Chapter 22 Chapter Three: Liu Bang's Westward Advance

Liu Bang defeated Qin Guodong's garrison troops in Chengwu, and when he was proud, he sent his western expeditionary army deeper into the northern battlefield. His superficial reason was that the western expeditionary army must replenish enough food and troops. Incorporate the exiled army and form a self-help army Liu Bang's Western Expeditionary Army pointed directly at Guanzhong, but it was far inferior to Julu's Northern Expeditionary Army in terms of momentum. Due to the shortage of soldiers in Chu State, Liu Bang was ordered to adopt a "buffet-style army formation. Except for a few troops directly under the original and a few regular troops of Chu State attached to King Huai of Chu, the rest of the establishment must include the remnants of Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang scattered in various places along the way. Army. Therefore, even if the Western Expeditionary Corps can be successfully formed, it will still be a complete miscellaneous force."

Liu Bang's combat genius is far inferior to Xiang Yu's, but his skills in making friends are top-notch. Quite decent appearance, coupled with a look of indifference, easy-going demeanor and unkempt appearance, it is the most enjoyable to be the leader of this kind of motley army, there is no pressure to laugh and laugh, and everyone gets to know each other quickly. There is a folk saying: "Pei Gong is really a rare elder, and because of this image, he has the opportunity to replace Xiang Yu as the commander-in-chief of the Western Expeditionary Army." If peace is the most important thing for businessmen, Liu Bang has the temperament in this respect.His language is vulgar, but he does not criticize people casually.The habit of suppressing evil and promoting good has caused many people who have been accepted and benefited by him to speak good things for him everywhere, and people's reputation is often promoted by mutual praise in this way.

In this way, Liu Bang's momentum was not based on "war, but "peace"." After starting from Pengcheng, Liu Bang's army went straight to Dadang County. In the vicinity of Chengyang and Gangli, many former scattered rebels came immediately upon hearing the news, and Liu Bang received him widely, and his momentum increased greatly. The Qin army guarding these areas was very disturbed. Although the second army belonging to the reserve team of the Zhang Han Army was small in number, they were full of arrogance. They despised these original "defeated generals, so they took the initiative to challenge Liu Bang."

The target was Xianyang, how could these "little soldiers" be taken seriously, Liu Bangnai ordered an attack, and the Qin army was outnumbered and was quickly defeated. "Liu Bang was very proud of the news that the army was stagnant in Anyang. He thought that he had "achievements" first, so it was better to take this opportunity to expand the results of the battle, so he planned to suppress the "Second Army"." Under this kind of mentality, Liu Bang actually took the Western Expeditionary Army to the north in a "chicken mother-in-law" in an attempt to expand the results of the battle and recruit more soldiers and horses.

First of all, he was lucky. In Chengwu, he defeated the garrison troops of the captain of the Eastern Commandery of the State of Qin. While he was proud, Liu Bang sent his Western Expeditionary Army deeper into the northern war. . At the beginning of December, Xiang Yu had killed Song Yi and led the Northern Expeditionary Army across the river. Liu Bang took the opportunity to incorporate a small independent army in the back. More than 4,000 people known as Gangwuhou Chen Wu were included in the Western Expeditionary Army during this period. The small Qin army stationed here has achieved quite a lot.

During this period, Xiang Yu also used surprise tactics to defeat the besieging army of the Qin State in Julu, and became the leader of the princes with a brilliant record. When the news came, Liu Bang was a little impatient, but it was freezing cold, and what Liu Bang's miscellaneous army lacked most was food, so he decided to go further north to attack Changyi, the granary established by Zhang Han's army here. The Thief Peng Yue Helps Liu Bang Although the war was unfavorable, Liu Bang met an important partner in his life-the thief Peng Yue. Peng Yue was older than Liu Bang. He was a native of Changyi and was born as a fisherman. Because he was the second child, he was called Peng Zhong when he was young.

But Peng Zhong was quite restless, because he was familiar with the nature of the water and was able to control the swamp area, so he even committed murder and robbing the swamp area, so the world called him Peng Yue. When the Qin State was at its strongest, Peng Yue became a thief, which shows his courage.When Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang revolted, Peng Yue was already an old man. Many young people in Changyi wanted to take the opportunity to revolt, so they went to Peng Yue to discuss: "Heroes from all over the country are rebelling against the independence of Qin. If brother Peng Zhong wants to revolt, we are willing to follow you."

