Chapter 9 Guanzhong is king

In Xiang Yu's childhood, the state of Chu was declining day by day, while the state of Qin was growing stronger and gradually ruling the whole country.The suffering of the family and the country brought Xiang Yu a deep hatred for the ruler of Qin.He seems to be born with only one goal, which is to overthrow the Qin Dynasty.In "The Benji of Xiang Yu", words such as "Bitter Qin" and "Destroyed Qin" appeared repeatedly. When Song Yi sat down and failed to save Zhao, the 24-year-old young man said something like this: "The general will attack Qin with all his strength, and he will not be able to stay for a long time. This year, the people are hungry and the people are poor, and the soldiers eat taro. Conceal.' If you attack the newly created Zhao with the strength of Qin, you will definitely lift up Zhao, and Qin will be strong when Zhao is lifted up. How can you conceal the inheritance!"

Regarding the overall situation at that time, Xiang Yu's analysis of the discussion was concise and incisive, indicating that the Qin army was powerful at that time, and the anti-Qin army urgently needed to unite with each other and unify the camp.Relying on the Julu battle, Xiang Yu won more with less, and this victory also made him step by step to the position of leader of the anti-Qin allied forces. In 206 BC, after Xiang Yu had a banquet at Hongmen, he had apparently gained the leadership of the entire anti-Qin allied army.At that time, the people shouted for peace, and the era also hoped for reunification, but Xiang Yu, who had the blood of the nobles of Chu in his bones, just hoped to return to the era when King Zhuang of Chu aspired to the Central Plains and was arrogant, and hoped to be like King Chu again. "Long" status, and hope to maintain this state of being the big one in the separation of powers for a long time.He enfeoffed the anti-Qin generals, established himself as the overlord of Western Chu, and stayed away from Guanzhong, which is dangerous, easy to defend, and fertile, and took Pengcheng, which is remote and relatively scarce, as his capital. Returning to my hometown is like traveling at night in brocade."

It can be said that in the struggle to perish Qin, Xiang Yu's goal was accurate and single, which was in line with the aspirations of the entire era and even the people. However, after the overthrow of the Qin Dynasty, he was short-sighted and even tried to return to the state of the previous Spring and Autumn and Warring States. It is a historical regression.The so-called historical trend is mighty and mighty; those who follow it will prosper, and those who go against it will perish. "He is more than eight feet long, capable of carrying a tripod, and has extraordinary talent, even though all the children of Wuzhong are afraid of him." This is Xiang Yu, who is 24 years old.Living in the land of Wuzhong, which is famous for riots and bravery, Xiang Yu shocked the local people with his burly and heroic appearance.In the first army uprising, Xiang Yu followed closely behind Xiang Liang, and gave an order to draw his sword and cut off his head, "Everyone in the mansion is in awe, and no one dares to rise."

In the entire war to attack Qin, Xiang Yu always charged forward, taking the lead, and was invincible. In fact, in the entire army to attack Qin, the army led by Xiang Yu dealt with most of the troops from the Qin Dynasty, including Zhang Han in the Battle of Julu. Department and the Ziying Department in Guanzhong.As for the struggle for supremacy between Chu and Han, Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang many times with fewer victories and more victories. He used incomparable courage and strength to deal devastating blows to all those who stood in his way.He advocated force, and when he confronted the Han army in Guangwu, he said to Liu Bang: "The Huns and Xiong who are a few years old in the world are only my ears. "

In addition to these words, it can be seen that Xiang Yu's extreme worship of force, his obsession with personal heroism and his high self-confidence in his own strength, and his desire to use personal force to dominate the world, are more about Xiang Yu's personal character flaws and ignorance of politics . Judging from Xiang Yu's previous performance, he is not completely devoid of political schemes: he killed Song Yi, exiled Emperor Yi, constantly restricted Liu Bang's power and controlled it in Guanzhong, and entrusted princes and kings to check their power against each other.However, Xiang Yu's political vision became extremely shallow and powerless after the death of Qin Dynasty. He advocated returning to the era of disputes between the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States and becoming the hegemony like King Zhuang of Chu, so he missed many opportunities to eliminate his rival Liu Bang. Repeatedly delaying the opportunity of fighting and unifying the country, getting lost in the struggle between Chu and Han forced out by Liu Bang and others, killing himself like a giant who is full of strength but can't find a place to use it, or naively facing the Manchu A word from the opponents of brains and tricks—let's go heads-up.

Huang Zhen in the Song Dynasty was right in his words, saying that the root cause of Xiang Yu's failure was that he did not have the ambition to establish a dynasty. "Chu destroyed without a heroic plan, and Han prospered successfully." Xiang Yu's excessive military strength led to the expansion of force vision, while the short-sightedness of political plots led to the dwarfing of political opinions. At the same time, force The expansion of the field of vision has also continuously restricted the political field of vision, making the latter narrower and even shaded.The two are intertwined, deepening Xiang Yu's tragedy, making people sympathize, laugh or disgust.

