Chapter 26 Chapter Three

At this time, the military adviser Fan Zeng most hoped that Xiang Yu would go to war. He compared the two extreme behaviors of Xiang Yu's killing of soldiers and Liu Bang's third chapter of the law, and he knew that the general situation was half over.Based on his image, Liu Bang has gained an absolute advantage in the Guanzhong area. In the third year of Qin II, the first year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, in 206 BC, Liu Bang marched into Bashang, and Qin Prince Ying voluntarily surrendered to Liu Bang. Others rob gold and silver, Xiao He keeps his books In fact, Liu Bang never thought that Prince Qin would surrender without a fight.

The unexpected surprise made him wonder what to do next, and many generals advocated simply killing King Qin and seizing Qin Zheng. Liu Bang has never had many ideas, especially the sudden luck often makes him unable to react, so he is less likely to be overjoyed. Fortunately, this person has never been bloodthirsty, and his unsmooth entrepreneurial career has also taught him: when you are not sure, it is best to leave it alone and not solve it for the time being. "Well, back then King Huai sent me to be the chief general of the Western Expedition, wasn't it because I was always tolerant? Besides, since he has voluntarily surrendered, it is ominous to kill him, I think he should be spared for the time being!"

So Ziying was handed over to the minister responsible for the captives to arrange. After handling the matter of surrender, Liu Bang immediately marched westward into Xianyang City with his army. "The youth dream of being a real man is about to come true." According to the custom of the Warring States Period, as long as a city is captured, major looting is a reward for the victorious army. This habit still existed until the Three Kingdoms era, except for a few famous generals who were rigorous in running the army. In addition, looting the enemy's surrendered city generally does not violate military discipline.

What's more, most of Liu Bang's Western Expeditionary Army is a merged motley army. Even if they want to strictly manage it, other army generals may not be convinced. So as soon as they entered Xianyang City, no one could control anyone else. The generals of the various legions commanded their subordinates to seize the gold and silk belongings from the Qin Palace, the treasury, the officials' homes, and the people with all their strength, and distributed the spoils on the spot. However, the original team from Peixian County seemed to be quite self-controlled, and most of them advocated maintaining order in the chaos.

At this time Liu Bang really didn't want to control it, and he knew he couldn't control it. Xiao He's point of view is different, he doesn't care who is robbing property, what he cares about is the books and books collected by the Qin imperial family. When he was in Pei County, Xiao He was the chief clerk, so he knew the importance of these materials, especially since the uprising, he has been in charge of logistics and supplies, so all the materials about manpower and resources in various regions are what he needs most Since the uprising with Liu Bang, the overall luck is not bad. The small group that was originally unknown has become one of the two main armies westward in Xianyang in just over a year. This also makes Xiao He think that the Liu Bang Group may have The strength to conquer the world in troubled times.

These materials did provide detailed information on natural fortresses, population density, and product resources throughout China in the future, allowing Liu Bang's camp to have sufficient information for strategic planning.Tactically, Liu Bang, who was not as good as Xiang Yu, was able to hold on for four years and turned defeat into victory in the end. Excellent strategic guidance should be one of the main factors. In the battle between Chu and Han, Xiang Yu was blindfolded and fighting with Liu Bang holding a map. His final defeat cannot be just lamenting "Heaven is dead to me."

These materials will also be of great help when the Han Dynasty established political systems and administrative planning in the future. In the future, Xiao He will rank first, and Liu Bang's decision is very reasonable. Xiao He's thought also determines the fate of Liu Bang's life. Fan Kuai and Zhang Liang took turns admonishing Liu Bang withdrew from Xianyang Since his establishment, although Liu Bang's popularity has been good, he has endured a lot of pain and pressure in the process. So when he had the opportunity to enter the majestic and majestic Xianyang Palace of the Great Qin Dynasty, he was almost fascinated.

