Chapter 46 4. Centrist talent

Society is made up of countless circles.The so-called circles are some interest groups.In addition to circles, there are also some centrists who do not belong to any circles, but are the targets of all circles.For example, in the U.S. presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates each have their own loyal supporters, but there are also some people who take a wait-and-see attitude. Candidates go around giving speeches to try to win their support.The final orientation of the centrists is directly related to the success or failure of the election. The same is true for talents. In addition to the above-mentioned two types of talents who are consistent and follow the trend, there is another type, that is, centrist talents.Such people will not be loyal to their superiors, they are often self-centered, they will follow whoever is beneficial to them, and they will work for whoever values ​​themselves.

During the Chu-Han War, several such centrists also appeared, and they were all won over by Liu Bang in the end, and played a key role in the process of defeating Xiang Yu. There are also several types of centrists: those who originally belonged to one of the parties, but later developed active ideas, such as Yingbu; those who took a wait-and-see attitude and were hesitant, such as Peng Yue;Let's take a look at the different attitudes of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu towards these types of people. 〔Tattoo against the sword〕 Ying Bu was different from Han Xin and Chen Ping. He was highly valued by Xiang Yu and was a strong general under Xiang Yu's command. However, he was successfully instigated by Liu Bang in the end and became a key to Xiang Yu's demise.

Those who are capable are all conditional people. They need to be recognized and benefited. No one will truly make selfless dedication.Ying Bu had an opinion on Xiang Yu, which should have started with Xiang Yu's enfeoffment.It is not bad that Ying Bu was named King of Jiujiang, because besides him, the only Chu people who followed Xiang Yu was named King Shenyang of Henan.But people are like this, you think you are fair and nice to him, but he doesn't necessarily agree.This is the case with tattoo cloth.It depends on several key factors. 1. The tattoo cloth is old.Tattoo cloth was originally called Ying cloth.Someone told him a fortune when he was a child, saying that he "becomes a king when he is punished", which means that he can change his luck and become a king after being punished.Later, Yingbu was sentenced to tattooing for violating the Qin law, that is, tattooing on his face. This situation is often seen in the village, so people used to call it Yingbu.Ying Bu was a thief at first, and later defected to Xiang Liang. Xiang Liang established Queen Huai of Chu, named himself Lord Wu Xin, and named Ying Bu Lord Dangyang.It can be seen that Ying Bu's status at that time was very high, similar to that of Xiang Liang.

2. Tattoo cloth has many military exploits.When he was with Xiang Liang, in the battle of defeating Jing Ju and Qin Jia, the "Bu Chang Champion" was extremely brave.Ying Bu later followed Xiang Yu and made great military exploits.Xiang Yu's defeat of Zhang Han relied on the battle of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat. Before the ruined boat, Xiang Yu "made Bu cross the river first to attack Qin", and asked Ying Bu to be the vanguard, and cross the river first to fight the front.After Ying Bu crossed the river, he defeated the Qin army many times, and after a good start, Xiang Yu broke the boat and organized an all-out attack.

3. Tattoo cloth has high prestige.Xiang Yu defeated Zhang Han, and the princes were willing to return to his command. One of the very important reasons was "to defeat the masses with the number of cloth".Yingbu has repeatedly won more with less, which is amazing.It can be seen that the prestige of Yingbu among the princes is high. Xiang Yu also trusted Ying Bu, and always regarded him as his confidant.When the 200,000 soldiers of the Qin army were killed in Xin'an pit, Xiang Yu couldn't make up his mind, so he consulted with two of his subordinates, including Ying Bu (the other was General Pu).Xiang Yu entered Hangu Pass and was guarded by Liu Bangbing, so he ordered Ying Bu to charge through the pass by force. Later, all the way to Xianyang, Ying Bu "always served as the vanguard of the army" and always rushed to the front.The most prominent thing is that after Xiang Yu enshrined King Huai Xiong Xin as Emperor Yi, he planned to move Emperor Yi to Changsha. Later, he was still worried and decided to get rid of him halfway, so he "ordered Jiujiang Wangbu and others Hit it".Let Ying Bu handle such a confidential and important matter, it can be seen that Ying Bu is someone Xiang Yu can trust and feel at ease.

