Preface
The dispute between Chu and Han ended with Liu Bang's victory, which opened a new chapter in the Han Dynasty and realized the great historical process of the country moving from division to reunification.
The achievement of this brilliant achievement is inseparable from the outstanding contributions made by those loyal, reliable, heroic and fearless followers around Liu Bang.
They are the heroes of the Han Dynasty and have made great contributions, but as the first heroes of the Han Dynasty, it is not Han Xin, Zhang Liang and others, so who is he?
And was belittled by Liu Bang as a dog, why is this? Probably no one thought that four hundred years later, he would later overthrow the Han Dynasty.
First, the first hero
The first hero of the Han Dynasty was Cao Shen, and he was also the first general to follow Liu Bang to revolt, so Cao Cen can be said to have witnessed the rise of Liu Bang.
From the fall of the Qin Dynasty to the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, he was a first-hand witness, and participated in many battles, and it is natural for him to be able to make great achievements and become the founder of the country.
But why was he the first hero of the Han Dynasty, and why was he belittled as a dog by Liu Bang? This is actually related to the military exploits of generals like Cao Shen, so what kind of skills does Cao Shen have?
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, under the tyranny of Qin II, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang took the lead in raising the banner of resistance, and then responders also appeared in various places.
Or how to deal with this kind of chaotic situation in the world, heroes emerge in troubled times, if they choose to revolt, they will be heroes if they win, and if they lose, they will lose their lives.
At that time, the county magistrate of Peixian County also listened to the advice of Xiao He and Cao Shen, believing that he should adapt to the situation and follow Chen Sheng and Wu Guang to revolt, but unexpectedly, the county magistrate repented and decided to hand over Xiao He Cao Shen and others to the Qin Dynasty officials in the name of anti-thieves.
Fortunately, at this time, Liu Bang had already released the prisoners and led these people to carry out an anti-Qin uprising, while Xiao He and Cao Shen, as well as the villagers of Pei County, should cooperate with Liu Bang in and out.
The plan of Peixian County Commander somehow leaked the news and reached the ears of Xiao He and Cao San, so they took this opportunity to kill Peixian County Commander, so Pei County also officially joined the anti-Qin rebel army.
Liu Bang led everyone to revolt in Pei County, which disrupted Xiao He and Cao Shen's plans, and the two of them still had some scruples, and refused to serve as the leader of the rebel army by mutual courtesy.
But he never thought that in the hearts of everyone, Liu Bang was the most suitable candidate, so Liu Bang became the leader of the rebel army, and Cao Shen and Xiao He became the two generals under Liu Bang.
Cao Shen served as an attendant under Liu Bang and assisted Liu Bang in his uprising. Initially, on the road of anti-Qin, Cao Shen broke the Qin army, broke the defenders, Xue Guo and others surrendered to the Wei army, and Cao Shen was named the Seven Doctors because of his remarkable military achievements.
Cao Shen later defeated Qin Sima Qu's army, etc., and later Cao Shen took advantage of the victory to pursue, and was able to fight against Zhang Han, who was extremely good at cavalry tactics at that time, Zhang Han was in Qin, and his cavalry tactics could rank first.
But Cao Shen defeated Zhang Han's chariot cavalry, which is enough to see that Cao Shen's ability is very strong, and Cao Shen has also been promoted to the fifth doctor because of his many military achievements.
Cao Shen then pursued Zhang Han all the way, and captured Chen on the way, and drove Zhang Han to Puyang, Cao Shen later because of the situation in the south, he returned to his aid, rescued the troubled Han Yong prisoners, and then killed Qin Sanchuan Taishou Li You, and took Qin Hou captive.
Second, Xiao Gui Cao followed
Since Cao Shen defected to Liu Bang, he has experienced large and small wars, and it can be said that he has participated in almost all the vicious battles and made great achievements.
It is said that after surrendering the Yan State, Cao Shen followed Liu Bang and others back to Aocang and counted Cao Shen's military exploits.
Cao Shen destroyed a total of two countries and obtained 122 counties, in addition, he also captured two kings, three prime ministers, six generals, and one each of Da Mohuan, county guards, Sima, Hou, and Yushi.
So from this, it can be seen that Cao Shen's credit is not smaller than Han Xin and others, and even stronger than Yingbu and others. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was ready to reward him for his meritorious deeds.
