of thousands of people, it would be a drop in the bucket. Maybe not only can't save the ear, but also put it in. And it wasn't just him, but the princes who came at that time, who wasn't watching from the sidelines? I think that Zhang Er stepped on his brother when he was most dangerous and made him endure, and at this time it was indeed his turn to taste patience. At the celebration banquet, he did not listen to his brother's defense, and he took the general seal without prevaricating, which really did not conform to the rules of Confucianism, and it was no wonder that Chen Yu would turn against him.
However, at this time, Zhang Er and Chen Yu were at best anti-eyes and had not yet become enemies. What really made these two people become incompatible was Xiang Yu, the king of Chu. After Xiang Yu entered the pass, he sealed the princes and divided the zhao kingdom's homeland, and gave it to Zhang Er, allowing him to establish the Changshan state for the king. The other part was given to King Xie of Zhao, who established a daiguo. As for Chen Yu, he was only given the title of Marquis and won three counties in the Nanpi region. Chen Yu thought that he and Zhang Er had equal merits, but it was too unfair to be crowned one king and one marquis. Therefore, when Tian Rong, the king of Qi, rebelled against Chu, he joined forces with the Qi army and King Xie of Zhao to drive away Zhang Er. Since then, the two have completely broken up and become endless rivals.
This matter is indeed something that Chen Yu has done a little too much. The reason why Zhang Er was crowned king was because he followed Xiang Yu into Guanzhong. At that time, Chen Yu was still fishing and hunting. So he himself thinks that the credit is similar to Zhang Er, which is not right. Even if the credit is really equal, it is Xiang Yu who makes the unfair division, not Zhang Er. Chen Yu was angry with Zhang Er and colluded with the State of Qi to drive him away, which did mean that he would be exterminated. Since then, the two have completely turned their faces, and they also have a lot to do with him.
After driving Zhang Er away, Zhao Xie became the King of Zhao again, and at the same time made Chen Yu the Acting King. In order to help King Zhao to rule the country, Chen Yu stayed in the State of Zhao and did not leave. Zhang Er originally wanted to defect to the Chu state, but under the persuasion of the counselor Gan Gong, he switched to Liu Bang, the King of Han. After Liu Bang rushed out of the Guanzhong Plain, he once sent people to ally with the Zhao state and jointly cut down Chu. And Chen Yu put forward his own conditions: Send the head of zhang er, and I will help you cut chu. Liu Bang then found a person who looked very similar to Zhang Er and gave his head to Chen Yu. Chen Yu then helped Liu Bang to cut down Chu, but soon found himself deceived, so he immediately betrayed Liu Bang.
In this matter, Chen Yu still made mistakes. Although he and Zhang Er had completely turned their faces, the world's major events could not be used with arrogance. Although Chu and Han were fighting at that time, it was not yet known whose hand the deer had killed. But as far as Chen Yu was concerned, it was obvious that it was more advantageous to follow Liu Bang. But at this time, he chose to gamble his fate for personal vendetta. Although no matter how he chooses, it will not do anything to repair his relationship with Zhang Er, at least, he should plan more for himself.
Soon, the final showdown between the two brothers began. In the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 BC), Liu Bang ordered Han Xin and Zhang Er to jointly attack the State of Zhao. The two sides fought a big battle at Jingxing, and Han Xin defeated Chen Yu with the strategy of fighting a battle with less. In the midst of defeat, Chen Yu was killed on the banks of the Shuishui River. Zhao Wang Xie, on the other hand, was killed in Xiangguo. After that, in order to win over Zhang Er, Liu Bang made him the King of Zhao. Zhang Er and Chen Yu, the iron brothers of that year, finally ended up with a regrettable ending.
It is difficult to say who has more responsibility in the transformation of Zhang Er and Chen Yu from friends to enemies. It can only be said that both of them have mistakes. Zhang Er was a bit childish in his righteous temperament, while Chen Yu was somewhat childish. In the relationship between friends, it is indeed necessary to have some skills, but also need to pay more attention to each other's feelings, otherwise no matter how good the feelings were, it is inevitable that they will part ways.