Chapter 20 Chapter 1 Song Yi Takes Command

All the ranged troops in Chu State were commanded by Song Yi. In order to show that Song Yi's official position was higher than Xiang Yu and Liu Bang's "Marquis" title, and did not exceed Xiang Liang's original "Jun" title, he was given the title of "Jun". "Qingzi Champion". Zhang Han defeated Zhao, and his soldiers besieged Julu In the battle of Dingtao, Zhang Han once again exerted his power and completely defeated the rebel commander Xiang Liang's army; he forced Xiang Yu to retreat to the southeast to Pengcheng, and redeployed the defense line.

However, during this period, Qi General Tian Rong's influence in Qilu's hometown in the east has been established, and the King Zhao supported by Zhang Er and Chen Yu has also greatly increased in momentum.Wei Bao in the West has established a solid guerrilla base, and Han Wang, supported by Zhang Liang, is also developing in Han, and has gained a lot. Therefore, the Zhang Han army stationed in Dingtao is almost isolated due to the long battle line with Xianyang, especially the food and fodder is completely self-sufficient on the front line. Fortunately, Xingyang County, which is the granary, is still under the control of the Qin army. not lacking.

But there are enemies in all directions, which direction should the Qin army's next offensive take? Xiang Yu's army has always been brave, and Liu Bang's army is not easy to provoke. After retreating to Pengcheng, the defense line quickly consolidated. According to intelligence analysis, it is not easy to completely defeat them. But after such a large injury, the Chu army should not have the power to fight back, not to mention there are still internal conflicts , it is unlikely to make a difference in the short term. The land of Qi has always been complicated, easy to defend but difficult to attack, not to mention Tian Rong is quite talented, it is not easy to deal with him quickly.Furthermore, Tian Rong seems to be satisfied with sticking to the Qi land, and has no intention of fighting for hegemony in the Central Plains, so naturally there is no need to rush to a showdown with him.

The king of Han has always been weak, so Zhang Han is most disturbed by Zhao Guo in the north. Moreover, Chen Yu and Zhang Er have international reputation. Once they develop wings, they will not be easy to deal with. Therefore, Zhang Han immediately assembled a large army, crossed the Yellow River, and directly attacked Zhao Jun's camp on the north bank. Although it is quite risky to put all one's eggs in one basket when surrounded by the enemy army, Zhang Han's judgment is completely correct. Almost no one in the vassal states came forward to help Zhang Er and Chen Yu. Powerful commanders and generals can't use their previous combat effectiveness. Not only the front line is retreating steadily, but the capital Handan will soon be lost. , and the granary has enough grain to hold on for a long time. Zhang Han then sent Biejiang Wangli to surround the city, making Julu a cage city and cutting off foreign news.

At this time, Chen Yu reorganized the remnants of Zhao's army in the north, with tens of thousands of people stationed in Changshan, north of Julu City.Zhang Han led the main force, stationed in Jiyuan, south of Julu, ready to launch a general attack at any time, and defeated the Zhao army in one fell swoop. Zhao Wangxie sent a special envoy to break through the siege to ask Chen Yu for help. Chen Yu was afraid of the power of the Qin army and did not dare to go south. So the special envoy asked Chu, Qi, and Wei for help. In order to show that he inherited Xiang Liang's position as the leader of the rebel army, King Huai of Chu intends to send troops to rescue him, but the generals of various legions have different opinions on who should be the general. "Xiang Jiajun naturally hopes that Xiang Yu will take over, but the new mainstream faction around King Huai does not care about Xiang Jiajun."

At this time, the envoy of Qi State Gaoling Jun Tianxian was already in the Chu army. He said to King Huai of Chu: "Isn't there a super famous general in front of you? Song Yi once told me that Lord Wu Xin would be defeated. In a few days, the Chu army was indeed defeated. The army saw its decline before the battle. It can be called a general who knows how to fight." King Huai of Chu took advantage of the momentum to convene a meeting of army generals and tribal elders, publicly elected Song Yi, and Song Yi personally explained his military plan. Since Song Yi is rich in experience and can speak good words, he is far superior to Xiang Yu. What's more, Xiang Yu is only about 24 years old. It is true that he lacks experience and reputation to unify the huge and complicated Chu army. It was agreed that Song Yi would lead the army.