Liu Bang especially loves the curtains, dogs, horses, treasures, and women specially used for the emperor in the harem. However, due to the attention of everyone, he dare not be too presumptuous for the time being, and only expresses his intention to enter the Qinhuang Palace Go and enjoy yourself. However, this move is quite dangerous, because once stationed in the palace, it means that there is an active attempt to replace the Qin Dynasty's regime. But before the feudal lords rise together and the general situation of the world is not stable, this kind of ambition is likely to become the "target of public criticism" - the target of various groups to attack."

Therefore, Liu Bang's closest comrade-in-arms and the chief team member of the Peicheng era-Fan Kui issued a warning. "Does Peigong want to compete in the world, or to be a rich man? These luxurious enjoyments are the main reason for the demise of the Qin royal family. Peigong, why do you need these things?" But Liu Bang was really reluctant to leave and was hesitating there. Xiao He thought that according to Liu Bang's personality, it would be better to seek advice from someone who was not so close but had status in Liu Bang's mind, and would make Liu Bang feel embarrassed. Therefore, he assigned Zhang Liang, who was still a guest minister at the time, to do this thing.

Zhang Liang also knew the seriousness of the problem, so he took the initiative to meet Liu Bang and tried to persuade him: "It is precisely because the Qin imperial family has no morals and only cares about enjoyment and does not know the sufferings of the world that Peigong has the opportunity to come here. Therefore, in order to eliminate this thieves for the world, we should establish a simple and clean image. "Now that you have just entered the Qin Palace, you are eager to enjoy these extravagant palace facilities. This is the so-called 'helping others to abuse'! Moreover, the so-called good advice is good for action, and poison (referring to effective strong medicine) is good for treatment. illness, I hope that Duke Pei will heed Fan Kuai's advice!"

