After Liu Bang won the world, he began to eliminate the heroes, and han Xin, Peng Yue, Yingbu and others were killed successively, these people were all the founding heroes of the Great Han, but in the end they all became the ghosts of Liu Bang's sword, in the process of Liu Bang eradicating the heroes, there was a person who was able to survive the difficulty, this person was Zhang Liang, so why did Liu Bang let Zhang Liang go?
Sima Qian's "History of Gao Zu Benji": "In the midst of the husband's planning and planning, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, and I am not as good as the sub-room." ”
Liu Bang later commented on Zhang Liang: "In the midst of strategizing, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, I am not as good as the sub-room", from which we can see Zhang Liang's amazing ability, he is good at making strange plans, many times let Liu Bang benefit from it, help Liu Bang from the trough to glory, is one of Liu Bang's most reliant ministers, so that Liu Bang is very trusting, even to the point of dependence. For example, Liu Bang led an army into Xianyang, and for a while he was blindfolded by the rich and noble, and wanted to stay in the palace and enjoy the glory, when Fan Duo urged Liu Bang, Liu Bang did not listen, and still stayed in the palace.
But this matter was known to Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang said to Liu Bang: "The King of Qin has done a lot of unjust things, so he will perish, and now that you have eradicated the scourge of the world, you should be clothed with vegetarian food and mainly frugal, and now that you have just led your army into Qin, you are indulging in a rich country. After Liu Bang listened, he instantly woke up, so he sealed the property of the Qin Palace, returned the army to hegemony, reorganized the army, and agreed on three chapters, which made the people of Qin very support Liu Bang.
Before the Feast at the Hongmen Gate, Zhang Liang knew that Liu Bang's life would be in danger when he went, so he secretly consulted with Liu Bang. When Liu Bang saw Xiang Yu, Liu Bang acted according to Zhang Liang's plan, explained the reason, explained his position, and made Xiang Yu's anger dissipate instantly. During the Feast at the Hongmen Gate, Fan Zeng always wanted to kill Liu Bang, and let Xiangzhuang Dance Sword take the opportunity to kill Liu Bang, Zhang Liang saw it in his eyes, so he let Xiang Bo and Fan Duo come to help, Xiang Bo Dancing Sword protected Liu Bang, and Fan Duo said that he was righteous and interceded for Liu Bang, and finally Xiang Yu let Liu Bang go, so Liu Bang escaped from danger.
Later, after Han Xin captured Qidi, he wrote to Liu Bang: "This place of the State of Qi is cunning and changeable, it is a capricious country, and it is adjacent to the State of Chu in the south, so that an acting king should be set up to rule, so that the Qi land will be stable, and I hope that I can act as the king of Qi, which will be beneficial to the situation." At that time, Liu Bang was besieged by Xiang Yu in Xingyang, the situation was very critical, after reading Han Xin's letter, Liu Bang was very angry, so he broke his mouth and scolded Han Xin.
After Zhang Liang knew this, he stepped on Liu Bang's feet with his feet and approached Liu Bang and said: "Now that the Han army is in an unfavorable situation, Han Xin wants to call himself king, let him defend himself, otherwise there may be a rebellion", Liu Bang suddenly realized after hearing this, so he sent Zhang Liang to establish Han Xin as the king of Qi, and recruited his troops to attack the Chu army, and it turned out that Zhang Liang did a very correct job, it was to stabilize Han Xin and use Han Xin's strength, Liu Bang was finally able to win the world.
Another time, the world had just been calmed down, and many generals were discussing together, and Liu Bang did not know why, so he asked Zhang Liang: "What are they saying there?" Zhang Liang said: "Discussing the matter of rebellion", Liu Bang was shocked after hearing this, so he asked: "Then what should I do?" Zhang Liang said, "Who do you usually hate the most?" Liu Bang said: "Hate the Yongya the most", Zhang Liang said: "It will be easy to do, you will immediately seal the Yongya, they see that the Yongya are all rewarded, naturally they are at ease", Liu Bang then immediately sealed the Yongya, the crowd of courtiers saw the situation, everyone was very happy, and they all commented: "Liu Bang has always hated the Yongya, and now even the Yongya has been rewarded, so we don't have to worry anymore." ”
There are many schemes like this, Liu Bang will ask Zhang Liang for advice whenever he encounters difficulties, which has led to a relationship of dependence, which makes Liu Bang inseparable from Zhang Liang, so Liu Bang has always regarded Zhang Liang as his confidant, trusted him, and never had the idea of killing him.