Peng Yue knew that these young people were just talking and lacked determination, so he said: "The rebel army has only just begun to act. The situation is unknown, so there is no need to rush!" After another year or so, Peng Yue did not move. The young people beside the swamp couldn't wait any longer, so they gathered more than a hundred people and went to Peng Yue's base camp to look for him: "Please be our leader!" The teenagers asked repeatedly, but Peng Yue had no choice but to agree, and agreed with each other to gather tomorrow morning, leave the base camp, and formally become a rebel army. Peng Yue made a special agreement. Since he is an army, he must strictly enforce the army law, and those who are late will be killed.

But at dawn, only a dozen or so people arrived, and the rest slowly reported around noon.Peng Yue expressed dissatisfaction: "I'm old, everyone should choose a strong man as the leader! Although there is an agreement, there are many latecomers, so we can't kill them all. Let's make a new agreement to kill the last one to follow the military law! And ordered the supervisor to prepare for the execution ground. Young people thought they were joking: "Why is that so! Just don't be late in the future!" But Peng Yue still insisted that there was no joke in the army, and ordered to kill the last person who arrived, and set up an altar to make everyone swear that they would never violate the laws of the army again.

The youths turned pale with fright, and they were deeply in awe of Peng Yue's technique. They lowered their heads and did not dare to look up. Only then did Peng Yue formally say: "Everyone has made up their minds, and the rebel army will be officially formed." Then he led this army of more than 100 people to collect food and recruit soldiers everywhere. Many small towns responded. It didn't take long for more than a thousand people to gather, and he was quite famous near Changyi. It can be said that Peng Yue's style and Liu Bang hit it off, and the two sides got along happily. Liu Bang has always been more attracted to this kind of "the boss on the top of the hill, and Peng Yue is also quite surprised by Liu Bang's appearance and leading skills."

