Regarding the death of Han Xin, the founding hero of the Great Han Dynasty, Huaiyin Marquis, since ancient times, people have believed that this is a vicious incident in which birds end their bows and hide and rabbits die and dogs cook. Some people even think that the things that Empress Lu did were carried out with Liu Bang's tacit consent. Therefore, the last person to kill Han Xin was actually Liu Bang himself.
Didn't Mr. Sima Qian also say that after Liu Bang heard the news of Han Xin's death, he was happy and pitying, you see, how happy he was! Most of the people who say this have a great misunderstanding of the political formation of the early Han Dynasty.
First, are Liu Bang and Han Xin really at odds?
In 202 BC, after Xiang Yu Wujiang, the overlord of Western Chu, killed himself, Liu Bang Group officially announced that it would ring the bell and go public, as one of the three masters of the Han Chu Dynasty who contributed the most to the world by the Liu Group, Han Xin received a share of high-quality shares within the Han Group second only to Liu Bang. But this share, Liu Bang gave it unwillingly.
The reason was that on the eve of the Battle of Yaxia, Liu Bang was beaten by Xiang Yu to the brink of bankruptcy, and frantically sent a telegram to Han Xin asking for support. But as a regional manager, Han Xin sat on the ground at this time, talked to him about promotion and salary, and strongly expressed his willingness to upgrade from a worker to a shareholder of Dahan.
This almost made Boss Liu angry, and in the end, under Zhang Liang's persuasion, he pinched his nose and agreed to seal Han Xin as the king of Qi. This place of the State of Qi has been rich since ancient times, rich in the world, asking for people, asking for money and money, naturally it is a golden place for rebellion. It's no wonder that Boss Liu can't help but turn his face with Han Xin.
After the Battle of Qixia, Liu Bang immediately gave Han Xin a share exchange, transferring him from the position of King of Qi to the King of Chu. They are all princes, but the difference is great. This Chu King's territory is basically the territory of the Western Chu Overlord before. The status of the Xiang family in the hearts of the local people is very high. And in whose hands did Xiang Yu die? Han Xin!
Liu Bang transferred him to such a hostile place, and Han Xin could easily overturn if he didn't handle it well.
But to Liu Bang's surprise, Han Xin is not only a good fighter, but also a good hand in politics. Through two famous allusions, he successfully won the hearts of the people in the Chu region.
Everyone knows that Han Xin once suffered the humiliation of a butcher's crotch before he made his mark, but after returning home this time, President Han not only did not retaliate, but also promoted this butcher to captain. The second thing is the allusion to the meal. The first thing Han Xin did after returning home was to find the floating mother who had given him a few bowls of rice back then, and repay the kindness of the year with thousands of gold dollars. Don't think that this is a simple act of retribution for his kindness, these two allusions convey the message: I will not blame those who have enemies with me, and I will return those who have kindness to me a hundredfold.
In a word, I Han Xin only remember grace and not revenge, don't be afraid.
Liu Bang saw that he couldn't make a plan, and he had another plan. In the name of leading a trip, he went to Yunmengze in Hanxin's jurisdiction for a vacation. And took a telegram to Han Xin, strongly inviting him to come to Yunmengze to soak in the hot spring.
Han Xin weighed it for a long time, and finally decided to go, but it was no surprise that he was taken down by Lao Liu, who did not speak of martial arts. Many people think why Han Xin is so stupid, knowing that Old Liu has bad intentions, you dare to go?
But what can Han Xin do? Rebellion? In terms of the use of troops, he is half a pound and eight taels with the overlord of Western Chu, and in terms of strength, he is not as good as Xiang Yu. If he turns his face with Lao Liu, his end is likely to be Wujiang self-killing version 2.0.
So can you pretend to be sick and not go? Yes, but no matter how many times Lao Liu comes to such a warm invitation, and you continue to pretend to be sick, a fool can see that you have a bad intention. At that time, Lao Liu will send troops to clean you up, and the princes and kings of Yingbu and Peng Yue will not only not feel sad, but may also feel that you deserve it.
So Han Xin really had no choice, he could only go to the Hongmen banquet.
