Chapter 43 Chapter 1 Chu River and Han Boundary

Liu Bang's army quickly surrounded Zhonglimei, but the Chu army's defenses were strong, and the Han army was temporarily helpless.At this time, Xiang Yu had rushed back to the battlefield of Xingyang, so Liu Bang ordered the Han army to retreat to the dangerous place in Guangwu, and Xiang Yu immediately chased him, and the two sides formed a confrontation in Guangwu. Liu Bang plots to seduce Cao Jiu, and then to Cheng Gao When Xiang Yu defeated Chenggao, expelled Yingbo and Liu Bang's coalition forces, forced Liu Bang to flee to Zhaodi to recruit Han Xin's troops, and went south again to prevent Xiang Yu from attacking Guanzhong, Liangdi behind Xiang Yu was again attacked by the "thief general Peng Yue" guerrilla. Seventeen cities including Suiyang and Waihuang fell one after another."

In order to ensure the safety of food and fodder in the rear, Xiang Yu personally led the army eastward to carry out sweeping work. Before leaving, Xiang Yu asked the chief minister, Cao Jiu, to guard Chenggao and not to fight Liu Bang, and to wait for him to come back before attacking. Cao Jiu was originally a jailer in Qi County in the Qin Dynasty. He and Sima Xin rescued Xiang Liang, so he became an important cadre of the Chu army.Although he had no special talents, he was promoted to Da Sima (the highest military and political commander) because of his loyalty and reliability. As Long Qie went to rescue Qi, Xiang Yu lost confidence in Zhong Limei again. When there was no other general available, he had to use Cao Jiu to defend, and Sima Xin, the King of Sai, assisted him.

Sima Xin and Cao Jiu are old acquaintances, and he was Zhang Han's chief assistant, he has quite a lot of combat experience, it should be safe for him to assist Cao Jiu. Xiang Yu also knew that Cao Jiu might not be Liu Bang's opponent, so he asked him to stick to it for fifteen days. Of course Liu Bang also received the news of Xiang Yu's departure. He judged that it would take about ten days to go back and forth this time, and these ten days would be the best time to retake Cheng Gao. So he sent a general to lead a team to call for battle in front of Chenggao City Gate, and lured Cao Jiu to fight with a look of underestimating the enemy.

Naturally, Cao Jiu and Sima Xin did not dare to attack casually. But Liu Bang came up with a wicked idea. He knew that both Cao Jiu and Sima Xin were thought of Xiang Liang in their early years and were reused. So he deliberately spread a whisper among the Chu army in the city, saying that this kind of general who was promoted by kindness did not understand the art of war, so he could not lead the army to fight at all. The so-called scholar can be killed but not humiliated, the most unbearable thing for Cao Jiu, who was born as a literati, is when others ridicule him for not being able to lead troops.

Therefore, despite Sima Xin's persuasion, he led his army out of the city, preparing to fight Liu Bang to the death. But Liu Bang personally led the army to deploy on the northwest bank of Bashui, with a look of indifference. Cao Jiu also refused to show weakness, and personally took the lead across the river to attack Liu Bang's main formation. Liu Bangnai ordered the camp to withdraw and retreat, and Cao Jiu crossed the river even more tightly when he saw this Liu Bang also ordered the ambush troops on the left and right to rush out of the small forest by the river and massacre the flustered Chu army in Sishui. Cao Jiu fought hard but could not get away.

Seeing this, Sima Xin in Chenggao City immediately organized a reserve force to go out of the city to rescue. But when Sima Xin entered Sishui to rescue Cao Jiu, all the Han troops ambushing on the east bank of Wenshui came out, immediately cutting off the Chu army's way back to the city. The Chu army outside the city was shocked to see that the way back to the city was cut off, and they surrendered to the Han army one after another.Seeing that the situation was over, Cao Jiu and Sima Xin regretted that they could not follow Xiang Yu's instructions, so they committed suicide on the Si River.

poppies After Xiang Yu heard of the fall of Chenggao at the front line of Liangdi, he immediately gave up the suppression work in Liangdi and quickly returned to defense. At this time, what Xiang Yu was most worried about was not the fall of Cheng Gao or the safety of Cao Jiu and Sima Xin, but his new favorite concubine Yu Ji. Yuji is a girl from Qidi. She met Xiang Yu a year and a half ago during the war against Tian Rong. Xiang Yu's body and mind are like the outstanding sportsman described by Plato, with a considerable narcissistic tendency, so he usually doesn't like to approach women.Throughout his life, he did not officially establish a queen.

