If the Three Kingdoms is the stage of the crowd, then the beginning of the Han Dynasty is the battlefield of Han Xin alone, in the face of the powerful Xiang Yu, Han Xin, without being favored by others, forced Xiang Yu to kill himself, ending the Chu-Han rivalry and helping Liu Bang establish a powerful Han Dynasty.
However, such a Han Xin, but in the "Records of History", was left far behind by Xiao He and Zhang Liang, who were also the three masters of the Han Dynasty, in Sima Qian's record, Xiao He and Zhang Liang were placed in the ranks of the "family", why did Sima Qian have such an arrangement, was Han Xin really inferior to the other two?
Classification of the Chronicle of History
As a work that Sima Qian devoted his life to, the "Shi Ji" represents Sima Qian's persistence, although in later generations, the "Shi Ji" has also been questioned many times, but Sima Qian's seriousness about this book is beyond doubt.
In order to better record, Sima Qian divided the history into the Benji, Shijia, Liechuan, and Ten Tables and Eight Books, which recorded the lives of the emperors, including the pre-Qin period and the Qin and Han dynasties, while the Shijia was about the princes who were slightly inferior to the emperors, and each family was a big figure who could influence the entire Central Plains.
In the biography, the stories of some generals and courtiers are recorded, the most famous of which is the "Lian Po Lin Xiang Ru Lie Biography", Bai Qi, the head of the Warring States generals, and Han Xin, who helped Liu Bang establish the Han Dynasty, are recorded in the column biography, perhaps according to Sima Qian's classification, which is reasonable, but it has also been questioned by many people, especially Han Xin.
As one of the three masters of the early Han Dynasty, Han Xin's merits were naturally higher than Xiao He and Zhang Liang, before Han Xin arrived, it was only a matter of time before Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang, and Liu Bang was never put in Xiang Yu's heart, but Han Xin's arrival changed all this, although it proved that against the enemy, Han Xin may not be Xiang Yu's opponent, but when it comes to using soldiers, no one in that era was Han Xin's opponent.
Under Liu Bang's unconditional authorization, Han Xin only took a short time to defeat the overlord Xiang Yu, and finally forced Xiang Yu to commit suicide. Many people said that Xiang Yu could return to Jiangdong and organize a comeback, but Xiang Yu understood that Han Xin would not give him this opportunity, even if Xiang Yu had enough time, Han Xin wanted to defeat him very easily.
So Xiang Yu simply used his own death to end all this, by the way under Han Xin's knife to protect Jiangdong's father and fellow countrymen, from the battle record, Han Xin defeated Xiang Yu, but in the end Xiang Yu entered the benji, Han Xin can only enter the column, is Han Xin really so different from Xiang Yu?
Misconceptions
Many people will distinguish the classification of the "History", of which the Benji is the highest rank, followed by the family and the liechuan, which are lower than the first level, but in fact, Sima Qian's classification method is not according to the level, but according to the power or fame.
The first is the Benji, which represents the emperor, that is, the king of a country, no matter what the ability, as long as it is an emperor, it will be classified into the Benji, although Xiang Yu did not complete the unification of the Central Plains, but Xiang Yu had already been called king as early as the Chu-Han rivalry period.
Moreover, behind Xiang Yu, there is not only a huge force, he himself is also an aristocratic family of the Chu State during the Warring States period, and he is a proper member of the royal family, and there is no problem in entering this era.
On the side of the family, it refers specifically to those who have not become emperors, but still have a huge power, which can be seen from Sima Qian's inclusion of Confucius in the family, Confucius is not a royal family, just a commoner, whether it is his power or influence, can be comparable to a prince, if Confucius wants to be king, according to the conditions at that time can also be achieved.
Finally, there is the liechuan, most of the powerful individuals contained in the liechuan, they have no aristocratic blood, and there is no huge family support behind them, completely relying on their own deeds to leave their names in the history of Qingshi, of which Bai Qi, Lü Buwei, etc. are prominently listed, so it is also possible to put Han Xin in the column biography.
However, Sima Qian's classification method was also opposed by many people, who put forward various hypotheses, but only one thing was the evidence that Han Xin was put into the biography.
The end of Han Xin
First of all, the first hypothesis is that Han Xin eventually failed and was killed by Liu Bang, so he could not enter the family, but this statement is obviously untenable, if the hero is based on success or failure, Xiang Yu in this era eventually committed suicide, and Chen Shi in the family did not achieve his goal, so Sima Qian was not distinguished by the final result.
Secondly, some people feel that Han Xin was killed by Liu Bang for various reasons, and eventually became a sinner of the Han Dynasty, so he was abandoned by Sima Qian, which is even less credible, and Sima Qian's own attitude towards the "History" is very serious.
His records in the historical records are not only true, but also very dare to tell the truth, because of this attitude, Sima Qian was sentenced to "palace punishment" by Emperor Wu of Han, but still did not change Sima Qian's pen, so how Sima Qian wrote Han Letters would not be influenced by others.
So why Sima Qian was put into the column biography by Han Xin, there is only one theory that is the most reliable, after Han Xin was killed, his family was punished by the annihilation of the Nine Tribes, and the family basically survived in the form of a family, so Han Xin was put into the column biography.
However, there is no need to have too many objections to Sima Qian's arrangement, although it seems that the column biography is not as good as the family and the benji, but the people who can be put into the column biography by Sima Qian are also well-known big figures, among which the merits of Guan Zhong, Shang Martin and others are not worse than Han Xin, especially Shang Martin.
Han Xin changed at most one country, and Shang Martin changed seven countries, and han Xin was able to be in the same echelon as Shang Martin, and Han Xin was also worth the trip.
Sima Qian is also an ordinary person, he must have his own prejudices and ideas when writing this history, he did not put Han Xin into the family, there is also a speculation, that is, the last thing Han Xin did in his life, he chose to rebel when the Han Dynasty was stable, just from this point of view, Han Xin can only enter the column at most.
In contrast, the arrangement between Zhang Liang and Xiao He is much more reasonable, Zhang Liang's family is very large, "five generations of Han", and Zhang Liang himself is also an imperial master, the entire Han Dynasty can be established, inseparable from Han Xin, but also inseparable from Zhang Liang, so Zhang Liang's entry into the world sequence is reasonable.
As for Xiao He, as the introducer of Han Xin, Xiao He's contribution to Liu Bang was indispensable, and this person who had been an official during the Qin Period not only had a huge family power, but also a strong personal influence.
Xiao He not only introduced Han Xin for Liu Bang, but also introduced countless wenchen and Han Xin, if there was no introduction and one redemption from Xiao He, Han Xin could only be a squad leader in this life, and from the perspective of contribution, Xiao He had no problem entering the family.
As a military general, Han Xin contributed to the establishment of the Han Dynasty, but even if the merit is high, it is only a military general, such as Bai Qi, who can recover the Six Kingdoms, but also has the foundation of the Qin State before he has the space to play, so Han Xin is listed in the biography, and there is no need for too much controversy.