But the battle in Changyi City was still not smooth.Although the two tried their best, they seemed to have little effect on the strong defensive Changyi defenders. "I have to attack west immediately to complete the task, and I can't waste too much time here. Fortunately, Brother Peng is here, so I will trouble you!" A strange man in Gaoyang who gave birth to Li Shiqi madly This time Liu Bang acted very fast, he rushed towards Kaifeng, and the target was obviously still the barn Xingyang. On the way, passing through the small town of Gaoyang, he ran into another nobleman who greatly affected his future career establishment—Kangsheng Li Shiqi. Li Shiqi is from Gaoyang City, good at studying, but his family is poor and down-to-earth, and he is a prisoner in Lizhong. No, it can only be called "Crazy Life." At this time, Li Shiqi was over sixty years old, eight feet tall, and looked healthy and strong. His appearance did not match his personality of only studying and reasoning, not learning martial arts, or farming. The knights under Liu Bang's command were also from Gaoyang, and they knew Li Shiqi quite well. Li Shiqi especially asked him to discuss: "I was guarding the gates of Gaoyang City, and I met many generals who passed here, but most of them were pompous and narrow-minded. He is easy to get close to people, has vision, and is generous, this kind of talent is worthy of my service, please introduce him to me!" A fellow villager said: "This may be difficult! Pei Gong has always disliked Confucian scholars, and many guests who came to see them wearing Confucian crowns, Pei Gong often mischievously asked him to take off the Confucian crowns, and then said loudly that this kind of crown is used for urinating. It is most suitable to make these readers feel deeply insulted, and quit in displeasure. When talking to people, as long as Confucianism is mentioned, he would swear in disdain. This kind of personality may be difficult to accept the lobbying of old Confucian scholars like you! ". Li Shiqi still expressed confidently: "It doesn't matter, you just need to tell Pei Gong: "There is a scholar Li Sheng among us. He is over sixty years old and over eight feet tall. He is called a mad student. Only he doesn't think so, and he is pretentious. The opportunity has not yet come!'" The knights from the same town reported to Liu Bang in this way, and Liu Bang was really interested. After arriving at Gaoyang Chuanshe, he sent someone to summon Li Shiqi. Tired from the journey, Liu Bang asked two women to wash his feet and massage his feet. Anyway, Li Shiqi was not a big shot, so Liu Bang sat by the bed, ready to meet him. After Li Shiqi entered the door, seeing this situation, he just stood up and greeted him, instead of following the usual courtesy of Confucian scholars. Liu Bang thought it was funny and stared at him. Li Shiqi asked loudly: "Are you planning to help Qin State attack the princes, or do you want to lead the princes to defeat Qin State?" This question is really ignorant of common sense. Liu Bang couldn't laugh or cry when he heard this, and cursed: "It's really a rotten Confucianism. What kind of problem is this? The people of the world have long suffered from the tyranny of the Qin State, so the princes gathered to attack the Qin State. How can I help the Qin State to attack the princes?" Li Shiqi roared loudly: "To gather the power of the people, one must rely on righteousness to attack the innocent state of Qin. How can a leader who stands in this position meet the elders in such an arrogant and rude manner?" Liu Bang felt that it made sense, so he immediately stopped washing his feet, got up, and put on formal clothes; he sent someone to invite Li Shiqi to be a guest, and apologized to Li Shiqi in person. Li Shiqi then talked with Liu Bang about the stories of the six kingdoms united against Qin Dynasty, many of which were quite enlightening. Liu Bang was very happy to hear that, so he set up a banquet and prepared to have a long talk with Li Shiqi. During the discussion, Liu Bang asked about the strategy of attacking Qin and Li Shiqi said: "The army under your feet is almost all mixed troops from various places. This kind of soldiers only care about food and clothing, and don't care about ideals. If there are not enough soldiers and food, they will not be able to exert their combat effectiveness. With such a lineup, forcibly entering Guanzhong is undoubtedly a test of the tiger's mouth. What an unwise act!" Liu Bang said sincerely: "then what should we do?" "Master Chen Liu!" "Chen Liu?" "Chenliu is an important place in the world. The transportation is convenient and it extends in all directions. Moreover, there is a lot of food in the city. I am quite familiar with the county magistrate of Chenliu. If you trust me and appoint me as a special envoy, I will persuade him to follow you. If you don't Listen, you can immediately lead the army to attack, and I am willing to respond internally." Liu Bang immediately worshiped Li Shiqi as his special envoy to persuade first, and then Liu Bang personally led the army to show his threat. Sure enough, he easily won Chen Liu, so that Liu Bang's army had a more stable and suitable base camp. In this incident, Li Shiqi made great contributions, and Liu Bang also found that Li Shiqi's planning ability and eloquence were not hindered, which were the most lacking in his original camp, so he was named Guangye Lord. Li Shiqi even recommended his younger brother Li Shang, who had gathered a small army of more than 4,000 people to move around here.Liu Bang accepted him and named him a general, put part of Chen Liu's army under his