Although he is twenty-seven years old, Xiang Yu has never had a favorite woman until he met Concubine Yu. Concubine Yu is actually just a little girl from the people. She looks pure and lovely, petite, slender, and charming. Xiang Yu, who is majestic and burly, falls in love with this little beauty. It's just a little girl of thirteen or fourteen, and Xiang Yu still can't bear to possess her, so he just protects her like a bird, like a pet. Xiang Yu didn't think Yu Ji was his wife, so he didn't keep her in Pengcheng, but took her with him with the army. Now that Concubine Yu is sixteen years old, Xiang Yu officially named her "beauty, so everyone calls her Yu Meiren."

Because the conquest of Liang did not take much time, Xiang Yu left Yu Meiren in Chenggao's camp hall. Now that Cheng Gao has fallen, Xiang Yu can't help but feel very worried. In fact, before Sima Xin left the city, he knew that the situation was over, so he ordered Yu Meiren's full-time prostitute to protect Yu Ji from the city and go to the military camp of Zhonglimei in Xingyang. Hearing that Chenggao had fallen, the witty Zhong Limei immediately deployed his troops on the eastern frontier of Xingyang to prevent Xingyang from becoming an isolated city. Liu Bang's army quickly surrounded Zhonglimei, but the Chu army's fortifications were strong.The Han army was temporarily helpless against him.

At this critical moment, Xiang Yu has rushed back to the Xingyang battlefield. The long-term confrontation in Chuzhai in Seoul Entering Guangwu Mountain is a very important strategy of Liu Bang. Guangwu is located on the south bank of the Yellow River, between Xingyang and Chenggao. It is a small platform, so it is commonly known as Guangwu Mountain. On the high ground at the west foot of Guangwu Mountain, there are several large loess caves, which are the location of Ao Cang, an important barn in the Qin Dynasty. As long as the troops are stationed in the Guangwu Highland, they can enjoy the food in Ao Cang, and the terrain here is steep, and it is not easy to attack the Guangwu Platform from the foot of the Donglu Mountain.

