Xichu Overlord" Xiang Yu introduction

Xiang Yu, a famous man, was a native of Xiaqian of the State of Chu (present-day Suqian, Jiangsu). He was born in 232 BC, just as Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms. Xiang Yu's ancestor was a general for generations, and his grandfather Xiang Yan was a famous general of the State of Chu, and he was killed by the Qin general when Chu died. Xiang Yu has always had a hatred with the Qin state. Xiang Yu followed his uncle Xiang Liang to learn to dance swords since he was a child, but he always didn't learn for a few days, so he disliked not learning. My uncle angrily asked him what he wanted to learn, and Xiang Yu said: Reading and dancing swords are not worth learning, I just want to learn unstoppable skills. After hearing this, Xiang Liang secretly thought he was surprised, so he taught him the art of war. Unexpectedly, Xiang Yu studied for a few days, and after understanding the essence, he refused to learn again. Xiang Yu is brilliant, both civil and martial, and can rise to the top in adulthood.



Uncle Xiang Liang looked at Xiang Yu and said: You were born at an opportune time, if you were born in the war era, you are really a rare general. Xiang Liang took Xiang Yu and fled to Wuzhong (present-day Hao County, Jiangsu) for murder. One day, Qin Shi Huang paraded and crossed the Qiantang River, and Xiang Yu mixed in the crowd with his uncle to watch. The Qin Emperor's convoy was ornate and heavily guarded. The onlookers were all silent, only Xiang Yu said to his uncle with a big grin: He can be replaced by us! Frightened, Xiang Liang hurriedly covered his mouth and said: Don't talk nonsense, beware of slaughtering all over the door! In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled in Daze Township, and the people of the Chu state responded. Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu killed Huiji Shou Yin Tong, recruited eight thousand Wu Zhong disciples, and raised the righteous banner of annihilation of Qin Fuchu.



Xiang Yu was the vanguard of this rebel army, he broke through the barrier and slashed the generals with great courage, the Qin army was terrified, the people came to vote, and the team soon grew to sixty or seventy thousand people. It's just that Xiang Yu is brutal and often kills needlessly. After he captured Xiangcheng, he buried tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians defending the city alive, and became notorious, thanks to the strategist Fan Zeng's plan, he found the grandson of King Huai of Chu, and still made him the King of Chu Huai, conforming to the desire of the people of the State of Chu to destroy Qin and restore the country, only then did he get the support of the people and continue to grow. Under the heavy blows of the rebels everywhere, the Qin dynasty faltered. Qin II sent the general Zhang Wei to lead an army of prisoners to suppress the rebels. Zhang was able to fight in battle, and soon defeated the rebel forces of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, and took the opportunity to kill Xiang Liang. For a while, the anti-Qin war turned to a low ebb. King Huai of Chu heard that the Qin army had killed Xiang Liang and was attacking Dingtao in the state of Zhao, and he was terrified.



He sent Song Yi as a general, Xiang Yu as a sub-general, and Fan Zeng, as the last general, to lead an army to rescue Zhao in order to curb the aggressive trend of the Qin army. The Qin army besieged Julu (钜鹿, in modern Pingxiang, Hebei), but Song Yi was timid when he reached Anyang, and refused to take a step further for 46 days. Xiang Yu really couldn't hold back, so he said to Song Yi: The Qin army is now surrounding King Zhao in Julu, and our army should quickly cross the river, form an internal and external attack with King Zhao, and defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop! Song Yi still refused to march, and he used the excuse of first letting Qin Zhao fight to the death, and then sit down to reap the benefits of the fisherman. Xiang Yu shook his head vigorously when he heard this, saying that Qin is strong and Zhao is weak, Zhao will be defeated, Qin is stronger, and the Chu army has nothing to bargain. Xiang Yu also wanted to say more, ignoring Song Yi's military order: Anyone who is as fierce as a tiger and greedy as a wolf, if he does not obey the military order, shoot and kill! As soon as Xiang Yu heard it, he knew that this was aimed at himself, so he didn't do anything else, rushed into the account, and killed Song Yi. He carried Song Yi's head out to show the public: Song Yi rebelled, and the king of Chu secretly ordered me to kill him.