At first, there were only 18 people who were rewarded for meritorious service, so they convened a meeting of meritorious heroes, and everyone said that Cao Shen should be positioned as the first meritorious hero, and he was awarded 8,000 households.
When Cao Shen later served as the Xiangguo of the Han Dynasty, he drank alcohol and ate meat every day, but he did nothing in politics, and only continued to implement the policies left by Xiao Ke without making changes.
Later, Emperor Hui of Han noticed something strange and asked him why he did this? Cao Shen did not answer this question directly, but asked: "Your Majesty, who is more holy compared to Han Gaozu?" ”
The emperor said, "How can I compare with the first emperor? Cao Shen said again: "Then who do you think is more virtuous than me and Xiao He?" The emperor said: "You don't seem to be as good as Xiao He." The answer is self-evident.
Cao Shen said: "Your Majesty, you are right, Han Gaozu and Xiao He pacified the world together in the past, and the laws and regulations have been clear, as long as Your Majesty is a little stable, you can have long-term peace and stability."
And all we need to do as courtiers is to stick to our posts so that they dare not disobey the law. ”
So later, there was the idiom "Xiao Gui Cao Sui", in fact, the original meaning was not that Cao Shen painted the scoop according to the gourd according to the system left by Xiao He, which remained unchanged.
In fact, when Cao Shen served as the Xiangguo of the Han Dynasty, he selected and appointed talented people, and attached great importance to the rule of officials, even if some small officials made mistakes, they did not criticize them publicly, but gave them a chance to reform themselves.
Although Cao Shen and Xiao He were close friends in Pei County in the early years, and helped Han Gaozu establish the Han Dynasty together, when Xiao He served as Xiangguo, the two had a disagreement.
However, after Cao Shen became Xiangguo, he still used the system when Xiao He served as Xiangguo, which is enough to see his generosity, and he has a sense of the overall situation, and does not affect the overall situation of the country because of personal interests.
3. Meritorious people and dogs
To sum up, Cao Shen made great contributions to the Han Dynasty both when he helped Liu Bang pacify the world and after becoming a prime minister.
So why did Liu Bang belittle Cao Shen as a dog at that time? In fact, after the world was pacified, Liu Bang rewarded these meritorious officials.
The competition between the ministers continued for a year, and Han Gaozu thought that Xiao He had the greatest credit among the people, so he named him the Marquis of Yu and gave him many quarries.
This also made others feel dissatisfied, so they found Liu Bang and said to him: "We are also fighting bravely on the battlefield, forgetting life and death more than 100 times, and making many achievements, and Xiao He has never been on the battlefield, only the ability to talk on paper, why do you say that he has the greatest credit?" ”
Everyone's disbelief made Liu Bang feel helpless, so he explained to everyone: "Do you know hunting? They replied, "Yes, but what does this have to do with what we are saying?" ”
Liu Bang said: "Then do you know the hounds? The only answer was "Yes." Liu Bang said: "When hunting, the beast to be pursued is a rabbit, and when it is a hunting dog, it is indeed a hunter who finds the traces of rabbits. ”
"And you are like the hunting dog, you can only hunt wild beasts, and Xiao He is the hunter who found the traces of wild beasts, and you only brought two or three people with you to follow me, and Xiao He did bring dozens of people from the whole family to follow me, and his credit is the greatest."
The ministers were also full of disbelief in their hearts, and Cao Shen was also one of the generals, so he was naturally among them, but Liu Bang compared these heroes to hunting dogs, and it was true that only he would say such a thing, which was somewhat chilling.
Cao Shen and Xiao He helped Liu Bang pacify the world and were the founding heroes, but they didn't expect that the descendants of Cao Shen overthrew the Han Dynasty in four hundred years, this person was Cao Cao, he "coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes" to unify the north, and his status was also promoted, from the Duke of Wei to the King of Wei.
The Han regime gradually lost its autonomy under the control of Cao Cao's descendants until Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate the throne, thus marking the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
epilogue
Cao Shen helped Liu Bang pacify the world, but unexpectedly got the words that Liu Bang was belittled as a dog, which is really chilling, but it is undeniable that Cao Shen made great contributions to the Han Dynasty, and his descendants promoted the demise of the Han Dynasty.