After Han Xin was taken, Liu Bang did not kill him, but demoted him to the Marquis of Huaiyin and brought him back to Chang'an. Regarding Han Xin's performance in Chang'an, Sima Qian said this: Han Xin, a reactionary, knew that the leader was afraid of his talents, so he often did not go to work due to illness, and his face often showed displeasure, and at first glance, he had a grudge against the organization.
In fact, it is normal for Han Xin not to go to the dynasty.
The generals who command operations in peacetime have always been in a state of high tension. This state can cause great damage both physically and mentally. As soon as the nerves relax, the disease immediately comes. For example, many of the founding generals on the mainland were basically seriously ill after the founding of the People's Republic of China. As for being dissatisfied, Sima Qian was not a roundworm in his stomach, how could he know? If Han Xin really blatantly revealed his dissatisfaction with the organization, how could Liu Bang let him live for six more years?
There are many things in the history books that cannot be believed, especially the depictions of the psychological dynamics of the characters. These things are all up to the author's pen, saying that you have it and you don't have it.
During his stay in Chang'an, Liu Bang and Han Xin had an interaction, which showed that the relationship between the two was not simple. This interaction is the famous allusion – the more, the merrier.
Once Liu Bang invited Han Xin to drink, and after three rounds of drinking, he asked Han Xin how many soldiers he could bring? Han Xin replied that it was 100,000. Liu Bang asked, what about yourself? Han Xin replied that the more the merrier.
Liu Bang asked again, then why were you taken down by me? Han Xin replied, that's because the boss is good at generals, this is a gifted talent, I can't compare. If the relationship between Han Xin and Liu Bang was really as tense as the legend, it would be impossible to make such a casual joke.
Because just the four words "the more, the better" are enough to kill Han Xin. You are better than the leader, how can the leader tolerate you?
In fact, the real conflict between the two lies in the conflict between the county system and the sub-sealing system. Han Xin wanted to be the prince and king, and he had the addiction of opening a temple. Liu Bang, on the other hand, wanted to be the second Qin Shi Huang and resolutely did not allow history to be reversed.
On the surface, this is an irreconcilable contradiction, but it is not. Han Xin was fundamentally different from the princes and kings of Yingbu, Peng Yue, and Zhang Er. The reason why those people became princes and kings was because they themselves had strong capital, and before they turned to Liu Bang, they were already princes on one side, and Liu Bang could not seal them, they were all kings.
But Han Xin is different, this young man is a worker under Liu Bang. He was just a coincidence that he managed to steal some shares from Lao Liu. He does not have the kind of business team that has been cultivated for many years and breathes the same fate as himself, and does not have the ability to start a new stove, as long as he takes away his shares, he is just a migrant worker.
Yingbu and others are different, they were entrepreneurs in the early days of troubled times, and they had a company team loyal to them. If Liu Bang announces the cancellation of their shareholding, they will immediately be able to pull up a team to start over. Such people have the potential to rebel as long as they do not die.
Then Han Xin was removed from his position, and he will not be resentful in his heart?
Let's make a figurative analogy, the title of Marquis of Huaiyin is actually Han Xin's due income, and the title of King of Chu is Han Xin's illegal income. Because of this, Han Xin's resentment about being expelled from the royal family is actually not as strong as Yingbu and them.
Why? It's like if you buy a welfare lottery ticket and win the first prize, but the lottery company doesn't admit it, then you have to copy the guy and fight with him. On the contrary, if this lottery ticket is forged by you, and now it is recognized by others and the reward is canceled, you will not be too late to be weak, will you still have the confidence to fight with others?
In the same way, Han Xin's title of King of Chu is the forged lottery ticket, so the contradiction between him and Lao Liu is not as big as everyone thinks.
And judging from the performance between the two later, Liu Bang is very likely to do Han Xin's ideological work and make him his own irons again.
Second, Han Xin must die
Han Xin was later killed because he was drawn into another dark line of political struggle in the early years of the Han Dynasty.
