In ancient China, there were many emperors from humble origins, but it is still inconceivable that a rogue like Liu Bang, who was idle in his youth, could eventually create the Han Dynasty. In the eyes of most people, Liu Bang was a villain, and the reason why he was able to defeat Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, was purely because of his good luck, otherwise he would have been in a different place as early as the Hongmen Feast. Liu Bang's luck is indeed very good, but Liu Bang was able to defeat Xiang Yu to establish the Han Dynasty and the king came to the world, is it really just by luck?
The answer, of course, is no, luck is crucial to a person's success, but it is not all, if there is not enough ability, you can not withstand this luck. What's more, just from the perspective of luck, Xiang Yu is not necessarily worse than Liu Bang, he was born into the nobility of the Chu State, and his uncle left a foundation for him, and his starting point was much higher than Liu Bang. If Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu only because of good luck, it would be biased.
It is true that Xiang Yu is the overlord of Western Chu, and there is no doubt that Liu Bang was idle when he was young, these two people looked superior and judgmental, but in fact, Liu Bang was better than Xiang Yu in many fields.
First of all, Liu Bang was idle when he was young, and he did not like to work in the fields, but if he felt that he was a scoundrel because of this, he would have wronged him. Sima Qian recorded in the "Records of History": "Benevolence and love for others, joy and charity, and open-mindedness." Often generous, not family production work. The world seems to see only the last sentence of the evaluation, but ignores the merits that precede him. Through Sima Qian's records, it can be seen that Liu Bang was not a scoundrel, but a ranger, and there is an essential difference between the two. Although Liu Bang came from a peasant family, he was generous and generous, and he was well known among the heroes in the township, and most of the peasants who despised him were farmers who did their duty. Moreover, Liu Bang also defected to Xin Lingjun when he was young, and eventually became Zhang Er's doorman, and the two also became confidants. Zhang Er was a disciple of Xin Lingjun and had a very high vision, but he could regard Liu Bang as a confidant, which was enough to show that Liu Bang was quite capable.
At this time, Xiang Yu was of course more dazzling than Liu Bang, he was a genius of the Chu Kingdom, a future general star, but don't forget, he can have all this, in addition to his own ability to think, but also because his uncle is Xiang Liang. Even though Xiao He reminded Lü Gong several times that Liu Bang was a person with low eyesight, Lü Gong was still determined to marry his daughter to Liu Bang, probably not because he thought Liu Bang looked extraordinary, but because he saw Liu Bang's arrogance to achieve great things.
Many people admired Xiang Yu's courage to swallow rivers and rivers, but in fact, the reason why Liu Bang was able to defeat him and establish the Han Dynasty was because he won in Qi. In the historical drama, Xiang Yu is a great tragic figure, and Liu Bang is a treacherous and shameless villain, who finally defeated Xiang Yu by luck and sinister cunning. However, in fact, for the talents, Liu Bang is the real confidant.
Liu Bang himself has average ability, marching and fighting, overall planning and dispatch are not his strengths, and the sentence he said the most when he encountered difficulties was "what to do." However, Liu Bang's advantage is that he has self-knowledge, he knows that he is not as good as Han Xin in fighting, not as good as Xiao He in dispatch, and not as good as Zhang Liang in strategizing, so he has no doubt about the use of people and delegates power to three people. On the other hand, Xiang Yu was very famous because he was born into the nobility of the Chu State, and many sages came to him, such as Han Xin, who had defected to him, but Xiang Yu could not discover Han Xin and gave this "military god" to others.
In addition, Liu Bang was much more generous than Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu was known as the Overlord of Western Chu and the co-lord of the world, but he was stingy. In the Battle of julu, Xiang Yu broke through the cauldron and fought a battle, and finally defeated the Qin army. Of course, this was Xiang Yu's most brilliant battle, and it was precisely because of this battle that he was world-famous, and Liu Bang, who took advantage of the fire and robbery, appeared to be a villain. However, after the annihilation of Qin, Xiang Yu's performance in the reward was a big surprise.
