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Text: Carry the lantern forward
Edit|Lanterns move forward
(Source: All content stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is repeated at the end of the article)
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, rebel armies arose in various places, including Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, who also grew in the process of the uprising, and then clashed.
In the Battle of Pengcheng, Liu Bang had 560,000 troops, while Xiang Yu only had 30,000, so why did he fail?
Development process
In 207 BC, after Xiang Yu defeated Zhang Han in the Battle of Julu, he was afraid that Zhao Gao would blame him, so he took refuge in Xiang Yu.
And Xiang Yu also became famous in this war and gained the trust of the princes, and at the same time, Liu Bang also took advantage of Xiang Yu to contain all the main forces of the Qin army.
At the suggestion of Zhang Liang and other strategists, he took the lead in capturing Guanzhong, when Qin Ziying had already eradicated Zhao Gao with a strategy, and saw that after the rebel army attacked Xianyang, he went out of the city and surrendered at the suggestion of the minister.
After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, Zhang Liang and Fan Hao thought that Xiang Yu would definitely know about it, so they suggested that Liu Bang should seize the opportunity and retreat to Ba.
But Liu Bang, he was originally born in poverty, how could he see the prosperity of Xianyang, and he began to indulge in it for a while, but only agreed to leave under the persuasion of Zhang Liang and others.
After coming to Bashang, Liu Bang's army did not kill, burn and loot everywhere like Xiang Yu, but was very disciplined, which made the people of Guanzhong very relieved.
Later, in order to ensure local development and win the trust of the people, Liu Bang formulated a treaty with three chapters of the law, and it has to be said that once this treaty was issued, it was loved by the people of Guanzhong.
On the other hand, Xiang Yu was defeating Zhang Han, and he didn't stop, because Xiang Yu understood that King Chu Huai had already explained that whoever entered Guanzhong first would be the king of Guanzhong, which was an unchangeable fact.
It was for this reason that Xiang Yu led the princes' army to start marching into Guanzhong, but what Xiang Yu didn't expect was that Guanzhong had already occupied Liu Bang.
At this time, Xiang Yu was very angry, and Cao Wushu and Fan Zeng saw that Liu Bang was not an idle person, so they persuaded Xiang Yu to attack Liu Bang to avoid becoming a big enemy in the future.
Originally, Xiang Yu had this idea, but was stopped by Xiang Bo, who thought that Xiang Yu was obviously violating the agreement of King Chu Huai by doing so.
Xiang Yu was originally a person of faith, and when he heard what Xiang Bo said, he gave up this idea and set up a banquet to entertain Liu Bang in order to celebrate him.
And Liu Bang also didn't know much about this, and thought that Xiang Yu had forgiven him, and then came forward to ask for guilt, but he didn't know that this was a Hongmen banquet.
When Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were at the banquet, the strategist Fan Zeng felt that this was a good opportunity to get rid of Liu Bang, because long before the banquet began, Fan Zeng discussed with Xiang Yu to get rid of Liu Bang.
In this regard, Xiang Yu also nodded, but when Fan Zeng asked Xiang Yu to take action, Xiang Yu hesitated, Fan Zeng saw Xiang Yu like this, sighed, and could only let Xiang Zhuang assassinate Liu Bang in the name of dancing the sword.
At the banquet, Xiang Bo saw that something was wrong, so they danced the sword together, Liu Bang noticed that something was wrong, so he used an excuse to go out to discuss with Zhang Liang, and then successfully escaped under Fan Xu's persuasion.
Since then, the competition between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang has gradually kicked off.
Something happens
After Xiang Yu led his troops to clear Xianyang, he began to divide the princes, and at the same time sent Sima Xin and others to occupy Guanzhong to show the trend of horns and put pressure on Liu Bang.
In 206 BC, after Xiang Yu was divided, the princes began to occupy one side in various places, but because of the uneven distribution of the feuds, the princes of Qi and Zhao rebelled one after another.
This also made Liu Bang see an opportunity.
Because of the successive rebellions of the vassal states, Xiang Yu had to lead the army to conquer, and Liu Bang deliberately burned the plank road with a plan to make Xiang Yu let down his guard and seek the land of Sanqin.
Liu Bang's surprise attack made Zhang Han and Sima Xin not notice at all, and it didn't take long for them to be defeated by Liu Bang's army, thus further controlling the Sanqin region.
In 205 BC, when Xiang Yu led the Chu army to attack the Qi State, it was once in crisis and could not be captured for a while, but Liu Bang was very smart, and when Xiang Yu attacked Qi Zhao and other countries, he had already captured the area of Hangu Pass.
It can be said that Liu Bang already has the right to confront Xiang Yu, after all, he gets half of the world, but what kind of person Liu Bang is, everything needs to be perfected, and there can be no sloppiness.
Therefore, when Xiang Yu was still fighting, Liu Bang secretly developed the economy, continued to build defense facilities, and gradually grew in strength.