There is grace after Lu Hou
"History of the Liuhou Family": "The four of them are already finished with their birthdays and are going to go." Seeing it, Lady Zhao Qi instructed the four of them: "I want to be easy, and the four of them are supplemented, and the wings are already formed, and it is difficult to move." Lü Hou is really and masterful. ”
Lü Hou was already old and decayed in his old age, at this time Liu Bang was very fond of Lady Qi, and preferred Liu Ruyi, who was born with Lady Qi, liu Bang felt that Liu Ruyi was very similar to himself, so he changed the meaning of Prince Yi. Liu Bang's intentions let the ministers know, and the ministers opposed them one after another, but they did not change Liu Bang's intentions in the slightest. Lü Hou learned that his son Liu Ying would be deposed, so he was very anxious and had no countermeasures for a while. At this time, Lü Hou remembered a person, and this person was Zhang Liang.
When Zhang Liang heard about this, he said to Lü Hou, "It is difficult to protect the prince with his tongue", so he asked Lü Hou to ask Shangshan Sihao to assist the prince. Subsequently, Lü Hou tried his best to invite Shangshan Sihao, these four were already white-haired old men, but they were high in righteousness, high in reputation, and all of them had high moral character. These four old men followed the crown prince Liu Ying every day, which was particularly eye-catching. Soon Liu Bang knew, Liu Bang heard that it was Shangshan Sihao who assisted the crown prince, greatly surprised, because Liu Bang had invited them out of the mountain many times, but they failed to do so, but they were invited out by the prince, so Liu Bang felt that the crown prince Liu Ying was already full of wings and it was difficult to shake, so he dismissed the matter of changing the crown prince, and later Liu Bang died, and Liu Ying successfully inherited the throne.
This made Lü Hou very grateful to Zhang Liang, to know that Han Xin's death was related to Lü Hou, Peng Yue's death was also related to Lü Hou, Lü Hou had always played the role of a killer, but Zhang Liang was kind to Lü Hou because of the prince's affair, so Lü Hou spared Zhang Liang, in fact, this is Zhang Liang's cleverness, which made Lü Hou grateful and saved himself.
Know how to retire after success
Zhang Liang knew very well the principle of retiring after success, and at the beginning he assisted Liu Bang to appear as an "imperial master", and after Liu Bang calmed down the world, Zhang Liang gradually faded out of people's perspective, and even stopped asking about the affairs of the dynasty, but was bent on seeking the truth. This is just as it is said in the "Tao Te Ching": "Success and retreat, the way of heaven", Zhang Liang knew the truth of the destruction of the enemy country and the death of the courtiers, so he chose to retreat, also called the rapids of courageous retreat, and followed the red pine zi to travel around, while Han Xin, Yingbu and others did not understand this truth, and finally died.
In addition, in the process of assisting Liu Bang, Zhang Liang only contributed good plans and never mastered military power, so he was very reassured by Liu Bang and Lü Hou, and those generals who had military power would eventually be eliminated one by one. Zhang Liang was a strategist, and for Liu Bang, there was not so much of a threat, because even if a strategist rebelled, he could not set off any storms, which also enabled Zhang Liang to save himself.
"History of the Liuhou Family": "Hui Gao Emperor Beng, Lü Hou De Liu Hou Hou, Nai Yi Zhi, said: "In the life of a world, like a white colt crossing the gap, why should it be so painful to yourself!" "Stay and listen and eat."
In the end, Zhang Liang was weak and sickly, and finally believed in the art of breaking the valley, often not eating, and devoted himself to cultivation. After Lü Hou heard about it, he persuaded Zhang Liang: "Life is like a white colt crossing the gap, don't suffer yourself, or do you want to eat human fireworks", so Zhang Liang began to continue eating, in fact, Zhang Liang just used this to release a signal, this signal is that I don't even want to eat, where else do I have the strength to compete with you for the world? Of course, Lü Hou understood Zhang Liang's intentions, so she told Zhang Liang in code words: "You continue to eat human fireworks, we will not kill you."
References to the Chronicle of History