command, and was responsible for Chen Liu's guard. Li Shiqi stayed in Liu Bang's camp to help with planning, and served as an envoy to contact the princes to lobby the princes to cooperate with Liu Bang's military operations. Zhang Liang returns to the team, Liu Bang is even more powerful In March, Liu Bang led his army to attack Kaifeng to strengthen the defense. After a long battle, he abandoned Kaifeng and marched westward. Qin general Yang Xiong led his army to resist, and the two sides fought at Baima. Yang Xiong was defeated and retreated westward.Before long, the Qin central government sent envoys to arrest and behead Yang Xiong for insulting the emperor's order, and replaced him with a deputy general.But after these battles, the defense of the Qin army in the Yingchuan area was weakened a lot. In April, entering the early summer season, Liu Bang has gained a lot in terms of troops and supplies, so he is determined to quickly advance westward. However, in view of the relatively stable defenses in Xingyang and Aocang, Liu Bang then led his army to Yingchuan, which is a little south, and occupied it. Diyang, the governor of Yingchuan County. So far, Liu Bang's westward military operations still seem haphazard.Although there is Li Shiqi's assistance, it is limited to diplomacy. As for the overall military planning, Liu Bang has always lacked real talent. But Liu Bang was lucky enough, at this critical juncture, Zhang Liang returned to the team. The vicinity of Yingchuan was the former stronghold of South Korea. After leaving Xiang Liang and Liu Bang, Zhang Liang has always regarded rebuilding Korea as his mission, so he fought guerrillas here. Due to the active intelligence information and the planning principles he learned from "Tai Gong Yin Talisman", he has achieved a lot of achievements in defeating the crowd with a few; but generally speaking, Zhang Liang's strategy in South Korea is not considered successful.What he can think and speak may not necessarily be able to do. Zhang Liang is very dissatisfied with his inability to let go of his execution and often overly anxious, but it seems that it is not easy to fully control himself. "Pei Gong does have his own way of leading troops." However, Zhang Liang also quickly saw that Liu Bang lacked planning for such a huge military operation as entering Guanzhong. "Why don't you concentrate all your energy and advance to Guanzhong? Feeling there, running here, although it is for food and fodder, there is no need to waste such time. If Xiang Yu is allowed to enter Guanzhong first, it is really not worth it! If that is the case, in the future Peigong will It can only become a small group under Xiang Yu's command." At this time, another brigade of Zhao Guojun, led by a general named Sima Ang, also came to attack the Yingchuan area, and planned to cross the north bank of the Yellow River to attack Guanzhong. Liu Bang took the initiative to cooperate with Sima Yang to attack the eastern area of ​​Luoyang, and fought against the Qin army who came to fight in the plains of Luoyang City. Zhang Liang really couldn't bear Liu Bang's aimless strategy, so he handed over the guerrillas to King Han and the Korean generals, and went to Liu Bang's camp alone. Liu Bang was very happy to see Zhang Liang, especially Zhang Liang's views on the overall strategy made him suddenly enlightened. Liu Bang thought: simply entrust the overall planning to Zhang Liang, and he only needs to act according to his plan. For Liu Bang's trust and excessive enthusiasm, Zhang Liang, who looks calm on the outside, must be very moved in his heart. He secretly made up his mind to dedicate his life to Liu Bang's Zhiyu. Although Liu Bang's background is not high, his current status is parallel to that of Xiang Yu, and he has become one of the two leaders of the rebel group.Therefore, this unassuming admission of his own incompetence really touched Zhang Liang, who is a think tank. With generous tactics, the Qin army lost its will to fight Zhang Liang suggested that Liu Bang go south first, because the small cities in the south are weakly defended and easy to capture, which can increase his momentum. Liu Bang and Sima Ang obviously planned to storm Hangu Pass, but Zhang Liang did not approve of this head-to-head strategy. He did not want to be hostile to Zhang Han's army standing in front of Hangu Pass. "That's Xiang Yu's job, there's no need to compete with him!" "Avoid Hangu Pass and attack Wuguan instead!" This route is all within the territory of the original South Korea, and Zhang Liang is quite familiar with it. In the summer and June of the third year of Emperor II, Liu Bang's main force went south and fought against the troops of the Nanyang garrison general Ji in Jidong. Liu Bang remembered that he wasted a lot of time in Kaifeng, so this time he also planned to abandon Wancheng and head west quickly. "No, it's too dangerous." Zhang Liang, who was in the staff camp at the rear, rushed to stop him immediately after hearing the news. "Pei Gong, although we are in a hurry to enter the customs, there are still many Qin troops standing in front of us, and we are defending according to danger. If we skip Wancheng so easily, in case of a bitter battle ahead, the Qin troops in Wancheng will all come out." Cut off our logistics route from behind, or even pinch us, and there is a powerful Qin army in front, which will plunge us into an unprecedented crisis." Liu Bang then ordered the whole army to camp temporarily, and then ordered the whole army to lower their flags at night, and secretly returned to the side of Wancheng to lay out the layout. At dawn, Liu Bang's army had