King Huai of Chu made Song Yi the top general, Xiang Yu the second general, and Fan Zeng the last general, and led his army north to rescue Zhao. With a special image, Liu Bang became the commander of the Western Expeditionary Army In order to boost the morale of the Chu army after Xiang Liang's defeat, the elders of the Chu State advocated a systematic counterattack against the Qin army to regain the initiative. Therefore, they intend to limit this military operation to not only rescue the Yue State, but hope that Promoted to the base camp that can directly attack the Qin Dynasty - the Guanzhong area.

King Huai of Chu expressed to the generals even more energetically: "We agreed with each other here that the one who enters Guanzhong first will be the king of Guanzhong." Guanzhong is a loess basin formed by the alluvial deposits of Weishui, Jinghe, Luohe, etc., with rich productivity.Since the Zhou royal family, which established the country based on agriculture, used this as a base, the water conservancy construction was complete and the productivity was huge. The Qin Dynasty also established them here to conquer the whole country.The headquarters of the unified world. At present, Guan Zhong is the most desirable "dream lover" for all the ambitious people who want to compete in the world.

But this "beauty" is not easy to possess, because the basin is surrounded by treacherous mountains on all sides, and only Hangu Pass in the west, Wuguan in the southwest and Sanguan in the south can enter. The so-called "pass" refers to a narrow gap in the mountains. As long as a small number of troops defend, no amount of large troops can exert their offensive power because the attack surface is too large. Attacking the military town." In terms of marching speed, outside Hangu Pass in the west, the terrain is flat and easy to grasp.It's just that the Luoyang Basin outside Hangu Pass and the granaries such as Xingyang have always been the base camp of Zhang Han's army. Unless Zhang Han's army can be defeated, it will be more difficult to attack Hangu Pass from here.

At this time, Zhang Han's reputation was in full swing, even Song Yi had to be cautious even if he went out in person, so this route to enter Guanzhong was not favored by the generals. But because Xiang Yu hated Zhang Han for killing Xiang Liang, he was always eager to take revenge.The reason why he followed Fan Zeng's suggestion and resigned to the position of second general was that he had the opportunity to actually lead an army to attack Zhang Han. Therefore, he took the initiative to propose this route with his own dissent. After Song Yi gained military power, he felt guilty for "Xiang's army, so he also agreed that Xiang Yu would be the main force to attack."

