In April 206 BC, after the matter of dividing the princes of the Eighteen Roads was completed, Xiang Yu and the princes joined forces to quit the army and went to their respective countries.
At that time, the contrast in strength between Chu and Han was very large. As Xiao He analyzed, if Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought immediately at that time, "everyone is like a hundred battles and a hundred defeats", there is no chance of winning at all.
However, just a year later, Liu Bang had grown rapidly and even captured Pengcheng in one fell swoop. Xiang Yu forced to "win more with less" again.
In just 1 year, Chu Han's strength has undergone a fundamental reversal!
Moreover, during the whole process, until Xiang Yu staged the miracle of Pengcheng's "winning more with less", Xiang Yu basically did not interfere with Liu Bang's growth!
What's going on?
四月-正月：“佛系”的项羽
Xiang Yu divided the princes, and many people said that it was "unfair".
In fact, no matter whether you get a fair share or not, as long as it is the distribution of benefits, there will definitely be people who are not satisfied! And if the stakeholders have guns in their hands, then they will definitely have to make trouble, and they will have to use the barrel of the gun to "redistribute."
Therefore, Xiang Yu had just finished dividing the seal, and the world was immediately chaotic again!
The first thing to mess up is the land of Sanqi!
Xiang Yu divided Qi into three and sealed the King of Qi, the King of Jiaodong, and the King of Jibei, but Tian Rong, the real power figure of Qi, did not cooperate with Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu all the time, and did not enter the customs with Xiang Yu, so Xiang Yu did not have his share in dividing the princes.
Tian Rong naturally didn't do it!
After learning the news, Tian Rong immediately set up troops!
In May, Tian Rong defeated Tiandu, the king of Qi, and Tian Du fled to Chu, and Tian Rong took the city of Wangtian in Jiaodong hostage and forbade him to go to Jiaodong.
However, Tian Shi was afraid of Xiang Yu, so he secretly migrated to Jimo, the capital of Jiaodong Kingdom, and as a result, Tian Rong chased and killed Tian Shi and established himself as the king of Qi.
Immediately, Tian Rong united with Peng Yue, who was also dissatisfied with Xiang Yu's separation, and asked Peng Yue to attack Jibeiguo.
In July, Peng Yue killed the king of Jibei!
In this way, in less than three months, Tian Rong pacified the land of Sanqi!
At the same time, Yan and Zhao in the north are also in chaos!
King Yan was originally Han Guang, but when Xiang Yu divided the princes, he changed Han Guang to the king of Liaodong, and Zang Tu was the king of Yan!
In this way, of course, Han Guang did not do it, did not obey the assignment, and sent troops to refuse Zang Di.
As a result, after a few months, in August, Zang Di killed Han Guang and annexed the Liaodong Kingdom.
In Zhao Di, the original Zhao Wang Xie was renamed the acting king, Zhang Er was the king of Changshan, and Chen Yu, who had similar contributions to Zhang Er, only became the marquis of the three counties of Nanpi.
Chen Yu was not happy, so he supported Zhao Xie, asked Tian Rong for help, and with Tian Rong's support, defeated Zhang Er and annexed Changshan Kingdom! Immediately, Zhao Xie continued to be the king of Zhao, and Chen Yu became the acting king! However, Chen Yu was both the acting king and Zhao Xiang, and if he continued to stay by Zhao Xie's side, it was equivalent to that the power of Dai and Zhao Shi was in the hands of Chen Yu!
Of course, the biggest change comes from Liu Bang!
In August, Liu Bang launched the operation of "returning the three Qins".
Although Zhang Han later persisted in the waste hill for ten months, Liu Bang basically pacified most of the Guanzhong area and controlled some areas of the Kanto region in less than a month!
It can be said that in the four months from May to October, the world has become a pot of porridge!
At this time, Xiang Yu, as the overlord of Western Chu, that is, the "uncle" of the princes, has the responsibility to take care of it! What's more, whether it is Tian Rong's activities in Qidi or Liu Bang's return to Sanqin, the change in the situation is extremely unfavorable to Xiang Yu, and out of vital interests, Xiang Yu should also "take care of it"!
However, Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, has been very "Buddhist" in these months!
For these turmoil, Xiang Yu only did two things.
The first was when Peng Yue attacked Chudi. That is, when Peng Yue had already hit your Western Chu country, Xiang Yu sent an unknown Xiao Gongjiao to fight Peng Yue, and after Xiao Gongjiao was defeated by Peng Yue, Xiang Yu didn't follow up and didn't care.
The second thing is that after Liu Bang pacified the Three Qins, when he went out of Wuguan and entered Nanyang to unite with Wang Ling, Xiang Yu "sent troops to Yangxia", which was meaningful, but there was no more action.
Other than that, Xiang Yu didn't react at all.
Xiang Yu, why is he so "Buddhist"?
The Cause of "Buddhism": Consolidating the "Situation"
In the past ten months, the reason why Xiang Yu was "Buddha" was because Xiang Yu himself had an order for things, and he thought that there were more important things to do.
In Xiang Yu's view, there are two more important and urgent things to do.
1. Solve the problem of "righteous emperor".
At this time, in terms of title, Xiang Yu is the "overlord", that is, the "uncle" of the princes, and his status is higher than that of ordinary princes and kings.
However, in terms of name, he still has the "Righteous Emperor" and "the co-lord of the world" on his head.
Moreover, the relationship between this "boss" and Xiang Yu is still very tense!
This "righteous emperor" was originally established by Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang. However, King Huai had some political skills and was unwilling to be a puppet, so after Xiang Liangzhan died, he took back his power and suppressed Xiang Yu for a long time.
At the beginning, the "Righteous Emperor" agreed with the generals that "the first to enter the customs is the king". Xiang Yu also wanted to lead the army directly into Guanzhong, but the "Emperor Yi" did not allow it, and let Xiang Yu follow Song Yi as a second general, which was tantamount to depriving Xiang Yu of the opportunity to be "king".
Later, Xiang Yu killed Song Yi, seized military power, Julu broke Qin, shocked the world, after entering the customs, Xiang Yu's "Hongmen Banquet" subdued Liu Bang, and wanted to discuss with the "Emperor Yi", trying to deny the agreement of "the first to enter the customs first" through King Huai's affirmation of his special achievements in destroying Qin, King Huai replied coldly "as promised"!
Obviously, having such a "co-master" on his head who always works against him is very unfavorable to Xiang Yu.
Therefore, solving the problem of "Emperor Yi" is regarded by Xiang Yu as a top priority and an urgent task.
However, the "Righteous Emperor" is the "Righteous Emperor" after all, and Xiang Yu can't kill him directly!
So, Xiang Yu first used the excuse of "the emperor of the ancients, the place is thousands of miles, and he must live upstream", and let King Huai migrate from Pengcheng to Chenzhou, Hunan.
Immediately, when many people around the "Emperor Yi" left, Xiang Yu ordered Yingbu, the king of Jiujiang, Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan, and the king of Linjiang to attack and kill the Emperor Yi in the river!
In order to kill the "Righteous Emperor", Xiang Yu carefully worked on it for several months, but as a result, he still couldn't get around the notoriety of "killing the Righteous Emperor", which was a time-consuming and laborious operation with poor results!
2. Control South Korea.
While solving the problem of the "righteous emperor", Xiang Yu was also carefully handling the problem of South Korea.
Han, the "throat of the world", is in a critical position.
Han Wangcheng was established by Xiang Liang, but Han Wangcheng, especially Han Xiang Zhang Liang, had a close relationship with Liu Bang.
Therefore, Xiang Yu is not good at directly abolishing Han Wangcheng established by his uncle, and he is not at ease to let him control Han Land!
Xiang Yu first refused to let Han Wangcheng go to the country, brought the family back to Pengcheng, and then, in July, directly killed Han Wangcheng, and in August, he set up the former Wu County to order Zheng Chang to be the king of Han!
Twists and turns, the result is tragic
In ten months, Xiang Yu mainly did these two things.
Whether it is to solve the "Emperor Yi" or to solve the King of Han, Xiang Yu's methods are tortuous, and the conspiracy and conspiracy are used together, which can be regarded as cautious.