People always overestimate their own role, and even if they don't make any achievements, they still want to get some achievements from themselves, not to mention that Ying Bu has indeed achieved impressive results.In addition, he felt that Xiang Yu treated him well, and his expectations would be higher. As a result, Xiang Yu only gave him the King of Jiujiang, which was much lower than the bottom line in his heart.For example, he felt that the status of the King of Jiujiang was not high, the land was not large, and the area was relatively remote and barren. Action shows.In the past tattoo cloth, only Xiang Yu followed suit.After becoming king, Xiang Yu's orders were not carried out so thoroughly.

Xiang Yu attacked Qi Wang Tianrong, encountered resistance, and asked Ying Bu to send troops for reinforcements. Ying Bu "said he was ill and would not go away", but "sent thousands of generals to go", that is to say.When Liu Bang attacked Pengcheng, Ying Bu "also said that he was ill and did not assist Chu", which had a bearing on the life and death of Chu State. Ying Bu still stood still and acted very indifferently. Xiang Yu only saw the surface of Ying Bu's inactivity, and never thought of the deep-seated reasons.As a leader, Xiang Yu just follows his own ideas and strives to be fair and just. This is where his responsibility lies.There may be two reasons why he named Yingbu King of Jiujiang: one was out of public interest, because Yingbu was a confidant, so he dealt with it in a low-key manner;Xiang Yu didn't think about whether Jiujiang was a good place at all, whether it was affordable or not, whether Ying Bu was satisfied or not.

The saddest thing between people is that you trust him 100% and treat him well, but he still thinks you are unfair to him.This is the case between Ying Bu and Xiang Yu.Ying Bu has been dissatisfied with Xiang Yu for a long time, but Xiang Yu still thinks that he is good to Ying Bu, and blames him for not carrying out the order.Xiang Yu has a lot of trust in Ying Bu, but in fact, Ying Bu has already had a different heart.Emperor Yi was killed. This matter should have been done very confidentially. As a result, even the three old Dong Gongs in Xincheng knew about it, and told Liu Bang about it, which gave Liu Bang a new reason to attack Xiang Yu.It is understandable for Dong Gong to hear that Emperor Yi was killed, but he also knows the details of Xiang Yu's instigation, which is very strange, and it is unknown if someone deliberately leaked the secret.There is such a big deviation in the thinking of the two, and it will be a matter of time before conflicts arise.

With this rift, Liu Bang was given an opportunity to take advantage of.After Liu Bang's defeat in Pengcheng, he was in shock all the way, and only after he fled to Xiayi did he calm down and think about what happened.Liu Bang's attack on Pengcheng was very smooth this time, and he never expected that the ending would be so tragic, otherwise he would not have celebrated in Pengcheng with singing, dancing, drinking and eating meat.What was supposed to happen, turned out to be a chicken-and-egg fight. Liu Bang was very angry, very unwilling, and wanted to avenge this.At this time Zhang Liang mentioned the tattoo cloth to Liu Bang.

Liu Bang asked Zhang Liang: "I want to donate the east of the Guan and wait for it to be discarded. Who can share the merits?" I want to take out the area east of the Hangu Pass as a reward. Who do you think is suitable for it? Join hands and destroy Xiang Yu?Liu Bang lost his face at this moment, and the princes' coalition army was 560,000, but Xiang Yu's 30,000 horses were smashed to pieces, so he decided to spend all his money.But his capital is a matter in the mirror, if you don't take it out, you have to let Xiang Yu take it back, you can't say how generous Liu Bang is.Later, when the Chu-Han War came to an end, Liu Bang asked Han Xin and Peng Yue to encircle Xiang Yu for the final time. The two refused to listen, and finally had to take out the fief as a reward.It can be seen that if it is not a last resort, Liu Bang is also an iron cock.This time there is really no way.