As the princes were ready to move, they all wanted to break free from Xiang Yu's control and dominate the world, so when Xiang Yu was restricted by the Qi State, Liu Bang saw the opportunity to attack Pengcheng.
He thinks that Pengcheng is relatively weak, and once the war starts, it will definitely be able to take it. And how can Xiang Yu condone Liu Bang's development, it is like this, after Xiang Yu learned the news, he immediately drew 30,000 troops to attack Liu Bang in person.
After arriving in Pengcheng, Xiang Yu was overjoyed when he saw the surrounding terrain, because the location was flat and suitable for the army to attack, which undoubtedly increased Xiang Yu's chance of victory.
Although Liu Bang's total army was as much as 560,000, it was not as brave as Xiang Yu's 30,000 army, and he defeated Liu Bang in only half a day.
Seeing that he couldn't resist, Liu Bang could only retreat south, but Xiang Yu didn't give him this opportunity, pressing step by step, and when Liu Bang was in the water, Xiang Yu had already led the army to surround him.
But because a strong wind saved Liu Bang's life, Liu Bang took this opportunity to flee to Xingyang, and in the process, Liu Bang's family happened to be captured and detained by the Chu army.
When Liu Bang resisted Xingyang and Han Xin's convergence, he then defeated the Chu army. The defeat of the Chu army damaged its strength and had to be restored.
At the same time, in order to restore his strength, Liu Bang began to recover Yongqiu and other places, and established defensive measures, which once made the economy better again.
In the same year, Xiang Yu took advantage of Liu Bang's slack and suddenly led his troops to attack Xingyang, because the matter was urgent, Han Xin and other generals did not have time to support, and Liu Bang was at a loss for a while.
End Result
Later, at Chen Ping's suggestion, he disrupted the relationship between Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, and used a trick to confuse Xiang Yu and further let Liu Bang leave the battlefield.
Because Xiang Yu was still besieging Xingyang, Liu Bang joined Han Xin to attack the east and west, so that Xiang Yu had to withdraw the main force of Xingyang, which gave Liu Bang the opportunity to capture Chenggao.
In 204 BC, Liu Bang occupied Chenggao and confronted Xiang Yu, Xiang Yu wanted to threaten him with Liu Bang's family, but Liu Bang did not accept this, so Xiang Yu was helpless.
Later, when Han Xin led the army to attack the Chu State, Xiang Yu could only send troops to support, because the back and forth between the two armies made the Chu army tired one after another, and there was a great shortage of food and grass.
This put Xiang Yu in a difficult situation, and in this case, he had to negotiate with Liu Bang to draw the line.
And Liu Bang also agreed, and after Xiang Yu withdrew from the army, Liu Bang attacked by surprise, because in his opinion, Xiang Yu was already at the end of the crossbow.
Besides, Liu Bang's goal was originally to unify the world, how could he negotiate peace with Xiang Yu, if Liu Bang didn't make a move, when Xiang Yu's economy developed, it might be a different situation.
In 202 BC, because the Han army tore up the agreement, Xiang Yu had to fight on his back, and the two armies fought a decisive battle under the wall.
Compared with the Chu army, the strength of the Han army has recovered, and there are many generals around Liu Bang, so it can be said that the time and place are favorable, and almost all of them are occupied.
In this war, Xiang Yu will inevitably lose and retreat to the barrier.
And Liu Bang took advantage of this, so he used Han Xin's strategy to surround Xiang Yutuan, and then through embattlement, the Chu army had no intention of fighting.
Xiang Yu saw that this could not go on, so he led the army to carry out a heavy siege, although he rushed out, and when he reached Wujiang, there were only a few hundred people left in the whole army.
At this time, the pavilion chief of Wujiang wanted Xiang Yu to return to Jiangdong to develop his strength and make a comeback, but Xiang Yu felt that he had no face to see the people of Jiangdong again, so he gave his war horse to the pavilion chief, and then killed himself.
After Xiang Yu died, Liu Bang became the emperor under the advice of everyone, but what was unexpected was that when Liu Bang stabilized the world, because of suspicion, the princes rebelled one after another.
Author's point of view
The Battle of Pengcheng was Liu Bang's biggest defeat since the uprising, and it was precisely because Liu Bang was proud and felt that Xiang Yu had too few troops that he was defeated.
However, after this battle, Liu Bang also reorganized his troops and horses, once again forced Xiang Yu into a desperate situation, and further sought to win the world.
[Disclaimer] The process and pictures described in the article are from the Internet, and this article aims to advocate positive social energy, no vulgar and other bad guidance. If it involves copyright or character infringement issues, please contact us in time, and we will delete the content as soon as possible!
Reference: Wang Qisi, The Battle of Pengcheng led by Liu Bang to the "Five Princes", 2021
Xue Ruize, The Strategic Position of Pengcheng during the Han and Wei Dynasties, 2000
Deng Chenggong, Battle of Pengcheng: Xiang Yu's 30,000 defeated Liu Bang's 560,000 army, 2012