After Xiang Yu entered Guanzhong, he divided the Eighteen Princes, and as a result, less than a year later, the world was in chaos, and the crowd was once again in strife. After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu in the Battle of Xiaxia, he still successively divided eight princes with different surnames, although there were also rebellions, but these princes and the old nobles in the East did not set off much waves, liu Bang created and stabilized the Han Dynasty that lasted for hundreds of years. What is the difference between the two, and why is the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of the East, who have always had greater influence, so quiet?
Similar to God
Although it seems that Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were both decided by the First World War and then began to divide the world. Xiang Yu entered Guanzhong after the Battle of Julu and subsequently enfeoffed the Eighteenth Route Princes, while Liu Bang destroyed Xiang Yu, the king of Western Chu, in the next battle, and then called himself Emperor Jianhan. However, while becoming emperor, he still successively enfeoffed eight princes with different surnames. However, a careful analysis of the situation before and after their hegemony or emperorship, in fact, there are still big differences between the two.
Xiang Yu is the overlord, and Liu Bang is the emperor: this is not simply a difference in title, but a true embodiment of their strength. Xiang Yu led the combined forces of the princes into Guanzhong after the Battle of Julu, and although he was strong, he presided over the division of the world and was known as the King of Western Chu. But in essence, we can see him as the main force of the Chu state leading the combined forces of the princes to successfully attack Qin. Although the army in Xiang Yu's hands was called elite, it could not be said to have absolute superiority in terms of the number, strength, and territory of the army. His dominance was more dependent on the "wei" brought by the Battle of julu and the support of the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong. After the Battle of Liu Bang, we can see him as a weakened version of Qin Shi Huang's unification of the world, because Liu Bang's rapid rise has a lot to do with his occupation of Guanzhong and his successful inheritance of the "legacy" of the Qin state or Qin Dynasty. Therefore, some people called Liu Bang's Han army the "resurrected Qin army". Therefore, after Liu Bang fell, we can see him as the conquest of the remaining six kingdoms of Shandong led by the Qin state. Therefore, Liu Bang was able to claim the title of emperor and preside over the sub-fiefdom because he was completely called emperor by the strength he already had in his hands, or at least because the Qin state was invincible to the six states of Shandong before the unification of the Qin state.
Look at the comparison of the strength of the two in the key battle that determined the world: the Battle of the Giant Deer we may only remember Xiang Yu's broken cauldron and Gai Shi Wuyong, but we must not forget that in fact, Xiang Yu's troops at that time were not many, and we can see from the history books that there were many reinforcements from the princely countries at that time, and these armies later joined Xiang Yu's troops to organize a huge alliance of princes, but these people later either returned to their respective home countries or became princes. Xiang Yu's true strength actually did not have an absolute advantage, which could be seen from his later war with the State of Qi, and the other strong army against Qin at that time, Liu Bang's Han Army, was not directly controlled by Xiang Yu at all. On the other hand, although Liu Bang also had powerful princes such as Yingbu and Peng Yue in the Battle of Xiaxia, the most crucial help was han xin ,the king of Qi at that time (later the king of Chu and the marquis of Huaiyin), but we must not forget a key point, that is, Han Xin led not the Qi army nor the Chu army, but the real Han army. That is to say, the real boss behind this army is Liu Bang himself, so after the war, Liu Bang immediately relieved Han Xin of his military power and regained control of this army, and Han Xin had no ability to resist at all. It can be seen from this that the Han army led by Liu Bang himself and the Han army led by Han Xin were enough to crush the other princes.
The strength is not as good as before
Although the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong have been deeply rooted in the operation of the Warring States for hundreds of years, they cannot stand up to the fact that they have experienced many blows and reshuffles in just a few decades, and in essence, their strength is much lower than before.
The first blow: from 230 BC qin extinguished Han, to 221 BC Qin annihilated Qi. In the past ten years, the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong have suffered a huge blow, and they have to submit to the powerful Qin and Qin armies.