However, the result was tragic.
1. He used all his yang plots to kill the "righteous emperor", but he still couldn't escape the notoriety.
To deal with the "Emperor of the Righteousness", Xiang Yu first used the "Yang conspiracy" of "the Emperor of the Ancients, the place is thousands of miles, and he must live upstream" to expel the people to remote areas, and then he "ordered" Yingbu and others to engage in a "conspiracy" to kill the Emperor Yi.
Twists and turns, going around and around, it's just that you want to kill people, and you don't want to bear the notoriety!
However, the result was tragic: everyone knew that it was you Xiang Yu who killed the "righteous emperor", and this later became Liu Bang's "morality"!
2, Yingbu and others were not "bound" to Xiang Yu.
In terms of strength, the "Righteous Emperor" is very weak, and it is easy for any king to kill him.
However, Xiang Yu gave the three princes the task of killing the "Righteous Emperor" at the same time, which was nothing more than to "bind" Kali to these people politically!
However, judging from the later results, Yingbu and Wu Rui later fell to Liu Bang, and only the king of Linjiang supported the state of Chu, but it did not play a role.
3, Han was quickly controlled by Liu Bang!
Xiang Yu first set up someone as the king, then took the family back to Pengcheng, and then killed someone else and set up another Chu person as the king of Han.
But no matter what the process is, the result is tragic!
Xiang Yu can set up his own people to be the king of Han, but he can't let him have the strength to sit firmly in South Korea, so Han, the "throat place", was easily controlled by Liu Bang in the end!
In short, the two things that Xiang Yu has done carefully in the past ten months have twists and turns, and they have come and gone, but the results are all rotten.
It seems that no matter how awesome Xiang Yu is at fighting, how much he will be involved in politics.
New Year-May: Break Qi first
In the first month, after solving the problem of the "Yi Emperor" and the King of Han, Xiang Yu slowly began to take action against the situation that had become a pot of porridge.
Xiang Yu's choice is to concentrate his forces first and deal with the Qi country.
This one was done until Liu Bang grew stronger and his Pengcheng was lost!
Even after the loss of Pengcheng, Xiang Yu still left the army to continue to fight in Qi, and only led 30,000 cavalry to counterattack Liu Bang!
It wasn't until Liu Bang was defeated in the Battle of Pengcheng that Xiang Yu turned back and reconciled with Qi!
At the same time, for Liu Bang, Xiang Yu is still very "Buddhist".
When he learned that Liu Bang had made a big move eastward, Xiang Yu still did not make adjustments, and said that "after attacking the cause, I want to break the Han and then attack the Han", or decided to solve the problem first and then turn back to the Han!
At the same time, Xiang Yu only divided a very limited force to deal with Liu Bang.
Xiang Yu only sent some troops in Yangxia in the southwest and Quyu in the west, and asked Long He and Xiang It to guard the Tao, and even Pengcheng did not send heavy troops to guard it!
In this way, Liu Bang developed rapidly, quickly developed and expanded, and attacked Pengcheng in one fell swoop!
It was only at this time that Xiang Yu turned around to deal with Liu Bang!
Xiang Yu, why is Liu Bang so "Buddhist"?
"Ignore" Liu Bang's cause
At the beginning, when he entered the customs, Liu Bang had 100,000 troops, which was the strongest strength except for Xiang Yu;
Xiang Yu divided the princes, let Liu Bang live in the remote Bashu at that time, and used the three Qin generals to occupy Guanzhong, just to blockade and suppress Liu Bang.
In the first month, after Xiang Yu solved the problem of "Emperor Yi", when he decided to use troops, Liu Bang had already "returned the three Qins" and occupied Bashu, Hanzhong, Guanlong and parts of Guandong, and his power had far exceeded that of Tian Rong and others.
Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to say that Xiang Yu "despises" Liu Bang.
So, why did Xiang Yu still "ignore" Liu Bang's threat?
1. Zhang Liang's "misleading".
In the battle of "returning the three Qins", as soon as Liu Bang entered the customs, Zhang Liang wrote to Xiang Yu.