But on this front, it is bound to confront Zhang Han's army first, which is a head-to-head strategy. Therefore, it is still necessary to send a free force to threaten the Guanzhong area from Wuguan and disperse the defense of the Qin army, which can also reduce the tension in the decisive battle with Zhang Han. pressure. Song Yi had an in-depth study of Zhang Han's tactics, and he was wary of Zhang Han's ability to quickly gather troops. Therefore, he believed that the combat power of the Western Expeditionary Army must also have a considerable threatening effect, which could aggravate Zhang Han's difficulty in gathering the main force. Let the main force that is expected to attack Hangu Pass be under less pressure. The elders of the state of Chu discussed that most of the main force of the state of Chu was under the command of Xiang Liang, including the guerrilla forces of Yingbu and General Pu, who were obviously pro-Xiang's army.Lu Chen's army had to defend the central government, and the other relatively independent small legions had to be under the command of Song Yi. Therefore, there were not many generals and legions that could really be used and had the ability to fight independently. Forgiving Elder, Future Enemy In the minds of the elders around King Huai of Chu, Liu Bang's relatives "Xiang Jiajun sent him to join Xiang Liang, and accepted to form the deputy army. Later, because of his good performance, he was often ordered to accompany Xiang Yu to fight in the vanguard. But he is not "Xiang Jiajun" He is a direct descendant, and has a gentle personality, can coordinate, has done a lot of meritorious service, and has a good reputation in the Chu army, so it might not be a good way to win him over to fight against Xiang Yu." In addition, Liu Bang's background is not high, even if he is "raised" to grow up, he will not pose much threat to the nobles of Chu State. Therefore, they jointly suggested to King Huai: "Xiang Yu is a fierce man with a cruel personality. He was ordered to attack Xiangcheng. On the day of breaking the city, he buried Xiangcheng alive and surrendered to the Qin army. None of the areas he attacked in the past were killed. What's more, on the way to the West Expedition, Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang, who used to be important battles in the Chu-Qin War, also suffered serious resistance and failed in this place. necessary casualties. "For the current plan, it is better to send a general with the demeanor of the elders to lead the war with the image of 'giri', and use this to declare to Qin Guofu's old brother Chu's attitude towards governing the world. Their king's overly harsh ruling style has long suffered from it. At this time, if a benevolent elder goes there and does not treat them with violent behavior, it will be easier to relax their resistance and it will be easier to attack. down. "Based on this standard, Xiang Yu must not be dispatched to the Western Expedition Front. Looking at all the generals of the army, only Liu Bang has always been lenient and gentle, which fits this image. He should be appointed as the commander of the Western Expedition Army!" King Huai of Chu officially ordered Xiang Yu to go north with Song Yi to fight against Zhang Han and lift the siege of Julu. , ready to invade Guanzhong. In this personnel arrangement, there are some points worthy of our attention. Judging from the existing data, Xiang Yu is very polite to his subordinates, and his own conditions are good, so he is admired by his subordinates. The only weakness is that he is young and inexperienced, but there are With Fan Zeng's assistance from the side, there shouldn't be too much trouble. Internally, Xiang Yu's leadership charisma is absolutely sufficient, and his work efficiency is high. Such a general really can't find any shortcomings. In terms of combat, Xiang Yu was extremely brave, and he often took the lead in sprinting. Therefore, led by him, the army was particularly brave, with high morale, and its efficiency on the battlefield was almost unmatched. Therefore, he is also particularly efficient in fighting the enemy, often killing the opponent without any scruples.Although his shocking power is strong, he seriously damaged the image of the Chu army when he dealt with the incident of surrendering troops in Xiangcheng. Instead, he strengthened the Qin army's resistance. .” Liu Bang was just the opposite. He was born in a farming family, which made it almost impossible for him to operate "red tape". Just like Wang Ling's comment to Liu Bang in the future, "Your Majesty is slow and insulting, Xiang Yu is benevolent and loving." So from the perspective of "internal management", Liu Bang is not easy A "convincing" leader, except for a few people who know his "personality" and like him, Liu Bang's leadership style is not particularly outstanding from a "rational" perspective. However, the seemingly "ineffective" management also made Liu Bang less pressure on people. Xia Houying believed that Liu Bang's "inaction" leadership style made others feel that he needed help, and created a leadership that people like to approach Quill." For the enemy, I always feel that Liu Bang is a gentle and easy-to-coordinate opponent. He has no strong opinions, and always puts on a posture of "talking about it", which is quite in line with the saying in the Art of War that "no wisdom, no courage This is what the elders of the Chu State said, "Dupei