Second shuffle: After Qin Shi Huang unified the world, in addition to the famous policies of book tongwen, car same track and book burning pit Confucianism, there was also a forced relocation of 120,000 households of the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms to live in Xianyang. This was a reshuffle of Qin Shi Huang's efforts to crack down on the old aristocratic forces that had occupied the Six Kingdoms of Shandong for many years.
Second strike: In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang died, and the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong began to stir. The following year, The Chen Sheng-Wuguang Uprising provided an opportunity for these old aristocratic forces to make a comeback. So the local heroes and strong people began to raise the banner of anti-Qin, but before the qin dynasty perished, there was a hope to extinguish the uprising of these old aristocratic forces, because before the Battle of Julu, the situation in the Qin Dynasty had begun to improve, and the Qin army, under the leadership of Zhang Handan, once again attacked the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, but only later there was a Xiang Yu among the old nobles of the Chu state, and the Qin Dynasty collapsed.
The second shuffle: This time the shuffle is the division of the seal carried out by Xiang Yu. Although Xiang Yu was born into the old nobles of the Chu State, he lacked strategic vision in his division, and he shuffled the strength of the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong according to his personal likes and dislikes, and some of the old aristocratic forces were weakened in this shuffle.
The third blow: The focus of the Chu-Han War was although the confrontation between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. But don't forget that the Eighteenth Route princes and the old aristocratic forces of Shandong were almost all involved in this war that decided the ownership of the world, and Liu Bang also sent Han Xin as a partial division to open a second battlefield, striking at Wei, Zhao, Qi and other countries, and Han Xin's army once again dealt a heavy blow to the old aristocratic forces in Shandong.
By 202 BC, when Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, the old aristocratic forces in Shandong had undergone many blows and purges in just over twenty years, and in fact their strength was much worse than before, plus they had to face the Han army of Liu Bang, who inherited the "legacy" of the Qin state and was much stronger in absolute strength.
Liu Bang's strategy is more flexible and effective
Because Liu Bang already had a strong strength, and the strength of the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong was not as good as before, these old nobles naturally had to stop a lot. But Liu Bang, as an outstanding political figure, did not take it lightly, on the contrary, he and his successors have always attached great importance to how to control the Six Kingdoms of Shandong and to suppress and control the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong.
Steadily advancing the "cutting of the domain": Although many of the princes with different surnames who were divided by Liu Bang were already born reckless, it is undeniable that behind them there is still the shadow of the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong. Moreover, the existence of these princes with different surnames did make it difficult for Liu Bang to sleep and eat, so Liu Bang began to gradually carry out "cutting the domain" soon after he ascended the throne. These actions to eliminate the princes with different surnames essentially dealt another blow to the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong.
The princes with the same surname strengthened their control: Liu Bang, who was born in the grass, although he did not have many outstanding relatives who could be the princes who were on his own, Liu Bang still divided his brothers, sons and even the brothers of the same emperor to guard the six kingdoms of Shandong and prevent the resurgence of the old aristocratic forces. This can be seen from the historical record that he divided the eldest son Liu Fei into the King of Qi. Therefore, in the early han dynasty, these princes with the same surname did play a role in suppressing the old aristocratic forces and stabilizing the Han Dynasty.
The policy of succession was stable and continuous: although there were still some internal turmoil in the early Han Dynasty, since Liu Bang eliminated the princes with different surnames, there were basically no major wars in the Western Han Dynasty, until the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the early years of the Han Jing Emperor, but it was quickly quelled. The heirs after Liu Bang basically continued the national policy of "Huang Lao Wuwei" and "recuperation", so the domestic situation began to stabilize, and a stable and peaceful life was much more tempting for the people who were suffering from war at that time, so it was more difficult for the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong to mobilize the masses, which was tantamount to drawing salaries from the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong.
Moreover, starting from Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, to the migration of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to Maoling, the Western Han Dynasty has always attached great importance to the use of forced migration of powerful forces to suppress and combat the powerful forces, most of which are the remnants of the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, under the overall situation of stable society, these old aristocratic forces were gradually divided and disintegrated, and eventually lost the strength to compete with the central government.