Chapter 31 8. To isolate the king of Chu, Chen Ping secretly resorted to countermeasures

Liu Bang established his own front lines in Xingyang and Chenggao, but he was still in a passive position militarily.Xiang Yu's army was besieged many times, and Liu Bang was miserable.This situation lasted for a long time, the army was exhausted, and Liu Bang was anxious and worried. Liu Bang thought hard every day, trying to find a shortcut to defeat the Chu army, at least weaken the power of the Chu army a little, so that he would not always be so passive.Confucian scholar Li Shiqi said: "In ancient times, King Tang defeated Jie and sealed the descendants of Jie in the land of Qi; King Wu defeated Zhou and sealed the descendants of King Zhou in Song. There is no place for the descendants of the kings of the six kingdoms. If you can sincerely establish the descendants of the kings of the six kingdoms and give them the seal of fiefdom, then they will definitely be grateful to you, admire your morality, and be willing to be your subjects .With the implementation of kindness and morality, you can face the south and call yourself lonely. At that time, King Xiang will definitely come to worship respectfully." These words sound reasonable, but after careful thought, they feel too idealistic Can Xiang Yu come to worship as long as he is virtuous to the world?

After all, Li Shiqi was a Confucian scholar, and he didn't have the concept of "government grows out of the barrel of a gun".Liu Bang has always despised Confucian scholars, but Liu Bang was eager to get rid of his passive position, so he became confused for a while.After hearing what Li Shiqi said, he immediately asked someone to engrave a seal, and let Li Shiqi set off with these seals, the sooner the better. The ribbon was printed and the letter was written, just waiting for Li Shiqi to take them and set off.At this moment, Zhang Liang came back from other places to meet Liu Bang.

Liu Bang was having a meal, and he was very happy to see Zhang Liang. He said, "Zifang, you are back. Let me tell you, someone thought up an idea for me. Keeping it can weaken the power of Chu, haha..." Zhang Liang listened Feeling a little disbelieving, Liu Bang immediately said Li Shiqi's words from beginning to end, and asked proudly, "How about this idea?" Zhang Liang didn't clap his hands in praise, nor did he answer directly, but asked, "Who made the idea for you? In my opinion, your fight for the world is over." Liu Bang was very surprised when he heard this, and he stood up suddenly. "What's wrong? What's wrong? This is Li Shiqi's idea."

Zhang Liang shook his head, grabbed the chopsticks in front of Liu Bang, and said to Liu Bang: "Let me tell you. In the past, the descendants of Tang who defeated Jie and sealed Jie were in Qidi. It was because Tang knew that he could put Jie to death. Now you Can Xiang Yu be killed?" Liu Bang shook his head: "No." Zhang Liang put down a chopstick: "This is one." "King Wu defeated Zhou and enshrined Zhou's descendants in the Song Dynasty. It is estimated that he can kill King Zhou. Can you kill Xiang Yu now?" Liu Bang shook his head and said, "No." Zhang Liang put down the second root Chopsticks: "This is two."

"After King Wu invaded the capital of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, he rebuilt the tombs of the saints and commended the sages. Can you do it?" Liu Bang shook his head again and said, "No." Zhang Liang put down the third chopstick and said, "This It's three." "King Wu once distributed the grain stored in the Juqiao granary and the money from the Lutai government treasury to reward the poor. Now, can you distribute the property in the warehouse to reward the poor?" Liu Bang still shook his head and said, "No." In this way, every time Zhang Liang said a reason, he put down a chopstick, and Liu Bang shook his head, saying, "No." Zhang Liang asked eight questions in a row, but Liu Bang said no.So Zhang Liang said: "Think about it, if you really follow that person's idea, wouldn't your big business be over."

"It's a good thing you're back." Hearing this, Liu Bang threw his rice bowl on the table, spat out the food in his mouth, and cursed: "This nerd almost ruined the big thing!" So he ordered to destroy those seals and letters as soon as possible. "What do you think should be done?" Liu Bang asked Zhang Liang habitually.Zhang Liang said: "Judging from the current situation, the enemy is strong and we are weak. How about making peace for now?" Of course Liu Bang didn't want to make peace, but he was beaten too hard now, and there was really no other way. After making peace, please say Not allowed to seize the opportunity.So Liu Bang sent an envoy to ask Xiang Yu for peace, with Xingyang west as the boundary, Chu in the east and Han in the west.

In fact, Xiang Yu's life is not easy.The two armies were stalemate, and Xiang Yu could not advance or retreat. Moreover, Peng Yue repeatedly rebelled against Chu in Liang and harassed the Chu army.When Xiang Yu saw Liu Bang asking for peace, he wanted to accept this condition.At that time, Fan Zeng was by his side, dissuading Xiang Yu, saying: "Liu Bang sent people to ask for peace, which means that they can't hold on anymore. At this time, the Han army may be more exhausted than us. Now we can use this opportunity to defeat him all the time. Once you let the tiger go back to the mountain, you will regret it in the future!" Fan Zeng's words made Xiang Yu change his mind, Xiang Yu thought about it, and felt that he still had the strength now, so it would be a disadvantage for him to easily agree to make peace.So he immediately sent troops to surround Xingyang and surrounded Liu Bang to death in the city.

