Chapter 4 4. To create public opinion, Xiang Yu cleverly seized power

King Huai of Chu was a puppet set up by Xiang Liang from the very beginning, but he was not willing to be just a puppet. Xiang Liang's death created an excellent opportunity for him.After Xiang Liang's death, King Huai of Chu incorporated the rest of Xiang Liang's troops, led them himself, and temporarily got rid of his status as a puppet.At this time, Xiang Yu was fledgling. Although there were eleven thousand reluctances in his heart, he had no choice but to adapt to the situation and obey the orders of King Huai of Chu. After Zhang Han killed Xiang Liang in Dingtao, he felt that Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were in trouble, so he sent his army north to sweep Zhao Guo and surrounded Julu.At this juncture, King Huai of Chu, who had just come to power, hurriedly convened a Pengcheng meeting to deploy the next strategic plan.At the Pengcheng meeting, King Huai of Chu and the princes from all walks of life agreed: "The one who enters Guanzhong first will be the king." King Huai then ordered Song Yi to be the general, Xiang Yu to be the deputy general, and Fan Zeng to be the last general to lead the army. The main force of the army fought a decisive battle to break the siege of Julu; Liu Bang led a small team to advance westward to force the Qin army to disperse the main force and attack Xianyang.

King Huai of Chu made such an arrangement with deep meaning. Seeing that Xiang Yu was eager to avenge his uncle, he wished to attack Xianyang at once, and sooner or later he would get rid of his control, so he deliberately sent Liu Bang, who seemed relatively honest, to attack Xianyang; Use Song Yi to restrict Xiang Yu.Xiang Yu was very annoyed by this arrangement. Who is Song Yi?Song Yi was also an old aristocrat of the Chu State, and he became a counselor under Xiang Liang. When Xiang Liang was eager to attack Dingtao, he persuaded Xiang Liang, but Xiang Liang didn't listen at all. Make Qi.Song Yi met the envoy of Qi State on the road, and warned the envoy of Qi State not to walk so fast. If he walked too fast, he would inevitably catch up with Xiang Liang's defeat. The envoy really witnessed Xiang Liang's defeat.When the envoy of Qi State saw King Huai of Chu, he greatly praised Song Yi's military ability.King Huai of Chu admired Song Yi's eloquence very much. Hearing these words, he valued him very much.King Huai of Chu was a cowardly king, and as soon as Xiang Liang died, he began to cultivate his cronies, and Song Yi was one of them.Of course King Huai of Chu couldn't express his fear of Xiang Yu, but he did have a sweet dream: with Song Yi restraining Xiang Yu, now I will firmly hold the military power in my hands.

Before Xiang Yu set off for the expedition, it was difficult to calm down the anger in his heart. What he was going to face next was the only power struggle in his life. In September of the second year of Qin II (208 BC) (the Qin Dynasty calendar uses September as the end of a year and October as the beginning of a year), the northern front combat troops of Song Yi and Xiang Yu of the Chu Army came to Anyang.After arriving in Anyang, Song Yi stopped suddenly, setting up camp and setting up camp, as if he had forgotten the purpose of his trip, and he seemed to stay and not leave.This Song Yi was also greedy for profit, and even wanted to take advantage of the chaos in Qi State, let his son go to Qi State to be the prime minister, and take the opportunity to control Qi State.Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng were so anxious that they kept analyzing the situation to Song Yi: Now that the Qin army is besieging Julu, they should go to support it quickly, and cooperate with the Zhao army to defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop; If the Qin army is allowed to break through the state of Zhao and the giant deer is destroyed, the power of the Qin army will increase a lot. The Chu army will not only lose an excellent opportunity to defeat the Qin army, but will also create a more troublesome enemy for itself.But Song Yi couldn't listen to it at all, and put all his thoughts on the matter of his son becoming the prime minister of Qi State.Xiang Yu suppressed his anger, and Fan Zeng frowned.

Xiang Yu is a general, and he is restless when he is not fighting. Another boring day passed. Xiang Yu couldn't bear it anymore, and rushed into Song Yi's tent angrily: "Now is the best chance to defeat the Qin army. Why do you hold back and delay?" Fighting opportunity?!" Song Yi has already felt Xiang Yu's anger these days, but he kept his face, waiting for him to come to him and take the opportunity to teach him a "political lesson".At this time, he was still complacent about his prophecy.He smiled at Xiang Yu and said, "Why do you have to be so angry? Sit down first, and talk slowly..." Next, he analyzed the reason why he stood still: We can let the Qin and Zhao families fight first For a while, when both sides are hurting, then sit back and reap the benefits of the fisherman.Then, he said in a mocking and contemptuous tone: "You have to learn the principles of marching and fighting hard."

