If we take a closer look at the history of the founding of the Han Dynasty, we will find that the vast majority of those who contributed the most to the founding of the Han Dynasty were actually not from Peixian.
Of course, many of these heroes who were not from Pei County were later crowned kings. And the result of the king is that they basically have a difficult death, and they are all killed by Liu Bang.
As for who were the 10 heroes who made the greatest contributions during the founding period of the Han Dynasty? Especially when it comes to rankings, it's even harder to draw conclusions.
But there are some particularly important figures, and their selection must be beyond doubt.
First of all, those who can be ranked in the top three are definitely the famous "Three Masters of the Early Han Dynasty", that is, Xiao He, Zhang Liang and Han Xin.
Let's talk about Xiao He first.
Xiao He joined Liu Bang's group at the earliest, and before Liu Bang raised his army, he was Liu Bang's superior. When Liu Bang had just revolted, Xiao He almost became the leader of this rebel army.
In the process of Liu Bang Group's capture of the world, Xiao He's main contributions are about three. First, he has been in charge of logistics work for a long time, and it is precisely because of Xiao He's excellent logistics ability that Liu Bang can fight on the front line without any scruples, without worrying about the stability of the rear.
Second, when the rebel army entered Xianyang, Xiao He took over the National Library and Archives of the Qin Dynasty as soon as possible, and took away most of the documents and household registration materials of the Central Committee of the Qin Dynasty. This choice was crucial in the later Chu-Han War. It was precisely because Xiao He took these materials that after Liu Bangqi attacked Guanzhong, he was able to quickly restore his rule and have a stable basic disk.
As for the third contribution, it is probably the recommendation of talents. The most famous talent recommended by Xiao He is naturally Han Xin. But in addition to Han Xin, Xiao He actually flew many other talents. And these talents later became the beginning of the Han Dynasty's 'Wenzhi'.
If there is no Xiao He, Liu Bang wants to confront Xiang Yu on the front line, I am afraid it will be completely unrealistic.
And then there's Han Shin.
Han Xin's contribution will certainly be obvious to future generations. In the entire Chu-Han War, Han Xinding three Qin, captured Wei, broke the dynasty, destroyed Zhao, descended Yan, and destroyed Qi, and finally trapped Xiang Yu under the wall.
The general tone of the entire middle of the Chu-Han War was actually Liu Bang's main force dragging Xiang Yu head-on. Then taking advantage of this opportunity, Han Xin swept through the north and took down all the vassal states in the north, so that Liu Bang had an absolute advantage in strength, and then he had the opportunity to finally fight Xiang Yu.
If there is no Han Xin, Liu Bang wants to unify the world, which is undoubtedly a fool's dream. Relying on Liu Bang's own ability alone, it is estimated that at most, he can only divide Guanzhong and Sichuan and occupy the basic territory of the Qin State back then. If you want to completely destroy Xiang Yu, it will be very difficult.
Finally, it is Zhang Liang.
The real Zhang Liang in history was actually the leader of an insurrectionary army at the beginning. Moreover, when Liu Bang was defeated, he took all the troops under his command and defected to Liu Bang, and handed over all the troops to Liu Bang's command.
Therefore, although Zhang Liang joined halfway, he was equivalent to bringing capital into the group.
And then, after joining Liu Bang's camp, Zhang Liang gave Liu Bang a lot of ideas and became Liu Bang's brain. Especially after the Battle of Pengcheng, Zhang Liang helped Liu Bang and formulated the famous 'Xiayi Strategy'. And since then, throughout the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang has been carried out according to Zhang Liang's plan.
Without Zhang Liang, it would be difficult for Liu Bang to complete those wonderful plans, and it would also be difficult to formulate a plan for the next city. Without this plan, Han Xin would not have attacked the north alone at all, and naturally there would have been no later events.