He was besieged instead of seeking peace, and the situation became more and more serious. Liu Bang scolded his father and mother to no avail.If things go on like this, there is only one dead end.At this time, the captain Chen Ping came to see Liu Bang. Liu Bang was worried and said seriously: "The world is in chaos, when will it be stable?" Chen Ping said: "You and King Xiang, if anyone can get rid of their own shortcomings and absorb each other If you have the strengths, then with a wave of your hand, the world can easily settle down." Liu Bang said with a smile: "But how to solve the siege of Xingyang now?"

Chen Ping said: "The Chu army has a lot of loopholes to take advantage of. There are just a few upright ministers, like Fan Zeng, Zhong Limei, Long Qi, Zhou Yin, etc. Let them be suspicious of each other and kill each other. At that time..." Liu Bang and Xiang Yu fought together, and knew that Xiang Yu had a problem, that is, he believed too much in himself and didn't like to trust others, although he did have extraordinary abilities. Talent, but there will be omissions in the end, Chen Ping's plan is wonderful! Liu Bang was still very generous with money, and immediately handed over a large amount of gold to Chen Ping, allowing him to use it without asking about his expenditure.

Chen got the gold and began to carry out activities in private. Not long after, some "gossip" began to spread in the Chu army: Zhong Limei and others were Chu generals with outstanding contributions, but the Chu king was still unwilling to cede the land and become the king. They planned to join forces with the Han king to destroy the Chu king. Divide up the land of Chu State, and each is king... It didn't take long for these news to reach Xiang Yu's ears. Naturally, Xiang Yu couldn't sit still, and gradually became suspicious. He also spoke vaguely about his beloved Zhong Limei and others, which made them feel very uncomfortable.Xiang Yu felt that guessing was not the way to go, and he should figure it out first, so he sent several envoys in the name of "Shuo Jiang". Chen Ping made a clever plan like this.

So Liu Bang prepared a sumptuous banquet and waited for the envoy himself.After the envoy came in, Liu Bang pretended to be surprised and said, "I thought it was Fan Zeng's envoy, but it turned out to be the envoy of the King of Chu!" Then he ordered: "Come here, hurry up and take away the food and wine." After the servants took the food and wine away, Putting on poor food, the envoy of the king of Chu looked at me and I looked at you, but he resisted and said nothing.After these envoys went back, they reported to Xiang Yu everything Liu Bang said and did. Xiang Yu was very angry and no longer trusted Fan Zeng. Liu Bang succeeded in alienating Xiang Yu's monarch and ministers, but it did not change the critical situation, on the contrary, it aggravated the crisis.Because of Fan Zeng's death, Xiang Yu hated Liu Bang very much, and made up his mind that this time he must kill Liu Bang.Xiang Yu besieged Xingyang tightly and began to attack the city.The Han army had eaten up all the food, and Liu Bang's head was getting big, so he quickly called Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang said, "Thirty-six strategies, the best policy is to walk." Liu Bang couldn't bear it for a long time. Agreed, and then asked: "How to escape?" Zhang Liang suddenly remembered something, and asked Liu Bang: "Isn't there a man in the army who looks like you?" Liu Bang suddenly remembered that it was Ji Xin, so he hurried to find Ji Xin . Then Chen Ping recruited adult women in the city with a reward of two catties of grain per person, saying that they would go out of the city with the King of Han. The people in the city were too hungry, and some women were willing to go out with Liu Bang. a way out.Chen Ping arranged for these women to wear Han army uniforms and be ready for orders.At night, Ji Xin dressed up as Liu Bang, and rode in Liu Bang's yellow-roofed cart, followed by Han soldiers dressed up as women, waving their banners and flaunting all the way to the east gate of Xingyang City.When the Chu army found that the Han army had gathered at the east gate, they immediately attacked from all sides.Ji Xin pretended to say: "The food in the city has been eaten up, and the King of Han is willing to surrender." The Chu army was in high spirits, shouting long live, and they all ran to the east of the city to watch the surrender of the King of Han.Liu Bang took the opportunity to escape from the city from the west gate of Xingyang with dozens of cavalry, and then entered Guanzhong. The ancients said: Retreat to advance.It is about taking a step back when progress is fruitless, and there may be another world.Liu Bang's power has gone through many twists and turns from weak to strong.Dare to bow your head, dare to step back temporarily, and help Liu Bang move forward through repeated twists and turns.Through Zhang Liang and Chen Ping's continuous strategies, Liu Bang gained enough room to maneuver, which also laid the foundation for his subsequent counterattack.