Song Yi's words seemed quite reasonable, but in fact, after careful thought, they were just empty talk.First of all, Song Yi did not regard Qiang Qin as the strongest enemy, but wanted to restrict Xiang Yu's power, and could not distinguish between the primary and secondary contradictions; Time is invincible. If you don't go to help at this time, when Qin soldiers destroy Zhao, the next step will be Chu. Xiang Yu felt that Song Yi's genteel military tactics were nothing more than nonsense. With the strength of Qin's army, if he attacked the newly established Zhao State, Zhao State would definitely be defeated. How could it be possible for others to reap the benefits?Xiang Yu has been a fearsome person since the day he joined the army. He was full of confidence in marching and fighting.Xiang Yu didn't even bother to talk about the art of war with such a pedantic person, he just yelled: "You are really a covetous person who is afraid of death! You just wait until the head falls to the ground sooner or later!" Then he walked away.Xiang Yu's scolding also made Song Yi very embarrassed. He felt that his supreme authority was threatened, so he decided to give Xiang Yu some color, and then he gave an order: "Fierce as a tiger, cruel as a sheep, greedy as a wolf, Anyone who is strong enough to be sent will be beheaded." Of course Xiang Yu knew that this was aimed at himself, and the conflict between the two quickly escalated.

In October, when the autumn wind picked up, the rebel army had been standing still for more than a month. The army was short of food and grass, and the soldiers were suffering from hunger and cold.At this moment, Song Yi did a very stupid thing.He successfully sold his son to the state of Qi, and held a high-profile farewell banquet for his son. At the banquet, the officials ate delicious food and spicy food, and all of them were full of oil. Very dissatisfied. Xiang Yu also heard about the soldiers' comments, and he made an important decision to take the military power back.So he discussed with Fan Zeng, "If we wait like this, we will be swallowed by Zhang Han sooner or later. Now that the soldiers are dissatisfied with Song Yi, and the battle situation is urgent, it is time for us to act..." Fan Zeng understood Xiang Yu's meaning at once. , very supportive of Xiang Yu's plan, he said: "The next step is up to me."

The next day, some soldiers in the camp began to whisper: Song Yi only cares about his son, how can he care about the hunger and cold of the soldiers!As soon as the public opinion came out, it spread quickly. People who had no opinion on Song Yi heard it and thought it was right, it made sense!In this way, the soldiers became more and more dissatisfied with Song Yi. Seeing that the time was ripe, Xiang Yu decided to get rid of Song Yi quickly and regain his military power.Early this morning, without any warning, Xiang Yu rushed into Song Yi's tent, and before Song Yi could react, he swung his sword and killed Song Yi.Next, Xiang Yu stepped out of the camp and announced loudly: "Song Yi stands still, has bad intentions, and deliberately rebels. I will behead him under the secret order of King Huai." The army did not have its own team, and death would be in vain, and no one felt that there was anything wrong with Xiang Yu's actions.Xiang Yu didn't stop doing two things, and quickly sent people to Qi State to kill Song Yi's son to avoid future troubles.After doing all this well, Xiang Yu will have mastered the power in the army, and the next step is to explain to King Huai of Chu.

Xiang Yu sent someone to report to King Huai of Chu, and said that Song Yi had three crimes: one was to delay the opportunity of the war, the other was to miscalculate the situation, and the third was to be disrespectful to the soldiers.He also said frankly that Song Yi had been beheaded, implying that only I, Xiang Yu, can be the general and continue to command the battle.King Huai of Chu finally got rid of Xiang Liang's control. Before he was happy for a few days, his dream was extinguished by Xiang Yu's "cut first and play later".Xiang Yu already had a heavy army in his hands. King Huai of Chu knew that Xiang Yu could no longer be controlled at this time, so he had to order Xiang Yu to be appointed as the general, and continue to go north to fight against Qin and rescue Zhao.

This was the only internal power struggle that Xiang Yu participated in in his life. For the first time, he stepped out of Xiang Liang's shadow, judged the situation, made his own judgment accurately and quickly, and was superior in strategy.For the anti-Qin struggle, Xiang Yu officially obtained the military command power, which provided organizational guarantee for the Battle of Julu; for Xiang Yu personally, it greatly increased his personal popularity and created a celebrity effect.After this incident, Xiang Yu was recognized by most of the soldiers of the rebel army, mastered the military power of Chu, and became the main force against Qin.Xiang Yu began to appear on the stage of history as a mature military strategist. He himself did not expect that the following battle of Julu would become the most glorious battle in his life, enough to make him shine in the annals of history.

The power struggle within the rebel army ended with Xiang Yu's victory.As always, Xiang Yu showed his courageous side, took advantage of the support of the people, wantonly created public opinion, and logically won the leadership of the rebel army.Xiang Yu's success lies in his military talent and his ability to discover Song Yi's loopholes; Get military power.Poor King Huai of Chu wished so much, but did not change his puppet status in the end; it is a pity that Song Yi Shu was angry, lost the morale of the army, and finally lost his life.