surrounded Wancheng. Since Wancheng originally belonged to the territory of Korea, many people in the city were familiar with Zhang Liang, so when the governor of Nanyang decided to fight to the death, most of them did not agree. Chen Hui, the prefect of the county, advised the sheriff not to rush to death, but to seek to resolve the crisis through negotiation. Through Zhang Liang's introduction, Chen Hui met Liu Bang and said: "I heard that there was an agreement between you and King Huai of Chu that the one who enters Xianyang first will be the king of Guanzhong, but now you are trying your best to attack Wancheng. The walls of Wandu stretch for tens of miles. It is very difficult to completely capture it. The people think that they will suffer great harm if they surrender, so they will stick to the city no matter what. The garrison will definitely follow the foot and pursue it, which will not only delay the Xianyang agreement with the foot, but also the danger of chasing troops behind, which is very detrimental to the foot. "So I plan from the standpoint of my feet. Why don't I try to get the prefect of Wancheng to surrender, and then make him a marquis, so that he can stand in the camp of the Chu army, which already has an advantage. Stay behind and stay in Wancheng to keep the backup route open. "More importantly, you can also incorporate the officials and people of Wancheng into your Western Expedition Army, so that the guards of the Qin State on this route will have precedents to follow. Everyone will rush to open the door to welcome you. The road to the Western Expedition will not be smooth. Yet?" Liu Bang likes this kind of strategy that doesn't have to be too hard, but may be more effective, so he agrees with Chen Hui very much. He granted Nanyang Taishou (Chi Qi) the title of Marquis of Yin, so that he could become a general in the Chu camp. Not only did he preserve his life, status and power, but he also continued to stay in Wancheng without having to transfer his position.The envoy Chen Hui also rewarded the city of thousands of households for his meritorious service in promoting cooperation. Such good conditions naturally made the defenders of the Qin State along the way no longer interested in hostile Liu Bang. When the army reached Danshui, Qin's Gaowuhou Ji and Xianghou Wangling also surrendered. Immediately afterwards, Huyang City, Xi City, and Li City all surrendered without a fight, and Liu Bang also ordered his subordinates not to plunder Qin's cities. "Is it so easy to capture Guanzhong?" Even Liu Bang couldn't believe his good luck and the high efficiency of his strategy. In fact, the rapid collapse of the Qin army was mainly due to the drastic changes in the Qin royal family in Xianyang City, in addition to the correct use of the surrender strategy. 【Chen Wende Commentary】 Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching·Chapter 68": "He who is good at being a scholar does not use force; It’s called matching the sky.” A truly good general does not need to display his martial prowess. A truly good fighter must calmly analyze his objective situation and not easily get emotional.A general who is good at defeating the enemy does not compete with others casually, and is good at driving others is a person who knows how to be humble and inferior to others.Therefore, only by understanding the "virtue of invincibility" and "use of human power" can we understand the truth of nature, which is also the most basic truth since ancient times. In Laozi, war is rarely mentioned, and Laozi's thoughts are basically anti-war and non-war, so the subjects discussed in this chapter are rare in Chinese. But the war discussed in this chapter is anti-war and non-war. The general does not need to show his bravery or wisdom. He only needs to be a leader naturally. The most important characteristic of a leader is to be followed by people. Only when there are subordinates can there be a leader. If no one follows, even an emperor is just a lone husband who has betrayed his relatives, and is no longer a truly powerful leader. Therefore, a good fighter is one who does not fight and is not angry. In "Sun Tzu's Art of War", it is said that the master should not be provoked by anger, and will not be led to war by anger.A soldier who surrenders without fighting is a good fighter. A benevolent man is invincible because he does not fight with others; a sword master has no sword because he does not use a sword; a man with insight knows where there is no need to fight, and how to concentrate on the necessary goal without spending too much This is Zhang Liang's most important contribution to Liu Bang in this Western Expedition. Those who are good at being subordinates do not necessarily have to truly be others' subordinates.The above-mentioned people who make good use of people have already defined that those who can be subordinates are leaders and those who know how to command others best.That is to say, leadership is not about forcing others to carry out their will, but about letting others work hard for themselves, but can assist in completing the work that the leader wants him to do. The leader is usually very capable, so the subordinates are very incompetent, but they are exhausted and cannot play the function of group brainstorming. If the leader can properly demonstrate his "incompetence, it may be possible for subordinates to develop their abilities, which in turn can achieve the leader's function better." From this point of view, Liu Bang's performance as a marshal's "virgin show" - Xizheng Guanzhongli, indeed has many shadows of the "military leader" described by Lao Tzu.