1. Han Xin worships the general
In 205 BC, Liu Bang basically pacified the Three Qins and prepared to go east to compete with Xiang Yu for the world, and one person had to be mentioned here, that is, Han Xin.
Han Xin, the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty, one of the three masters of the early Han Dynasty, was regarded as a soldier immortal by later generations. At the time of the chaos at the end of Qin, he defected to Xiang Jiajun, a powerful force at that time, thinking that he could display his military talents, but unexpectedly, Xiang Yu did not look at him at all, and only gave a halberd lang the idle errand. Of course, Han Xin would not be satisfied, so he resolutely decided to switch to Liu Bang.
Coincidentally, Liu Bang did not look at him at first, and only after Xiahou Ying's recommendation did he give an errand to cure Su Dulieu, which was very different from Han Xin's expectations, so he wanted to run away, and only after Xiao He Yuexia recovered him did he become a general.
As the saying goes, gold always shines, but sometimes a piece of jadeite looks like an ordinary stone from the outside, and even a veteran of gambling stones does not dare to press all the coffins before they see it clearly.
Han Xin is such a stone, whether it is the grace of a meal or the humiliation of the crotch, it overshadows this famous Qin and Han general who can later stand side by side with Bai Qi.
Sometimes we think that we are talented, but we just lack appreciation for ourselves, so why not take the time to find Bó Lè when we can't stretch and break through? Don't always listen to the teachings of so-called successful people, because without his vision, courage and opportunity, you are not destined to become him.
Since success cannot be replicated, why not use the ability and means to impress people who have already succeeded to introduce and pave the way for you? Therefore, we should not always think about who we want to be, but try our best to be the person we want to be.
Second, analyze the situation
After Han Xin paid homage to the general, Liu Bang asked Han Xin what good strategy he had for stabilizing the country.
Han Xin asked: "The king himself estimated, in terms of the strength of the soldiers, the sophistication of the weapons, and the courage of the commanders, who are you and Xiang Yu more powerful than you?" ”
Liu Bang was silent for a long time, thinking that he was inferior to Xiang Yu.
Han Xin said: "I have served him, let me first talk about Xiang Yu's personality.
He is brave, a roar will make thousands of people frightened and weak, and taking the first rank among the ten thousand armies is like probing for things, but he is not good at management, and cannot put talented people in suitable positions (such as me), so his bravery is only the courage of a horseman;
He was benevolent and righteous, very kind to the people around him, especially Father Jiangdong, and people who encountered hunger on the road would divide their own food, but when his subordinates should be rewarded for their meritorious service, he was reluctant to give it to others like a miser, so his benevolence and righteousness were only the kindness of a woman;
He was also very cruel, and wherever the Chu army attacked, he was slaughtered, and everyone in the world feared him and resented him, and the people only reluctantly succumbed to his coercion. Although Xiang Yu dominated the world and made the princes submit, he returned to Pengcheng to show off his wealth without being declared emperor in Guanzhong, losing the right time and place;
Contrary to the agreement of the righteous emperor, the division of the seal was not combined with reality, and only according to personal preferences, so that the princes were angry about this and lost people.
Therefore, his strength is only temporary, in this case, if the great king can do the opposite and appoint the world's martial and brave people, why worry that the Chu army will not be destroyed! Divide the land of the world to the meritorious heroes, why worry that they will not submit!
Moreover, the kings of the Three Qins, Zhang Han, Dong Yi, and Sima Xin, were originally Qin generals, but they surrendered Xiang Yu without concealing their subordinates, resulting in more than 200,000 people killed by the Xin'an Qin army, so the Qin people hated these three people to the bone. And when you entered Xianyang, Qiu did not commit any crime, abolished the Qin harsh torture law, and made a covenant with the Qin people in three chapters, and the people of the Qin state wanted to support you as the king of Guanzhong. Now the great king has raised troops to the east and attacked the land of the Three Qins, and he will definitely succeed in a battle. ”
The image of Liu Bang in the TV series "Chu-Han Battle for Hegemony"
Third, the defeat of Pengcheng
After listening to Han Xin's words, Liu Bang only felt that it was too late to see each other, so he decisively led the Han army out of the customs, raised the banner of the rebel army to subdue the three Qins and Wei Han lands in Guanzhong successively, and united with Tian Rong the King of Qi and Zhao Xie the King of Zhao to fight Xiang Yu.
In May, Liu Bang took advantage of Xiang Yu's Chu army to fall deep into the Qi state, and led a coalition of princes with an army of 560,000 to capture Pengcheng, the capital of the Chu state.
But this great victory also made Liu Bang lose his mind, get carried away, and put on a banquet every day to celebrate with the princes. And Xiang Yu heard that the capital was captured, and that night he hurriedly led 30,000 cavalry back to Pengcheng, at this time the coalition army was defenseless, and was still immersed in the joy of victory, as a result, the drunken dream of the coalition soldiers under the charge of the elite cavalry of the Chu State, no less than 200,000 were killed and drowned, Liu Bang only led dozens of cavalry to escape, and the anti-Chu alliance led by the King of Han collapsed.
