Chapter 17 Returning to China

The last time at the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang escaped in a thrilling manner, and Fan Zeng was so angry that he cursed and cursed. Xiang Yu also had a clear understanding of Liu Bang. Although he was named king, he was determined not to let him leave Xianyang.Zhang Liang was trapped in the enemy camp, and he was helpless.After thinking about it, I had to ask someone else for help, and this person was Chen Ping. Chen Ping was born in Yangwu (now southeast of Yuanyang, Henan) in the Western Han Dynasty.When he was young, his family was very poor, but he liked reading, especially the books of Huangdi and Laozi.His elder brother saw that he liked to make friends and study, so he undertook all the labor in the family, so that Chen Ping had time to travel and study abroad.

One year, when the festival was held, people elected Chen Ping as the head of the temple to preside over offering sacrifices to the gods and divide the meat for everyone.Chen Ping divided the meat evenly.For this reason, the fathers and villagers all gave thumbs up: "This child Chen Ping divides the sacrificial meat very well, and he is so competent!" Chen Ping said with emotion: "If I, Chen Ping, have the opportunity to govern the world, I can also Appropriate and competent as meat." Later Chen Sheng revolted in Daze Township and made Wei Jiu King of Wei.Chen Ping bid farewell to his elder brother and went to join the king of Wei.Later, he was transferred to Xiang Yu's subordinates as a counselor.But Xiang Yu seems to only like to reuse muscular men like him, but he is always not interested in a white-faced scholar like Chen Ping, so Chen Ping has not been taken seriously, and he is depressed.

In such a low period, God arranged for him to meet Liu Bang.At the Hongmen banquet, he met Liu Bang for the first time. Although Liu Bang's performance at the banquet did not satisfy everyone, Chen Ping was refreshed and thought that he would become a great weapon in the future (could it be that Chen Ping would also meet? ). As a result, the talented Chen Ping was caught in the contradiction of "being in Chu Ying and thinking about Han".At this moment, Liu Bang was trapped in Xianyang by Xiang Yu, which was equivalent to house arrest.At a loss, Zhang Liang decided to put all his eggs in one basket and went to find Chen Ping secretly.

Unexpectedly, the two hit it off and hated each other.Parting, Zhang Liang bluntly stated the intention of the visit. After Chen Ping thought for a while, he made up his mind: "To save Liu Bang from Xiang Yu, we must first 'tune the tiger away from the mountain', and we must let Fan Zeng leave Xiang Yu for a few days, otherwise it will not work." The next day, Chen Ping planned: Ask Xiang Yu to give King Huai of Chu the honorary title of Emperor Shangyi, and send him to Chenzhou to retire, so that Xiang Yu can call on the world.What Chen Ping said was exactly what Xiang Yu wanted.Soon, Fan Zeng went to court to meet Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu said to Fan Zeng: "There are no two suns in the sky, and there are no two masters in the people."

Then, he said what Chen Ping said in his own words, saying that he remembered it, and Fan Zeng immediately echoed: "My lord, this matter really needs to be resolved, sooner rather than later. Besides, I have to deal with this matter." go." After all, Fan Zeng was also a counselor. Before leaving, he proposed three things to Xiang Yu. The first one was that Liu Bang should not be allowed to return to Hanzhong. After Xiang Yu agreed, Fan Zeng left. Chen Ping guessed that Fan Zeng had gone far, so he took advantage of the early court to play a book and said: "Just settled down, we must save money. Now the princes are gathering in Xianyang, with no less than 40,000 troops on each route, and the burden of military rations is extremely heavy. If you don't hurry up Let the princes go back to the country, I am afraid that the common people will not be able to afford it."

Xiang Yu was shocked when he heard this, and immediately sent an edict: The princes of the world, those who are far away will be given a deadline of ten days, and those who are close will be given a deadline of five days, and be ready to return to the country within the deadline.So in April, the princes of all walks of life stopped their troops under the banner of Xiang Yu's general and returned to their respective feudal states.But only Liu Bang still stayed in Xianyang and accompanied the king. It was within Chen Ping's expectation that Xiang Yu detained Liu Bang. Chen Ping took advantage of the opportunity of the princes from all walks of life to return to the country, and instructed Zhang Liang to use the strategy of attacking the east and attacking the west.Therefore, Liu Bang submitted a form according to Zhang Liang's intention, and asked Xiang Yu for leave to return to his hometown Pei County to visit his relatives.

Xiang Yu was hesitant, Zhang Liang deliberately said: "You can't ask Liu Bang to return to his hometown to take his family, otherwise he might become king in Pei County. You might as well send him back to Hanzhong with the remnants of the defeated army, and then send someone to Pei County to fetch him family members as hostages so that he can teach him to behave himself.” Chen Ping took the opportunity to play: "Since your majesty named Liu Bang the king of Han, you have already announced it to the world. All the subjects know about it, but you don't let him take office. I'm afraid it's not enough to win the trust of the world. People may say that your majesty told lies when he came to the throne. In the future, when the law is enforced, it will be violated. Why don’t you listen to Zhang Liang’s words, take Liu Bang’s family members as hostages, stay in Xianyang, and send him back to Hanzhong, so as to preserve credit and restrain Liu Bang? Isn’t this the best of both worlds?”

Xiang Yu thought for a long time and agreed.Liu Bang was very happy in his heart, and immediately set off from the stronghold after returning to camp.Chen Ping's strategy of attacking east and west rescued Liu Bang, which not only saved Liu Bang's life, but also won a good opportunity for Liu Bang to make a comeback in the future. Liu Bang can finally go to Fengguo.But Zhang Liang couldn't go to the fief with Liu Bang because of Han Wangcheng's affairs, so he sent him to Baozhong and went back. What happened to Han Wangcheng?Let's start from the beginning. When Xiang Liang supported King Chuhuai, the descendant of King Chu, Yan, Qi, Zhao, and Wei had already established their own kings, but Han had no heirs.When Liu Bang arrived in Xuedi, he met with Xiang Liang.Zhang Liang was originally a Korean, and his family had been ministers of Han for five generations. His loyalty to the king of Han was fully demonstrated in the incident of assassinating the king of Qin with all his family property.

Zhang Liang seized this opportunity, persuaded Xiang Liang to set up an acting king, and recommended Han Cheng.Xiang Liang felt that it was reasonable, so he sent Zhang Liang to find Han Cheng, and made him the king of Han, hoping to occupy the land of Pingding the original South Korea. Xiang Liang was defeated in Dingtao and died, and Han Cheng defected to King Huai of Chu.When Peigong led the army to attack Yangcheng, he ordered Zhang Liang to surrender the original territory of South Korea as the situ of South Korea. When Liu Bang went south from Luoyang through Yuanshan, Zhang Liang followed the king of Han and led his troops to follow Peigong, captured more than ten cities in Han, and defeated Yang Xiong's army.Liu Bang then asked Han Wangcheng to stay in Yangdi.

When Xiang Yu became the king of the princes, Han Wangcheng was not sent to the fief, but was changed to the title of Liehou.The superficial reason is that Han Cheng did not follow Xiang Yu to fight, so he has no military exploits. In fact, it is because Zhang Liang followed Liu Bang.