Chapter 35 12. Violating the peace agreement, Liu Bang took advantage of the victory to pursue

Xiang Yu finally couldn't bear it anymore. The main force of the Han army and the Chu army were at a stalemate in Xingyang and Chenggao; Han Xin surrounded the Chu army in the east and north; Peng Yue led his troops to garrison Liang, constantly attacking and harassing the Chu army, cutting off the food supply.All these put Xiang Yu in a disadvantageous situation. Xiang Yu was not without resourcefulness, but lacked patience in adversity, and his eagerness to win prevailed, so he thought of a bad way to make Liu Bang surrender.On this day, Xiang Yu made a high-legged chopping board, put Mr. Liu on it, and shouted to Liu Bang: "You surrender now, or I will cook your old man to make soup." Thinking: "Could it be that Xiang Yu really boiled the old man?" At this time Zhang Liang came over and said in a low voice: "My lord must not show weakness. If Xiang Yu is smart, he will not do such stupid things. Besides, you still have to fight with Xiang Yu." Boyue is getting married, I believe he will help you..." Liu Bang calmed down, put on a desperate look, and shouted from the air: "You and I once accepted the order of King Huai and made an appointment to become brothers , You are not old yet, you don’t even remember this matter? Since we are brothers, my Lao Tzu is your Lao Tzu. If you must cook your Lao Tzu, I hope you can give me a bowl of broth.”

Liu Bang's "rogue logic" immediately found an old man for Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu was furious and wanted to kill old man Liu immediately.Uncle Xiang who was at the side hastened to dissuade him, saying: "The world is uncertain, and the outcome is hard to predict. Besides, those who want to conquer the world don't care about their family members. If you kill the old man, it will not do you any good. It will only increase the disaster." After Xiang Yu heard this, he also felt that killing an old man would have no effect on the current situation, so he followed suit, listened to Uncle Xiang's words, and ordered people to release Old Man Liu.

This bad idea didn't have any effect. Xiang Yu realized that he had nothing to do with Liu Bang. He used to look down on Liu Bang, but now he couldn't subdue him, which made him very upset.At this time, the battle in the east was tense, and Xiang Yu had few effective assistants, so he had to fight back by himself and attack Peng Yue.Before leaving, Xiang Yu said to Grand Sima Cao Jiu: "You must be careful and guard Chenggao. If the Han army challenges you, don't fight, as long as you don't let them go east. I will be there in half a month. Pacify the land of Liang, and we will join you later." Cao Jiu took command, and Xiang Yu let Liu Bang go, and led his troops eastward.

Seeing that Xiang Yu was leading an army to attack Peng Yue, Liu Bang immediately sent troops to challenge the Chu army.Cao Jiu kept Xiang Yu's advice in mind, and even if he didn't come out to fight, Liu Bang continued to provoke, but the Chu army still ignored him.Many times in a row, the people Liu Bang sent to provoke were exhausted, and the Chu army just ignored them. Liu Bang thought to himself: "I don't believe you can have such great patience!" Let the soldiers hurl insults, whatever is unpleasant, and last for five or six days.Finally, Cao Jiu, who was holding back his anger in the tent, couldn't bear it anymore, and almost died of anger, so he put aside Xiang Yu's confession, led his troops across the Si River, and planned to punish the Han soldiers.However, Liu Bang paid close attention to the movement of the Chu army. As soon as Cao Jiu's troops crossed the middle of the river, the Han army rushed out, beat the Chu army to pieces, and seized all their valuables.Seeing that the situation was over, Grand Sima Cao Jiu committed suicide in Sishui, and the Chu army lost another general.