For example, in the Battle of the Giant Deer, there was a sailor, who was seriously wounded but still passionate, was supported and encouraged by his companions, through his three words and two words, the nearby soldiers were morale boosted, and the battlefield was like a bamboo. After Xiang Yu learned about it, he specifically found this sailor, shook his hand and said, "You are a hero, and you must be rewarded again in the future." However, when the Dingdu Pengcheng began to discuss the merits and rewards, Xiang Yu seemed to have forgotten about this sailor, and even if his subordinates mentioned it several times, he only pushed three times and blocked four times. In fact, Xiang Yu's attitude toward this sailor is exactly the portrayal of his reward for dividing the seals, he is ostensibly talking about the reward of merit, but in fact he uses his power for personal gain and reuses his own confidants, while he is extremely harsh on the heroes who are estranged from him. After casting the seal, he was reluctant to send it down, and he kept it in his hands to play, so did this behavior not make the soldiers who followed him from birth to death chill?
On the other hand, Liu Bang was much smarter in this matter, and when he first sealed the reward, he was like Xiang Yu, and he was estranged from his relatives. However, after hearing the complaints of his subordinates, Liu Bang not only did not get angry, but began to introspect himself, and he asked Zhang Liang to accept Zhang Liang's suggestion immediately after asking him, and rewarded even his hated heroes, so that his subordinates could be loyal to him. Of course, Liu Bang was not a good man, and after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, most of his heroes had a miserable fate, but he eradicated the meritorious group after he became emperor, and in the stage of fighting the world, he knew the importance of Corporal Li Xian and treated his subordinates very favorably.
Liu Bang has the courage to do great things, and he can bend and stretch, and he can change his mistakes. At first, Liu Bang also slaughtered the city, and it is recorded in the Zizhi Tongjian: "In Xia, in April, Pei Gong attacked Yingchuan in the south and tuzhi. However, after discovering that slaughtering the city did more harm than good, Liu Bang quickly adjusted his strategy, implemented the Huairou policy, took a large number of prisoners, and treated his children and babies kindly, thus gaining the reputation of a benevolent and righteous teacher. However, Xiang Yu always took the slaughter of the city as a strategy, and he carried out a total of six large-scale slaughters of the city, and everywhere he went, the lives were destroyed, and his subordinates were proud of burning and looting. After Xiang Yu attacked Xianyang, he burned the Qin Palace to the ground and executed the baby. Xiang Yu Tucheng wanted to establish his prestige and crush the enemy's will to resist, but what he did also made him lose the hearts of the people.
What is even more ironic is that Xiang Yu began to be merciful when he was fierce and ruthless. At the Hongmen Banquet, the butcher who slaughtered countless people in the city let Liu Bang go because of the benevolence of the woman, missing the best opportunity to kill Liu Bang. However, Liu Bang was well aware of the cruelty of the battlefield, and Xiang Yu threatened him with the lives of Liu Bang's family, but Liu Bang was not at all moved, but instead joked with Xiang Yu. Liu Bang's cold-blooded behavior is certainly not praiseworthy, but his fierceness and ruthlessness have made him a qualified leader.
Liu Bang is a realist, compared with Xiang Yu he is like a villain, but if you put aside the inherent prejudices, you will find that Liu Bang's success is not accidental, and the historical Haojie also has many praises for him, for example, Ming Taizu, who was also from a humble origin, commented on Liu Bang: "Only Emperor Gaozu of Han gaozu except for Ying Pingxiang, leniency and generosity, Wei Jia Hai Nei, the year open four hundred." Those who have the virtue of the king and the merits of the world are also. Xiang Yu was called lonely to the south, benevolent and righteous, but self-respecting. Gao Zu knew what he was doing, inherited the softness, the economy was generous, and the pawn was victorious. (History of the Ming Dynasty)
Therefore, Liu Bang was able to defeat Xiang Yu, establish the Han Dynasty, create the foundation of the world, and become the han gaozu respected by the world, relying on his extremely far-sighted leadership ability, which Xiang Yu and many other princes did not have.
Resources:
Sima Qian, Chronicle of History
"Zizhi Tongjian" Sima Guang
History of the Ming Dynasty