The last famous general at the end of Qin, Zhang Handan, betrayed the Qin Dynasty and surrendered to Xiang Yu, but after being defeated by the Han army led by Han Xin in the "Chu-Han War", he did not surrender to Liu Bang, but chose to commit suicide.
Since they had surrendered, they would not care about surrendering again, and the other two Guanzhong kings, Sima Xin and Dong Feng, who had the same name as him, surrendered to Liu Bang, why did Zhang Handan resolutely commit suicide?
First, let's take a look at the historical background of Zhang Handan's surrender to Xiang Yu and the suicide of soldiers, Zhang Handan was the only general who could pose a threat to anti-Qin forces before the fall of the Qin Dynasty.
When the Qin Dynasty was about to collapse, he became the biggest obstacle to the anti-Qin forces from entering Guanzhong (when the Chu army divided into Guanzhong, he stopped in front of Xiang Yu's way).
Although Xiang Yu defeated the Qin army led by Zhang Handan many times, it would take more time to completely eliminate them, and in order to enter Guanzhong before Liu Bang and take revenge on the Qin Dynasty, he decided to shake hands with Zhang Handan and make peace.
Zhang Handan, under the persuasion of Chen Yu, intended to join the anti-Qin alliance. In the third year of Qin II (207 BC), Zhang Handan surrendered to Xiang Yu, of course, nominally an alliance between the two sides, as recorded in the History of Xiang Yu Benji:
Zhang Handan made people see Xiang Yu and wanted to make an appointment. Xiang Yu summoned the military officials to plot: "There is little grain, and I want to listen to his promise." "Military officials are known to be good." "Xiang Yu is on the ruins of The Southern Yin Ruins of The HuanShui. Having already made an alliance, Zhang Handan saw Xiang Yu and wept, for Zhao Gao. Xiang Yu made Zhang Handan the King of Yong and placed him in the Chu army.
The reason why Zhang Handan was willing to surrender to Xiang Yu was also very clear in the history books was because Zhao Gao, the actual ruler of the Qin Dynasty at that time, was defeated many times because he failed to stop the advance of the allies led by Xiang Yu, which caused Zhao Gao to be strongly dissatisfied with him.
Sima Xin, the chief of the order who had been sent back to Xianyang to ask Zhao Gao for advice, not only could not see Zhao Gao's face, but was almost killed by Zhao Gao. Therefore, after learning that he was not tolerated by Zhao Gao, Zhang Handan, who deeply felt that the Qin Dynasty was powerless to return to heaven, had no choice but to ask Xiang Yu for peace.
With regard to the behavior of Zhang Handan, an anti-festivalist, most of the commentaries of later historians and historians have adopted a sympathetic attitude, believing that if it were not for Zhao Gao's persecution, Zhang Handan would not have been able to do so, and the thesis of sympathy for Zhang Handan would basically conform to historical facts.
Before Zhang Handan's troops were incorporated into the Chu army, there were more than 200,000 troops, and Xiang Yu was worried that these armies were out of control, so he killed all the more than 200,000 soldiers except for the Qin generals led by Zhang Handan, Sima Xin, and Dong Feng.
After the destruction of Qin, Zhang Handan, along with Sima Xin and Dong Fei, was made a prince of Zhenshouguan by Xiang Yu, with the intention of letting them watch liu Bang, who was driven to Hanzhong.
In August of the second year of Han (205 BC), the Han army, under the leadership of Han Xin, went out to fight for the world, Zhang Handan was unable to defeat Han Xin, and after only two months of resistance, it was destroyed by the Han army, and Zhang Handan was finally surrounded in the abandoned hill city.
When the city was destroyed, he did not surrender again, but chose to commit suicide. Since Zhang Handan had already surrendered to Xiang Yu once, why was he unwilling to surrender to Liu Bang again? The reasons are probably as follows:
One: Xiang Yu treated him not thinly, and even gave up the bloody feud between the two in order to recruit Zhang Handan
A year before Zhang Handan surrendered to Xiang Yu, the Qin army led by Zhang Handan defeated the Chu army at Dingtao, in which his uncle Xiang Liang, who had raised Xiang Yu to adulthood, was killed.