It is precisely because the merits of these three people are too great, so later, after the founding of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang said: In the midst of the strategy, the decisive victory is thousands of miles away, I am not as good as the ovary; Zhenguo cares for the people, gives salaries, and does not stop the grain road, I am not as good as Xiao He; even millions of people, the battle will be won, the attack must be taken, I am not as good as Han Xin. All three are masters, I can use them, and I take the world as well.
So far, the status of the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty is unshakable.
In the ranking of the heroes of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, among the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, who made a greater contribution and who can rank first, I am afraid it is difficult to say. But obviously, the three of them firmly occupy the top three positions, which is indisputable.
Next, after the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, the two heroes followed should be Peng Yue and Yingbu.
These two people firmly occupy the fourth and fifth positions.
Yingbu was originally one of the generals on Xiang Yu's side, and he once followed Xiang Yu and was directly responsible for the operation of 'pitting and killing the Qin army'. In the early days of the Chu-Han War, he was actually a person from Xiang Yu's camp.
But later, after the Xiayi plan was proposed, Liu Bang began to send people to recruit Yingbu with all his might. In addition, Xiang Yu does owe Yingbu a debt, which makes Yingbu very dissatisfied. So in the end, Yingbu directly chose to betray Xiang Yu and switched to Liu Bang's camp.
After Yingbu defected to Liu Bang, it directly attracted a large part of the troops of Xiang Yu's group. Although he was quickly defeated, Yingbu later recaptured the Jiujiang region with the support of Liu Bang. It was precisely because of Yingbu's existence that it was difficult for Xiang Yu to attack Liu Bang with all his strength, so he had to divide a part of his forces to guard against his rear.
Without Yingbu's delay, Xiang Yu would most likely be able to concentrate more forces and attack Liu Bang directly. Once this situation appears, then it may not be possible to say whether Liu Bang can confront Xiang Yu on the front line.
Similar to the role of Yingbu, there is also Peng Yue.
Peng Yue was born as a bandit in his early years and lived by robbing his family. Because of his relatively low background, when the rebel army at the end of Qin entered Guanzhong, he was still only a small force, and he did not have such a strong influence, and he failed to follow Xiang Yu into Guanzhong together.
But after Xiang Yu divided the princes, Peng Yue relied on his own talents and the army under his command to gradually occupy a place. Moreover, because Peng Yue is more capable of fighting, later, his influence is getting bigger and bigger.
After the Chu-Han War began, Peng Yue's existence also became an important part of Zhang Liang's plan to go down. Because the area where Peng Yue is located happens to be behind Xiang Yu's side, the geographical location is very critical.
So later, Liu Bang also spent a huge price to win over Peng Yue.
And after Peng Yue fell to Liu Bang, he also played to his strengths. After that, during the entire Chu-Han War, Peng Yue attacked Xiang Yu's grain route for a long time, which made Xiang Yu very annoying.
Because of Peng Yue's attack, Xiang Yu had to lead his troops back to the division many times to attack Peng Yue. But every time Xiang Yu brought his troops over, Peng Yue would retreat in time.
It was precisely because of Peng Yue's harassment that during the Chu-Han War, Xiang Yu's front-line army often faced the dilemma of insufficient supplies and was unable to attack Liu Bang with all its might.
Therefore, the existence of Yingbu and Peng Yue greatly restrained Xiang Yu and made it impossible for Xiang Yu to attack with all his strength. If it weren't for their involvement, once Xiang Yu concentrated all his main forces, he would attack Liu Bang.
With Liu Bang's combat effectiveness at that time, whether he could block Xiang Yu on the front line of Chenggao is probably unknown. And once Liu Bang is defeated, Liu Bang can only retreat to the area of Hangu Pass. Although it can still hold Guanzhong, it completely exposes Han Xin's flanks. After that, if Han Xin wanted to sweep the north, it would not be more difficult.
It is precisely because Yingbu and Peng Yue contributed more than that, after the founding of the Han Dynasty, they were together with Han Xin and were called the 'Three Great Generals of the Early Han Dynasty'. With the credit of the main force that contained Xiang Yu, these two people ranked fourth and fifth, and there was absolutely no problem.
