First, in the era of swords and soldiers in the late Qin and early Han dynasties, Fan Zeng's appearance was also very bizarre
Fan Zeng, seventy years old, su home, curious, xiang liang yue... —— "History. Xiang Yu Benji
A seventy-year-old man, who has been staying at home, especially likes to ponder the "strange plan", did not defect to others, directly fell in love with Xiang Liang, and directly presented Xiang Liang with a "strange plan": "The fundamental reason for Chen Sheng's failure lies in self-reliance, and there is no descendant of the Chu State, and the best way at this time is to establish the Descendants of the Chu State." Then Xiang Liang adopted this "strange plan" and established Xiong Xin as the King of Chu Huai.
Second, the estrangement between Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu is precisely because of this "miracle"
Fan Zeng's "strange plan" was the "name of submission" he dedicated to Xiang Liang, but it buried the "foreshadowing" of contradictions with Xiang Yu.
If Xiang Liang did not die, then Fan Zeng should have followed Xiang Liang with a dead heart. Whether it was Xiang Liang's appreciation for him, or his own not going to others, he only chose Xiang Liang's persistence. Unfortunately, Xiang Liang's early death made both him and Xiang Yu a little ill-prepared.
As soon as Xiang Liang died, King Huai of Chu began to seize power, took away Xiang Yu's military command, and instead placed both him and Fan Zeng under Song Yi's men, on the grounds that Song Yi had already seen that Xiang Liang was going to lose.
(Song Yi) "Soldiers see defeat before they fight"... Wang summoned Song Yi and ji zhi to make a big deal out of it, because he regarded himself as a general, Xiang Yu as a Duke of Lu, a second general, Fan Zeng as the last general, to save Zhao, and all the other generals belonged to Song Yi and were called the champion of Qingzi. - "Historia. Xiang Yu Benji
Whether this arrangement is for Song Yi or For Xiang Yu or Fan Zeng, it is a very strange arrangement, and there can only be two kinds of results, either Song Yi is cruel enough to find an excuse to kill Xiang Yu, or Xiang Yu resists and kills Song Yi, and the result is of course that Xiang Yu wins. However, at the same time, we can also see that Fan Zeng's position at this time is the "last general", not the "strategist" we think of, and the power is completely incomparable. Therefore, after Xiang Yu seized power, he would not arrange too low for Fan Zeng.
Third, the relationship between Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng broke down
Xiang Yu called Fan Zeng "Ya Father", which should have been Xiang Liang's arrangement before his death, so although Xiang Yu was not satisfied with Fan Zeng, he still respected him.
Why is it that Xiang Yu is not satisfied with Fan Zeng?
After the Battle of Xiangyu Julu, his reputation rose, and those princes who had disobeyed him at first and watched around the Zhao State all obeyed at least superficially. Xiang Yu took them into the pass, "squeezed" Liu Bang away, elected Xiong Xin as the righteous emperor, and then established himself as the king of the West and divided the princes. After doing all this, Xiang Yu unexpectedly "invited" Emperor Yi to go to Chenxian County to be his emperor, and ordered King Yingbu of Jiujiang and others to assassinate Emperor Yi.
Xiong Xin was able to become the King of Chuhuai and the Emperor of Yi, all by relying on the Xiang family, and now the representative of the Xiang family, Xiang Yu, directly wanted his life, which could not but be said to be Xiang Yu's one-time overthrow of the xiang family's basic strategy for several years. Come to think of it, the move to kill Emperor Yi would not be Xiang Yu's whim, but what he had always thought in his heart, but the time was not ripe.
Fan Zeng, as the recommender, would definitely not have less opposition at this time, even if he took ten thousand steps back, Fan Zeng did not find an opinion, he should also be able to see Xiang Yu's attitude towards him.
Later, there was Chen Ping's "divisive plan", plus Xiang Yu began to take away Fan Zeng's power little by little, and Fan Zeng would be ashamed of his title as the first strategist of Western Chu if he did not leave.
Therefore, Fan Zeng followed Xiang Liang to explain that his vision was good, and following Xiang Yu was only a continuation of Xiang Yu's strength, and leaving Xiang Yu was actually doomed from the time Xiang Liang died, and the root cause was precisely the "strange plan" when he first appeared in front of Xiang Liang.