During the Chu and Han dynasties, Liu Bang had three powerful assistants under him, namely Xiao He, the genius of governing the country, Han Xin, a military genius, and Zhang Liang, a great strategist, known in history as "the three masters of the early Han Dynasty", Liu Bang himself once said that he was not as good as Han Xin, he was not as good as Xiao He in governing the country and an unstable state, and in the midst of planning, he was not as good as Zhang Liang, and he was able to defeat Xiang Yu and seize the world because of the three masters of the han dynasty.
However, among these three heroes, Han Xin was exterminated, Xiao He was arrested and imprisoned, only Zhang Liangshan began and ended well, Liu Bang has always trusted him, and he called him a sub-room. The reason why Zhang Liang was able to die well was because he saw through Liu Bang and chose to stay outside the fame and fortune, Zhang Liang believed that he had no power in his hands, did not do things, would not do wrong things, and would not attract the suspicion of the leaders, so in the Number one founding hero of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Liang had a good ending, so what Liu Bang did, let Zhang Liang chill his heart, he was willing to take a back seat, willing to be an "emperor guest", unwilling to be an "emperor teacher".
(1) There were so many rebel armies at the end of Qin, why did Zhang Liang choose to follow Liu Bang?
Zhang Liang was a Korean nobleman in the Warring States period, his grandfather and father had assisted five Korean monarchs, the family was powerful, Zhang Liang could have lived a life of pampering, but when he was born, Korea had gradually declined and was on the verge of extinction, and when he grew up, Korea had perished.
After the fall of Korea, the status of the Zhang family plummeted, Zhang Liang had the hatred of the country and the death of the family, in order to avenge the hatred, he sold all the family property, hired a Hercules to assassinate Qin Shi Huang, but ended in failure, for which Zhang Liang became a wanted criminal of the Qin State, he fled to Xia Pi to live in anonymity, during the period of seclusion, Zhang Liang mainly studied the "Taigong Art of War".
After ten years of living in Xia Pi, Zhang Liang ushered in the first turning point in his life, that is, the uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guangzexiang, and the outbreak of the peasant uprising at the end of Qin, giving the qin dynasty wanted criminals the opportunity to turn around, and they could take this opportunity to change their identities. Therefore, Zhang Liang also gathered more than a hundred people to prepare to defect to the Chu false King Jingju, and on the way he happened to meet Liu Bang, and the two of them saw each other and talked happily. Zhang Liang talked to Liu Bang several times about the art of war, although Liu Bang did not read much, but his understanding was very high, before Zhang Liang finished speaking, he could understand the mysteries in it, in addition, Liu Bang could also adopt Zhang Liang's strategy, Liu Bang's obedience and sensitivity to the art of war made Zhang Liang quite appreciative, Zhang Liang also tried to explain the art of war to others, and others knew nothing.
So Zhang Liang gave up on Jing ju and decided to follow Liu Bang, so what did Liu Bang do to make Zhang Liang change his opinion of him?
(2) Liu Bang twice withdrew Han Xin's elite soldiers, and Zhang Liang saw the hints inside
After Liu Bang's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Pengcheng, the northern princely states continued to rebel against Han, Liu Bang sent Han Xin north to quell the rebellion, and he himself retreated to Xingyang, Han Xin can be said to have made a good career in the north, annihilating the Wei state with a weak victory and a strong victory, and thus starting his road of famous generals.
Liu Bang's life in Xingyang was not so good, he was beaten by Xiang Yu in Xingyang and secretly fled back to Guanzhong, under the advice of Yuansheng, Liu Bang decided to change his strategy, let Han Xin destroy the Zhao state in the north, and personally led his army to the southern Wandi, with the purpose of lengthening Xiang Yu's defensive line.
Liu Bang followed the plan, in addition to which he also sent people to take away Han Xin's elite soldiers, leaving Han Xin thirty thousand old and weak to let him destroy Zhao, liu Bang did this mainly to weaken Han Xin's strength and prevent him from becoming stronger and bigger.
Han Xin led 30,000 old and weak to defeat Zhao Guo's 200,000 troops, shocking Liu Bang and his party, they did not expect Han Xin to be so powerful, so Liu Bang and his special driver Xiahou Bao secretly ran to Han Xin's military camp, once again sucked away Han Xin's elite soldiers, leaving Han Xin some old and weak to let him destroy Qi.
Liu Bang used Han Xin to always use border defense, with Zhang Liang's wisdom, he saw it in his eyes and hid it in his heart.
After Han Xin destroyed Qi, he asked Liu Bang to make him a false king of Qi, which made Liu Bang very angry, Han Xin did not understand the unspoken rules of the officialdom, but Zhang Liang was different, he knew that Liu Bang wanted to be emperor, follow the old path of Qin Shi Huang, and in the centralized system of power, subordinate officials could not ask for the seal, but could only wait for the leader to take the initiative to reward the title.