All the generals understood in their hearts that Xiang Yu was looking for an excuse to kill Song Yi, but they were dissatisfied with Song Yi for a long time and were afraid of Xiang Yu, so they all said: The State of Chu was restored by the general's uncle and nephew, we listen to the general! After King Huai of Chu learned about this, although he was not satisfied, he could not help Xiang Yu, so he simply made a favor and made Xiang Yu a general. The next day, Xiang Yu ordered all officers and men to bring three days of dry food, and then broke the cauldron and sank the boat, determined that there would be no return, and rushed into the Qin army. Xiang Yu knew that Qin was strong and weak, and only by cutting off all retreats could he motivate the generals of the whole army to rush and kill desperately. Sure enough, the desperate Chu army rushed to kill nine formations in a row, and finally broke through the Qin army. Xiang Yu thus gained great fame among the armies of various princes.



The Qin general Zhang Wei was framed by the traitor Zhao Gao and fought alone, defeating the increasingly powerful Chu army, and was repeatedly defeated. Seeing that the general trend was gone, Zhang Wei surrendered Xiang Yu. After Zhang Wei surrendered, Xiang Yu made him king, and the 200,000 Qin army became the vanguard of the Chu army. Soon, the soldiers of the Qin army talked a lot, dissatisfied that Xiang Yu always let them suffer in the front and enjoy later. Xiang Yu was afraid that the Qin army would change, and took advantage of one night to bury all 200,000 people alive. Xiang Yu's brutality made the people of the world extremely terrified. Xiang Yu took advantage of the victory to advance west and quickly arrived at Hangu Pass.



Liu Bang's team was stationed at Hangu Pass, preventing the Chu army from entering the pass. When Xiang Yu heard that Liu Bang had entered the pass, he was furious, broke through the pass, and stationed himself at Hongmen (present-day Lintong, Shaanxi). At that time, Xiang Yu had an army of 400,000, and Liu Bang only had 100,000 people, and his strength was very different, so Xiang Yu threatened to eliminate Liu Bang the next day. Liu Bang adopted Zhang Liang's strategy and went to Hongmen in person to apologize to Xiang Yu and explain his sincerity in submission. Xiang Yu's full resentment towards Liu Bang dissipated. Although Fan Zeng's many times signaled Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, Xiang Yu was always unable to make a move. Later, Liu Bang saw that the situation was not good, and took the opportunity to go to the toilet to escape from the mouth of the tiger. Afterwards, Fan Zeng's blame Xiang Yu: You kid, it's really not worth me to work with you. This is the story of the "Hongmen Banquet" in history.



Xiang Yu invariably entered Xianyang, killed the infant Prince of Qin, who had surrendered to Liu Bang, and set fire to Afang Palace, which was not extinguished for three months. The Chu army killed people and plundered treasures, and the people of Xianyang complained. This is in stark contrast to Liu Bang's "three chapters of the covenant, no crime in autumn" when he was in Xianyang. Xiang Yu made King Huai of Chu the righteous emperor, and proclaimed himself the overlord of Western Chu, holding the Son of Heaven to order the princes, so he lost the hearts of the people. Xiang Yu made eighteen kings as a hegemon, and made Liu Bang, who had worked hard and meritoriously, the king of Han, violating the agreement of the princes that "the one who enters the customs first is the king". Liu Bang knew that he was not Xiang Yu's opponent and endured the humiliation and went to Bashu.



But soon, Liu Bang took advantage of Xiang Yu's war with the King of Qi, marched into Guanzhong and began the four-year "Chu-Han War" with Xiang Yu. For most of the war, Xiang Yu had a clear military advantage, but he did not make good use of people, his character was cruel, his military discipline was corrupt, and he gradually lost popular support, and the advantage slowly shifted to Liu Bang's side. Later, Liu Bang transferred the general Han Xin, and together with other princes, besieged the Chu legions at Yaxia (present-day Lingbi County, Anhui). Xiang Yu rushed to kill several times in succession, and found that there were heavy troops in ambush on all ten sides, and they could not break out at all, and the casualties were heavy, and only some remnants of the 400,000 army remained. Late at night, a low song of Chu sounded around the barracks. Xiang Yu was shocked, could it be that Liu Bang had done his best? Otherwise, why are there so many Chu people in the Han army? When Xiang Yu's generals heard Chu Ge, they thought that the general trend had passed, and scattered to the Han, and there were fewer Chu soldiers now. In fact, this was Zhang Liang's idea, he asked the Han army to sing Chu songs and disperse the fighting spirit of the Chu army. This is where the idiom "embattled" comes from.