Even Zhang Liang went out, and Liu Bang also understood that this was the wish of most of his close comrades in arms. If he violated it, he would lose everyone's support, so he generously withdrew the army from Xianyang and returned to Bashang. It can also be seen from this incident that Liu Bang's team has matured day by day. The legion directly under Liu Bang, who was born in a low-born and was originally an irregular army, was much more mature than other legions in the Western Expedition. After more than two years of struggle, the original team of the Peixian Uprising gradually had a great ambition to compete in the world.They are no longer just following the booing rebel army, but think they have the responsibility to stabilize the social order, so not only are they better than other legions in terms of military discipline, but they also look down on the victorious army who robbed gold and silver goods everywhere.It's just that this kind of looting was not illegal at the time, so there was nothing to stop it. The only hope was to let all the Western Expeditionary Corps leave Xianyang, so that the looting could come to an end. Fan Kuai's remonstrance was more or less their hope, so Liu Bang had to announce his withdrawal. But this was still not enough to prevent other Western Expeditionary Corps from entering Xianyang City privately, so under the planning of Xiao He and others, Liu Bang tried his best to maintain the order in Xianyang City. In the past, the Qin Dynasty had many and strict laws and regulations to maintain law and order, so ordinary people did not dare to break the law casually. Now that the Qin Dynasty has perished and a new regime has not yet been established, and these victorious legions are the first to disrupt order, it is impossible for these old legal systems to win them compliance. If a lot of legal systems are drawn up, it is impossible to attract everyone's attention immediately. Three chapters of agreement, Liu Bangshu's image In November, when the legions had completed camping near Bashang, Liu Bang summoned the leaders of the legions and the elders and heroes of the Guanzhong counties in the Qinhuang Palace, and officially announced: "The elders in Guanzhong have suffered from the harsh punishments and laws of the Qin Dynasty. I believe that I have suffered from it for a long time. I have agreed with all the uprising princes that the first to enter Guanzhong will be the king. Therefore, I am recognized as the most qualified person to be the king of Guanzhong. "Now, as a king, I will make an agreement with my fathers and elders to enact only the three most basic laws for maintaining law and order: from now on, without any reason, the murderer shall be sentenced to death, and the wounding and robbery shall be punished according to the seriousness of the situation. As for the rest of the Qin law, all abolished, the status, work and living customs of all officials and people are as usual. "I came here today to relieve the hardships of life for the elders, not to bully and rob you, so you don't have to be afraid or panic." "That's why I ordered all the troops to withdraw to Bashang, and wait for the arrival of other princes' armies, and re-establish the rule management method!" Liu Bang also sent envoys to cooperate with the original officials of Qin State to post announcements in counties, counties and villages, expressing his determination to implement them thoroughly. The other generals of the Western Expedition Army saw Liu Bang's determination to maintain military discipline, and they did not dare to act rashly anymore. Order was quickly restored in Guanzhong. The officials and common people in Xianyang City, as well as the elders and villagers in the villages and towns in Guanzhong, did not expect such protection after the subjugation of the country, and they were all overjoyed. Xiao He warned Liu Bang not to accept it, in order to fully express his determination to love the people and not disturb them. So Liu Bang comforted the old man of Qin who came to work in the army and said: "Our army has a lot of refined food. If there is no shortage, we will never waste the people. Keep it for yourself!" Because of this, Qin Min felt his kindness even more, and feared that Liu Bang would not be the king of Qin. Another Tragedy in Chinese War History After Xiang Yu accepted Zhang Han's surrender, he made Zhang Han king of Yong and kept him by his side for close monitoring. The 200,000 surrendered officers and soldiers of the Qin army were also entrusted to lead the general Sima Xin, who had a close relationship with his uncle Xiang Liang. Unlocking the restraint of Qin's most terrifying armed force, Xiang Yu naturally rushed to Guanzhong. At this time a serious tragedy happened. Zhang Han was not in the army. Although Sima Xin was capable, he was the mastermind instigating the surrender to Chu. Mixed in Qin Jiangbing. Before this, the Qin army had always looked down on the princes' army, so when they met each other, the princes' army was often the one who was humiliated.Now that the armies of the princes are anti-slavery, naturally they will not treat the Qin Jiang army kindly.Not only did these cadres often bully soldiers of other troops, but they also often used excuses to attack Qin's soldiers, and even openly teased and insulted them. Sima Xin has a gentle