All along, people have had different debates about Xiang Yu's choice at the last moment. Countless literati and inkers have always been very appreciative of Chu Bawang's tough performance when he was dying, like Li Qingzhao, who once "thought about Xiang Yu so far and refused to cross Jiangdong." Such a famous sentence. Xiang Yu refused to cross the river and die Mingzhi, which was in line with the death method of the tragic hero, but Xiang Yu's choice made him lose an opportunity.
According to the "Records of History", Wujiang Pavilion was waiting for the long boat, and the King of Xiang said: "Although Jiangdong is small, the place is thousands of miles, and there are hundreds of thousands of people. May the king hurry. Now there are ships in the only country, and the Han army has arrived, and there is no way to cross. Xiang Yu did not seize this opportunity, but he dispelled his previous thoughts, it was better to choose to die, it sounded very tragic, and he lost generously.
Xiang Yu and his uncle raised troops at the meeting and brought out thousands of Jiangdong disciples, but only he returned with some remnants of the soldiers, and he did not have the face to meet the people of Jiangdong, which refused to cross the river. So did Xiang Yu really refuse to cross the river because of this? This was not the case, first of all, if Xiang Yu didn't want to, there was no need to choose to break through.
The Siege of Xiaxia
Xiang Yu had suffered continuous betrayals from his subordinates at that time, and Xiang Bo had already defected to Liu Bang, and had also taken Han Xin and others on a small road to encircle the Chu army. What was even more unacceptable to Xiang Yu was that Zhou Yin, who he trusted the most, stabbed him in the back, and Zhou Yin changed the situation of the entire war. We see that at that time, Liu Bang's army was mainly three roads, Han Xin, Peng Yue and others came from the direction of Pengcheng, and Liu Bang advanced east from Guling to meet the Chu army head-on.
At this time, Xiang Yu still had a retreat, and Zhou Yin's Jiujiang, where he was located, was the southern part of the entire Chu army's retreat route, controlling the flank rear of the Chu army. If Zhou Yin did not betray, Xiang Yu's army would not be attacked on his stomach and back, he could completely arrange his army to cross the river and rely on geographical advantages to confront Liu Bang's main force north and south, and as a result, Zhou Yin and his former subordinates Yingbu and his former subordinates joined forces to go north to completely seal the Chu army's retreat route.
Xiang Yu's final arrangement
Xiang Yu's army still had more than 100,000 people, the Chu army could still fight for Xiang Yu to the death when there was no way to break through, Xiang Yu could often complete the counterattack in unfavorable situations, and when he fought in the Battle of julu, he used the method of breaking the cauldron to break the enemy. However, this time he met a master Han Xin, who did not fight directly with him, and designed an embattled design to completely disintegrate the fighting spirit of Xiang Yu's army.
According to the "Records of History", when he heard that the Han army was full of songs on all sides, Xiang Wang Nai was horrified: "Han has already obtained ChuHu? It is he Chu people also! "I think at this time Xiang Yu has realized that the war may not be won, he chose to break through with hundreds of his loyal cavalry, and the large army is still under the siege, which proves that Xiang Yu really wants to leave alive."
It seems that his choice is very stupid, let go of the large army in his hand, choose small troops to break through, in fact, he is very smart in doing so, Xiang Yu himself is good at cavalry combat. The Han army is mainly infantry, at this time he carries so many troops that have no will to fight, but will drag down his own actions, leaving them to contain the main force of the Han army, and he can break through the weak points of the Han army's defense with small troops like a sharp knife.
Wujiang killed himself
If you really think that Xiang Yu is a person who believes in the Destiny of Heaven, then it is really a big mistake, we see Xiang Yu's fame as the Battle of the Giant Deer. At that time, he had no command authority in the Chu army, and the Six Kingdoms army had long been feared by the Qin army, the Chu army was facing qin's most elite Great Wall Army, at this time, the heavens and places were favorable and people were not in the hands of the Chu army, Xiang Yu dared to kill people and seize power, and led the army to fight against the trend.
A person who truly believed in the Mandate of Heaven should be like Song Yi, like most of the princes who were watching at that time, but Xiang Yu was not. Therefore, he had never believed in the Mandate of Heaven, and besides, would he, a person who even dared to kill the King of Chu, still take the Mandate of Heaven so seriously? Wu Jiang killed himself, I think it is very likely that it was some glorification of Tai Shi Gong, and the real situation was that Xiang Yu had to kill himself at that time.
Xiang Yu's dying world situation
First of all, Liu Bang's army had already won some key victories in a row before the Battle of Xiaxia. Many people have always believed that Xiang Yu's foundation is Jiangdong, but this is not the case, the so-called Jiangdong, at that time, referred to the Wuyue region, which was not the base of Xiang Yu and his family.
Xiang Yu's family was sealed in xiang this place, which was the core area of their family, and Xiang was the Huaisi area, whether it was before the Xiang family or later the rise of Xiang Yu, his core ruling area was in Huaisi. The two of them ran to Huiji because Xiang Liang killed people and had to flee there, even though Jiangdong later belonged to the Western Chu State, but this was not Xiang Yu's base.
At that time, the Han army occupied Pengcheng, Jiujiang and other places, and the entire Huaisi area fell into the hands of the Han army. Xiang Yu had lost his base and wanted to regroup unless he could conjure up another Huaisi region later. The hearts of the army have been scattered, their own relatives have betrayed one after another, Liu Bang is constantly getting help from others, most of the country has fallen into the hands of the Han army, Western Chu is only one Jiangdong, Xiang Yu is really desperate.
If Xiang Yu crossed Jiangdong, I think the situation that would occur was that the Han army immediately marched into Jiangdong, and the army of Yingbu and others was stationed in the Jiujiang area and had already occupied the upper reaches, and Xiang Yu did not even have the possibility of crossing the river and defending. In fact, after Xiang Yu's death, Jiangdong did not make any resistance, indicating that their feelings for Xiang Yu were not deep, but Lucheng resisted the most resolutely, until Liu Bang took out Xiang Yu's head, and Lucheng gave up surrendering. This was originally Xiang Yu's fiefdom, and if Jiangdong could resist so resolutely after Xiang Yu's death, I think Xiang Yu still had some hope for crossing the river.
Although Sima Qian beautified his ending, Sima Qian himself was still very sober, and his comments in the "Records of History" were very in place: "After five years of death in his country, he died in Dongcheng, and he still did not feel embarrassed and did not blame himself. Wouldn't it be a fallacy to quote ' Heaven destroys me, not the sin of using soldiers'! Indeed, from the beginning of dominating the world, to being forced to kill himself by the river, Xiang Yu was still unable to take Liu Bang in his heyday, not to mention that he was cornered.
Xiang Yu himself should be very clear in his heart, there is nothing better than his chances to enter the pass and seal the world, he can lose, and he has lost so badly, what else is there to complain about? Anyway, it is all death, it is better to give yourself a pain, for him, but if there is a little hope, it will not kill himself.
References to the Chronicle of History