(3) Liu Bang created Han Xin the King of Chu and completely took away his military power
After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, he immediately ran to Han Xin's military camp, seized Han Xin's military power, and enfeoffed Han Xin as the King of Chu and built the capital xia Pi, Liu Bang's reason was that Han Xin was a Chu national, and wouldn't it be possible to return to his hometown when he became the King of Chu? In fact, Liu Bang's psychological calculation is clear to everyone, the main reason is because Qi Di is too important.
Tian Ken once proposed to Liu Bang that for the Han Dynasty, there are two pieces of land that are very important, one is Guanzhong, the other is the State of Qi, Guanzhong is known as the "Land of One Hundred and Two", and the State of Qi is the "Land of the Twelve", which means that if the enemy attacks Guanzhong with a hundred people, Guanzhong only needs to send 2 people to resist, and the Two people of the State of Qi can resist the attack of 12 people, the State of Qi is so important, Liu Bang naturally will not give this piece of fat land to Han Xin, let alone let him be the King of Qi.
After Han Xin moved to the throne of Chu, wasn't the State of Qi leaderless? Liu Bang made his eldest son Liu Fei the King of Qi, and Liu Fei had no experience in governing the country or made military merits, and was able to confer the title of King of Qi entirely because he was Liu Bang's son.
Liu Bang's original principle of dividing the seals was "to seal the king because of merit", and it can be seen from his division of the princes surnamed Liu that Liu Bang's principle of dividing the seals has changed, and this change began with the rebellion of Zang Di, the king of Yan.
(4) Zang Di, the King of Yan, rebelled
Zang Di was originally a general under Han Guang, the King of Yan, and when Xiang Yu was divided into 18 princes, he drove the old Yan king Han Guang to the remote Liaodong region to become the king of Liaodong, and Zang Di was divided into rich Yan lands and became the king of Yan.
The old Yan king Han Guang was not convinced, unwilling to free up the land to the new Yan king, so the two fought, Han Guang could not defeat Zang Di, the soldiers were defeated and killed, and Zang Di occupied Liaodong and Yandi.
During Han Xin's Northern Expedition, Zang Di, the King of Yan, considered himself not to be Han Xin's opponent, so he surrendered to the Han army. After Liu Bang ascended the throne and became emperor, he did not attack Zang Di, and the reason for Zang Di's rebellion was because he was afraid, why was he afraid?
After the defeat of Xiang Yu's army, Liu Bang offered a reward of thousands of dollars to capture Xiang Yu's old department, Zang Di thought that those who were not in Liu Bang's camp could not escape death, and he was no exception, so he rebelled against Han, and after Liu Bang pacified Yandi, he sealed Lu Xie as the King of Yan, so who was Lu Xie?
The relationship between Lu Xie and Liu Bang is extraordinary, not Liu Bang's ordinary hometown, Lu Xie and Liu Bang have known each other since childhood, grown up together, not only are they small or classmates, they have been reading and playing together since childhood, they are very good iron brothers, and Liu and Lu are family friends, how good is their relationship, Liu Bang's bedroom is only Lu Xie and Liu Jiao, liu jiao is Liu Bang's dearest little brother, it can be seen that Lu Xie's status in Liu Bang's mind, so many confidential documents in his room, Lu Xie can come and go at will, Closer than brothers.
In the Chu-Han War, Lu Xie did not make any great contributions, his merits were mediocre, Lu Xie did one thing, after Xiang Yu's soldiers were defeated, the Linjiang King Gongwei swore not to rebel against Chu, because his father was Xiang Yufeng, Liu Bang sent Lu Xian to lead the army to surround the feudal areas of the Communist Lieutenants, and the Gong Lieutenants surrendered without a fight, which was the only military merit that Lu Xie had made since Liu Bang's army, and this merit could not be compared with Han Xin, Cao Shan, and others.
During the Chu and Han dynasties, there were two policies of dividing the titles, one was to be crowned kings because of merit, and the other was to be crowned kings because of pro-family, and Lu Xie and Liu Fei were completely sealed because of their relatives. It can be seen that Liu Bang's policy of dividing the fiefs has changed, and his purpose is to want the family world and share the world with his relatives, not to be a hero.
Zhang Liangzhi was superior, and he had long seen that Liu Bang wanted to eradicate the heart of the princes with different surnames, so after Liu Bang fixed the capital chang'an, he used the excuse that his health was not good, and he wanted to practice Qigong behind closed doors and exercise his body.
When Liu Bang sealed him with 30,000 households, he also resigned, as long as he knew Liu Bang in Pei County, ten thousand households, he told Liu Bang that his enemy Qin Guo had perished, his long-cherished wish had been fulfilled, he wanted to travel in all directions, at first Liu Bang was reluctant to let Zhang Liang go, but he still allowed it, this is Zhang Liang's strategy to protect himself.
References: "History", "Book of Han", etc