Chapter 26 Fan Zeng's death

After Han Xin was dispatched to attack Zhao, Liu Bang, who was stationed in Xingyang, was not idle. He built a corridor with walls on both sides to the south of Xingyang, connecting it with the south bank of the Yellow River, so that he could take the grain from Ao Cang and revive his strength. Confront Xiang Yu. Although Liu Bang rebelled against Xiang Yu's general Jing Bu and divided Xiang Yu's troops, Xiang Yu sent troops to harass the Han army's grain transportation channels, and finally besieged the Han army in Xingyang.Liu Bang was in a hurry, so he had to ask Xiang Yu for peace, and proposed to use Xingyang as the dividing line, and the west of Xingyang was Han.

Xiang Yu wanted to agree to Liu Bang's request, but Fan Zeng disagreed, and asked him to take this opportunity to completely eliminate Liu Bang. If he missed this opportunity and let the tiger go back to the mountain, there would be endless troubles, so Xiang Yu began to attack Xingyang again. Liu Bang knew that all of this was Fan Zeng's idea, so he wanted to get rid of him.So he discussed with Li Shiqi. Li Shiqi first moved out the ancients, and came up with a throwing brick to attract jade: "Great King Mingjian: In the past Shang Tang overthrew Xia Jie, and still entrusted his descendants in Qi; Zhou Wuwang defeated Zhou, and also entrusted his descendants in Song."

Liu Bang was impatient and waved his hands: "Where are so many nonsense, let's get to the point!" Li Shiqi cleared his throat: "The current tyranny of the King of Qin does not respect benevolence, justice and morality. It has invaded the land of the princes and countries. After swallowing the six kingdoms, their descendants have no place to stand. If you can really re-entrust the descendants of the six kingdoms and issue seals to them all, the emperors, ministers and people who have been sealed will They will definitely be grateful to you, yearn for your demeanor, admire your virtue, and are willing to be your servant. Once your virtue has been established, you can become the king of the world, and Xiang Yu will definitely come to be your minister."

Although Li Shiqi talked a lot, Liu Bang still understood what he meant, that is, to convince people with "virtue", which is not bad after all. "Great, then hurry up and engrave them, sir can take them with you." Liu Bang said. Before Li Shiqi left, Zhang Liang came in from the outside to meet Liu Bang. Liu Bang was eating at that time, waved the chopsticks in his hand and hurriedly greeted him: "Ovary, come quickly, someone is planning a plan for me to defeat Xiang Yu." Then he told him Li Shiqi's thoughts. "What do you think?" Liu Bang asked.

"My lord, who gave you this idea? If you don't do it well, your big business will be ruined by this!" Zhang Liang said a little angrily. "What?" Liu Bang's eyes widened. "Please borrow your chopsticks." Zhang Liang took the chopsticks and said unhurriedly, "In the past when Shang Tang attacked Xia and dared to entrust his descendants in Qi, it was because he was sure that he would be able to set Xia up. Jie died and will not make a comeback. Can you put Xiang Yu to death today?" Liu Bang swallowed: "Not yet." "This is the first reason why you can't do this." Zhang Liang said bluntly, "King Wu of Zhou dared to entrust his descendants in Song Dynasty after he defeated King Zhou of Shang because he was sure that he could get King Zhou's head. Today Can you get Xiang Yu's head?"

Do you still need to ask this question?Liu Bangxin said that he had to admit that he was not capable of taking Xiang Yu's head. "This is the second reason why this cannot be done. After King Wu occupied Yin and Shang, he commended Shangrong's hometown, honored the place where Jizi was imprisoned, and sealed Bigan's tomb. Now His Majesty can seal the tomb of a saint and commend the sage's Hometown, the court of the wise man?" Liu Bang had nothing to say except "can't". "This is the third reason not to do this. They can distribute grain from Juqiao and coins from Lutai to the poor people. Can you distribute the treasury to the poor people today?"

"cannot." "This is the fourth reason why you can't do this. After the fall of Yin, King Wu changed the military chariot into a chariot, put down the weapons, and covered them with tiger skins to show that the world will no longer fight. Now you can prohibit the promotion of armed forces. Wen Zhi, have you stopped using troops?" "impossible." "This is the fifth reason why it should not be done. Let go of the horse on the southern slope of Huashan to show that it is no longer needed. Can you let go of the war horse today as a useless thing?" "Of course not."

"This is the sixth reason why you can't do this. Putting the cattle on the north slope of Taolin means that you will no longer use them to deliver military rations. Can you release the cattle today and stop transporting military rations?" "No." After answering seven "no" in a row, Liu Bang's hands trembled. "This is the seventh reason why you can't do this. In addition, many people in the world have left their relatives, abandoned their ancestral graves, bid farewell to their homeland, and follow you to fight the world. What they look forward to every day is that piece of land. If you restore the six After enfeoffing Han, Wei, Yan, Zhao, Qi, and Chu, all the wanderers in the world went back to serve their own masters, and returned to the cemetery of their hometown. Who do you rely on to seize the world? This is the first time that you can’t do this. Eight reasons.

"In addition, there is no one stronger than Xiang Yu today. Even if the Six Kingdoms are re-established, they will be weaker than him and still have to submit to him. Can you make them submit to you? If you really use Li Shiqi's strategy, Then your big business will be completely over." After asking eight questions in a row, Zhang Liangcai finally came to a conclusion. Liu Bang was so angry that he spat out all the food in his mouth, and cursed fiercely: "This useless scholar almost ruined my event!" Immediately ordered the seal to be destroyed. Zhang Liang's plan enabled Liu Bang to avoid the danger of giving others a handle and stepping on the old road of restoration.Later, using Chen Ping's strategy, he gave Chen Ping 40,000 catties of brass to drive a wedge between Xiang Yu and his ministers.

