In 206 BC, Liu Bang had already cultivated enough strength in shu to wait for work, while at this time, the princes outside Sichuan were in a situation of mutual conquest for many years, and their strength was greatly reduced, and even Xiang Yu's strength was not weakened a lot. Liu Bang felt that the time was ripe, so he sent Han Xinming to repair the darkness of the boardwalk. The Han army left Hanzhong in the east, preparing to chase the deer in the Central Plains and officially compete with Xiang Yu for the world. Liu Bang appointed the military god Han Xin to lead the army, and soon pacified the land of the Three Qins. At this time, Xiang Yu was deeply trapped in the State of Qi, unable to withdraw from the defense.
Liu Bang took advantage of xiang Yu's deep trapping in the State of Qi, the rear empty, unable to withdraw. Not only that, but Liu Bang also once again exerted the appeal of his image as an old and good man, stating to the princes of Tianzi that Xiang Yu had committed the crime of killing the Righteous Emperor Chu Huai and usurping the throne of Chu against the Dao. Liu Bang held high the banner of xiang yu, the unrighteous minister, and used this as an excuse to call on the princes to lead an army against Xiang Yu with him to avenge the righteous emperor Chu Huai. The princes of the world responded one after another, and the total strength of the combined forces of the princes was once as high as 560,000.
Unfortunately, although the combined forces of the princes were nearly 600,000 people, they suffered a major defeat as soon as they left the division. Xiang Yu hurriedly gathered 30,000 men and horses, and directly with these 30,000 troops, broke into the camp of the combined forces of the princes, just like the gods under the gods, and fought a big victory when the disadvantage of troops was at a great disadvantage. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands drowned. The invincible Liu Bang only led dozens of horses to escape. After this battle, the princes of the world were directly frightened, and the anti-Chu alliance led by Han collapsed.
Then, Liu Bang had nearly 600,000 troops, so why was he hanged and beaten by Xiang Yu's 30,000 troops?
The first reason was the gap between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in military level. Since the great cause of resisting Qin, Liu Bang has shown a strong strategic layout ability. However, this powerful strategic layout ability also covered up another fatal gap between him and Xiang Yu: the ability to command troops. As the two leaders who fought out from the sword light and blood shadow after the outbreak of the peasant war at the end of Qin, Xiang Yu's military command level has always been famous in the world. Whether it is pre-war mobilization or on-the-spot command, or strategic and tactical application, it has reached the level of pure fire. In contrast, Liu Bang was far behind, himself a halfway monk, and until the Battle of Pengcheng, most of the battles Liu Bang fought were downwind battles.
Compared with the gap in on-the-spot command ability, the second reason is the gap between the two men's respective military teams.
Although Liu Bang gathered 560,000 people, most of them were not his own concubines, and in the description of the "Records of History", he said that he "had to rob the five princes' soldiers", and on the march, he also collected 30,000 people from Peng Yue to see the vastness of the procession. However, these "princes" who followed the mixture were all wall grass at that time, looking like a rainbow, but in fact, they were like a grass platform team, encountering a hard fist, and falling down as soon as they smashed it. And Xiang Yu is precisely this "fist". His 30,000 elite soldiers are all veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles, and with the old family being eaten, their families have suffered from worries, and they have long been on fire in their hearts. Moreover, Xiang Yu, who was proficient in strange tactics, did not rush to Pengcheng Jiancheng head-on, but instead went around to the west side of Pengcheng and suddenly attacked to the east, which was equivalent to the hardest fist, and one blow smashed into the soft ribs of Liu Bang's army.
Another reason for this is that before the Pengcheng War, it was also the time when Liu Bang "let go of himself" too much. This "release of the self" is also Liu Bang's old problem, after occupying Xianyang that year, he "let go" a pass, ate, drank and had fun all day, fortunately, he was woken up by Zhang Liangfan's scolding, and only then did he have the beautiful talk of "three chapters of the law". After occupying Pengcheng, Liu Bang "released" another pass, "receiving its goods treasure beauty, and placing wine on the day." It is equivalent to hundreds of thousands of people collectively eating, drinking and having fun, and the battle that is not easy to fight has become impossible to fight, and it has finally ended in a fiasco.
And compared with the lessons of this, what is more thought-provoking is the follow-up of the war: with Xiang Yu who overturned the plate with a blow against the sky, the next old problem was still unchanged, and liu Bang was still caught punching randomly. However, Liu Bang, who then suffered a lot of defeats, still continued his strategic deployment of superiority, and finally made up for the big defeat and loss on the battlefield with the strategic choice of step by step, and finally gave Xiang Yu a fatal blow under the attack, and staged the miracle of "repeatedly losing to Xiang Yu but winning the world".