Gongsu is a lenient elder, and he can be sent away." But Liu Bang is by no means weak as most people think.His usual performance is quite bold and he ignores difficulties, and his performance after joining Xiang Liang's camp is also quite "successful", so he is regarded as a general with "independent" combat capabilities. It's just that his leadership style is completely different from Xiang Yu's, but Also because of this different image, in the minds of others, he has become a "equally matched" opponent." This incident made Liu Bang a sudden rise, and he had an equal competitive position with Xiang Yu in the Chu army. Liu Bang's army assembled in Dang. Since they all belonged to the Second Army, the organization was small and miscellaneous, but Liu Bang still boldly marched westward.When he led his army straight into Duli near Yingchuan, he encountered Qin's defenders stationed in Weidi. The Northern Expedition Army, fighting openly and secretly The real main force of the Chu army is the Northern Expedition Corps led by Song Yi, the main members of which are still "Xiang Jiajun." Before and after the formation, Xiang Yu was full of contradictions. He really wanted to fight Zhang Han to the death to avenge Xiang Liang.However, after King Huai of Chu ordered Song Yi to be the general, the "leadership" was not his own, which made Xiang Yu very unconvinced. Therefore, for a period of time, Xiang Yu would rather fight for the leadership of the Western Expeditionary Army, at least he could attack Guanzhong first. It can be regarded as a cleansing for Xiang Liang's failure, but this hope has also come to nothing. Furious, Xiang Yu even wanted to turn against King Huai of Chu, but thanks to Fan Zeng's persuasion and a detailed analysis of all possible stakes, Xiang Yu reluctantly agreed to lead his direct army and set off with Song Yi. Although Xiang Liang's army was disintegrated, the state of Chu had a vast territory after all, and it quickly mobilized enough troops.So under the banner of "Champion Qingzi, the Chu army marched northward from Pengcheng, intending to attack Julu directly to save Zhao from the siege." Song Yi was also from a famous family of nobles in the state of Chu, and he understood the traditional etiquette of the state of Chu. Sitting on a military vehicle, the main force of the central army is composed of huge cavalry regiments and infantry regiments, and is slowly advancing. The rear army is led by Fan Zeng and is responsible for the maintenance of food supplies and the smooth flow of food roads in the rear. . Fan Zeng and Xiang Yu were divided into front and back, which was obviously Song Yi's intentional arrangement. Fan Zeng was Xiang Liang's confidant.In Song Yi's heart, Fan Zeng was "Xiang's army's military adviser, and putting him beside Xiang Yu was a great threat to him, so Fan Zeng was deliberately appointed as the last general, responsible for the task of supervising food and fodder." Song Yi's army marched northwest, and when they reached Anyang Town, they suddenly ordered the whole army to camp. Anyang is only a few kilometers away from Dingtao, where Xiangliang was defeated.After Zhang Han's victory in attacking Xiang Liang, he abandoned Dingtao, and the whole army crossed Hebei to attack Zhao, leaving Dingtao and Anyang in a vacuum.Therefore, Song Yi stationed troops here, and even Fan Zeng, who had a deep understanding of strategy, couldn't figure out what it meant. The impatient Xiang Yu even sent people to ask frequently: "It's still far away from Julu. At least we should camp on the south bank of the Yellow River. How can we make a correct observation of Qin's army at such a long distance?" Song Yi just said "Be safe and don't be impatient", without further explanation. Maybe he studied Zhang Han too deeply, Song Yi was really afraid of Zhang Han in his heart.Stopping the army in Anyang is obviously to give myself more psychological preparation.Almost every day, he summoned the generals of the army to give spiritual lectures, constantly emphasizing his love for Chu, and he did not hesitate to sacrifice his life to achieve the ideal and enthusiasm of revitalizing Chu and destroying Qin.He asked the generals to be aware that even in the face of the powerful Zhang Han black shirt army, they must display the traditional tough and brave nature of the Chu army. Song Yi's exaggerated performance didn't really mean much to these simple and brave generals of the Chu army. Xiang Yu showed extreme impatience. Fan Zeng, who had a deeper view of people, quickly caught Song Yi's weakness , then sneered secretly from the side. Song Yi did not dare to face Zhang Han alone. Before and after leaving the army, he sent envoys several times to persuade Tian Rong of Qi State to ask him to send troops to assist Zhao State. Tian Rong, the military strongman of the Qi State who has always been realistic and unwilling to be troublesome, was unmoved, and Song Yi turned to buy other generals of the Qi State Army; Rong ordered to lead the army to help Chu and Zhao in early October. Song Yi's diplomatic skills are not weak, besides Tian Du, there are also many rebels who, at his request, sent troops to Julu to rendezvous and fight against Qin together. Fierce as a tiger, greedy as a wolf, tying beams The season has arrived in mid-November, North China has entered the cold winter, the temperature has dropped sharply, the Chu army is too large, and it is increasingly