From 209 BC, Xiang Yu held high the banner of anti-Qin until the defeat of the army in 202 BC, in these eight years, as he himself said, he went through more than 70 fierce battles and never tasted defeat.
Regardless of the reason for his failure, he was invincible in all previous battles, and he was undoubtedly inseparable from the help of a wise man, he was Fan Zeng. It is with Fan Zeng's advice that Xiang Yu can be invincible. Later, Xiang Yu was defeated, precisely because of the lack of Fan Zeng's assistance.
Therefore, we can say that Fan Zeng is the key figure who determines the success or failure of Xiang Yu's rise and fall. So, who is Fan Zeng? What are his exploits? If Xiang Yu followed Fan Zeng's advice, what would his ending be?
Persuade Xiang Liang to establish Chu Huaiwang
Fan Zeng was born in 277 B.C. to a native of Yan'an (present-day Tongchengnan, Anhui Province, southern China), and there are no detailed records of his early life.
In 209 BC, after Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted, Xiang Liang instructed Xiang Yu to kill Yin Tong, raise troops in Wuzhong, and receive the subordinate counties of Wuzhong County, with a total of 8,000 elite soldiers.
After Chen Sheng was killed, the Xiang Liang Group faced a problem: the division was unknown. Do you plan to stand on your own feet or do you want to set him up after the gate?
If so, in what name? If he is appointed, then by whom? When Xiang Liang was hesitating, Fan Zeng came to tell Xiang Liang:
"Qin annihilated the Six Kingdoms, the hatred of the Chu people is the deepest, and people still miss the King of Chu Huai who was deceived by King Qin Zhao and killed the Qin State, and the prophecy of 'although Chu has three households, the death of Qin will be Chu' is reasonable. The reason for Chen Sheng's defeat was that he did not establish the descendants of Chu and stood on his own, and he could not make full use of the anti-Qin power of Chu, which led to his short momentum. Since you crossed the river, the generals of the Chu State have come to attach themselves, and it is because the Xiang family has been a Chu general for generations, and people think that you can restore the Sheji of the Chu State. You should now conform to the will of the people and become a descendant of the king of Chu. ”
So Xiang Liang listened to Fan Zeng's opinion, found Xiong Xin, the grandson of King Chu Huai, among the people, and still established himself as King Chu Huai. Xiang Liang called himself Wu Xinjun.
Help Xiang Yu win the battle of the giant deer
Xiang Liang fought bravely and skillfully, led the army to defeat the Qin army in Dong'e, and sent two fierce generals, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, to attack Chengyang, and defeated the Qin army again in the east of Puyang. The Qin army was forced to retreat into Puyang City. Xiang Liang led Xiang Yu, Liu Bang and others to attack Dingtao, and finally killed the Qin general Li You, and fought even a success, shocking the world.
However, the victory made Xiang Liang complacent, and at this time the Qin army sent a large number of reinforcements to support Zhang Han. After Zhang Han received reinforcements, he suddenly attacked Xiang Liang, Xiang Liang was caught off guard, and was finally defeated and killed.
After Zhang Han defeated Xiang Liang, he thought that the Chu soldiers were not worried, so he led the army north to cross the Yellow River and break the Zhao State. King Zhao took Chen Yu as the general and Zhang Er as the prime minister, defeated the giant deer, and Zhang Han led Wang Li and Shijian to besiege the giant deer with a total of 400,000.
King Huai of Chu took Song Yi as the general, Feng Xiang Yu as the Duke of Lu, as the second general, Fan Zeng as the last general, and Song Yi as the main commander to lead 50,000 troops to rescue Zhao. Due to Song Yi's ineffective dispatch of troops, Xiang Yu followed Fan Zeng's advice and killed Song Yi, so all the princes were attached to Xiang Yu. In this battle, Xiang Yu fought with Zhang Han nine times, and finally surrendered Zhang Han, and his reputation has been great since then.
Later, Fan Zeng became Xiang Yu's important adviser and was named the Marquis of Liyang, giving advice to Xiang Yu's hegemony. Xiang Yu even respected him as "Ya Father" and regarded him as a dearest and trustworthy person.