Zhang Liang mentioned three people to him: Ying Bu, Peng Yue, and Han Xin.He also said "Jiujiang King Tingbu, General Chu Xiao, and King Xiang have a relationship", clearly pointing out that Tingbu is a powerful general, and now there is a conflict with Xiang Yu, which is a good opportunity and can be used.So Liu Bang held a meeting and asked everyone: "Who can send Huainan for me, order him to send troops to double Chu, and keep King Xiang in (Yu) Qi for a few months, so that I can take the world completely." Huainan refers to the place sealed in Huainan The Jiujiang Wang tattoo cloth.Who can go to Huainan to win Ying Bu for me, let him turn against Xiang Yu, keep Xiang Yu trapped in Qidi for a few months, and I will be sure to win the world. Sui He, Liu Bang's attendant, volunteered and took more than 20 people to Huainan to persuade Ying Bu.He tried to persuade Ying Bu, but it was not very smooth.Although Ying Bu has opinions on Xiang Yu, after all, he has been favored by Xiang Yu, and any conflicts are also internal conflicts.And taking refuge in Liu Bang is a matter of nature, and it also involves humanity and morality, so it is very difficult to make a decision.Moreover, Liu Bang had just been defeated at that time, and the situation was in a disadvantageous position. In terms of interests alone, everything was unknown.There are many eloquent lobbyists under Liu Bang, and they have repeatedly made outstanding achievements. It cannot but be said that they are a special kind of talent.For example, Shen Shiqi, who later relied on his three-inch tongue to persuade Qi to surrender, his energy can be seen (of course, this incident later caused Han Xin to mess up, and Shen Shiqi also lost his old life for this, but This is purely an accident, not because they are incompetent).This is by no means a vegetarian. After a battle of wits and courage, Ying Bu finally turned against him. Anyhow took the following steps: One is to attack the heart and ask Ying Bu to summon him.When Sui He arrived in Huainan, Ying Bu didn't summon him for three days (it can be seen that Ying Bu was really hesitant about this matter), but he was not too cold, and sent Dazai to greet them with food and drink every day.If you can't see the tattoo cloth, you can't use any skills you have.So He Sui He resorted to a heart attack and said to Dazai: Your Majesty has not seen me for three days, so he must feel that we are at a disadvantage now, but it’s okay to listen to your opinions. If I’m right, you just listen. If you think it’s wrong, you can pull us out and kill us. Now, there is also an explanation to Chu State in this way, why not do it?Since there was no harm at all, there was another suspense for Ying Bu, so Ying Bu summoned him. The second is to lock the throat and grasp the vital points of the tattoo cloth.Ying Bu obeyed Xiang Yu's orders, but failed twice. First, Xiang Yu attacked Qidi and conscripted Ying Bu. Ying Bu "claimed that he was sick and would not go away." Then Liu Bang invaded Pengcheng. Watch from the sidelines.If he put these two things aside, he hit Yingbu's deathbed.Xiang Yu couldn't rub sand in his eyes, and he would never tolerate this kind of behavior.The implication is that Xiang Yu will never spare him, so it is better to find a way out as soon as possible. The third is to lure, let Yingbu see the benefits.Ying Bu does not support Xiang Yu because he has opinions on Xiang Yu, but this does not mean that he is inclined to Liu Bang.If there is no considerable benefit, tattoo cloth will not take this risk.So Suihe said: "The king lifts the sword and returns to Han, and the king of Han will split the land and make him king, let alone Huainan." If you surrender to the king of Han, the king of Han will definitely reward the land, and then it will not be limited to the small Huainan (this book It was Liu Bang's promise).Burned the tattoo cloth with the temptation of the fiefdom. The fourth is to draw salaries from the bottom of the pot and cut off the retreat of Yingbu.Ying Bu was moved, "Yin Xupan (rebelled) Chu and Han, and did not dare to vent it", and quietly reached a gentleman's agreement with Sui He, but still held a wait-and-see attitude.Sui He was naturally dissatisfied with this result, because it only showed that Ying Bu had the intention to oppose Chu Lian Han, and there was no real action.If Liu Bang has the upper hand, he can return to Han, and if Liu Bang loses, he can also choose to support Xiang Yu.Everything is still in the mirror.So Suihe came to take a drastic drudgery.At that time, Xiang Yu also sent envoys to ask Ying Bu to send troops to