difficult to supply clothing and food. In addition, Anyang is a small place, and it is not easy to store food. Soon, the huge Chu State North The army fell into a crisis of insufficient food and supplies, and the soldiers complained endlessly, and even the resourceful Fan Zeng was helpless. However, apart from holding regular military meetings to give spiritual speeches, Song Yi still did not see any signs of change. Xiang Yu couldn't take it anymore, so he protested face to face: "The Qin army surrounded Julu, and Zhao's situation is critical. For the current plan, we should lead the army across the river as soon as possible, attack the Qin army from the outside, and let the Zhao army attack it from the inside. It will definitely destroy Zhanghan." Song Yi smiled and said: "The matter is not that simple. You have all heard of the rainbow fighting the cow! Hitting the back of the cow with your hands can kill the rainbow on it, but it can't hurt the gnats that really suck the blood of the cow. This kind of thing is laborious and ineffective." Song Yi was knowledgeable and eloquent, Xiang Yu and the generals didn't know the true meaning of his example, so they could only stare and listen to his explanation. "In other words, even if the Qin army is attacking Zhao State now, even if it can win, it will be exhausted after a long battle. It doesn't make sense, it's better to turn west here and attack Guanzhong, then Qin will be destroyed! So I think it's better to let Qin Jun and Zhao Jun fight to the death! It's the best policy for us to wait here. "Honestly speaking, I, Song Yi, are not as good as you, Duke Lu (referring to Xiang Yu), to fight the enemy on the front line, but when it comes to formulating strategies, making decisions and making judgments, Duke Lu is not as good as Song Yi!" Xiang Yu was furious when he heard this, but he couldn't come up with a strong rebuttal. In order to show the authority of the general, Song Yi even ordered on the spot: "Fierce as a tiger, ruthless as a sheep, greedy as a wolf, those who are too strong to be enslaved, will be killed." Assassinate Song Yi, Xiang Yu seizes power After rejecting Xiang Yu's challenge and defeating him in the military council, Song Yi became more complacent and more convinced of his strategic and diplomatic genius. In order to strengthen Tian Du's influence in Qi State and attack Tian Rong, he used a large amount of financial aid as bait to let his son Song Xiang be the prime minister of Qi State, and personally sent him to Wuyan City on the border of Qi State.As a result, Song Yi and Qi Guotian, who came to greet him, sent elders to hold a celebration banquet in Wuyan, which lasted all night. After discovering this information, Fan Zeng immediately went to Xiang Yu's camp to gather important trusted generals to discuss together. At this time, it was late November, and it was raining continuously for days. The soldiers of Chu State camped in Anyang were already suffering from hunger and cold. When they heard that Song Yi was having an all-night banquet without salt, all the generals gritted their teeth.Xiang Yu took the opportunity to incite: "We were originally ordered to attack the Qin army hard and relieve the danger of the Zhao army's siege. Now the champion of Qingzi has been unable to do so for a long time, and this year's harvest is not good. There is no food in the place. The soldiers are starving and cold. They only eat taro beans to survive every day. He Instead of leading the army to cross the river to obtain food subsidies from the Zhao State, and attacking the Qin Army with the Zhao Army, he only used excuses to wait until the Qin Army weakened, and took advantage of his opportunistic mentality..." Xiang Yu poured out the dissatisfaction accumulated in his heart for a long time, and Fan Zeng and the generals nodded frequently. "Now the Qin army is at its peak state, attacking the newly formed Zhao country, no matter how you imagine the victory or defeat, you can know that Zhao country has been defeated, and the Qin army is bound to be stronger. Defeated, the royal family has long been unable to sit still, so my king entrusted all the military power of the whole country to us. The safety of the country is at stake. With him at the helm, the very existence of the country will be at stake." The righteous words were strict, and with Fan Zeng's instigation, the generals of the Chu army were also excited, and they had a great dislike for Song Yi. But Song Yi, who just came back from Wuyan in the middle of the night, still didn't notice it, and quickly fell asleep with his ambition and pride in his arms. After confirming that Song Yi had returned to the camp area, Xiang Yu also left the meeting place immediately, hid his short blade, led several cronies, rushed to the city all night, and went straight to the mansion where Song Yi was camped. Although the guards came forward to block it, Xiang Yu pushed it away with both hands and shouted loudly: "I have something important to do, and I must urgently meet with the general!" Xiang Yu was so fierce and powerful that the guards couldn't stop him, so he had to call out loudly: "General, Duke Lu please see me." Song Yi, who had just had a good dream, woke up with a start, struggling to support his fat body, and asked with an unhappy face: "It's Duke Lu? What's the rush early in the morning..." "The traitor who deceived the emperor, take your life!" Send troops