personality. Faced with this kind of incident, he can only comfort Qin Zu and dare not protest to Xiang Yu openly. Therefore, Zhang Han at the general headquarters did not know that there was such a thing. Qin Jiangzu's resentment grew deeper and deeper, and he couldn't bear it anymore and had nowhere to complain, so they discussed with each other in private: "General Zhang persuaded us to surrender to the feudal lords, and we could gain long-term benefits. In the end, the three of them became kings, but we were treated inhumanely. Now if we can break into Hangu Pass and defeat the Qin imperial family, we will finally be able to return to our hometown. If we cannot break through the pass In this way, the armies of the feudal lords will force us to go to the east, so that we will not only be far away from home, but will also be enslaved for a lifetime; the Qin imperial family will also punish our parents and wives for our rebellion, so what should we do?" There were many discussions, and the troops of the Qin Jiangjun were extremely unstable. Many cadres of the Chu army also heard that Qin Jiangzu might rebel again, so they urgently reported to the general headquarters. Xiang Yu never had a good impression of Qin Jun, and was determined to solve this problem thoroughly with the most extreme means. In fact, the most unbalanced thing in Xiang Yu's heart is the food problem. The food consumed by the 200,000 soldiers every day is quite terrible. Although the Qin army has their own food, the supply of food and fodder for the two armies has long been in trouble at this time, so there can be fewer people. Eating food can immediately reduce a lot of pressure on the commander. So Xiang Yu decided: kill!kill!kill! However, it took a lot of manpower and time for the 200,000 Qin army to slash with a knife. If they were provoked and they all stood up to resist, the Chu army might suffer a lot of damage. Xiang Yu thought for a long time, so he privately summoned Yingbu and General Pu to discuss secretly: "There are many officers and soldiers in Qin State, but they are not convinced. If they defect before Hangu Pass, it will endanger the safety of our army. It is better to kill them now. As long as Zhang Han, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi are left with us, we will enter the pass immediately. Can." The army had arrived at Xin'an City that night, and there was a steep loess plateau to the south of Xin'an City. Xiang Yu first invited Sima Xin and Dong Yi to the command center, expressing that he had important matters to discuss, and Yingbu temporarily acted as Sima Xin to lead the army of Qin's descendants. They didn't doubt that there was him, and thought they could go to the headquarters to meet Zhang Han, or to reflect on the bullying of the Qin army, so they went happily. All three of them were drunk that night and lay drunk in the Chu army. Yingbu set up the 200,000 Qin army camp on the platform in the south of Xin'an City. General Pu led the Chu army who had ambushed in advance, and launched an attack after the Qin army went to bed.In the panic, the 200,000 Qin soldiers fell into extreme fear, and because of lack of leadership, they became a mess with each other, trampling each other to the death. Xiang Yu and Zhang Han are notorious at the same time In history, although Xiang Yu was a loser, his heroic spirit and tragic spirit also won the sympathy of many people. Killing people on the battlefield may be an unavoidable crime, but killing soldiers is a collective murder. In Chinese history, this is another great tragedy after Bai Qi pitted and killed more than 400,000 Zhao Guojiang troops during the Battle of Changping. Nothing less than that." At that time, Bai Qi didn't know how to accept the Zhao Guojiang army who had become hungry, so he had to kill for the distribution of food.Afterwards, Bai Qi was sick for quite a long time because he couldn't bear the shock in his heart. In the end, he was given to death because of his political dispute with Fan Ju. On the eve of his suicide, he was still brooding about the murder of Zhao Jun. Xiang Yu seemed more confident. Maybe it was because there were more important battles to be fought, which made him unable to take into account the psychological burden of this massacre; or maybe he really didn't care at all, and life was not important to him at all. But in any case, this incident has shown that Xiang Yu is not qualified to be a political operator.On the international political stage, murdering soldiers is an evil deed that no one dares to forget easily.Therefore, Xiang Yuli had an absolute advantage, but he was unable to successfully become the political leader of New China. There were indeed "self-inflicted factors." But why didn't Fan Zeng give an effective stop?In fact, as long as the disarmament is completely disarmed, or a few leaders are killed, this matter can be dealt with effectively. Who knows that Fan Zeng, as a military adviser, is known for his "wisdom", but he is so clumsy in handling this matter. Incompetent. Compared with the performance of Liu Bang and his team in Guanzhong, Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng are indeed not qualified to be the operators of a huge and complicated world. The other victim was Zhang Han. He probably didn’t know until he woke up from his drunkenness that