Although Xiang Liang was not killed by Zhang Handan's own hands, after all, he died under the attack of Zhang Handan's army, and Xiang Yu would definitely remember this vendetta on Zhang Handan's body, with Xiang Liang's kindness to Xiang Yu, which was a deep vendetta in the blood sea.
Looking at Xiang Yu's behavior after entering Guanzhong in the history books, we can see how deeply he hated the Qin people and the Qin Dynasty. The attitude towards the enemy speaks for itself. However, before and after Xiang Yu surrendered Zhang Handan, he took the initiative to give up revenge on Zhang Handan.
In addition to killing more than 200,000 Qin troops to play Zhang Handan, treating Zhang Handan himself as Qiu Without Committing a Crime, and finally appointing him as one of the princes of Yong, letting him command one-third of the Guanzhong Land, this behavior will definitely move Zhang Handan, and correspondingly will also improve his loyalty.
Second: Zhang Handan and Xiang Yu's identity are similar, and they may not look up to Liu Bang very much
Xiang Yu is a nobleman of the Chu State, Zhang Handan is not bad, although the history books do not clearly record Zhang Handan's origin, but he can afford to read the book of soldiers, become a general of the Qin State, the birth is certainly not bad, which era, learning martial arts can consume much more resources than learning literature.
According to historical records, the surname Zhang was either a descendant of the Yellow Emperor or a descendant of Jiang Ziya, and was definitely from an aristocratic family, and such an identity and Xiang Yu should be closer to rather than close to Liu Bang , who was born in The Cold Gate (the surname Liu is from Yao's descendants).
When Liu Bang sent troops to Guanzhong, but he only served as the king of Hanzhong for less than two years, because he was the first to enter Guanzhong for his military merits, although Zhang Handan could not win the Han army, it did not mean that he looked up to Liu Bang, and the nobles could surrender to the nobles and surrender to Liu Bang. Forget it.
Three: Zhang Handan, who had betrayed the Qin Dynasty once, did not want to betray Xiang Yu again
Zhang Handan is both an aristocrat and a soldier, the backbone should still be there, although the anti-Qin was excusable at the beginning, but in the end it was a betrayal, if you betray Xiang Yu again, even if you can survive, it will be very sad, not everyone is willing to be a family slave with three surnames.
Moreover, according to the historical records, Liu Bang forced Sima Xin and Dong Feng of the Three Kings of Guanzhong to surrender, but did not issue any willingness to surrender to Zhang Handan, and he also knew that Zhang Handan still had a certain backbone of soldiers and would not surrender a second time.
Four: When Qin died, although Zhang Handan was alive, his heart was already dead
After Zhang Handan surrendered to Xiang Yu, all the more than 200,000 soldiers under him were killed by Xiang Yu, and this result could not fail to touch Zhang Handan, he was powerless to resist Xiang Yu, and the general could not save the soldiers who followed him outside the battlefield, and should have a deep sense of self-blame.
When Xiang Yu was crowned a prince, although Zhang Handan mixed with a prince and continued to guard the land of Guanzhong, the local military and people's hearts and minds were no longer on him, the former Qin general, and the Qin people's hatred and resentment against him may have already stimulated Zhang Handan's desire for death, and Han Xin saw this quite clearly, and he once said to Liu Bang:
Moreover, the king of the three Qins was a General of Qin, and he killed qin disciples for several years, and the slaughter was incalculable, and he deceived his people to surrender to the princes, and to Xin'an, the king of Xiang deceived Qin into surrendering more than 200,000 people, but Only Handan, Xin, and Feng were able to get rid of them, and Qin's father and brother complained about these three people, and the pain fell into the bone marrow.
As a result, although Zhang Handan was still alive after the death of Qin, and also retained his wealth and glory, his heart may have died long ago, and under the attack of the Han army, the defeat of the soldiers and suicides can also be regarded as seeking benevolence and benevolence, and the general's death on the battlefield is not shameful.
Therefore, in summary of the above four reasons, we can know why the famous general Zhang Handan at the end of Qin no longer surrendered to Liu Bang under the circumstances of having a surrender experience, anti-Qin was forced, and Xiang Yu was not bad for him, but because more than 200,000 soldiers were killed, Zhang Handan had already lost his vitality and committed suicide in the abandoned hill city, which should be the dignity that a general could finally get, which was a pity.