And further back, in sixth place, I'm afraid it has to be Cao Shen.
After the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, when Liu Bang commented on the heroes of the founding of the country, he did not count those heroes who were crowned kings. For example, Han Xin, Yingbu, and Peng Yue were basically crowned kings at that time, so they were actually not on the list of heroes at that time.
And among all the heroes except for the king, Xiao He is undisputed to be the first. It was not Zhang Liang who followed, but Cao Shen.
Of course, this is not to say that Zhang Liang's credit is not big enough, but that Zhang Liang took the initiative to apply at that time and put his status as far back as possible.
However, even if Zhang Liang is willing to compete for the ranking, Cao Shen's position in the list of heroes is probably only after Xiao He and Zhang Liang, and he can definitely rank third.
During the entire Chu-Han War, Cao Shen probably had two important contributions. First of all, he is the only handsome talent among the heroes from Peixian! Except for Cao Shen, the rest of Fan Xu, Zhou Bo and others are basically generals. It's okay to take the lead in the charge, but it's not enough to command thousands of troops to stand alone.
It is precisely because of this trait that from a very early age, Liu Bang began to let Cao Shen lead the troops alone. During the Chu-Han War, Cao Shen followed Han Xin to the north and played the legendary record of 'capturing one hundred and twenty-two counties in two countries'.
Secondly, in addition to his military exploits, Cao Shen actually had a particularly important credit, that is, supervising Han Xin.
Because at that time, Cao Shen went north with Han Xin, and he had a heavy army. Therefore, his existence has formed a deterrent to Han Xin to a large extent. This directly led to the fact that after Han Xin became bigger, he did not dare to be independent directly, and he was divided into three parts of the world with Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. Because once Han Xin really dares to establish himself as the king, Cao Shen will definitely attack him at the first time.
These two contributions are enough to keep Cao Shen firmly in sixth place. In particular, the deterrence of Han Xin directly determined the direction of that period of history.
The above six heroes are basically in the top six without dispute. Perhaps, there is some controversy about their previous rankings of each other. But the contribution of these six people to the founding of the Han Dynasty is definitely far more than others.
However, further on, there is a lot of controversy about the rankings of others.
From seventh to tenth, the four most powerful contenders for these four places should be: Li Shang, Zhang Er, Lu Ze and Chen Ping.
Among these four people, Li Shang once commanded an independent armed force during the late Qin uprising. Later, after Liu Bang rose, he decisively took refuge in Liu Bang. So he, like Zhang Liang, belongs to the group with capital.
During the Chu-Han War, Li Shang also participated in most of the wars, and competed with Xiang Yu's general Zhong Liwu for a long time.
In terms of military exploits alone, Li Shang may be slightly inferior to Cao Shen, but compared with other generals, he is still far superior to others.
In addition to his military exploits, Li Shang actually had one of the most important contributions, that is, the capture of Hanzhong.
After Liu Bang took the lead in attacking Guanzhong, the army under Liu Bang was actually divided into two routes. followed Liu Bang all the way and killed Xianyang. The other way was led by Li Shang and directly captured Hanzhong. It was precisely because Li Shang captured Hanzhong that Liu Bang had a stable rear. So later, during the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang had a lot of extra chips, which directly caused Xiang Yu not to dare to kill him easily.
If it wasn't for the efforts of Li Shang at that time, maybe Liu Bang would have been killed directly by Xiang Yu during the Hongmen Banquet.
And the next Zhang Er, the situation is more special. Zhang Er and Liu Bang were friends in his early years, and in the melee at the end of the Qin Dynasty, he was originally a hero. When Xiang Yu divided the princes of the Eighteen Roads, he also made him the king of Changshan.
However, Zhang Er's own ability was limited, and he was directly defeated by another hero, Chen Yu. After this, Zhang Er had to lead the remnants of his command and completely surrendered to Liu Bang. After that, relying on Liu Bang's support, he and Han Xin swept through the north.