help him. Sui He went straight in and said to the envoy of Chu State: "The king of Jiujiang has returned to Han. Why should Chu send troops?" Woolen cloth?Any such move happened suddenly, Ying Bu was unexpected, so he was stunned all of a sudden.But the matter had come to this point, and there was no way out, so Ying Bu killed the envoy of Chu State, and officially announced the rebellion against Chu. This time Xiang Yu was completely disappointed with Ying Bu. Although he had some opinions on Ying Bu before, but at that time, "the north was worried about Qi and Zhao, and the west was troubled by Han". Send envoys to pass orders to urge.Ying Bu officially rebelled against the water, and Xiang Yu was not polite, so he sent General Long Qie to lead troops to attack Ying Bu, and completely pushed Ying Bu to Liu Bang's side. [Peng Yue who has milk is a mother] Peng Yue was a person who played a key role in the victory of the Chu-Han War. Without Peng Yue, Liu Bang would not have lasted so long in the Xingyang tug-of-war, and he would not even have the chance to turn defeat into victory later.Xiang Yu and Liu Bang confronted each other on the front line, while Peng Yue bypassed Xiang Yu's defense line to fight guerrillas, cutting off Xiang Yu's food and grass supply, making Xiang Yu difficult to care about, and finally bought time for Liu Bang.Peng Yue's contribution can be described as great. Peng Yue was originally a gangster, and he didn't want to follow anyone at first.When Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang rebelled, the heroes of the world rose up everywhere, and the wind was raging. Someone said to Peng Yue: "All heroes stand against Qin, and Zhong can come and follow him." Let Peng Yue also act quickly and join the anti-Qin team, Peng Yue said : "Two dragons are fighting each other, let's wait." It means that the outcome is still unknown, so let's wait and see, there is no rush.People who are on the sidelines have a small heart in their hearts, and his attitude was also reflected many times during the Chu-Han War. Peng Yue's first contact with the anti-Qin rebel army began with Liu Bang.When Liu Bang went west to Guanzhong, he attacked Changyi and met Peng Yue. Peng Yue then helped Liu Bang attack Changyi, but failed to defeat Liu Bang and retreated westward, and the two broke up.Peng Yue took his men and took in some scattered soldiers from Wei State, and continued to be his grassroots bandits. It can be seen from this that Peng Yue is a person who likes to be alone and is happy to be at ease.He doesn't want to be attached to anyone, or in other words, when he feels that he is not fully sure, he will not be attached to anyone.He helped Liu Bang, perhaps because he felt that Liu Bang had strength and could be relied on, but the result was not ideal, so he continued to choose to wait and see. In fact, Peng Yue later wanted to follow Xiang Yu, because Xiang Yu established himself as the overlord of Western Chu, commanding the world, and he dared not refuse to obey, he was already the boss in the actual sense.As a result, Xiang Yu didn't enfeoff Peng Yue when he distributed the feudal lords, which made Peng Yue very upset.This is actually no wonder to Xiang Yu: first, you, Peng Yue, think that being a bandit leader is great, and Xiang Yu may not regard you as a green onion; second, Xiang Yu is only rewarded for meritorious deeds, and you Peng Yue has no military exploits, so naturally you cannot be named a marquis . But all talents have their own personality and self-respect. Xiang Yu's failure to take Peng Yue seriously is the greatest insult to him.In this way, Peng Yue had an opinion on Xiang Yu, so he led "more than 10,000 (more than) people who don't belong to him", refused to listen to Xiang Yu, and became his grass head king.This is also an important reason why Peng Yue preferred Liu Bang during the Chu-Han War. Xiang Yu doesn't like it, but it doesn't mean that others don't like it.Peng Yue is nothing in Xiang Yu's eyes, but he is still a force after all, with his own independent group of people, so it is natural that someone will attack him.The first time Peng Yue tasted the sweetness, it was given by Tian Rong.Tian Rong was not crowned king by Xiang Yu, so he established himself as the king of Qi, pacified the land of Sanqi, and openly opposed Xiang Yu.In order to strengthen his strength, Tian Rong thought of Peng Yue, so he "made people give Peng Yue the general seal" and made Peng Yue a general.Xiang Yu sent Xiao Gongjiao to attack Peng Yue, but was defeated by Peng Yue.Peng Yue is a man who is good at fighting. He is