Preface
There are two very controversial characters in Chinese history, one is Xiang Yu and the other is Cao Cao. They were all heroes who rebelled in the last years of the troubled times, but they adopted different methods for how to deal with the original emperor.
Cao Cao's choice of method was to blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes, while Xiang Yu chose to kill the original emperor, both of which also reflected their different personalities and understanding of the regime.
Eliminate the threat of other competitors
There are many evaluations of Xiang Yu in history, but one of the most accurate is that Xiang Yu is the god of war, as long as he is on the battlefield, he has always shown a heroic state.
But such a person must have shortcomings, and Xiang Yu's shortcomings lie in his lack of strategy, including his choice to kill the original emperor, which is one of the reasons for his failure.
Why do you evaluate Xiang Yu like this, it is because he killed the original emperor that he gave Liu Bang an excuse to raise troops, which can benefit nearly 600,000 troops to crusade against Xiang Yu.
But after so much history, today we look at Xiang Yu's choice at that time, and choose to kill the original emperor, is it really a wrong thing.
In fact, it can be analyzed from the historical background at that time and the overall form of war, before Xiang Yu launched the uprising, the world was already in chaos, and there was no very centralized regime.
And Xiang Yu's purpose is to be able to unify the world and compete for hegemony, as such an ambitious person, he has no son of heaven to hold hostage at this moment.
The Son of Heaven mentioned here corresponds to Cao Cao's holding of the Son of Heaven hostage, because the power of the princes in the world is evenly divided and there is no centralized power, so Cao Cao's method is not applicable to Xiang Yu.
From this method, Xiang Yu's killing of Emperor Chu Yi at that time was actually an inevitable choice, because in his eyes, Emperor Chu Yi represented his competitors, not kings.
If Xiang Yu wants to achieve the status of the overlord of the world, then he must eliminate all other competitors.
Therefore, for Xiang Yu at that time, the existence of Emperor Chu Yi could only be one of the hidden dangers that threatened his future unification, not an opponent that could be exploited.
Choosing to kill Emperor Chu Yi was actually a military method adopted by Xiang Yu in order to make his rule more centralized and his power to a higher level.
In this situation, Xiang Yu did not leave a way back for himself like others, which was actually one of his most serious hidden dangers at that time.
Differences in philosophy
In addition, Xiang Yu and Cao Cao's own personalities, as well as the political ideas they uphold, are actually different, which is also the reason why they choose different methods.
First of all, let's talk about Cao Cao, what kind of person is Cao Cao, he is actually a person who is very good at doing some things to seek power, and all kinds of political struggles are what Cao Cao is best at.
Cao Cao hoped that the world he ruled was also a world that was stable and could have long-term development, so Cao Cao chose to coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes.
Through this method, it is actually an option for Cao Cao to increase his weight, and he hopes that his influence can become bigger and bigger.
The fact is indeed as Cao Cao thought, through this ingenious way, he not only stabilized his position in the court, but also made the world think that Cao Cao was orthodox.
By manipulating the various choices of the Son of Heaven, Cao Cao was also able to achieve it more easily and easily, and control the situation of the entire country at that time was one of his foundations.
But this point doesn't make sense for Xiang Yu, first of all, what Xiang Yu wants is not to take all the world into his own hands, what he advocates has always been the Chu and Han division system.
In Xiang Yu's eyes, only Chu Di is his own territory, so what he wants is to overthrow other people's rule to complete the consolidation of his own power.
In this case, the emperor who existed in Chu was a very dangerous person for Xiang Yu, and all the strategies he could adopt were to get rid of this person with a high probability.
This method is to avoid internal opinion splits in this place of Chudi, and it can also better help Xiang Yu to control Chudi.
And compared to Cao Cao, Xiang Yu has always been a more radical person, and the method he thinks of is not to be thoughtful through strategy, but to directly use force to unify the world.
Killing Emperor Chu Yi at that time, for Xiang Yu, was actually a way to show his majesty, and it could also make other princes be intimidated by Xiang Yu's strength.
This is actually the biggest difference, after all, in the process of unifying the Central Plains, Cao Cao's enemies were actually other princes, not the Son of Heaven.
But Xiang Yu is the opposite, in the process of opposing the Han, the enemy he faced was actually the army and rule of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, Xiang Yu very much needs to grasp the power of the land where he is located, only in this way can he ensure his rule and be more deterrent.
After all, Xiang Yu is a wealthy hero born in Chudi, he does not have inferiority complex, and he has a very deep affection for his location.
What Xiang Yu wanted to achieve was actually the hope that Emperor Chu would achieve true independence and self-improvement without the interference of any other external factors, which was his pursuit of his hometown emotion and personal heroism.
And in the past history, Xiang Yu's rule in Chu was not all smooth sailing, and there were many people within Chu who were actually rebelling against him, so Xiang Yu urgently needed to remove these pressures.
In this one, Emperor Chu Yi is actually the main source of pressure for Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu will of course be willing to remove this internal resistance.
Maybe for Xiang Yu, what he wants to ensure is his absolute dominance, and only in this way can he fight against the outside world.
And the character of Emperor Chu Yi is likely to become a tool for the Han Dynasty to deal with Chu, which will affect Xiang Yu's sphere of influence, and Xiang Yu's personal heroism is very serious, so he will choose to kill the other party.
If it comes to a more critical moment, Xiang Yu has always taken radical measures to protect his self-esteem, including his final choice to commit suicide, which is actually the inevitable result of his character.
Simply looking at the two people who are dealing with Xiang Yu and Cao Cao, they have different attitudes towards the issue of the Son of Heaven at that time, and this attitude reflects their personality and strategy.
Of course, these two are very famous heroes in history, and their different political philosophies also laid the groundwork for their future and doomed their results.
Xiang Yu understands the essence of political power
So, in Xiang Yu's heart, what kind of power does he understand the regime, Xiang Yu believes that the essence of the regime is not how high morality it is, but its own control over the other party.
In Xiang Yu's understanding, as long as you have control over a place, you have grasped the core of this place.
From this point of view, Xiang Yu's choice to kill Emperor Chu Yi is actually very understandable, because what he wants to control is the symbol of the regime represented by Emperor Chu Yi, and he hopes that he is the patron saint of Chu.
However, in history, there has been controversy about Xiang Yu's approach, some people think that Xiang Yu's decision to kill the other party directly is too cold-blooded, and others think that it may have destroyed the foundation of the dynasty established by Xiang Yu.
But for Xiang Yu, he himself is very clear that the actual power he wants to control must be firmly held in his own hands, even if there is a symbolic authority interference, Xiang Yu will get rid of this.
What Xiang Yu wants is to keep the power in his own hands, so as to maintain the stability of the right, which has a causal relationship.
In fact, in history, Xiang Yu was not unfamiliar with Cao Cao's method of doing things, but Xiang Yu did not choose to use this method.
Because Xiang Yu himself was not an official under Emperor Chu Yi, in his heart, he had no respect or loyalty to Emperor Chu Yi.
epilogue
Xiang Yu wanted to kill Emperor Chu Yi, not only to maintain his authority in the war, but also to eliminate hidden dangers for his future rule.
Although this decision is controversial, it can also reflect Xiang Yu's ambition as a hero and his willingness to use all means to achieve his goals.