Of course, in the process of sweeping the north, it was Han Xin and Cao Shen who played a major role. As for Zhang Er, his most important contribution should be to rely on his prestige to allow the Han army to quickly establish a ruling foundation in the north.
However, Zhang Er died relatively early. He died before the Battle of the Fortress began. But as a prince and king, he directly surrendered to Liu Bang, and this contribution was enough to make him rank in the top ten.
In the future, many people may not have heard of the name Lu Ze. And in the official history, there are not many records about him.
But this is not because he is not important, but because many accounts of him have since been erased.
Lu Ze's identity is special, he is the eldest brother of Empress Lu. When Liu Bang had just started his army, Lu Ze represented the Lu family and directly led people to join Liu Bang's command. Since then, during the entire Chu-Han War, Lu Ze has hardly been idle, and he has been present in most important battles.
In addition to these regular contributions, Lu Ze's most important contributions are probably two.
First, after the end of the Battle of Pengcheng, Lu Ze gathered the remnants of the army as soon as possible and retreated to Xiayi, which gave Liu Bang and Zhang Liang time to have a meeting. If Lu Ze hadn't gathered the remnants in time at that time, Liu Bang would probably have to retreat to Hangu Pass all the way in order to stabilize his position again.
As for the other contribution, it is more obscure. If we take a closer look at the resumes of the founding generals of the Western Han Dynasty, we will find that many of the founding generals were once subordinates of Lu Ze or had worked under Lu Ze.
Therefore, Lu Ze, as Liu Bang's eldest brother, not only fought a lot of battles, but also gathered a lot of talents for Liu Bang, and this contribution is also quite huge.
But it's a pity that later, the Lu family was directly killed because of rebellion. So much so that most of the later records about Lu Ze were all erased. This led to Lu Ze's contribution, which later generations knew more vaguely.
But even so, just stabilizing his position in Xiayi and helping Liu Bang cultivate talents, these two contributions are enough to make Lu Ze rank in the top ten.
As for the last Chen Ping, everyone is more familiar with it.
As a well-known poisoner in history, Chen Ping made six strange plans during the Chu-Han War and killed Xiang Yu's most important strategist, Fan Zeng. If it weren't for Chen Ping's clever plan, Liu Bang wanted to completely solve Xiang Yu, maybe it was possible, but it would definitely take a lot of effort.
Relying on those clever schemes, it seems natural that Chen Ping ranked in the top ten.
In short, Li Shang, Zhang Er, Lu Ze, and Chen Ping are fully qualified to be ranked in the top ten list. However, compared to the previous six, their position is not so solid.
After all, in addition to the four of them, many other founding heroes have also made great contributions. For example, Fan Xu, Zhou Bo, Xiahou Ying, Guan Ying and others, they are all members of Fengpei Group, without their support, Liu Bang would not have been able to start a business. And during the Chu-Han War, the exploits of each of them should not be underestimated. They are also fully qualified to compete for a place in the top 10.
The above are basically candidates who are qualified to compete for the top ten heroes of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty. At the top of the rankings, there is basically no controversy. At the bottom of the rankings may be controversial, but the contribution is certainly just as great.
And from this list, in fact, we can also see a problem: among these heroes, most of them are actually not from Pei County. Among the people who can rank in the top ten, only Xiao He and Cao Shen are from Pei County. As for the others, they all joined later.
This particular situation can actually illustrate a problem.
Why can Liu Bang win the world?
In the final analysis, he will still employ people! Will unite the masses!
If Liu Bang had been cronyistic since he raised his army, and only used the heroes from Pei County, it would be very difficult for him to seize the world in the end. But it is precisely because Liu Bang can use people and win over allies that in the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang was able to turn the tables step by step against the wind and finally defeat Xiang Yu.
Perhaps, in terms of the ranking of the top ten heroes, future generations will never be able to come to a conclusion that everyone agrees with. But as for Liu Bang's ability to employ people, I am afraid that there will be no controversy in future generations.
Being able to recognize and employ people, and being good at giving full play to the strengths of his subordinates, this may be the most important reason why Liu Bang was able to win the world.