At the end of the Qin Dynasty, due to Qin Shi Huang's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, the people lived in a miserable situation, and the people had no livelihood.
As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. The people rose up one after another in order to find a glimmer of life, and for a while, the smoke was filled and the chaos arose.
But there is also a saying that heroes emerge from troubled times, and in the midst of recklessness, a large number of good generals have emerged. And the most famous of them is the Chu-Han dispute, in which the two factions have their own capable generals and fight on a par.
Han Xin is the most dazzling pearl among the famous generals.
Young and poor, unable to make a living
There were three ways to become an official in the Qin Dynasty: the hereditary official system, the guarantee system, and the scholarly official system, that is, hereditary, recommended, and apprenticeship guarantee.
Han Xin's father was a descendant of a fallen nobleman and died early, naturally there was no hereditary official position, his mother was a lady and well educated, but there was no way for Han Xin to become an official, so Han Xin could not get an official position from his parents.
And Han Xin himself has an indulgent and informal personality, and no official is willing to protect him or take him as an apprentice, so Han Xin is an unpopular white body until he joins the rebel army.
Han Xin's fate turned at the age of thirteen, when his mother died of illness. Since then, Han Xin has been in exile without a father or mother, living on eating hundreds of meals every day.
However, Han Xin had extraordinary ambitions at a young age. Others buried their parents' bodies next to other ancestors after their parents died, but Han Xin found another tall and spacious cemetery for his mother, and threatened to settle the next 10,000 families in that cemetery in the future.
Others scoffed: a prodigal who can neither do business nor be an official, what great things can he do in the future!
However, at that time, the head of the Nanting Pavilion in the countryside felt that Han Xin must not be ordinary if he could have such aspirations, so he often invited Han Xin to his home for dinner.
However, the pavilion chief's wife was very unhappy that Han Xin went to her house for idle food, so she came up with a way to humiliate Han Xin: finish the meal before Han Xin came to eat, and deliberately let Han Xin have no food. As soon as Han Xin entered the pavilion chief's house, he knew the intention of the hall chief's wife, and then turned his head and left, never to go back.
Han Xin, who left the pavilion chief's house, was penniless and could only go fishing under the city to feed himself. There was a big lady by the river who saw that Han Xin was pitiful and gave her own rice to Han Xin to eat, Han Xin was deeply moved, and bluntly said that he would repay the eldest lady in the future, but he did not expect that the eldest lady said: "You a big husband can't support himself, I just gave you food because you were pitiful, when do you hope you can repay?" ”
Han Xin was extremely ashamed and finally decided to go out with his sword.
At this time, Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang was crossing the Huai River north, and Han Xin went to join Xiang Liang.
It is a pity that Xiang Liang has already set up his own team, and does not take the foreign Han Xin to heart, but just lets Han Xin be a pawn in the team. Subsequently, Xiang Liang's soldiers were defeated and died, and Han Xin followed Xiang Yu to fight the world, but unfortunately it was still not used.
Han Xinkong had nowhere to show his ambitions, and risked death several times to offer his plans to Xiang Yu, but Xiang Yu, like his uncle Xiang Liang, only liked to appoint old subordinates, did not pay attention to these new blood, and did not take Han Xin's strategy seriously.
Han Xinhuai did not meet and decided to change the lord. After some tossing, Han Xin came to Liu Bang's tent. But because his reputation was not obvious before, and Liu Bang had too many capable ministers, Han Xin was still unknown.
Finally met Bo Le, Xiao He carried it
Until one day, Han Xin was about to be beheaded by a company, and he was extremely unwilling in his heart, so he asked the prison officer Xia Hou Ying on the execution ground: "Doesn't the King of Han plan to win the world?" Xiahou Ying's heart was shocked, and he immediately released Han Xin and said to Liu Bang that he valued Han Xin, but Liu Bang did not take Xiahou Ying's words to heart, and only let Han Xin be a small official who managed grain and salary.
Han Xin, who had experienced countless setbacks, became discouraged and decided to leave Liu Bang. At this time, Han Xin accidentally met Xiao He, who agreed with Han Xin's views very much, and only waited for a suitable opportunity to formally recommend Han Xin to Liu Bang.
But he didn't expect Han Xin to actually escape, Xiao He was so shocked that he didn't have time to pray to Liu Bang and rode to chase Han Xin overnight. As a result, Liu Bang mistakenly thought that Xiao He had fled, and he was immediately furious.
One day and one night later, Xiao He returned to Liu Bang's camp with Han Xin. After Xiao He's explanation, Liu Bang knew that Han Xin was a natural general, and he could not ask for it.
Liu Bang has always been able to flex and stretch, and immediately fasted and bathed and personally invited Han Xin to worship the general, and Han Xin finally settled down and devoted himself to Liu Bang.
After receiving Han Xin's loyalty, Liu Bang asked Han Xin what good plan he had, and Han Xin replied: "The only one who can compete with you now is Xiang Yu, do you think you have the power to fight?" Liu Bang was silent, and Han Xin asked again: "In terms of troops, good generals and strength, can you compare with Xiang Yu?" ”
Liu Bang was silent again.
Han Xin continued: "I also think that you are not comparable, but you have advantages that Xiang Yu is inferior: although Xiang Yu is brave and famous, he has never been rewarded for his merits and deeds, and he is extremely stingy with his subordinates; Although he has good generals, he is crony; Although he fought in all directions, he never cherished the people, and such a person could only be a prince and could not claim the title of king. Liu Bang thought thoughtfully.
Han Xin voiced his thoughts: "If the great king can do the opposite, reward meritorious deeds, honor corporals, and love the people, why can't he be called king?" ”
Liu Bang was overjoyed and obeyed Han Xin's words. Sure enough, Xiang Yu became Liu Bang's defeated general.