In June, Liu Bang retreated to Xingyang, collecting the remnants along the way, and Han Xin and Guan Ying, who came to reinforce, sniped the pursuing soldiers of the Chu state, and Liu Bang was able to breathe.
This defeat let Liu Bang know how powerful Xiang Yu was, so under the advice of many advisers around him, he decided on a countermeasure to fight a protracted war with Xiang Yu based on Guanzhong .
On the one hand, Han Xin was sent to lead his army north to occupy the vast land north of the Yellow River; On the other hand, with heavy gold and the promise of knighthood, he persuaded Yingbu and Peng Yue under Xiang Yu to surrender and carry out attacks and disturbances behind enemy lines.
Soon after Xiang Yu launched a winter counterattack and besieged Xingyang, Liu Bang adopted Chen Ping's suggestion to use counter-tactics to make Xiang Yu no longer trust his only adviser, Fan Zeng, and at the same time sent Ji Xin, who was similar in shape to himself, to go out of the city and take the opportunity to escape from Xingyang again.
At this time, Liu Bang's strategic advantages in "luring the enemy deep" in protracted warfare and multi-front operations began to manifest, Han Xin subdued Wei Qi and other places, unified the north, Pengyue and Yingbu's attack and disturbance behind enemy lines forced Xiang Yu, who was bound to fight back, to return help, and Guan Ying took the time to attack Pengcheng once, causing Xiang Yu to suffer from the enemy and exhaust his soldiers.
Fourth, the divide is the boundary
In October 203 BC, Xiang Yu, who had not been unarmoured for several months, was forced to sign an alliance with Liu Bang, bounded by a chasm, dividing the world in the middle, returning to Chu in the east, returning to Han in the west, and leading his troops to the east.
There is also a story here that Liu Bang and Xiang Yu's army were stationed on the east and west sides of the chasm, and Liu Bang's father Liu Taigong and his wife Lü Xi both fell into Xiang Yu's hands when Xingyang broke through earlier.
Xiang Yu never used intrigue, but the current situation also taught him to coercion, so Xiang Yu tied Liu Taigong and Lu Xi to a cross, put a large cauldron in front of him, and shouted to Liu Bang across the chasm: "If you don't surrender today, I will cook your father and your wife!" ”
Liu Bang received coercion from his relatives and couldn't help but be a little nervous, although he is not short of women now, but after all, his father is in the hands of others, and Lu Xi is also his right wife, and "strategic abandonment" is not appropriate for both public and private.
So Liu Bang was in a hurry, and he pretended not to care, and said: "Brother Xiang, when I want to be an uprising, you and I have sworn to worship brothers and swear to fight against Qin. Since it is a brother, then my father is your father, if you cook our father today, then I also recognize it, but remember to share my bowl of meat soup! ”
Upon hearing this, Xiang Yu scolded Liu Bang for being shameless, and his father could eat it, but in the end he still didn't start, after all, this is not his style of Chu Overlord. Anyway, don't kill, people have to supply rice every day if they stay, the key is that Lu Hen still seduces himself from time to time, thinking of this, Xiang Yu was hesitant, and simply released the two hostages.
When his father and wife returned, Liu Bang had no worries, so he immediately tore up the covenant and ordered an all-out pursuit of the retreating Chu army to the east.
5. Ten ambushes
In January 202 BC, Liu Bang, Han Xin, Peng Yue, Yingbu and other Han armies, totaling 700,000, fought against 100,000 Chu troops who had been tired from fighting for a long time. Han Xin commanded the coalition army to attack, using the tactic of luring the enemy deep, the front army was defeated first, and when the main force of the Chu army was in full pursuit, he ordered the Han army on the left and right wings to outflank and attack, splitting the rear army and the knights of Xiang Yu's former army in half. The Chu army was cut off from combat strength, tired from a long battle, and finally defeated, with more than 40,000 killed, 20,000 captured, 20,000 scattered, and less than 20,000 wounded soldiers returned to the battle with Xiang Yu.
The Chu army had no choice but to retreat into the fortress and hold on, but was surrounded by the Han army and exhausted. Han Xin ordered the Han sergeant to sing Chu songs at night, causing the Chu sergeant to be homesick and tired of war, and the army's heart collapsed, and Xiang Yu could only lead 800 people to break through to Wujiang, at which time only 28 horses remained around Xiang Yu.
An old man on a ferry by the Wujiang River was willing to take Xiang Yu to flee to Jiangdong to revive his hegemony, but Xiang Yu refused, because he fell to this point, "no face to see Jiangdong's father again". So Xiang Yu took 28 horses to fight the Han army, and finally the whole army was destroyed, Xiang Yu did not want to be captured and humiliated, so he killed himself in Wujiang.
The image of Liu Bang in his later years in the TV series "The Legend of Chu and Han"
On February 28, 202 BC, Liu Bang held an enthronement ceremony in Dingtao, Shandong, and named the state as Han, for Emperor Gao. After Liu Bang became emperor, Queen Lü Hen was crowned empress, and crown prince Liu Ying was crowned crown prince. Liu Bang initially set his capital at Luoyang, and later, according to Lou Jing's suggestion, he made his capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), east of Xianyang, taking the meaning of long-term peace and stability.
The beginning of the foundation was called the Western Han Dynasty.