Chapter 6 The Legend of Mount Mangdang

Liu Bang saved the lives of these people at such a critical moment, for which they are grateful.Dozens of young and strong people among them were moved by Liu Bang's chivalrous behavior, unwilling to leave him alone, and expressed their willingness to follow him.Liu Bang couldn't refuse, so he led everyone to flee together. Taking advantage of his drunkenness, Liu Bang took a small path through the swamp at night, letting one go ahead.The person who walked in front came back and reported: "There is a big snake blocking the road ahead, let's go back." Liu Bang drunkenly said: "What's so scary about a man walking!" Liu Bang used some alcohol to build up his courage, and pushed the crowd away. Sure enough, he saw a white snake lying in the middle of the road. It looked very scary.

Liu Bang was also so shocked that he was half sober from the wine for a while, but at this time, because of face, it was obviously impossible to retreat, and there was no room for a moment's hesitation.At this moment, Liu Bang pulled out his sword and cut off the snake in the middle.Everyone present saw this scene in their eyes, and they worshiped and respected Liu Bang even more. Liu Bang continued to walk a few miles, and he was so drunk that he lay down on the ground.When the people behind came to the place where the snake was cut, they saw an old woman crying in the dark.Someone asked her why she was crying, and the old woman said, "Someone killed my child, and I was crying for him."

Someone asked, "Why was your child killed?" The old woman said: "My child is the son of the White Emperor. He changed into a snake and stood in the middle of the road. Now he is killed by the son of the Red Emperor. That's why I cry." Everyone thought the old woman was lying and was about to beat him. She, the old woman, suddenly disappeared. The people behind caught up with Liu Bang and hurriedly woke him up.Tell the truth about what happened just now.Liu Bang was secretly happy and more conceited, and those who followed him gradually feared him. So far Liu Bang was very excited, and often quietly publicized this matter to people, using these legends to continuously improve his prestige among the crowd, and more people followed him, and he was called a hero in Peizhong.

Virtue wins people's hearts, and those who achieve great things need to buy people's hearts.It is very important for a successful person to get the support of everyone.Liu Bang judged the situation and released the prisoners, which showed that he was superior in life.It is Liu Bang's biggest entrepreneurial characteristic to be content with the situation, not to be deliberate or forceful, but he can show himself in the face of the general trend and highlight his position, so he has become a leader among his brothers. In order to resist the Huns and build the Great Wall, Qin Shihuang sent 300,000 troops and recruited hundreds of thousands of civilians; in order to develop the south, he mobilized 300,000 soldiers and civilians; he also used 700,000 prisoners to start the construction of a huge and luxurious Afang Palace.When Emperor II ascended the throne, hundreds of thousands of prisoners and civilian husbands were recruited from all over the country to build the tomb of Qin Shihuang on a large scale.The big tomb was not completed, and the Second Emperor and Zhao Gao continued to build the Efang Palace.At that time, the population of China was only 20 million, and there were two to three million people conscripted successively to build the Great Wall, guard the South of the Five Ridges, repair the Afang Palace, build large tombs, and perform other labor tasks. It took an unknown amount of manpower The lack of financial resources made the people miserable, and the people complained a lot.

In 209 BC, the magistrate of Yangcheng (now southeast of Dengfeng, Henan) sent two officers to escort 900 civilians to Yuyang (now southeast of Miyun, Beijing) for defense.The officer selected two large and capable men from among these strong men to be the head of the village, and asked them to manage the others.One of these two people is Chen Sheng, from Yangcheng, who is a long-term laborer for others; the other is Wu Guang, from Yangxia (now Taikang County, Henan Province), and a poor farmer. In the autumn of this year, Chen Sheng was proclaimed king with the help of Wu Guang, and his country name was "Zhang Chu".Many counties responded to him by killing their chiefs.

The county magistrate of Pei County was very frightened and wanted to lead the people of Pei County to respond to Chen Sheng.But Cao Can, the jailer, and Xiao He, the chief official, persuaded him: "As an official of the Qin Dynasty, you now want to betray the Qin Dynasty and lead the children of Pei County to revolt. I am afraid that no one will obey the order. I hope you can recall those who fled. About But if you gather hundreds of people and use them to coerce the crowd, the crowd will not dare to disobey the order." So the county magistrate sent Fan Kuai to call Liu Bang.At this time, Liu Bang had nearly a hundred followers.