Moreover, before attacking Cheng Gao, Liu Bang had ordered people to build strongholds, dig pits, and set up fences here, and had quite strong fortifications. To the east of Liu Bang's camp there is a small river, commonly known as Guangwu Jian, and on the opposite side of the stream is a smaller platform, and Xiang Yu built the Chu army's camp on this place. In the next year, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang confronted each other here for a long time, and the strength of the Chu army also weakened rapidly here. Later generations called Liu Bang's camp Hancheng, and the Chu army's position Chuzhai. This is a deadly trap, but Xiang Yu doesn't seem to notice it. In addition to the front line of Guangwu, Xiang Yu's army still needs to provide food supplies for the soldiers and civilians of Xingyang City. This is a huge burden, but Ao Cang is under Liu Bang's control. Therefore, Seoul has a large amount of food, but the supplies of the Chu army are rapidly depleting, which is very unfavorable to the attacking side. Due to the long supply line in Pengcheng and the difficulty in transportation, Peng Yue's guerrillas often robbed Liang, which made it more difficult for the Chu army to supply food and fodder. Xiang Yu has always been in a hurry to fight, and he is very efficient, so he has never done a good job in planning for food. It's not that he doesn't understand the importance of food and fodder, but that he never had to worry about it in the past. If you want to cook my father, give me a piece of the pie Xiang Yu hopes to fight Liu Bang to the death as soon as possible. He thought of a good way to force Liu Bang, and immediately ordered his subordinates to bring Liu Bang's family members from Pengcheng as soon as possible. When Pengcheng was defeated, Duke Liu and Empress Lu were all captured by Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu made a big knife in front of the Chu village, tied Liu Taigong naked to it, and prepared to cook him to death. After hearing the report, Liu Bang rushed to the city wall to wait and see. Xiang Yu sent someone to shout loudly: "Listen, King of Han, King Xiang has an order. If you don't come down as soon as possible to fight to the death, your father, Taigong Liu, will be cooked and killed." When Liu Bang saw this, he was anxious and sad, but he knew that if the matter was not handled carefully, it might endanger the safety of the entire army. Although they knew it was Xiang Yu's "conspiracy, but it was related to the master's kinship, the strategists Zhang Liang and Chen Ping did not dare to make any suggestions, so they had to let Liu Bang decide for himself." Considering his responsibilities as the chief general, Liu Bang's heart broke, and he raised his voice and replied on the city wall: "Xiang Yu and I were ordered by King Huai of Chu at the same time, and we are brothers together. Isn't my father also your father? If you want to kill your father, please give me a piece of the pie!" When Xiang Yu was pushed back, he was so angry that he immediately ordered the grandpa to be cooked and killed. At this time Uncle Xiang was also in front of him, and he immediately went to dissuade him: "Everyone in the world has their own opinions. Killing Mr. Liu may not be beneficial to us, and it may cause unnecessary criticism. People who compete for the world usually cannot take care of their loved ones. Killing him will not help us, let alone What's more, killing parents may cause unexpected disasters!" Xiang Yu also felt that killing the elders of an innocent old enemy would damage his heroic image, so he accepted Xiang Bo's dissuasion. Xiang Yu fights strength, Liu Bang fights wisdom Faced with "Liu Bang who is skinny enough, intimidation and threats seem to be ineffective, Xiang Yu has no choice but to challenge it head-on." He sent military envoys to Seoul to issue a letter to Liu Bang: "For several years in a row, the world has been in turmoil and frequent wars and hunger, all because of the battle between the two of us. "So I suggest that the two of us follow the ancient martial arts spirit of the Chu people and fight each other to determine the outcome. Don't let the world suffer the pain of being displaced for us!" Based on his personal bravery, Liu Bang is not Xiang Yu's opponent at all, so he will never fall for it. He just smiled and asked the Chu army envoy to go back and send a message: "I'd rather fight wits than strength!" Of course, Xiang Yu would not be really stupid enough to believe that Liu Bang would agree to fight alone with him. He just wanted to use this move to mock Liu Bang's lack of bravery. The army challenged and ridiculed that the Han army camp has its master and its ministers, and they are all fools. This trick was indeed effective, and had a great impact on the morale of the Han army. The soldiers were all aggrieved by this, and eager to go out of the city for a decisive battle. In order to boost morale, Liu Bang sent a cavalry archer from Loufan to ride out of the city on horseback, and while galloping, he shot and killed three daredevil warriors in the Chu camp with arrows. The Han army cheered loudly for victory, causing an uproar in the city. Lou Fan belongs to the nomadic people outside the Great Wall, and is famous for being good at riding and shooting. This cavalry archer may be the warrior Liu Bang of the Lou Fan tribe. . In short, Xiang Yu's psychological strategy hit a snag again. Xiang Yu was furious, so he put on his armor and held his halberd, and stood outside Han City to challenge the Han army. Lou Fan's warrior galloped out again, intending to shoot Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu glared at him and reprimanded him loudly, the sound was like a huge thunder, everyone who heard it was so frightened that the warrior dared not aim at Xiang Yu, his hands were shaking so much that he could not even control the bow and arrow, so he had to retreat back to the city quickly, never daring to go out to challenge him again. The cheering Han army immediately became silent. Brutal shot my toe Although Liu Bang's Han army has an absolute advantage in terms of food supplies and administrative management, the Chu army is the attacking party, and its momentum