Chen Ping used these brass to buy off some generals of the Chu army, and let them spread rumors: "Among Xiang Yu's subordinates, Fan Yafu and Zhong Limei have made the most contributions, but they cannot crack the soil and become kings. They have made an agreement with Liu Bang Alright, let's destroy Xiang Yu together and share Xiang Yu's land." These words reached the Overlord's ears, which aroused his suspicion, and indeed he became suspicious of Zhong Limo, and he would stop discussing with Zhong Limo when there were important matters in the future. up.He even suspected that Fan Zeng had an affair with Liu Bang, and was very rude to him.

In order to completely isolate Xiang Yu, Chen Ping also wanted to remove Fan Zeng.For this reason, he did not hesitate to set the blame on Fan Zeng.One day, Xiang Yu sent an envoy to Liu Bang's camp, and Chen Ping asked the waiter to prepare very delicate tableware and bring it to the envoy's room.As soon as the envoy entered the room, he was invited to the upper seat. Chen Ping repeatedly asked about Fan Zeng's daily life, praised Fan Zeng, and asked in a low voice, "What orders does Yafu Fan Zeng have?" It was sent by the overlord, not by Yafu." Chen Ping pretended to be surprised when he heard it, and said, "We thought it was sent by Yafu!" He asked several soldiers to withdraw from the high-end banquet, and then sent the envoy They were taken to another simple guest room, where they were treated with simple tea and light meals.Chen Ping was unhappy and left in a huff.The envoy did not expect to be humiliated, and was very angry. After the envoy returned to Chuying, he told Xiang Yu everything about the situation, and the Overlord was even more convinced that Fan Zeng was having an affair with Liu Bang.At this time, Fan Zeng suggested to Xiang Yu that the siege should be stepped up, but Xiang Yu was uncharacteristically and refused to listen.A few days later, Fan Zeng also learned of the rumors that he had an affair with Liu Bang, and felt that Xiang Yu no longer trusted him, so he said to Xiang Yu: "The world's major events have basically been decided, and I hope the king will do well by himself. I am old and in poor health, please allow me to go home to take care of myself!" Xiang Yu was so ruthless that he had no intention of keeping him. He agreed to his request and sent someone to escort him back to his hometown.Fan Zeng walked all the way, sighed all the way, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and was very sad.He is seventy-five years old, how can he bear such a big grievance?When I arrived in Pengcheng, I was so angry that I developed a cancerous tumor on my back, so I couldn't afford to get sick, what a pity. Chu and Han fought, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu competed in the Central Plains, Liu Bang relied on his counselors Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, and Xiang Yu relied on his counselor Fan Zeng. Therefore, later generations called Fan Zeng, Zhang Liang and others together as "outstanding men". .But as long as we carefully analyze some of the things Fan Zeng has done, it seems that some of them are not worthy of the name. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled.In the second year of Qin II, Fan Zeng, who was a strategist at the time, saw that the Qin Dynasty was in danger, so he secretly persuaded Xiang Liang to raise troops and supported a descendant of King Chu as King Huai of Chu.When the Qin army besieged Julu, King Huai of Chu sent Song Yi, Xiang Yu and others to lead the army to rescue Zhao. Fan Zeng was a last general at that time. After the army crossed the Yellow River, Xiang Yu cut his own way and smashed the boats used to cross the river. He led eight thousand soldiers from the east of the river to fight to the death with the Qin army, and won a complete victory. Xiang Yu became famous in one fell swoop.After Xiang Liang's death, Fan Zeng became Xiang Yu's counselor logically, and was even honored by Xiang Yu as his sub-father. With the expansion of power, the ambitious Xiang Yu felt that King Huai of Chu had become a stumbling block to his hegemony, so he soon found an excuse to kill King Huai of Chu.Regarding this matter, Fan Zeng could not dissuade the reckless Xiang Yu out of justice, but let him go his own way. This is another mistake he has made since he persuaded Xiang Liang to revolt against Qin. Before King Chuhuai was killed by Xiang Yu, King Chuhuai ordered the three armies, whoever captured Guanzhong first would be the king of Guanzhong for granted.As a result, Liu Bang marched all the way to Guanzhong, while Xiang Yu attacked the city all the way, which delayed the opportunity to enter Guanzhong and let Liu Bang take the lead.Xiang Yu saw that Liu Bang, who was many times weaker than himself, occupied the strategically important area of ​​Guanzhong, and felt uncomfortable. Fan Zeng saw it, so he urged Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang to avoid future troubles, so he set up a grand banquet in Bashang. , making Liu Bang almost die. During the period when Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu worked together, Xiang Yu repeatedly killed innocent people by mistake, burned and plundered wantonly, and lost popular support. For example, after Song Yi and Xiang Yu rescued Zhao Shengli together, Xiang Yu was afraid that Song Yi would compete with him in the future, so he wanted to kill Song Yi.As the last general, Fan Zeng didn't say a word of justice for Song Yi, and sat back and watched Song Yi be killed.Xiang Yu killed 400,000 Qin prisoners and Prince Ying who had surrendered, but Fan Zeng didn't say anything.After Liu Bang withdrew from Guanzhong, Xiang Yu occupied Xianyang. In addition to looting the treasures of the palace, he actually set a big fire and reduced the palaces of the Qin Dynasty, including Afang Palace, to ashes.Fan Zeng witnessed all this with his own eyes, but he never said a word of advice to Xiang Yu. There are so many people like Fan Zeng who bear the laurels of a "hero" but act in the face of their superiors, say things that are ignorant of their conscience, and do nothing good.