Hongmen Banquet's suggestion to remove Liu Bang was not adopted
In 206 BC, Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu fought side by side, and attacked Guanzhong in one fell swoop, Liu Bang garrisoned the army, and Xiang Yu's army of 400,000 was stationed in Xinfeng Hongmen. Liu Bang did not commit any crimes in the Mid-Autumn Festival in Guanzhong, and he also made three chapters of the law with the people of Guanzhong, and they were like two people before and after. Fan Zeng then advised Xiang Yu:
"When Pei Gong was east of Kunshan, he was greedy for money and goods, and loved beautiful women. Now that he has entered the customs, he does not plunder property and does not fall in love with women, which shows that his ambition is not small. I asked people to watch and see his luck, which is in the shape of a dragon and a tiger, showing colorful colors, which is the cloud of the Son of Heaven. Hurry up and don't miss your chance. ”
However, Xiang Yu disagreed, perhaps in his opinion, he was fighting the world, and Liu Bang's 100,000 army, compared to his 400,000 brigade, was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg.
When Liu Bang went to the Hongmen banquet, Fan Zeng was like a pins and needles, repeatedly hinting that Xiang Yu would take the opportunity to get rid of Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu hesitated, like a walker in the fog, at a loss. Fan Zeng was so anxious that he cleverly arranged Xiang Zhuang to dance his sword in an attempt to inadvertently assassinate Liu Bang. However, Xiang Bo's sudden addition, like a light in the dark, undermined Fan Zeng's elaborate plan, allowing Liu Bang to get away with it.
was separated by Chen Pingshi and resigned from the official to return to his hometown
Later, Liu Bang was besieged in Xingyang, and Xiang Yu won the victory. However, at this critical juncture of life and death, Liu Bang skillfully used Chen Ping's strategy of discord. After Xiang Yu was suspicious of Zhong Liwu and the others, he sent envoys to the Han army to spy on intelligence. When the envoy arrived at the Han camp, Liu Bang carefully prepared a sumptuous banquet of pigs, cattle and sheep, but when he saw Xiang Yu's envoy, he deliberately showed a look of surprise and claimed: "I thought it was the envoy of Yafu Fan Zeng, but I didn't expect it to be the envoy of King Xiang." After that, Liu Bang ordered someone to remove the feast banquet and replace it with a crude meal and hand it to the Chu envoy.
After the Chu envoy returned to the camp, he truthfully reported what he had seen and heard to Xiang Yu. When Xiang Yu heard this, he had even more doubts about his father Fan Zeng. Seeing this, Fan Zeng strongly persuaded Xiang Yu to strike while the iron was hot and capture Xingyang as soon as possible. However, Xiang Yu had already become suspicious of Fan Zeng and ignored his suggestion. Fan Zeng saw that Xiang Yu was becoming more and more suspicious, and his heart was full of anger, and he said angrily: "The overall situation of the world has been decided, and you can decide the rest of the matter, I ask to be relieved and returned to the field!" So, Fan Zeng left angrily, but on the way back to Pengcheng, he died of a poisonous sore on his back.
If Xiang Yu adopts Fan Zeng's suggestion to kill Liu Bang, what will be the outcome?
Xiang Yu, the hero who turned the tide, was like a tiger descending from the mountain, swallowing thousands of miles like a tiger, but in the end he collapsed and sank into the sand, which made people sigh. There are many opinions about his failure. In addition to the victory, Liu Bang modestly summarized his success, and at the same time indirectly revealed the cause of Xiang Yu's defeat. He commented on Xiang Yu and said: "Xiang Yu has a fan increase and can't use it, how can he not be killed by me?" In these words, the importance of Fan Zeng's think tank is revealed.
Chairman Mao also deeply analyzed Xiang Yu's failure. He believes that Xiang Yu made three mistakes, one of which was that he failed to follow Fan Zeng's advice at the Hongmen banquet and let Liu Bang go.
It can be seen that Fan Zeng's resourcefulness undoubtedly played a crucial role in Xiang Yu's journey. If Xiang Yu can decisively adopt his opinion at the critical moment of the Hongmen Banquet, the chapter of history may be rewritten. Liu Bang's demise will undoubtedly end those years of strife and make Xiang Yu stand alone in the world.
However, the course of history cannot be summed up by simple causality. Even if Xiang Yu eliminated Liu Bang at the Hongmen Banquet, it was like imprisoning a tiger in a cage, but there was no guarantee that another heroic leopard would not come out and challenge his authority. Fan Zeng's suggestion, if Xiang Yu could listen to it after the Hongmen banquet, maybe the battle in the world would have already settled. But the charm of history lies precisely in those unpredictable turns and the tragedy of heroes.
Although Xiang Yu failed, his bravery and tragedy have long surpassed the boundary of victory and defeat and become a legend through the ages. His failure is more like a mirror, reflecting the complexity of human nature and the impermanence of history. In that magnificent era, he left a strong mark. Let us remember this heroic man whose legacy will forever inspire future generations to pursue those unfulfilled dreams.