After the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu was going to go straight to Xianyang with all his might, but he ran into trouble when he led the army to Hangu Pass. Hangu Pass is a pass at the junction of Shaanxi and Henan. Passing through Hangu Pass is Lintong, and you are in Shaanxi.To the east of Hangu Pass is Henan, and to the west of Hangu Pass is Shaanxi.After Xiang Yu's army arrived, he found that there was an army blocking the pass to prevent him from entering. When he inquired, it turned out to be Liu Bang's army. Then he heard that Liu Bang had entered Hangu Pass two months earlier than him and destroyed Daqin.

After Liu Bang entered Hangu Pass, he held Hangu Pass and prevented Xiang Yu from entering. This was undoubtedly a humiliation to Xiang Yu, because at this time Xiang Yu had just finished the famous Battle of Julu in history. Xiang Yu's political status has been improved. He has become accustomed to seeing himself as the greatest hero in the uprising at the end of Qin Dynasty, and he is also accustomed to the respect of the princes of the world.At this time, he never expected that Liu Bang would say "no" to him.Liu Bang held Hangu Pass and refused to let Xiang Yu enter. This simply regarded Xiang Yu as an enemy and was full of hostility.If you compare Liu Bang with the princes of the world, one is full of awe, and the other is full of hostility. The contrast is too great.How does this make Xiang Yu feel?

This Xiang Yu really couldn't bear it, and it seriously hurt his self-esteem.Xiang Yu himself thought that he had made a lot of contributions. After fighting such a big battle, when he came here, you, Liu Bang, stopped me and refused to let me in. This was one reason for his anger; another reason, he did not expect that Liu Bang would actually advance. Guanzhong.There was a background before this. When Liu Bang and Xiang Yu split up to fight Qin, Liu Bang's mission was to go west to Qin, so Xiang Yu's mission was to go north to rescue Zhao.They once had an agreement under the auspices of King Huai, Xiang Yu who went north and Liu Bang who went west, whoever entered the pass first would be the king of Guanzhong.

As soon as Xiang Yu heard that Liu Bang had entered the customs first, he didn't need to say anything. According to the agreement, the surname of the king of Guanzhong was Liu, and Xiang Yu couldn't swallow this tone anyway.It was a tough battle for Xiang Yu to go north to rescue Zhao. He fought the most elite Zhang Han army of the Qin army and the Great Wall army.What about Liu Bang?When the main force of the Qin army fought a decisive battle with Xiang Yu, the defenders in Guanzhong were already very weak, so Liu Bang took advantage of the weak strength of the Qin army in Guanzhong to attack.So in terms of effort, Xiang Yu exerted great strength, while Liu Bang exerted small strength.So Xiang Yu felt that Liu Bang should not be the king of Guanzhong.Another one, who presided over the agreement?It was King Huai, and Xiang Yu was not satisfied with the agreement under the auspices of King Huai, because Xiang Yu was dissatisfied with King Huai himself.

Liu Bang wanted to be the king of Guanzhong, but of course Xiang Yu refused to agree. Moreover, Liu Bang even let Ziying, a surrendered Qin Dynasty emperor, be the prime minister, which Xiang Yu absolutely could not allow.Xiang Yu had a strong hatred of Qin. Xiang Yu's grandfather Xiang Yan was killed by Qin General when Chu State fell; Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Liang was killed by Qin General Zhang Han.It can be said that their old Xiang family has a blood feud with Qin Chao for generations. Now you let Ziying be the prime minister, can Xiang Yu agree? After Liu Bang entered Xianyang, he wanted to live in a luxurious palace, but his confidants Fan Kuai and Zhang Liang warned him not to do so, lest he lose people's hearts.Liu Bang accepted their opinions, ordered the closure of the palace, and left a few soldiers to protect the palace and the warehouse with a large amount of treasure, and then returned to the army.In order to win the hearts and minds of the people, Liu Bang called together elders and heroes from all the counties in Guanzhong, and solemnly announced to them: "The severe punishments and harsh laws of the Qin Dynasty have harmed everyone, and should be abolished. Now I make an agreement with you, whether it is Everyone must abide by the three laws. These three are: the murderer must be executed, the wounder must be punished, and the thief must be punished!" The elders and heroes all expressed their support for the "Three Chapters of the Covenant".Then, Liu Bang sent a large number of people to various counties and townships to publicize the "Three Chapters of the Covenant".After hearing this, the common people enthusiastically supported Liu Bang's army, and took cattle, sheep, wine and food to comfort Liu Bang's army.Due to the resolute implementation of the "Three Chapters of the Agreement", Liu Bang has won the trust, support and support of the people. Liu Bang's move in Xianyang City can be described as a wise move, but his tactics against Xiang Yu may be very wrong. Xiang Yu and Liu Bang are very different in age. When the Qin Dynasty fell, Xiang Yu was only 27 years old, while Liu Bang was already in his early fifties.Xiang Yu is young and energetic, but the old fox Liu Bang showed his fox tail at Hangu Pass after all. He wanted to be the king of Guanzhong, and he guarded the pass to prevent Xiang Yu from entering. It was like hitting a stone with an egg.At this time, Xiang Yu was much stronger than him, and he had just fought the Battle of Julu, and the morale of the soldiers was high. It was very easy for Xiang Yu to destroy him at this time, and Liu Bang might not even have the strength to fight back.Therefore, Liu Bang's move not only has no chance of winning, but also exposed his political intentions prematurely.And once his ambition was exposed, would Xiang Yu still feel at ease with him?