In addition to the struggle between the county system and the sub-sealing system in the early Han Dynasty, there was also a clue that was the dispute between Liu Lu. The Lü family was Liu Bang's first angel investor on the road to entrepreneurship, and he had very deep connections in the army, and Liu Bang always wanted to get rid of them by abolishing the crown prince Liu Ying in his later years. But at this time, Liu Bang was already dying of old age, and there was no future with him, and many old guys betrayed the old leader and stood on Lu Hou's side. So Liu Bang's old age is actually very sad. At that time, there were only three people who could resolutely stand on the old leader: Chen Ping, Xiao He, and Han Xin.
One thing that proves this is that Han Xin had a social event that went down in history during his imprisonment in Chang'an. One day, Han Xin went to Fan's house as a guest. Fan Yu showed great respect to this former Han military god. Before Han Xin could get out of the car, he rushed up and plopped down on the ground: "King, you are finally willing to come to my house as a guest."
This is a kind word on the surface, but the political meaning in it is very intriguing. Han Xin is now the Marquis of Huaiyin, is it good that people are removed precisely because they are kings? You Fan Fan called the king of people in broad daylight, what does this mean? Aren't you carrying the red flag at the door of the White House? As an old revolutionary, it is naturally impossible for Fan to make such a naïve political mistake. The political code message conveyed by this sentence is: Surrender to us, you can continue to be king.
You Fan Yu is just a Wuyang Marquis, what qualifications do you have to make Huaiyin Marquis a great king? Fan Yu naturally does not have this ability, but the people behind him have ah. Fan Bei's wife is Empress Lu's sister, so Fan Bei's political spectrum is actually a member of the foreign qi group.
This is interesting, if Han Xin really became a political prisoner in Chang'an as everyone imagined, such a person would have no value in wooing, let alone let him be a king. The reason why Empress Lu would write such a sky-high check is only one possibility: Han Xin is Liu Bang's person.
With this great Han military god standing beside Liu Bang, the threat to the Lu family was like a man. For the political olive branch extended by Empress Lu, Han Xin's attitude is more intriguing. After eating and drinking at Fan's house, Han Xin came to the door and expressed his thoughts after the meal: I didn't expect that I, Han Xin, would actually fall to an equal footing with Fan Bei.
"History": The letter tasted General Fan, bowed down and greeted, and said to be a minister: "The great king is willing to be a minister!" The letter went out and smiled: "Shengnai and Oh and so on!" ”
Eat people with soft mouths, take people with short hands, and reach out not to hit smiling people.
People give so much face, as long as Han Xin is not an idiot with zero emotional intelligence, he will not do this kind of thing. The two things that used to be a meal and a humiliation in the crotch have long proved that Han Xin is by no means an idiot.
He said this on purpose in broad daylight. Who to tell? Of course, I said it to Liu Bang, I am innocent with the Lu family, don't misunderstand.
Just as the so-called guest beheading accepted as a dog, now that the meal has been eaten, since he does not want to be a dog, then only beheading. It was precisely because of this incident that Han Xin was on the Lu family's must-kill list.
Third, the cause of death in the fog
The reason why we think that killing Han Xin is not Liu Bang's meaning is because Han Xin's death method is too strange.
The history books say that Han Xin was preparing to rebel in Chang'an. What about Empress Lu, afraid of scaring the grass and snakes, let Xiao He trick people into the palace and kill them secretly.
If Han Xin is really a political prisoner who has been relieved of military power, can he use such trouble? Isn't it enough to send someone directly to his house to kill?
There are only two possibilities for this anomalous move. First, the military power of Chang'an City was in Han Xin's hands, and they could not kill Empress Lu, so they could only set up poison schemes. Second, although the military power of Chang'an City was not in Han Xin's hands, Liu Bang had taken protective measures against Han Xin before leaving, and they could not kill him.
In the end, they rebelled against Xiao He, the old revolutionary, and only then tricked Han Xin into killing him in the palace.
