In April 205 BC, a famous battle broke out between the Chu and Han Dynasties, the famous Battle of Pengcheng in history.
Xiang Yu's 30,000 Chu army defeated 560,000 Han troops in half a day with thunderous momentum, causing Liu Bang to suffer the biggest defeat since the beginning of the army. This battle has thus become a classic example of a quick decisive battle in ancient wars.
This battle crippled Liu Bang and made him afraid, causing him to lose his fighting spirit and confidence.
But Liu Bang knew that if he was shaken here, it would be devastating for the entire army, and the only way to organize the team would be to carry the revolution through to the end.
The post-war inventory gave him sudden confidence, why?
Because although the losses in this battle were heavy, fortunately, they were just some ordinary soldiers, and the main leaders around them, such as Zhang Liang, Lu Jia, and Li Shiqi, were all unscathed!
"Stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood, there is a backbone, I can set up a shelf again, there is a fire, I can burn a raging flame!" Liu Bang comforted himself in this way.
In this way, less than a month after the end of the Battle of Pengcheng, that is, in May 205 BC, Liu Bang retreated to the Xingyang line and collected the remnants everywhere.
At this time, Comrade Xiao He, Liu Bang's good logistics minister, showed his excellent logistical support ability, and he recruited a large number of soldiers in Guanzhong to replenish the front line in time; Han Xin, a famous general who was fighting in other places, also led his troops to meet with the King of Han.
After the Han army was rested and replenished, its strength basically returned to the past.
Liu Bang held Xingyang, took the food of Ao Cang, and confronted Xiang Yu, where the Chu and Han sides confronted each other for more than a year.
Xiang Yu launched an all-out offensive and cut off the Yongdao many times, causing a shortage of food and grass for the Han army. Liu Bang was forced to send someone to xiang Yu to ask for peace, asking him to cut the west of Xingyang into Han land, but the inevitable Xiang Yu did not resolutely disagree. This time, he was determined to completely destroy Liu Bang before he was willing to rest.
Always trapped like this, they can't break through, and after a long time, if they don't wait for the Chu army to attack, they will become hungry ghosts. Therefore, Liu Bang was very anxious, thinking hard about a good strategy for breaking through, and there was no way to do anything.
At this critical moment, the strategist Chen Ping came to Liu Bang's palace, and he gave Liu Bang a strange plan, that is, Li Daitao's plan.
After Liu Bang agreed, Chen Ping began to formally implement it.
He first wrote a letter of surrender, sent someone to send it to Xiang Yu, and agreed to go out of the East Gate early the next morning to surrender.
By the early morning of the next day, Xingyang City was crowded, and soon the east gate opened, and a group of more than 2,000 women came out of the city.
The Chu army had been ordered to prepare to take prisoners early in the morning. Therefore, as soon as the gate of Xingyang City opened, the Chu army saw that someone had come out and surrendered, so they waited patiently there with torches.
When they saw that it was not soldiers but a large number of women coming out of the city, they were surprised at first and were stunned.
After waiting for a while, after reacting suddenly, a large number of Chu troops began to fight like wolves into the flock.
The Chu troops at the South Gate and the North Gate and the West Gate, as soon as they saw that the East Gate was so chaotic when they were surrendered, they came to see the liveliness.
Taking advantage of the chaos in which the Chu army at the west gate rushed to the east gate, Liu Bang, under the protection of all the generals, quietly absconded from the west gate.
By the time all the women had left the city, the sky was already tingling.
Now, the real play is about to be played out.
But when he saw the Han King's motorcade slowly leaving the city, holding a yellow luo umbrella and carrying the king's flag, he shouted: There is no grain in the city, and the Han king has come out.
However, the soldiers saw a man lying on a dragon cart, and kept covering his face with his sleeve, and Chu Bing thought that this was the han king who felt embarrassed and deliberately covered his face.
That Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were so familiar that they could recognize the bones by picking his skin, and this fake Liu Bang could deceive the ordinary soldiers of the Chu Army, but he definitely could not deceive Xiang Yu.
When the dragon car was far away from the Chu army camp, Xiang Yu found that the person sitting on the car was not Liu Bang, but a stand-in who looked exactly like Liu Bang!
So Xiang Yu asked in a loud voice, "Who is the person who dared to pretend to be the King of Han?" ”
Only to see the person on the car standing tall, calmly replied: "I am the Great Han General Ji Xin." ”
At this time, Xiang Yu knew that he had been deceived again, but he still asked reluctantly, "Where is the King of Han?" ”
Ji Xin replied easily, "I have already left here!" ”
Hearing this reply, Xiang Yu was infected by Ji Xin's loyal and courageous spirit.
In fact, the people who are kings all have the same mind, who doesn't like loyal men? So Xiang Yu persuaded him to submit to himself.
He Cheng thought that this Ji Xin was determined to die and resolutely not surrender.
The lord Liu Bang had escaped, and now there was another die-hard element, and this time Xiang Yu was so angry that he ordered the Chu army to gather torches and burn the dragon car, and Ji Xin was thus turned into roast meat.
Ji Xin was dead, but Western Chu had wasted the power of the Nine Bulls and Two Tigers, and it was actually the result of besieging for such a long time, indicating that in the Chu-Han conflict, Xiang Yu was once again teased.
Later, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu in one fell swoop and established the Han Dynasty.
At the celebration meeting, in addition to rewarding the meritorious deeds of the living, Liu Bang also remembered the warriors who had made immortal meritorious contributions to the establishment of the Great Han, especially the heroic sacrifice of Ji Xin to get himself out of trouble.
Thinking of this, Liu Bang said to the Manchu Dynasty Minister of Culture and Military Affairs: "Ji Xin gong is of high moral character, without his heroic dedication, how can I have Liu Bang today?" I named him The Duke of The City, renamed his hometown my previous title, the King of Han, sent his ashes to his hometown for burial, and built a temple statue to enjoy incense forever. ”
Later, Liu Bang also ordered the construction of city god temples in various counties and towns across the country, so posterity called Ji Xin Temple "City God Temple" and Ji Xin statue "City God Lord". For Ji Xin's descendants, they were also given generous treatment.
If Ji Xin knew about it underground, he should also be satisfied, right? At least it was a matter of death.
Resources:
"History" Han Sima Qian
Zizhi Tongjian, Song Sima Guang
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