"The rabbit dies and the lackey cooks, and the birds do their best to hide the bow", a famous saying used to describe the fate of the hero, seems to be tailored for Han Xin.
Han Xin's name is also "cold heart", which makes people sigh, I don't know if the sky has hinted at everything long ago.
As the third master of the Han Dynasty, Han Xin had many great opportunities, but why didn't he establish himself as king? Is he really a military genius and a political idiot?
If there is grace, it will be rewarded
Speaking of Huaiyin Hou Han Xin, everyone knows that he was a legendary general during the Chu-Han Dispute, who suffered the "humiliation of the crotch" and commanded an army of millions.
Xiao He has the grace of knowing Han Xin, and if there is no "Xiao He Yuexia chasing Han Xin", there would be no later general Han Xin, it can be said that he achieved Han Xin.
It was Xiao He who used his life to vouch for Han Xin and guaranteed him as a general, and it was also Xiao He who tricked Han Xin into entering the palace to die, which is really "Cheng Ye Xiao He, defeat also Xiao He". Xiao He's kindness of knowledge, Han Xin finally chose to repay with his life.
When Han Xin was hungry, his mother often gave him food, and when Han Xin became famous, Han Xin, the grace of dripping water, was rewarded with a spring, and Han Xin, the grace of a meal, was rewarded with thousands of gold. It can be seen that Han Xin is a person who knows grace and will be rewarded, and is very affectionate and righteous.
Several times abandonment of "self-reliance as king"
During the Chu-Han dispute, Han Xin had several opportunities to establish himself as king, but Han Xin refused.
During the critical period of the Chu-Han dispute, Liu Bang led an army, Xiang Yu led an army, and Han Xin led another army, it can be said that whoever Han Xin helped won the world, so Xiang Yu sent advisers to lobby Han Xin four times.
For the first time, Xiang Yu's adviser said to Han Xin: "The general now has his own army, and the general was once King Xiang's subordinate, if you are willing to join King Xiang's account and defeat Liu Bang with King Xiang, King Xiang is willing to share the world with you equally." In the face of King Xiang's promise, Han Xin was unmoved, and said to the counselor: "King Han gives me food and clothes, everything in Han Xin is given by King Han, and Han Xin will never betray King Han."
After the first negotiation broke down, Xiang Yu sent a counselor to lobby for the second time, and this time instead of lobbying Han Xin to follow King Xiang, he persuaded Han Xin to establish himself as king, and the adviser said: "You Han Xin don't do anything, as long as you watch the fire from the other side, maintain neutrality, and no one will help, after King Xiang defeats Liu Bang, King Xiang will share the world with you equally." But the second time, Han Xin was still unmoved, and still refused Xiang Yu's conditions with the same words.
The third chance was after defeating Xiang Yu, and Han Xin's strength at this time was very strong, with a million soldiers. Han Xin's adviser said to Han Xin: "This is the opportunity for the general to establish himself as king. If the general does not make a decision at this time, after the king of Han calms the world, he will definitely collect your military power, then the general without military power will lose the last life-saving charm, and will be dismissed from his post at best, or killed at worst. ”
But at this time, Han Xin still firmly believed that the King of Han would never do this, in fact, at this time, Zhang Liang also reminded Han Xin: "Our great king can share hardships, but he must not be rich and noble. But Han Xin still did not believe that King Han would do something to hurt him.
Han Xin's last chance was after Liu Bang pacified the world, and his subordinate Kuantong said to Han Xin: "The general quickly rebels, if he does not rebel, he will die, you see that four of the kings with different surnames have been killed, there is only one of you left, and the next one will definitely be your turn, while the general still has military power in hand, raise his arms and shout that he will definitely be able to seize the world."
And Han Xin said: "The King of Han once promised in front of all the soldiers that as long as I carry the sky of the Great Han on my head and step on the ground of the Great Han, and do not do anything to betray the King of Han, then the weapons of the Great Han will not be put on my neck."
Later, while Liu Bang was out to fight, Empress Lü asked Xiao He to trick Han Xin into entering the palace, and ordered ten palace maids to hang Han Xin, cover his face with a white cloth, and beat him to death with a bamboo stick.
When Liu Bang came back to learn the news that Han Xin had been killed, he was not angry, but also secretly rejoiced. Moreover, without Liu Bang's instruction, Empress Lü would not have dared to kill a king with a different surname at will.
Whether Han Xin can defeat Liu Bang
Then another question arises, if Han Xin listens to the advice of his subordinates and relies on himself as the king, can he defeat Liu Bang? The answer is: the probability of success is extremely high.
First of all, when Liu Bang's army was defeated, his troops were very empty, and the number of troops allocated to Han Xin was only 2,000, but Han Xin relied on his strong appeal and way of understanding people to develop a mere 2,000 to as many as 300,000 troops.
It can be seen that among Liu Bang's subordinates, no one can have Han Xin's appeal and military talent, and if Han Xin establishes himself as king, there will inevitably be many people of insight who support him.
After Han Xin captured the state of Qi, Han Xin asked for the position of king of Qi, and Liu Bang was very dissatisfied. However, Zhang Liang persuaded Liu Bang that "if Han Xin wants to rebel, no one can stop him", this sentence is enough to see how strong Han Xin has appeal and troops, as long as Han Xin plots to rebel, Liu Bang may not be able to defeat him.
Before Liu Bang had won Xiang Yu, Liu Bang had 200,000 troops, Xiang Yu had 100,000 troops, and Han Xin's troops reached more than 300,000. It can be said that if Han Xin helps Xiang Yu defeat Liu Bang, it is not impossible to clean up Xiang Yu.
According to the final outcome, although it cannot be said that Han Xin is a "military wizard and political idiot", it is indeed unwise that he did not choose to raise troops to rebel or choose to retire.
Brief summary:
From the analysis of the situation at that time, if Han Xin listened to the advice of his subordinates and chose to establish himself as king, I believe that there was still a great chance of victory.
However, we cannot also ignore the ability of generals Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Chen Ping in Liu Bang's camp, and raising troops to rebel is morally justified, often accompanied by high risks. Therefore, Han Xin did not choose to raise troops to rebel, in addition to his heavy feelings, he also took into account many variables.
The most important point is that he is too convinced that Liu Bang will think that he has worked hard and open up to him, which is indeed a very naïve idea. And when Lu Xi killed Han Xin, the reason why he chose to blindfold him must have been that he didn't have the face to look at him.
And for Liu Bang, is there no need to kill Han Xin? It can only be said that Liu Bang did this to check and balance, but unfortunately, Han Xin only lived in his own world, did not understand the objective law of the development of things, did not choose to take a step forward, did not choose to take a step back, but left himself in the most dangerous position.