Xiang Yu is a famous military strategist and politician in Chinese history, and he is also the feared overlord of Western Chu. He was known for his bravery, and once led the anti-Qin forces to overthrow the tyrannical Qin Dynasty and divide the princes of the world, but in the end he was defeated by Liu Bang due to strategic mistakes and internal contradictions, and killed himself in Wujiang. His life is full of legends and many touching stories. Let's review Xiang Yu's life.
In 232 BC, Xiang Yu was born into a declining aristocratic family in the state of Chu. He is the grandson of Xiang Yan, a famous general of Chu State, surnamed Xiang, he showed extraordinary strength and talent when he was a teenager, but he didn't like to read and learn swords, and only wanted to learn the art of war and ten thousand enemies. His uncle Xiang Liang fled to Wuzhong because of murder and settled with Xiang Yu.
In 210 B.C., Qin Shi Huang paraded to the meeting, Xiang Yu and Xiang Liang watched the emperor's tour together, Xiang Yu said: "He can take his place." Xiang Liang covered his mouth in horror, but he was also impressed by him.
In 209 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled against Qin in Daze, and in September of the same year, Yin Tong, the commander of Huiji County, wanted to preemptively send troops against Qin, and found Xiang Liang to discuss, but Xiang Liang ordered Xiang Yu to take the opportunity to murder Yin Tong and kill in the county capital. Xiang Liang raised troops in various counties in Wuzhong to revolt against Qin, and obtained 8,000 elite soldiers, commonly known as "8,000 Jiangdong children". Xiang Liang appointed himself as the county guard of Huiji, and Xiang Yu was appointed as a general to lead 8,000 sons to cross the Yangtze River, and the number of subordinate troops of some anti-Qin troops increased to 60,000 or 70,000.
Fan Zeng persuaded Xiang Liang to establish Xiong Xin, a descendant of Chu, as the king, in order to win the hearts of the people of Chu. So Xiang Liang established Xiongxin as the king of Chu and still called him "King Huai of Chu", and called himself Wu Xinjun.
In 208 BC, Xiang Liang made a northern expedition to the Qin army and was killed in the battle of Dingtao when he encountered Zhang Han, the main force of the Qin army. Zhang Han then led the army to attack Zhao State and besieged Zhao Wang Xie in Julu, and King Chu Huai moved the capital to Pengcheng to seal Xiang Yu as the Hou Lu Duke of Chang'an, and agreed with the generals that "the first to enter the Guanzhong is the king", that is, the first to break through the Guanzhong is the king of Guanzhong.
But King Chu Huai did not listen to Fan Zeng's advice to let Xiang Yu attack the fortification, but ordered Liu Bang to order Song Yi to be the general in the storm. Xiang Yu led his troops to Julu to rescue Zhao for the second general, and after the Song Yi army arrived in Anyang, it stopped advancing and stayed in the local area for forty-six days, Xiang Yu suggested that the troops should be marched, but Song Yi did not accept Xiang Yu and killed Song Yi. The generals of the Chu army supported Liyu as the acting general, and Xiang Yu sent Huan Chu to report to King Huai and Wang Huai was forced to appoint Xiang Yu as the general.
Xiang Yu marched into Julu, the Qin army had 200,000 troops from Wang Li's army, and 200,000 from Zhang Han's army stationed on the grain road, and the Chu army only had 50,000 troops, far less than the Qin army. After carefully inspecting the situation, Xiang Yu decided to send General Yingbupu to lead 20,000 Chu troops to cross the Zhanghe River, attack the grain route of the Qin army, make Wang Li's army lack food, and make Zhang Han's army exhausted and able to defeat Wang Li's army.
Xiang Yu then led the rest of the 40,000 Chu troops to cross the river, and ordered his subordinates to smash the cauldron and scuttle the shipwreck after crossing the river (later generations called it "breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat", which means giving up everything), and the whole army only carried three days of dry food, and the rest burned it to show that there was no way to retreat, so as to show that the soldiers would die without returning, and if they were not victorious, they would die without life.
In the end, Xiang Yu won nine battles and nine victories over the Chu army, all of them broke the Qin army of 400,000 with one when ten, and the princes who led the reinforcements at that time only watched the battle, and when Zhang Han led the troops to retreat, the princes' army dared to attack the king's wake, and when Xiang Yu was summoned by the Yuanmen, all the princes knelt down and did not dare to look up, Xiang Yu became the "general of the princes" as the commander of the princes' armies.
In June 207 BC, the Qin general Zhang Han led his troops to surrender to Xiang Yu. In November 207 BC, after the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu continued to march to the Guanzhong Plain, but Liu Bang had already occupied the Qin capital Xianyang in October 207 BC and sent troops to prevent the Chu army from entering the pass at Hangu Pass. The Chu army took Yingbu as the vanguard and broke through the pass, and Liu Bang was afraid that he withdrew from Xianyang and camped on Bashang.
Liu Bang's subordinate Zuo Sima Cao sent someone to Xiang Yu without injury: Pei Gong wants to make the child and baby in the jade pass and have all the treasures. Xiang Yu was furious, when Xiang Yu commanded 400,000 troops and Liu Bang only got 100,000 people, Fan Zeng lobbied Xiang Yu to eradicate Liu Bang Xiang Yu invited Liu Bang to a banquet in Hongmen, Fan Zeng ordered Xiang Zhuang to use the name of performing swordsmanship to assassinate Liu Bang, and later generations called this Xiang Zhuang sword dance intended to Pei Gong.
But Xiang Bo got up to protect Liu Bang, and Zhang Liangming Fan Hao rushed in to lobby Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu let Liu Bang leave safely, and later generations called this banquet "Hongmen Banquet". In 206 BC, after Xiang Yu entered Xianyang, he killed the prince of Qin and burned the fire in the Qin palace room in Xianyang for three months.
At this time, Han Sheng persuaded Xiang Yu to stay in Guanzhong to achieve hegemony, Xiang Yu had no intention of staying in Guanzhong, at that time the Qin Palace was burned and broken and thought of returning to the east, he said: "Wealth does not return to the hometown, such as clothes embroidered at night, who knows", this is the origin of the idiom "return to the hometown" and "brocade night travel". Han Sheng criticized Xiang Yu because Xiang Yu did not stay in Guanzhong: I heard that the people of Chu were like macaques wearing hats, and if this was the case, Xiang Yu was very angry and killed him after hearing about it.
In February 206 B.C., after Xiang Yu pacified Guanzhong, he honored King Huai of Chu as Emperor Yi and divided the princes of the Eighteen Roads, and called himself the overlord of Western Chu to set the capital Pengcheng, and Liu Bang was named the King of Han and distributed Bashu Hanzhong to Liu Bang;