is much stronger than that of the Han army. If Xiang Yu continues to run wild, the morale of the Han army will indeed not be optimistic. Even Xiang Yu dared to go to the front line in person, and Liu Bang couldn't show weakness too much, so his usual mischievous innocence reappeared, and he decided to imitate himself and go to the front of the battle to shout out something. The next morning Liu Bang acted boldly and unrestrainedly. He didn't even wear any armor. He ran to the high ground outside Seoul in his camp uniform, and confronted Xiang Yu, who was fully armed, across the Guangwu Pass. Liu Bang estimated that the Chu army's bows and arrows could not hit him. Not only the Han army deeply admired the bravery of the coach, but even the Chu army was greatly surprised by Liu Bang's boldness. Hearing the cheers of the soldiers of the Han camp, Liu Bang, who has always been lively, became more courageous. He slowly took out the documents he had prepared yesterday, and shouted to the Chu army: "Listen, Xiang Yu, how can an innocent person like you have the right to single out me? You have ten crimes, and I want to sue you on behalf of the people of the world!" Xiang Yu was so angry that he yelled. Now Liu Bang was even more arrogant, and he shouted: "First, you violated the original agreement that King Huai of Chu made with us and demoted me to Hanzhong, which is your crime of lack of credibility. "Secondly, murdering Qingzi champion Song Yi with selfish motives is the following crime. "Thirdly, lifting the siege of Handan in the state of Zhao, but not reporting back to King Huai after completing the task, and forcing the armies of the princes to enter Guanzhong privately, this is the crime of contempt for the king and bullying the princes. "Fourth, setting fire to the palaces of the Qin State, robbing the tomb of the first emperor, and stealing public property are unrighteous crimes. "Fifth, Ziying has surrendered, but was killed by you, which is a charge of disregarding etiquette and violating international justice. "Sixth, murdering 200,000 soldiers from the Qin Kingdom in Xin'an by deception is your crime of cruelty and dishonesty. "Seventh, occupying the best territory by yourself, but exiling the old masters of all countries is your crime of selfishness. "Eighth, exiling Emperor Yi to a remote area, occupying the territory of the King of Han, and privately occupying the elite areas of Liang and Chu is your crime of violating justice. "Ninth, sending people to secretly murder Emperor Yi is even more unacceptable. "Tenth, it is unfair to rule the world, and it has no regard for credit, and is not tolerated by the people of the world. "Now, I'm leading a volunteer army and calling on the princes to attack you, a traitor. People like Yingbu, who are still in prison, are saddened by your crimes and openly punish you. How can you challenge me?" Facing Xiang Yu's glaring stare, Liu Bang scolded Yu for being airy.It seems that it is really great to be able to fight against Xiang Yu, so it is inevitable that I am a little carried away. Seeing Xiang Yu screaming in anger, Liu Bang's "narrow childlike innocence became stronger, and he couldn't help cursing louder and louder, and his cadenced voice resounded throughout the valley." On the surface, Xiang Yu seemed to have a strong emotional rebound. In fact, he had already ordered the crossbowmen under his command to take the opportunity to attack Liu Bang. Since Liu Bang was out of the range of ordinary bows and arrows, the crossbowmen of the Chu army decided to use crossbows for sneak attacks. A crossbow is a long-range weapon that must be operated by several soldiers at the same time. Most of them are made of copper. The main body is a pedestal chiseled in the arrow groove. After pulling hard, put it on the protrusion called Hanging knife, then place the arrow in the ditch, aim and then use the trigger of Hanging knife to trigger the arrow body, and the arrow will fly out immediately. This kind of odd range is quite far, and most of the arrows are tied with stones to hit the target.In addition, the gun is usually hidden in the bushes, so that the opponent will be attacked unprepared. Because Guangwu Mountain belongs to the Loess Plateau area with few bushes, Liu Bang never thought that Xiang Yu would attack him, and because of the long distance, the crossbow hidden in the bushes could not be found with the naked eye. The Chu army flew crossbows and shot at them, and Liu Bang fell in response. Fortunately, the distance was far enough. At the end of the crossbow, it only hit Liu Bang's right chest. Although he did not die, he may have broken several ribs. At first Liu Bang was really frightened. The blow to the chest made him dizzy, and he didn't even know what happened. But he quickly came to his senses, realizing that he was seriously injured, and his chest was in pain, but this matter must not be noticed by the enemy, so he shouted with all his strength: "The barbarian shot me in the toe." The guards behind him naturally quickly rescued Liu Bang into the city. Xiang Yu was stupid on the spot. He saw Liu Bang fell down and stood up again, yelling that his feet hurt, and he couldn't help being a little dubious.After finally meeting this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it was hard for him to believe that Liu Bang was so fateful. "Is it only a minor injury? It seems that there is nothing serious. This guy is really a blessing!" Deceiving the enemy, forcibly wounded and patrolling the entire army The Han camp was already in chaos. If the general is wounded in front of all the soldiers, there will be a serious blow to morale, and the whole army may even collapse. But Liu Bang was indeed too painful to stand up. Naturally, the imperial doctor rushed to treat the package quickly, and Liu Bang also quickly summoned Zhang Liang to discuss countermeasures. Zhang Liang advised Liu Bang to get up forcibly, sit on the horse supported by a wooden stick, and go to the battalions to inspect the camps to prove that "the general is safe and sound." Of course Liu Bang also knew the importance of this matter, so he accepted Zhang Liang's suggestion regardless of the doctor's objection, sat on the horse wearing heavy