When chu and Han fought, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought for four years, which finally ended in Liu Bang's victory. Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu, unified China, and established the glorious Han Dynasty. Xiang Yu, on the other hand, killed himself in Wujiang and ended up in a tragic end.
In this war, the commanders of the two sides were Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. However, in the mouths of people in later generations, the god of war that was praised was Han Xin. Why? This was because it was Han Xin's outstanding military ability that caused Liu Bang's superiority and Han Xin's excellent command, which made Xiang Yu's victorious army end up in a defeat. Without Han Xin, Liu Bang would not have been able to defeat Xiang Yu at all. There is no military victory, and all other efforts are futile.
As far as Liu Bang's personal military ability is concerned, he has a certain military talent. However, according to the ranking of military commanders at that time, he should be at the midstream level of first-class generals. In Han Xin's evaluation, Liu Bang's ability to lead troops is also 100,000 people. Of course, this sentence has a ridiculous meaning. However, Liu Bang's military ability really could not be considered too high.
Judging from Liu Bang's military career, the battles that Liu Bang commanded in his lifetime won more and lost less. He led his army west into Guanzhong, defeating countless Qin troops along the way. It can be said that the attack is invincible, and it has been breaking the Wuguan and occupying Xianyang. In the war with Xiang Yu, he had to face Xiang Yu's main force. Although he was repeatedly beaten very badly by Xiang Yu, he still held on to the frontal defense line, so that Xiang Yu could not cross the step of Chenggao, creating conditions for Han Xin's great roundabout battle.
As long as he did not face Xiang Yu, Liu Bang's men against Xiang Yu were generally able to gain the upper hand. When Xiang Yu attacked Liang, Liu Bang broke the Chu army in front of Gao, causing the Chu army to suffer a serious defeat. Later, when Yingbu rebelled, he also expected that Liu Bang would not personally bring troops to come, so he had no fear. As a result, Liu Bang personally led his troops to quell the rebellion, defeating and annihilating Yingbu, the strongest general under Xiang Yu.
From Liu Bang's military career above, we can see that Liu Bang is also a person with great military talent. However, in sun tzu's Art of War, "The so-called good warriors of the ancients are better than those who are easy to win." Therefore, the victory of the good warrior is also without wisdom and courage, so his victory is not." That is to say, there is nothing remarkable about being able to win a battle, because it is someone weaker than him who is defeated.
Liu Bang is like this. At least two people were beyond Liu Bang's control. One is Xiang Yu and the other is Zhang Handan. When dividing up the princes, Xiang Yu, in order to avoid Liu Bang's troubles, pretended that Bashu was also the land of Guanzhong, and sealed Liu Bang to the land of Bashu, where prisoners were exiled by the Qin Dynasty at that time. Although Liu Bang was dissatisfied in his heart, under Xiang Yu's high pressure, he had to obey his fate.
After arriving at the fiefdom, Liu Bang wanted to attack the north. However, Xiang Yu had already made preparations in advance. He sealed the three Qin generals who surrendered to him and entered the customs with him, blocking Liu Bang's northward passage. These three men were Zhang Handan the Yong King, Sima Xin the King of Sai, and Dong Fei the King of Zhai. Of these three people, especially Zhang Handan, liu Bang could not deal with.
Liu Bang had to honestly stay in Bashu, watching his men flee more and more in vain. Later, we can see that although Han Xin said that the Qin people hated these three kings to the bone, they still used the power of nine bulls and two tigers in order to take down the ruined hill of Zhang Handan. So much so that Because Han Xin personally commanded the siege of The Ruins Hill, Liu Bang had to personally command an army of 560,000 to attack Pengcheng. At the Battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang's army was defeated by Xiang Yu's 30,000 iron horses and suffered unprecedented losses.
It can be seen that Zhang Handan is not such an enemy that Han Xin said to be so easy to deal with in order to forgive Liu Bang's heart. As long as Zhang Handan was there, Liu Bang would not be able to enter Guanzhong in the north.
Let's talk about Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu's military ability was well known to be stronger than Liu Bang's. The defeats fought by Liu Bang were basically defeated by Xiang Yu's men. In the Battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang's 560,000 troops were defeated by Xiang Yu's 30,000 cavalrymen, losing hundreds of thousands, and even his father and wife were captured by Xiang Yu, and he himself was in danger of being killed. On the Chenggao front, Liu Bang was repeatedly forced into a desperate situation by Xiang Yu, and only relied on scheming to escape.
At the last moment, Xiang Yu led the Chu army to retreat, and Liu Bang led the Han army to pursue. In the Battle of Guling, Xiang Yu led the Chu army to defeat Liu Bang with fewer attacks. Even in a difficult situation, Liu Bang was not Xiang Yu's opponent.
The addition of Han Xin just made up for the shortcomings of Liu Bang's camp. In the words of Liu Bang, "Even an army of a million will win the battle and attack it, and I am not as good as Han Xin." Here, Liu Bang said very pertinently the gap between himself and Han Xin.
After Han Xin was worshipped by Liu Bang as a general, he first adopted the strategy of Darkening Chen Cang of the Ming Cultivation Trail, easily defeated Zhang Handan, and captured Guanzhong. After the Battle of Pengcheng, it was Han Xin who rushed to the chenggao front, breaking the pursuit of the Chu state and stabilizing the war.
After the rebellion of the Wei king Leopard, it was Han Xin who used a wooden poppy to cross the river and destroyed the State of Wei. Next, Han Xin and Liu Bang made a plan to attract Xiang Yu's main force with Liu Bang on the front, and Han Xin marched north to adopt a strategy of great encirclement of Xiang Yu's flank.
Han Xin first conquered the Daiguo, and then in the Battle of Jingxing, he took the backwater array, and in one day, he eliminated the main force of the Zhao army and destroyed the Zhao state. Through intimidation, he subdued the Yan Kingdom. Through the attack, the State of Qi was broken. In the Battle of Weishui, he adopted the tactic of half-crossing attack, eliminated Xiang Yu's strongest general Long Ji, and eliminated the 200,000 allied troops of Chu Qi led by him. At this point, the defeat of the Chu state has been revealed.
During the final decisive battle of the Chu-Han War, Han Xin, who was recruited by Liu Bang, who knew that he was not Xiang Yu's opponent, personally commanded the final decisive battle. Facing the Chu army led by Xiang Yu, Han Xin adopted the tactic of thickly gathering the center and encircling the two wings in response to Xiang Yu's central breakthrough tactics, and finally defeated Xiang Yu in one fell swoop.
After Xiang Yu's defeat, Han Xin adopted a heavy siege and used embattled tactics to attack the heart, causing the Chu army to lose confidence. Faced with a desperate situation, Xiang Yu was forced to break through the siege and kill himself on the Wujiang River, ending the protracted Chu-Han War.
We can see that in the war, the enemy that Liu Bang could not oppose was easily defeated under the command of Han Xin. Because of Han Xin's struggle in the north, Liu Bang was able to rely on the resources of the north to strengthen his strength. It was also Han Xin's struggle that caused Xiang Yu to fall into the strategic encirclement of the Han Dynasty and finally collapse.
Therefore, without Han Xin, although Liu Bang may also defeat Xiang Yu, he will pay a greater price. The people at that time would have suffered more. And Han Xin's amazing campaign command also opened up a precedent for military art. This is also Han Xin's contribution to China's military, and it is only natural that he was praised by posterity.
However, although Han Xin's military ability was very strong, his political ability was extremely poor. In the subsequent political struggle, Han Xin was defeated. He became the first hero in Liu Bang's clique to be killed by Lü Hou, which is also a reason why posterity sympathized with him.