to rescue Zhao, the war is about to start The base camp was in chaos, and the generals of Song Yi's camp also rushed to support. Although there was a huge difference in numbers, Xiang Yu still confidently cut off Song Yi's head, and said loudly to the surrounding generals: "Song Yi secretly communicated with the Qi State and conspired against Chu. The King of Chu ordered Xiang Ji to kill him with a secret decree." Frightened by Xiang Yu's bravery, the generals did not dare to refute, so they had to say: "It was the general's family who founded Chu and supported King Huai. The general is naturally the most qualified to set things right and kill the rebels." The main general died, and all the generals of the legion gathered quickly to discuss contingency strategies.During the meeting, everyone promoted Xiang Yu as a false general to replace Song Yi in command of the Northern Expedition Army. As early as when Xiang Yu attacked Song Yi, Fan Zeng also sent a task force to Qi to hunt down Song Xiang. Song Xiang was assassinated on the border of Qi because he was drunk the night before and had not yet awakened. Xiang Yu sent general Huan Chu to return to Pengcheng immediately to report the whole story to King Huai of Chu.When King Huai learned that Song Yi had been killed, "Xiang's army had seized the dominance and was led by the always fierce Xiang Yu, he was shocked and frightened, so he had to take the initiative to order Xiang Yu to be officially appointed as the general to replace Song Yi's vacancy. " Tian An, the grandson of Qi Wang Tianjian, has always admired Xiang Yu's bravery. Hearing that Xiang Yu won the military power, he also sent troops from Jibei to follow Xiang Yu to rescue Zhao. Xiang Yu also immediately ordered the army to move north. The base camp was set up in Dingtao, where Xiang Liang was killed. Fan Zeng was also transferred to Xiang Yu's army division, assisting in the formulation of combat strategies on the front line. An unprecedented battle is about to begin. 【Chen Wende Commentary】 Laozi's "Tao Te Ching Chapter Sixteen": "To the extreme of emptiness, to keep quiet, and to create all things together. I can see and restore all things, each of which returns to its root. Returning to the root is called tranquility. The tranquil day returns to the life and the daily life. Knowing the daily life Knowing is not constant, acting recklessly, knowing perpetual tolerance, tolerance is public, public is complete, complete is heaven, heaven is Tao, Tao is long, without body there is no peril.” In this universe, everything was originally empty and peaceful, and therefore everything can grow in it.Therefore, in order to pursue the essence of all things, it is necessary to restore its most primitive state of emptiness and tranquility. Although the growth of all things is vigorous and complicated, in fact, life starts from nothing, and from being to nothing, and finally returns to the root. The common way of nature is in line with this kind of natural way, which is for wisdom, and those who can't conform to this kind of natural way often cause trouble.Only when everything can be tolerated can one be impartial, one can be impartial and impartial, one can be completely unbiased, one can be completely unbiased, one can obtain the mandate of heaven, one can be in line with the Dao, one can be immortal if one is in line with the Dao, and there will be no danger throughout one's life. There is no such thing as misfortune or good fortune, but only man himself.Human beings were originally "surviving, without any rights and ambitions. But those who survive have actions, and in order to move more conveniently, we need power." Power is originally intended to allow oneself to have greater freedom, but human beings seldom cherish the freedom of this power, and hope to use power to influence or direct others. In order to achieve this goal, we have desires, and it is difficult to have desires. If you are completely satisfied, if you are not satisfied, you will feel uneasy. If you have uneasiness, you want to have more power. If you want more power, you will easily conflict with others. Conflict with others will bring life crisis. After the fall of the state of Chu, King Huai of Chu and Song Yi had already been living among the people. They had no rights or desires when they were living among the people. Instead, everything was safer. When Song Yi had little power, his mind was relatively clear. He could see Xiang Liang's shortcomings, which lay in his objective and calm wisdom. But when he also had power, this objectivity and calmness disappeared instead, and Song Yi became unaware of himself. An old fool with shortcomings and dangers, who doesn't know how he died in the end, can be said to be foolish and corrupt to the extreme. From this point of view, the corruption of power in people's hearts is really terrible. On the contrary, Liu Bang's performance in this area is much better.He has been the underdog so far, and while his performance is not bad, he will always be a supporting role compared to Xiang Yu.But this kind of quiet supporting role makes it less easy for him to highlight his desire for power, and more able to gain sympathy and support. Liu Bangneng accidentally became the commander-in-chief of the Western Chu Army. The main reason is not that he is strong, but that he is not strong enough. He is useful but not threatening, but it brings him the greatest opportunity.