Fan Kuai came back with Liu Bang.Pei Ling regretted after Fan Kuai left, fearing that something would happen when Liu Bang came, so he closed the city gate and guarded the city to prevent Liu Bang from entering the city, and wanted to kill Xiao He and Cao Shen.The two men were afraid, and crossed the city to attach themselves to Liu Bang for protection. So Liu Bang wrote a letter in silk and shot it at the city, declaring to the fathers and people in Peixian County: "The people of the world have been suffering for a long time because of the Qin government. Although the fathers and elders are guarding the city for Peiling, all the princes from all over the country have risen. Now the massacre will soon come to Pei County. If the elders of Pei County kill Pei Ling together, and choose someone who can support him from among the young people to make him the leader to respond to the princes of all places, then your family can get Keep it safe. Otherwise, the entire county will be massacred, young and old, and nothing can be done at that time.” So the elders of Pei County led the children of the county to kill Pei Ling, opened the city gate to welcome Liu Bang, and wanted him to be Pei Ling. County magistrate.

Liu Bang said: "In today's troubled times, the princes are rioting one after another. If the generals are not selected properly, they will be defeated. I don't dare to cherish my life, but I am afraid that I am too weak to protect my father and brothers. This is a big event. I hope everyone will work together to select someone who can do it.” Xiao He, Cao Shen, etc. were all civil servants, and they all cherished their lives. They were afraid that they would be ransacked and beheaded if they failed to revolt, so they tried their best to push Liu Bang away.The elders in the city also said: "I have heard that Liu Bang has so many strange things, he must be a dignitary, and no one in divination can compare with you, Liu Bang, who is the most auspicious." Liu Bang still gave in again and again.

Those who did not dare to be the county magistrate of Pei County made Liu Bang the Duke of Pei.So in Peixian County, the Yellow Emperor who ruled the world and Chi You, who was good at making weapons, were sacrificed, and the blood of sacrificed animals was painted on the flags and drums to sacrifice the flags and drums.The flags are all red. This is because the snake that was killed was the son of the White Emperor, and the person who killed the snake was the son of the Red Emperor, so red is admired.Those young and promising officials, such as Xiao He, Cao Can, Fan Kuai, etc., all went to recruit young people from Pei County for Pei Gong. They recruited two to three thousand people, and they attacked Huling and Fang Yu together, and then retreated to garrison Fengyi.

In 208 BC, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang died in battle, and Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu raised troops in Wu County.Xiang Liang is a descendant of the nobles of the original Chu State, from Suqian, Jiangsu, and Xiang Yu is his nephew.Xiang Liang's father, Xiang Yan, was a famous general of Chu State. He committed suicide in the war of Qin destroying Chu State. Many of his ancestors Xiang's family were also generals of Chu State. In his early years, Xiang Liang escaped to Wuzhong with his nephew Xiang Yu for murder.Xiang Liang has a high prestige in Wuzhong, and all the wise men and officials are under him, and he presides over all major local events.Xiang Liang took advantage of this condition to secretly recruit soldiers and train his children.After the outbreak of the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings, Uncle Xiang Liang killed Yin Tong, the prefect of Kuaiji, to respond. .

Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu had a good record, and Liu Bang was not idle.In the Qin Dynasty, the county governor of Sichuan named Ping led his troops to surround Fengyi.Two days later, Pei Gong led his people out of the city to fight the Qin army and defeated the Qin army.Peigong ordered Yongchi to guard Fengyi, and he himself led the troops to Xue County.The prefect of Sichuan was defeated in Xue County and fled to Qi County. Pei Gong's left Sima Cao Wushang captured the prefect of Sichuan and killed him.Peigong withdrew his army to Kangfu, and there was no battle until Fangyu. At this time, Zhang Han, the general of the Qin Dynasty, was chasing Chen Sheng's army. Zhang Han's other general Sima Ang led his troops to the north to pacify Chu, slaughtered Xiang County, and reached Dang County.Lord Ning and Duke Pei of Dongyang led troops westward, and fought with Sima Ang in the west of Xiao County.So the soldiers of Dang County were collected, and a total of five or six thousand people were obtained.Attacked Xiayi, captured it, and then retreated to garrison Fengyi.Hearing that Xiang Liang was in Xue County, Pei Gong took more than a hundred cavalry to meet Xiang Liang.Xiang Liang added another 5,000 men to Pei Gong, including ten generals at the rank of five doctors.After Pei Gong returned, he led his troops to attack Fengyi. Liu Bang followed Xiang Liang for more than a month, and Xiang Yu had already captured Xiangcheng and returned.Xiang Liang summoned all the generals from all walks of life to Xue County, and made Xiong Xin, the grandson of King Huai, the descendant of the Chu State, King of Chu, with Xuyi as his capital. Xiang Liang is known as Wu Xinjun.After staying for several months, he attacked Kangfu to the north, rescued Dong'e, and defeated the Qin army.After defeating the Qin army, the Qi army went back, leaving only the Chu army to pursue and defeat the fleeing enemy alone. In addition, the king of Chu sent Liu Bang and Xiang Yu to attack Xianyang.The Chu army fought the Qin army in the east of Puyang County and defeated the Qin army. But the Qin army was not easy to mess with. They regrouped, defended Puyang, and diverted water around the city to hold on.The Chu army withdrew to attack Dingtao, but failed.Liu Bang and Xiang Yu bypassed Dingtao and seized land to the west. When they arrived at Yongbing City, they fought with the Qin army, defeated the Qin army, and killed Li You.He returned to attack Waihuang, but failed to capture it. Xiang Liang defeated the Qin army twice, showing a proud look.Song Yi made an admonition, but Xiang Liang refused to listen.The Qin Dynasty sent additional troops to Zhang Han to attack Xiang Liang's army in the dark. As a result, they defeated Xiang Liang's army in Dingtao, and Xiang Liang died in battle. At this time, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were attacking Chenliu. When they heard that Xiang Liang was dead, they led their troops and marched eastward with General Lu Chen.Lu Chen's army was stationed in the east of Pengcheng, Xiang Yu's army was stationed in the west of Pengcheng, Pei Gong's army was stationed in Dang County. After Zhang Han defeated Xiang Liang's army in the Battle of Dingtao, he thought that Chu's army was not worth worrying about, so he crossed the Yellow River north and attacked Zhao Wangxie and Zhang Er who revolted against Qin. Yu Julu (now Ping Township, Hebei).The king of Chu appointed Song Yi as the general and Xiang Yu as the second general to lead his troops to rescue.When Song Yi led his army to Anyang (now south of Anyang, Henan), he flinched and stationed troops for forty-six days.At that time, it was raining continuously, and the rebel army was short of clothes and food, and was in a difficult situation.Xiang Yu made a decisive decision and killed Song Yi. Once the power was in his hands, he followed the order. Xiang Yu served as the commander-in-chief of the army to aid Zhao, and ordered the soldiers to bring three days' rations, and then ordered to smash all the cooking pots for the march.The soldiers were stunned, and Xiang Yu said: "There is no pot, we can go lightly and immediately save the endangered Zhao State! As for food, let's go to the Zhanghan barracks to get a pot and cook!" The army crossed the Zhang River , Xiang Yu ordered the soldiers to sink all the ferries and burn all the marching tents at the same time.The soldiers saw that there was no way out, and if they could not win this battle, no one would survive. Xiang Yu commanded the Chu army to quickly surround the Qin army, and fought nine fierce battles with the Qin army. The Chu army who crossed the river all counted one against ten, ten against a hundred, and all of them were as fierce as tigers on the mountain.On the battlefield, the sun was covered by smoke and dust, and the sound of killing shook the sky.The soldiers of the Chu army fought more and more fiercely, until the mountains shook and the ground shook, and blood flowed like rivers.After many confrontations, the Chu army finally won more with less, defeated the Chu army, killed Qin general Su Jiao, and captured Wang Li. step back. When Xiang Yu's army was fighting fiercely with Qin's army, the reinforcements from all over the world huddled on the wall and watched, not daring to participate in the battle.After the battle, Xiang Yu summoned the generals of the reinforcement army. When they entered the city gate, they all came in with their bodies bent, not daring to look up.In this way, Xiang Yu became the commander-in-chief of the armies of the princes. Zhang Han led the remnants of the defeated generals back for dozens of miles, and sent people to Xianyang to ask for reinforcements.But Zhao Gao was busy seizing the throne, and no reinforcements were sent. When Zhang Han was desperate, he led the remaining Qin army and surrendered to Xiang Yu.