Xiang Yu quickly pacified Chenliu and Waihuang, and captured Suiyang. Hearing that Cao Jiu had been defeated, he hurried back with his army.At this time, the Han army besieged Chu general Zhong Limei to the east of Xingyang. When they heard that Xiang Yu had rushed back, they immediately retreated.When Xiang Yu hurried back to Xingyang, the Han army had all gone to the deep mountains and old forests.Xiang Yu's teeth itch with hatred. Chu and Han confront each other, one wants to fight, the other does not want to fight, each other is stalemate, it is hard to tell the winner, wasting food, time and energy.The young soldiers are tired of the life of long-term marching and fighting, and hope to return to their hometown as soon as possible. The old and weak are already exhausted from delivering food and salaries. The atmosphere in the army is very dull, which makes people feel uncomfortable.Xiang Yu was distraught by this dreary situation, and he decided to make a quick decision to decide the winner.

On this day, Xiang Yu asked the warriors to go out to challenge.There was a soldier named Lou Fan in the Han army who was good at riding and shooting. Every time the Chu soldiers challenged him, Lou Fan shot them to death.Xiang Yu was so angry that he went out of the camp to challenge himself.Lou Fan was about to shoot an arrow, but Xiang Yu yelled at him with his eyes wide open, Lou Fan was too frightened to look at him, the arrow was stuck on the string and could not be released for a long time.Xiang Yu roared again, Lou Fan turned and fled back to the camp, not daring to come out again.Liu Bang hurriedly asked his subordinates what was going on, only to realize that it was Xiang Yu.Liu Bang has seen Xiang Yu's power before. Although the two are enemies now, Liu Bang still thinks that Xiang Yu is one of the best heroes in the world. This kind of thinking makes Liu Bang feel a little comforted, at least his enemy is an unrivaled overlord in the world.

On the border, the two armies set up their battles, and the flags with Chinese characters and Chu characters were hunting for wind.Liu Bang came to the front of the battle in person. When Xiang Yu saw Liu Bang, he shouted to Liu Bang through Guangwu Jian: "The world has been in chaos for several years, and it's not all because of you and me. I hope to challenge the King of Han and fight to the death. Don’t let the people of the world suffer in vain.” Liu Bang smiled and refused, saying, “I would rather fight wits than strength.” Then, Liu Bang listed Xiang Yu’s crimes one by one: At the beginning, we were ordered by King Huai together, and it was agreed that the one who entered Guanzhong first would be king in Guanzhong. You violated the agreement and let me be king in Shuhan.

Under the guise of King Huai's order, you killed Song Yi, the champion of Qingzi, and appointed yourself as the general. You were ordered to save the country of Zhao, and you should have reported to King Huai, but you hijacked the troops of the princes and entered the pass without authorization. After entering the customs, you burned down the palaces of the Qin Dynasty, dug up the Mausoleum of the First Emperor, looted property in Qin, and filled your pockets. You indiscriminately killed Prince Qin Jiang's baby by force. You used fraudulent means to bury 200,000 Qin soldiers alive in Xin'an, but rewarded their generals.

You seal the generals of the various vassals in good places, but you move and drive away the original vassals and kings, and make their subjects rebel against the king in order to fight for the throne. You drove Emperor Yi out of Pengcheng, and sent someone to secretly kill Emperor Yi in Jiangnan. ... Like a god, Liu Bang counted Xiang Yu's crimes and spoke heartily; In the end, Liu Bang also made a concluding speech: "You are a minister, but you murdered the monarch. You are injustice, you do not keep your promises, the world does not tolerate it, and you are rebellious. Now I lead the righteous soldiers and princes to attack you, a traitor. It is worthy to let the criminals who have been sentenced do it, there is no need for me to challenge you!"

At this moment, there was only a sound of "嗖", and an arrow flew out, and everyone shouted: "Be careful, King of Han!" The arrow just hit Liu Bang.It was the Chu army who ambushed first, with the hidden arrow of the agency.Liu Bang hurt his chest, but pressed his toes and said, "The robber shot my toe!" His generals rushed forward to help Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu failed to achieve his goal, and Liu Bang scolded him like a child, and hurriedly withdrew his troops. Liu Bang fell ill due to an arrow wound. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Zhang Liang asked Liu Bang to support the sick body forcibly, and went out on a tour to comfort the troops.The soldiers of the Han army talked and speculated about Liu Bang's injury, but they were relieved to see Liu Bang visiting them in the camp as usual.After Liu Bang inspected the barracks, his condition worsened and it was difficult to get up, so he rushed back to Chenggao to recuperate.