The king of Han was derelict in his duty and wanted to get Guanzhong; ——"Zizhi Tongjian", Volume 1, Han Ji 1.
At the same time, Zhang Liang sent the "anti-book" of Tian Rong and others to Xiang Yu, and said, "Qi wants to destroy Chu with Zhao"!
King Xiang did not have the heart of the Han in the west, and sent troops to the north to attack Qi. - "The History of the Marquis Family"
In short, Liu Bang and Zhang Liang tried everything to "mislead" Xiang Yu.
Of course, Xiang Yu was not so naïve that he was completely fooled by Zhang Liang in a few words.
Xiang Yu naturally has his own considerations.
2. Although Han is strong, it is far away from Western Chushang, and it seems that Xiang Yu cannot be threatened for the time being.
Although Liu Bang had already occupied a vast territory and had a strong force, at that time, it was still far away from Western Chu.
From a general point of view, the situation at that time was somewhat similar to that of the Warring States, with the middle of Henan King Shenyang, Han King Zheng Chang, Yin King Sima Wei, Western Wei King Wei Bao and others guarding their own places, at least in terms of the situation, Xiang Yu's country, playing a role in shielding Xiang Yu in the west!
Therefore, if Liu Bang wants to go east to the land of Western Chu, it doesn't seem to be too far!
What's more, Zhang Han is still insisting on the waste hill, and Liu Bang wants to go east, and it is not without worries!
3. The threat of Qi and Zhao is more direct.
In contrast, Qi and Zhao's threats seem to be more immediate.
(1) Geographically, Qi, Zhao and Chu are neighbors.
Especially Qi, it is relatively close to Pengcheng.
And Peng Yue, who was supported by Qi, even directly attacked Chu and killed the Chu generals! Moreover, its active area was also the communication artery of Western Chu against Western troops, and if Peng Yue did not remove it, Xiang Yu would also be unfavorable to Western troops!
If Qi, Zhao, and Peng Yue ignore it and go west directly, they will be attacked by the enemy on their backs, and the situation will be unfavorable!
(2) Politically, Qi seems to be the "anti-Chu" leader.
Tian Rong used the land of Sanqi to oppose Chu, and supported Peng Yue and Chen Yu, and at the same time, there was also an "anti-book" to contact Liu Bang, it seems that Tian Rong is the leader of the anti-Chu!
4. Qi is easier to break.
At the same time, whether it is Tian Rong, Peng Yue, or Tian Yu, their strength is far weaker than Liu Bang.
Moreover, Tian Rong initially decided on the land of Sanqi, Peng Yue had no foundation, and there were not too many dangers to rely on in the terrain, so it was possible to make significant progress in the short term in the use of troops against it!
On the contrary, the Han Dynasty has "returned the Three Qins", and the Hangu Pass and Wuguan are already in the hands of the Han Dynasty, and there is no condition for a quick victory with the use of troops against them!
Therefore, first fight to destroy Qi, solve the problem of abdomen and back, and then concentrate on Liu Bang, in line with the principle of "weak first and then strong"!
Why "miscalculation"?
In this case, why did Xiang Yu still "miscalculate"?
As before, this time, Xiang Yu is still "miscalculated" in politics!
1. The thunder is broken, but it has been delayed for a long time because of political mistakes!
Indeed, Xiang Yu quickly achieved a major victory in the use of troops against Peng Yue and Tian Rong!
Xiang Yu led his army north and quickly expelled Peng Yue.
Subsequently, in Chengyang, Xiang Yu broke the combined forces of Tian Rong and Peng Yue; Peng Yue led the remnants of his army to retreat between Juyeze and Jishui, and temporarily withdrew; Tian Rong did not dare to return to Linzi under Xiang Yu's close pursuit, and fled all the way north, as a result, all the troops were scattered!
When Tian Rong fled to the plains, the local people rose up and killed Tian Rong! So, Xiang Yu re-established Tian as the king of Qi!
At this time, Xiang Yu had actually won a decisive victory! The rest of the matter could be left to Tian Jiao to solve by political means!