armor, and went to various camps in Seoul with an appearance of no serious problems. Liu Bang endured the pain and accepted the cheers of all the soldiers with a smile on his face. However, he felt in his heart that he might not be able to survive this time, so he had to do his best! Sure enough, the secret agents of the Chu army quickly reported to Xiang Yu that Liu Bang was not seriously injured, and Xiang Yu had no choice but to give up his plan to take advantage of the victory to attack Seoul. But Liu Bang's injury was so serious that the core cadres specially arranged for Liu Bang to go out to inspect the situation on the fronts in order to avoid the news being leaked. In fact, Liu Bang was rushed to Chenggao to receive better care and medical treatment. During this period, the king of Qi asked for help from the Chu army, and Xiang Yu was in a hurry to dispatch troops and horses to let Long Qie lead the army to save Qi, so he had no time to investigate Liu Bang's situation in the Han camp. Qi State is about to launch a crucial decisive battle. In order to stabilize the defense of the north, Liu Bang ordered Zhang Er to be really removed as King Zhao while he was ill. The dangerous period was finally over. In order to boost morale and eliminate the rumors that Liu Bang was seriously injured in Guanzhong, Liu Bang decided to return to Guanzhong. In order to avoid the suspicion of the Chu army, Liu Bang deliberately held up Sima Xin's head when he entered Liyang City, the capital of the former Sai King. This may be a special arrangement made by Xiao He to appease the hearts of the soldiers and people in Guanzhong! In fact, Liu Bang still had no rest at this time. The Guangwu frontline battlefield was still in a tense confrontation, and something would happen at any time. Therefore, he only stayed in Guanzhong for four days, and then rushed back to the Seoul headquarters to prepare for the next wave of confrontation. 【Chen Wende Commentary】 Laozi (Tao Te Ching Chapter 27): "Good deeds have no traces, good words have no time to drop, good numbers need no planning, good closures have no key and cannot be opened, good knots have no covenant and cannot be solved, so the sage is always good at saving people, Therefore, no one is abandoned; always good at saving things, so there is no discarding. This is what is said to follow the enlightenment. Therefore, those who are good are the teachers of those who are not good; It's wonderful." The focus of this chapter is to teach people the essentials of letting nature take its course, and letting nature take its course is by no means laissez-faire, laissez-faire is easy to be extravagant.Those who let nature take its course do not deliberately suppress desires, but never indulge desires, watch their own desires, contemplate them, care about them, do not control or suppress them, but tend to make desires naturally disappear into the invisible. Those who are good at dealing with things, let everything go with the flow, but will not show traces, and make things go smoothly. People who are good at talking do not deliberately quibble, so there is no fault on the contrary. Those who are good at calculating do not use their minds, so they do not need to think hard about strategies and scheming. Hidden people don't need to be restricted by doors, but they won't arouse the curiosity of others, and they can truly keep their own secrets.Those who are good at winning people's hearts will meet the needs of others, so even if they are not tied with ropes, no one will leave. Therefore, a sage who can understand the way of nature is most capable of saving people in the world, and will never give up those who need help.And because they can understand the natural functions of all things, they are the most able to save all things, and they will never give up all things and sentient beings in need of help.Only those who can do this can be called subtle sages. Xi Ming means to use things for use, and to understand them because of things, so you don't pretend to be smart, and you can understand the power of nature and act in accordance with nature. In fact, good people and bad people are also nature.Good people can certainly guide unkind people and become their teachers, but without these unkind people, they cannot show the wisdom of good people, so unkind people are the resources of good people.If you don't respect your teacher, don't love your own resources, even if you have enough intelligence, you will still fall into great confusion. This principle is the mystery of the so-called letting nature take its course. Looking at the development of the struggle between Chu and Han to this stage, Xiang Yu has obviously turned from strong to weak. Because his personal objective conditions were originally far superior to Liu Bang, Xiang Yu always wanted to become the supreme of the world, use his own method to control the world, rule world. To achieve this goal, Xiang Yu really worked hard.He not only has strict self-discipline, but also strictly demands his partners, so that although he can win every battle tactically, his partners are getting fewer and fewer, and he gradually falls into a weak position. Liu Bang's style is more like a mortal than Xiang Yu's. He didn't have too much ambition at the beginning, and he didn't have a complete plan. Stepping forward step by step, he doesn't ask to suppress his own desires, making him live more like a mortal, so he also doesn't ask others to make others feel that he is a person in need of help. It is this force that makes more and more people around Liu Bang.Everyone can help Liu Bang in their own way, so it is more fulfilling than helping Xiang Yu. Naturally, more and more people support him, making Liu Bang's strength grow stronger and stronger as he loses. Xiang Yu kept losing partners, and his suspicion made him keep giving up others.Liu Bang is just the opposite, he never gives up on people, no matter what type of partner he is, he is closely tied to them according to their respective appearances.No matter what attitude they used, Liu Bang could almost accept it, and because of this, Liu Bang was able to continue to grow under the strategy of "tolerance is greatness" and gradually gained an advantage.