his partner who was galloping on the battlefield had been brutally murdered. He was also terrified and didn't know what to do." However, Zhang Han, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi all managed to survive without doing anything for their responsibilities. Later, they accepted Xiang Yu's enfeoffment and each commanded a part of Guanzhong.But these three most important generals in the late Qin Dynasty have never recovered since then, and they no longer have the demeanor they should have as famous generals. Later, when Han Xin talked about this incident with Liu Bang, he said: "King Yong (Zhang Han), King Sai (Sima Xin), and King Zhai (Dong Yi) were the generals of Qin. They have led Qin soldiers to fight abroad for many years, and countless soldiers have died for them. Later, because of their decision, When the Qin army surrendered the Chu army to Xin'an, King Xiang murdered 200,000 Qin's surrendered army by fraud. Only Zhang Han, Sima Xin, and Dong Yi survived. Foolishness and lack of backbone are hated to the bone...but when the king (referring to Liu Bang) entered Wuguan, he made three chapters with the people and did not interfere much. With this political appeal alone, Liu Bang already has an absolute advantage in image, which is also the main factor for Liu Bang to become more and more favorable under the long-term confrontation. Liu Bang closed the pass, Xiang Yu stormed At this time, Liu Bang also made a major mistake. Returning the army to Bashang originally meant that he had no ambitions for Guanzhong and waited for the princes to deal with it together.This political image of "the world is for the public is exactly what Zhang Liang and Xiao He packaged Liu Bang, and I believe Liu Bang should also know about it." But Liu Bang's psychology was quite unbalanced, so he accepted the suggestion of his staff officer Yuan Sheng and sent a small army to guard Hangu Pass. Without his permission, no army could enter the pass. From this incident, it can also be seen that the Liu Bang Group is loosely organized and its command system is disorganized. Apparently, not only Zhang Liang, the chief staff officer who was living there, did not know about the increase in troops at Hangu Pass, but even Xiao He, who was in charge of administration, was kept secret. Even the main generals Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Cao Can, etc. did not know. Liu Bang did appear to be delusional. At this time, Xiang Yu's main force was rushing to Guanzhong. When he arrived at the Hangu pass, it was already December in the severe winter, and he was away from being ordered by King Huai.Accompanied by Song Yi's Northern Expedition, exactly one year and three months. Hangu Pass, also known as Guguan, is the most important channel to enter the Guanzhong area. Here is the Loess Plateau, so there are no trees, surrounded by rocks and loess faults, and only a narrow road can pass.The city gate of Guguan was built according to the terrain, which is very strong and dangerous. Since ancient times, it has had the momentum that one man guards the gate and ten thousand people cannot open it.Liu Bang then judged that this risk was enough to resist Xiang Yu's research. Before Xiang Yu approached Hangu Pass, he had already obtained the information that Liu Bang had entered the pass earlier than him. Although Xiang Yu has never had the idea of ​​being king in Guanzhong, he arrived later than Liu Bang, so he will definitely lose face. Especially when he learned that Liu Bang sent troops to guard the Hangu Pass, he was even more furious, and immediately dispatched the Yingbu troops of the Vanguard Legion to attack Hangu Pass violently. Although the terrain of Hangu Pass is dangerous, Xiang Yu's army is strong, and the guards did not receive Liu Bang's order to stand firm to the end, so they compromised with the Yingbo Army soon after, allowing Xiang Yu's army to quickly enter Hangu Pass. Both sides of Hangu Pass are steep and steep, and the road in the middle is quite narrow. Many places can only accommodate a carriage. If Liu Bangjun really wanted to guard against danger, it might take several times longer for Xiang Yu. I believe that both Xiang Yu and Liu Bang must have participated in this compromise, otherwise it would be impossible for Xiang Yu to let Liu Bang go so easily at the Hongmen military meeting in the future. Even so, it still took Xiang Yujun two and a half days to go from Hangu Pass to Tongguan, that is, to officially enter the Guanzhong Basin. You can see Liu Bang's army deployed in Bashang. Xiang Yu didn't know exactly what he wanted, so he temporarily camped his troops near Xinfeng Hongmen. At that time, Liu Bang had about 100,000 troops in Bashang, known as 200,000; the coalition army led by Xiang Yu had about 400,000, known as one million.However, among them, Xiang Yu's direct troops are actually only about 100,000, otherwise he would not have to rush to deal with the unstable Qin army. Faced with the arrival of Xiang Yu's army, Liu Bang seemed to have not thought of how to deal with it for a while, and the two sides faced off temporarily. There are also many Chu troops in Liu Bang's camp.Liu Bang forbade them to rob, which already made them very upset. Now seeing Xiang Yu's huge army, Liu Bang put on a confrontational look again, and felt very disturbed.After measuring