In order to take revenge on Tian Rong, Xiang Yu marched into Beihai again, and along the way, "Shaoyi Qicheng Guo Chamber, all of them pitted Tian Rong and died, and captured his old and weak women."
In this case, both Xiang Yu and Xiang Yu's Tian Jiao have aroused the hatred of the people of Qidi!
Tian Rong's younger brother Tian Heng took the opportunity to collect stragglers, raised troops again, and defeated Tian Jiao!
Immediately, Xiang Yu made another mistake: kill Tian Jiao!
As a result, Tian Rong's son Tian Guang was proclaimed as the king of Qi by Tian Heng and others, and resolutely resisted Xiang Yu!
At this time, because Qi people hated Xiang Yu, it was natural for Xiang Yu to delay his time and not be able to calm Qi Land!
2. Liu Bang developed rapidly by political means!
On the other hand, Liu Bang relied on political means to develop rapidly!
Liu Bang first used excellent political means to benefit the people, and further won the support of the Qin people in Guanzhong, so that the once powerful war machine of the old Qin State was owned by Liu Bang!
Immediately, Liu Bang subdued King Shenyang of Henan by means of a combination of military deterrence + political inducement and changed it to Henan County. He also attacked Korea with the grandson of King Han Xiang during the Warring States Period (Han Wangxin, not the genius who endured the "humiliation of the crotch"), and forced the landing of Han King Zheng Chang! Subsequently, Wei Bao, the king of Western Wei, was also forced to join the Han in a similar way, while Yin Shang Sima Wei was weak and was defeated and captured!
In this way, Henan, Hedong, and Hanoi all returned to Han in a very short time!
Immediately, Liu Bang created public opinion again, played the banner of revenge for the "righteous emperor", won the widespread support of the princes, and quickly isolated Xiang Yu politically and diplomatically!
Finally, in April, Liu Bang led the alliance of princes to send troops, and in less than a month, they attacked Pengcheng!
It can be said that Liu Bang has advanced by leaps and bounds, not by his ability to use soldiers, but by his political talent!
And Xiang Yu's troops are all together, not to underestimate his military genius, but to "miscalculate" in politics!
Political differences, the situation is reversed in an instant!
A major mistake that cannot be reversed by military miracles alone
After that, Xiang Yu once again showed his military genius, with 30,000 fine cavalry, he broke Liu Bangjun, who claimed to be 560,000, in Pengcheng!
Subsequently, Xiang Yu recovered Chu and suppressed Liu Bang, so to speak, relying on his military genius to make up for his mistakes to a certain extent!
However, this military miracle still cannot fundamentally make up for the strategic mistakes made in the early stage of the war!
A year ago, it was almost easy for Xiang Yu to eliminate Liu Bang!
However, at this time, Xiang Yu was actually at a disadvantage.
1. Liu Bang's strength has grown explosively, and he has an advantage in the economy and military resources!
Although the battle of Pengcheng suffered heavy losses, Liu Bang had firmly controlled the area of the old Qin State in Guanzhong after all!
The supplies and soldiers in Guanzhong were continuously transported to the front line, and Liu Bang was always "revived" after the defeat!
2. Most of the world's beautiful places are controlled by Liu Bang!
After the defeat of Pengcheng, Liu Bang stopped after retreating to the front line of Chenggao and Xingyang, and stabilized the front!
In this way, although Xiang Yu is strong and Chu soldiers are brave, it is difficult to break through in front of the strategic barrier!
Although Xiang Yu can still suppress Liu Bang with his elite troops and the power of the overlord, but, as Sui He said when Yingbu returned, "Therefore, Chu is not as good as Han, and its momentum is easy to see", Xiang Yu's strength no longer has any advantage, and he has fallen into passivity strategically!
Xiang Yu can always "win more with less", this is his ability, and it is a manifestation of his military genius!
However, always trying to "fight more with less" is a serious problem in terms of strategy and politics!
Tactical excellence can't make up for strategic mistakes!
The Chu-Han War, in which Chu defeated and Han won, is the most typical example!
History has proven this countless times and will continue to prove it!