At this time, rumors began to circulate in Guanzhong that Liu Bang was seriously injured and would soon die, so Zhang Liang suggested that Liu Bang be slightly injured and enter Liyang to reassure the people.Liu Bang arrived in Liyang according to Zhang Liang's arrangement, set up a banquet, condolences to the local elders, and killed Sima Xin, the former king of Sai, and hung his head to show the public.The people in Guanzhong rejoiced when they heard about it, and they all hoped that the king of Han would accomplish his great cause as soon as possible. After Liu Bang stayed in Liyang for four days, he returned to the army and stationed his troops in Guangwu.There was a steady stream of troops going out to join the battle, the morale of the Han army was greatly increased, and the food and grass were replenished. It was a scene of prosperity, and the Han army had a great advantage.However, the situation of the Chu army was different: Peng Yue continued to harass the Chu army in Liang and cut off the food supply of the Chu army;The situation of the Chu army went from bad to worse. Liu Bang thought, it's time to rescue the old man and Lu Zhi.He first sent Lu Jia to persuade Xiang Yu, asking to let the old man go back, but Xiang Yu refused; then he sent Hou Gong to persuade, Xiang Yu agreed to release old man Liu and Lu Zhi, agreed to shake hands and make peace, and made a treaty with Liu Bang: the two will share the world equally , the west of Honggou was assigned to Han, and the east of Honggou was assigned to Chu. After being tied with Liu Bang, Xiang Yu felt a little regretful as a general, and felt a little lost.However, a rascal is a rascal, let him go this time for the time being, so that the green hills remain, and there is no need to worry about no firewood.After the Xiang Yu treaty was signed, he immediately stopped his troops and returned to the east. Liu Bang, who left the impression of "running away" in the Chu-Han dispute, finally let out a sigh of relief, and now he can take a good rest.When the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, Liu Bang liked to get along with Xiang Yu, but he was afraid of getting along with him. I even thought that I was too old to give up, but I finally persisted.Therefore, Liu Bang was very satisfied with this treaty. After all, his opponent was Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu.Both the old man and Jiefa's wife are back, and he can safely become the king in Guanzhong. Liu Bang fell into an unprecedented relaxation. Hearing the laughter of the officers and soldiers of the Han army outside the tent, Liu Bang felt very happy and drowsy. At this time Zhang Liang and Chen Ping asked to see him.Liu Bang thought that the two of them came to congratulate, but unexpectedly, there was no sense of joy on their faces, and their faces were serious.Liu Bang was startled, and quickly asked, "What's the matter? Did Xiang Yu repent?" Chen Ping said, "How could Xiang Yu repent? He was afraid that you would repent!" Liang, Zhang Liang said: "The Han has occupied most of the world, and all the princes have surrendered to the Han; and the Chu army has exhausted its soldiers and food, and now is the time for Heaven to destroy Chu. It is better to take this opportunity to destroy it. If you let go now Take Xiang Yu away without beating him, but you will feed the tiger and let the tiger go back to the mountain." As soon as Liu Bang heard it, he immediately settled the accounts with his head, sat up all of a sudden, and secretly complained: "This is not a peace treaty, it is clearly a letter of surrender!" He quickly said: "You are right, Xiang Yu almost deceived me No, this time I must come here with all his money!" He immediately ordered the Han army to cross the gap and launch a sneak attack on the Chu army from behind. military. It was the best time for the Han army to destroy the Chu army during the peace talks in the gap. If you don't take action at this time, history may be rewritten, and Liu Bang may still fall into a passive and beaten situation.Liu Bang doesn't want the fame of promises and gold. The winner is king and the loser is Kou. As long as he wins, who cares about the means of victory?His survival philosophy and "rogue" logic help him accomplish great things once again.