the strength of both sides, these people naturally "the watermelon is on the big side, and they are eager to show their favor to Xiang Yu." Liu Bang's left Sima Cao Wushang then sent someone to inform Xiang Yu: "Liu Bang intended to be king in Guanzhong, and made Ziying his prime minister, and privately owned all the jewels of the Qin imperial family." This is of course not true, otherwise Liu Bang would not have to evacuate from Xianyang, and the garrison would be on Bashang. Xiang Yu, who still didn't know much about the situation and couldn't grasp the current situation, couldn't help being furious after hearing the informant, so he ordered the whole army to be on alert, ready to fight Liu Bang. Is it really necessary to fight, in fact, Xiang Yu is not so sure.It's just that he saw Liu Bang's "winner's aura, and he really felt aggrieved, so there is nothing wrong with fighting another battle if necessary." At this time, the military adviser Fan Zeng most hoped that Xiang Yu would go to war. He compared the two extreme behaviors of Xiang Yu's killing of soldiers and Liu Bang's third chapter of the law, and he knew that the general situation was half over. Based on his image, Liu Bang has gained an absolute advantage in the Guanzhong area. Therefore, he advocated simply killing Liu Bang, and now he happened to have the best excuse to say to Xiang Yu: "When Peigong was in the east, he was known as a money-greeding and lustful person. Now that he enters the customs, he has nothing to gain and no luck to women. This is obviously not his nature! This shows that he has a lot of ambition, and he really intends to proclaim himself king in Guanzhong .We might as well take this opportunity to make a surprise attack to avoid future troubles!" But Xiang Yu really didn't understand the greatness of Liu Bang's actions, and he didn't understand what Fan Zeng was worried about? Under Xiang Liang's teaching, Xiang Yu knew how to be respected by the soldiers and become their leader, but he really couldn't understand why it is not the winner's idea to show favor to ordinary people, especially the enemy army, and to use violence against the losers. power? . 【Chen Wende Commentary】 Laozi's "Tao De Jing Chapter Thirty-Sixth": "If you want to hide it, you must strengthen it; if you want to be weak, you must strengthen it; On the other hand, it is said that in the twilight the soft and the weak prevail over the strong, that fish cannot escape from the deep, and that the sharp weapons of a state cannot be shown to others." Many scholars of later generations use the words of this chapter to accuse Lao Tzu of seeming inactive, but he attaches great importance to the study of conspiracy in his heart. In fact, this is a big misunderstanding. The twilight mentioned here means that things seem to be insignificant, but the trend that will develop from this is already very clear. It can be seen that what Lao Tzu said is just a natural phenomenon, he does not evaluate the good or bad or right or wrong of this situation, but only tells us that there is such a thing that goes against the extreme.The rule of thumb that the strong must be weak deserves our special observation. Before anything shrinks, it must first expand; when it wants to be weakened, it must first make it feel strong; before it is about to be discarded, there will be a phenomenon of lifting; before something is taken from the other party, it is usually given to the other party first. benefit. This is a natural phenomenon—extreme joy begets sorrow, and negativity brings happiness. If we understand this truth, we will not lose ourselves. If a weak person understands the principles of nature and obeys them, he will eventually be stronger than a strong person who blindly wants to fight against nature. Therefore, weakness is the foundation of governing a country. It is like a fish cannot leave a pond. If a country does not know how to obey nature In the future, ominous things such as punishments that will surely subjugate the country should be prepared and not used, and must not be used to show one's power. In the world of "Taoism, everything is constantly changing. It is constantly moving. There is no eternal strong or eternal weak. Winning or losing may change at any time. Only those who understand the principle of this change will not will step into self-righteous mistakes." But when a person feels that he is particularly powerful, he often mistakenly thinks that this will be a normal state. As long as he works hard, he will always be a winner. The world is prepared for him, and everyone lives for him. After killing Song Yi, Xiang Yu has had smooth sailing ever since, so this kind of self-mentality is very strong.For him, there is nothing he cannot do in this world, except for the death of those who stand in his way, there is nothing that he needs to pay special attention to. Although Liu Bang also has the blind spot of a leader, his only advantage is that he does not have too strong opinions. As long as it sounds reasonable and the other party is very active, he will accept most of it. On the contrary, it is more able to show the weak side that conforms to nature. Judging from the general trend, although Liu Bang's strength is far inferior to Xiang Yu's, in terms of his aura as a national leader, the outcome of the two is actually quite obvious.