As we said earlier, Han Xin is very likely to have been done by Liu Bang for ideological work. This is based on Han Xin's judgment of Liu Bang's feelings. You know, Han Xin was just an unknown pawn before he joined the army, and it was Liu Bang and Xiao He who promoted him to commander-in-chief of the three armies overnight. This kind of thing even fantasy novels dare not write like this, in the history of thousands of years before Han Xin, has there ever been such a thing? No. Therefore, we dare to conclude that Han Xin's feelings for Liu Bang and Xiao He are definitely deeper than Zhuge Liang's feelings for Liu Bei.
In this world, the only people who can make Han Xin believe unconditionally are Liu Bang and Xiao He. But Liu Bang and Han Xin never dreamed that Xiao He, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would actually betray the revolution.
Historical records: Sheren's brother changed upward, and he wanted to rebel against Empress Lü. Empress Lü wanted to summon, fearing that his party would not be satisfied, but conspired with Xiao Xiangguo, and deceived people from above, and Yan Yan had died, and all the princes and ministers were congratulated. Xiang Guo Yuxin said: "Although sick, it is congratulatory." "Shinjin, Empress Lu made the samurai bind the letter, and cut off the Nagaku Chung Room.
Sima Qian recorded that when Liu Bang heard of Han Xin's death, he was overjoyed and pityed. In fact, where is the joy? Only pity and anger.
But he was no longer able to take revenge on Han Xin.
After Xiao He finished killing people, Liu Bang's first thing was not to pursue responsibility, but to add him to the rank of knight, and sent him 500 personal guards.
Don't think that Liu Bang is rewarding him, this is actually a warning.
Liu Bang has been fighting abroad all these years, Xiao He has always been the big steward of the Guanzhong region, if Empress Lu joins forces with him to rebel and lock the gate of Guanzhong City, Liu Bang is estimated to be unable to return to Chang'an City in his life.
Liu Bang's move is to tell Xiao He, I have already given you everything I can give you, and Empress Lu can't give you more, don't continue to follow her blindly. If you really can't think about it, what do these 500 guards mean, you know!
Liu Bang did not send a guard to Empress Lu or the prince, but was concerned about Xiao Xiangguo's life safety. Could it be that in his heart, Xiao He's status could be more important than those two people? So Xiao He understood what kind of guards were here, and this was clearly 500 Yan Kings.
According to history: Shangjian has heard of Huaiyin's marquis, so that the envoy Baicheng is Xiangguo, and 5,000 households are sealed, and 500 people are made Xiangguowei. All the kings congratulated, summoned the peace. Zhao Ping said to Xiangguo: "Disaster begins here." The upper is exposed to the outside and the king is guarded in the middle, and the king is not sealed by the matter of the yashi, and the current Huaiyin Houxin is opposed to the middle, and the king is suspicious. The husband set Wei Weijun, not to favor the king. The original monarch let the seal not accept, and he used his family's private wealth to support the army, and said in his heart. "Xiangguo follows his plan, and the high emperor is a great joy.
After Liu Bang returned to Chang'an City, he began to keep changing the law to clean up Xiao He, and finally forced Xiao He to defile himself to save his life. But even so, Liu Bang did not intend to let him go, and under the pretext that Xiao He colluded with real estate developers to encroach on the land in Shanglinyuan, he threw him into prison, ready to die. However, due to the protection of the Luhou Group, Liu Bang could not kill Xiao He at all. After being locked up for a few days, he could only release the people in ashes. Before leaving, he also said sourly, if I don't be this bad person, how can I appear that Xiangguo is a good person? If Liu Bang hadn't died soon after, it is estimated that Xiao He would have to continue to eat his melons.
It's just pity Han Xin, Cheng Ye Xiao He, defeat also Xiao He! The injustices of the ages can never be washed away.
The general will kill Shixiong, and the bell chamber sighs with a good bow. Han Xin, unparalleled in the country, invincible in battle, on the battlefield, never defeated, but finally died at the hands of his political Bole Xiao He, which is really embarrassing. It is clear that Liu Bang's hardcore loyalty, but in the end, he died with hatred for thousands of years of injustice, which shows that the deceit of people in the political arena is far more terrifying than the battlefield.
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(Western Han) Sima Qian's "Shiji Huaiyin Marquis Lie", "Shiji Xiao Xiangguo Family".