In 206 BC, the Chu-Han War broke out. Liu Bang formally worshipped Han Xin as a general, commanded the three armies, and sent Cao Shen and Fan Yu as Han Xin's deputies. The three of them worked together to pacify the land of the Three Qins, which can be said to be invincible.
In 205 BC, Liu Bang led his army to defeat the kings of Wei, Henan, Han, and Yin, and the territory of the Han army expanded again.
In the same year, Liu Bang defeated Pengcheng. Not only was the vitality greatly damaged, but he was also cut off by the enemy army to retreat. Han Xin took Fan Yu and others to save Liu Bang from danger, and at the same time recovered the defeated army and regained its strength.
Soon after, Han Xin led his army east to destroy Zhao and regain the Yan kingdom by the way.
At this time, Han Xin had already made great achievements and commanded the three armies. Because Liu Bang was afraid of Han Xin's prestige in the army, he designed to seize Han Xin's talisman and sent Han Xin with a small army to attack the strongest Qi state.
Pacify the four kingdoms, and return the world to the Han
Before arriving in the state of Qi, Han Xin and his advisers had a plan: to attack the King of Qi while he was vacillating and had the idea of surrendering to the Han army.
Qi Wang Tian Guang was planning to surrender Liu Bang, but did not expect Han Xin to make a surprise attack, and hurriedly turned to the Chu army to request support. As a result, the Chu army lost to Han Xin without accident because of underestimating the enemy. Han Xin took advantage of the defeat of the Chu army and wanted to take advantage of Weishui's escape to defeat the Chu army and the king of Qi in one fell swoop.
By 203 BC, the Wei, Zhao, Yan, and Qi states were pacified by Han Xin. Han Xin was triumphant and did not shy away from writing to Liu Bang, asking to be the acting king of Qi.
Liu Bang was furious, but because he was afraid of Han Xin's ability, he had to pretend to make Han Xin the king of Qi, and at the same time recruited Han Xin's army to attack the Chu army.
At this time, Xiang Yu's situation was already very unfavorable, and someone said to Xiang Yu: "Han Xin is powerful, and he will inevitably be jealous of Liu Bang, if we can persuade Han Xin to rebel against Han and surrender to Chu, and separate Han Xin and Liu Bangjun, we will definitely be able to solve the current dilemma." Xiang Yu sent Wu Shen to be a lobbyist.
However, Han Xin sternly refused the messenger sent by Xiang Yu: "I used to serve under King Xiang's tent for many years, but I was not valued by King Xiang, no one listened to what I said, and no one used the plan I offered, so I left the Chu army and went to the Han army." King Liu Bang of Han worshipped me as a general, made me the commander of the three armies, and regarded my words as golden and jade words, so I have the status I have today, so I will never betray the King of Han. ”
Wu Shu returned and relayed Han Xin's words to Xiang Yu, who was greatly disappointed.
In 202 BC, Liu Bang launched an offensive against the Chu army, uniting with Han Xin and Peng Yue to attack Xiang Yu on three sides. However, because Han Xin and Peng Yue did not meet the army as scheduled, they suffered a tragic defeat. Afterwards, he listened to Zhang Liang's scheme and lured Han Xin and Peng Yue with a large fiefdom, and finally succeeded in forcing Xiang Yu to retreat.
In early December, Liu Bang attacked again, and Han Xin and others besieged the Chu army on all sides, and the Chu army was repeatedly defeated and cornered. In order to make the Chu army surrender without a fight, Han Xin ordered the soldiers to sing Chu songs at night. The Chu army was unstable and morale was greatly reduced, so Han Xin took the opportunity to attack the camp and completely annihilate the Chu army.
After the victory, Liu Bang seized Han Xin's military power, renamed him the king of Chu, and returned to his hometown after going around Han Xin.
At this time, Han Xin was no longer the beggar who begged for food more than ten years ago, but a "soldier immortal" who used soldiers like gods.
When he became famous, Han Xin remembered what happened when he was young, so he sent someone to find the lady of raccoon yarn who had given him the meal and gave her thousands of gold. He summoned the head of the Nanchang Pavilion in the countryside, gave him only one hundred dollars, and said that he "has no beginning and no end to good deeds, and is not a gentleman." ”
When Han Xin's grudge was over, Liu Bang also successfully sat on the throne and used his previous title "Han" to name the new dynasty.
Han Xin thought that by handing over the military power, he would be able to live in peace and be his king of Chu.
But who thought that everyone thought that he was a great master, and Liu Bang regarded him as a great trouble, not only repeatedly tested him to see if he had any objections, but also demoted him to the rank of Marquis of Huaiyin.
From then on, Han Xin increasingly resented Liu Bang, and even joined forces with Chen Yan to take advantage of Liu Bang's outing to suppress the rebellion in an attempt to rebel, and was finally executed in Changle Palace by Xiao He and Empress Lü.
The descendants lamented Han Xin: Cheng Ye Xiao He, defeat also Xiao He. Xiao He was the first Bo Le to discover Han Xin's talent, but Han Xin's group of Maxima died in the hands of Bo Le Xiao He.
Throughout Han Xin's life, he was a character that no one cared about when he was young, and later followed Liu Bang to personally chase the Central Plains, and finally died at the hands of a woman in the deep palace. Downfall has been brilliant, proud and frustrated. Fortunately, his skills were not buried by the chaotic times, and he followed Liu Bang to establish the Han Dynasty, and the history of the young man left a name.
In the "Legend of Huaiyin Marquis Lie" in the "Records of History", it is written: If Han Xin learns the way and is humble, does not use his own merits, and does not exercise his ability, then he will be able to compare with the disciples of Zhou, Zhao, and Taigong in the Han family, and the blood will be eaten in later generations.