Xiang Yu knew that the end had come and invited his favorite beauty Yu Ji to drink goodbye. Xiang Yu looked at Yu Ji's sad appearance, his heart was like a knife, and he composed a song: "Vigorously upholding the mountains and the world, the times are not good." Yu Ji Yu Ji is helpless. Yu Ji danced with the song, and finally drew her sword and committed suicide. Xiang Yu knew that Yu Ji did not want to be his burden before he died. He held Yu Ji's body and burst into tears. The soldiers on both sides wept. Late at night, Xiang Yu buried Yu Ji and mounted his horse, with only more than 800 people in his entourage.



Xiang Yu roared, and the eight hundred iron horses rushed out of the encirclement like a fury. The Han general led 5,000 cavalry in hot pursuit. After Xiang Yu crossed the Huai River, he found that there were only more than a hundred people around him. Xiang Yu and his party ran and ran, lost their way, and when they were in a hurry, they found a farmer on the side of the road. Xiang Yu dismounted and reported to his house to ask for directions, and the farmer pointed to the left. Xiang Yu and the others then rushed to the left, but the end was a swamp, and the centaurs could not pass at all. Xiang Yu had to return along the same road. With such a toss, the Han army can chase closer. Xiang Yu sighed, he couldn't imagine that the overlord of Western Chu was deceived by a farmer, it was really the wall that everyone pushed down!



Xiang Yu fought and retreated, and by the time he reached Dongcheng (東城, in present-day Dingyuan County, Anhui), there were only 28 men under his command. Xiang Yuqing knew that it was difficult to escape today, so he said to his subordinates: I have fought more than 70 battles in the eight years since I started the army, and I have never been defeated. Trapped here today, it is not that I am incompetent, but that God wants to kill me. If you don't believe it, I will fight a few bitter battles when I die. Please break through with me, cut the generals and cut the flag! Xiang Yu divided the rest into four teams and rushed out from all directions. The Han army surrounded in all directions, forcing the Chu army to retreat up a small hill. Xiang Yu said to his subordinates again: "I will kill a Han general for you." After saying that, he ordered the four squads to rush down the mountain separately and kill the agreed place. Xiang Yu shouted and rushed down the hill, like a heavenly god, and the Han army scattered and scattered to hide. Xiang Yu took advantage of the situation to kill one of the Han generals and flew away. Han General Chiquan Hou chased after him, Xiang Yu suddenly turned his head and roared with round eyes, Han General was shocked and fell back several miles. Almost at the meeting point, the Han army surrounded again. Xiang Yu let his subordinates go first, turned around and went head-on, killing a captain and dozens of sergeants. The Han army dispersed again. Xiang Yu concentrated his subordinates, and as soon as he counted, only two people were missing. He asked his subordinates: What did I just say? The subordinates said with admiration: The great king is extremely brave, and this defeat is not in the sky! Xiang Yu retreated to Wujiang (present-day Hexian County, Anhui), where the head of the Wujiang Pavilion had already prepared a ferry boat for him to cross the river. But Xiang Yu thought that when he led eight thousand disciples to cross this river, he would be mighty in the world. Now there are only so many people left, he has lost the courage to make a comeback, and he feels sorry for Father Jiangdong. He gave the black BMW to the pavilion commander and led his soldiers to fight. Xiang Yu rushed into the Han army on foot. Rushing left and right, killing hundreds of people, and suffering more than ten traumas himself. While killing, Xiang Yu saw the Han general Lu Matong, and said: "Aren't you my fellow countryman?" Lu Matong turned his head and pretended not to see it, and quietly said to Wang Yi: He is King Xiang



Xiang Yu also said: The king of Han will buy my head with a reward of thousands of gold, and I will do a good deed for my fellow villagers! After saying that, he committed suicide. The Han army went up and snatched Xiang Yu's body. Liu Bang saw Xiang Yu's head and also mourned for this person. He also made Xiang Yu the Duke of Lu and gave him a thick burial. He did not kill any of Xiang's family members, but gave them the surname Liu. The year was 202 BC, and Xiang Yu was only 29 years old. Xiang Yu was wise and brave and played a decisive role in the anti-Qin war. Later, he was defeated by Liu Bang, who was inferior to him in all aspects, which showed that he did not have the strategy of a politician, but only relied on the courage of his husband, and it was difficult to achieve great things in the end.