used to being a grassroots bandit, and he is more flexible in combat. He fights if he can fight, and runs if he can't fight. In the spring of the second year of King Han (205 BC), Liu Bang and the allied forces of the princes sent troops to attack Chu.Peng Yue seemed to have seen the result of the "two dragons fighting each other", so he "returned more than 30,000 soldiers to the Han" in Waihuang, which was officially under Liu Bang's command.But at this time, Liu Bang didn't realize Peng Yue's superiority, because Peng Yue was a native of Wei and wanted to support the descendants of Wei, but Liu Bang refused, saying that Wei now has a monarch, so isn't Wei Bao, the king of Western Wei, ready-made?So he made Peng Yue the minister of Wei, and led his troops to attack Liang. Although he failed to achieve his goal, Peng Yue was still very grateful to Liu Bang. After all, he has now completely completed the transformation from a grassroots bandit to a government army, and he has also become a senior official of the Wei State.Therefore, after Liu Bang defeated Pengcheng, Peng Yue did not leave Liu Bang, but "lived his soldiers north on the river", dragged his troops to the Yellow River, fought guerrillas against Xiang Yu, and cut off Xiang Yu's supply of food and grass, constantly harassing Xiang Yu's descendants Defend.Peng Yue's move is very powerful.First, he made Xiang Yu worry about the future and slowed down the speed of attacking Liu Bang. Later, because of the poor supply of food and grass, Xiang Yu was once in a desperate situation; condition.When Cheng Gao confronted each other, Peng Yue captured 17 cities including Suiyang and Waihuang in one fell swoop, completely cut off Xiang Yu's defense line, and forced Xiang Yu to lead his troops back to defend himself, thus losing Cheng Gao.In the autumn of the fifth year of the Han Dynasty (202 BC), Xiang Yu went south to Yangxia, and Peng Yue captured more than 20 cities including Changyi, and obtained a lot of food and grass, which relieved Liu Bang's urgent need. Although Peng Yue actively cooperates with Liu Bang in fighting, he is not completely dead set. Whether he fights guerrillas or provides Liu Bang with food, he is actually making political capital, because after Wei Bao who was stationed in Xingyang was killed by Zhou Ke and others, Wei Guo There was a vacancy in the head of the family, and Peng Yue wanted to be the king of Wei.But Liu Bang didn't realize this, so Peng Yue was not active in his subsequent actions. After the peace talks, Xiang Yu returned to Pengcheng, Liu Bang then tore up the contract, pursued Xiang Yu, and ordered Han Xin and Peng Yue to encircle Xiang Yu.Neither Han Xin nor Peng Yue moved.Peng Yue replied: "The land of Wei has just been established, and we are still afraid of Chu, so we can't go there yet." As soon as I stabilized here, the soldiers still had lingering fears and couldn't go.No troops were sent to help.As a result, Liu Bang was defeated by Xiang Yu in Guling. Liu Bang was very puzzled, and asked Zhang Liang: "The princes refused to obey, what can they do?" Why are these people so disobedient?Zhang Liang said, because they saw that Xiang Yu was about to lose, and it was time for you to reward him.Peng Yue pacified the land of Liang, and he made great contributions. At the beginning, he was named Minister of Wei because Wei Bao was still alive. Now that Wei Bao is dead, Peng Yue naturally wants to be the king of Wei. You just need to promise him and win the country of Chu. "North of Suiyang As far as Gucheng, it is enough to use Wang Peng Xiangguo".According to Liu Bang's plan, Peng Yue sent troops as expected. Peng Yue is a person who is a mother if he has a milk. Zhang Liang sees this very clearly, so he suggested that to Liu Bang.And Liu Bang can also satisfy Peng Yue as much as possible according to Peng Yue's needs, so that this erratic centrist can always be used for himself. This is Liu Bang's brilliance. [Wei Bao swaying from side to side] Wei Bao is the son of Wei Guo.After Chen Shengqi's incident, he sent Wei man Zhou Shi to pacify the land of Wei. People wanted to support Zhou Shi as the king of Wei.After Zhang Han defeated Chen Sheng, he besieged Wei, Wei Jiu committed suicide, and Wei Bao fled to Chu.King Huai of Chu then allocated several thousand troops to Wei Bao to regain the land of Wei.Because Xiang Yu defeated Zhang Han and restrained the main force of the Qin army, Wei Bao successfully recovered the Wei land and was established as the king of Wei.Later, Wei Bao entered the customs with Xiang Yu.When Xiang Yu enfeoffed the princes, he enfeoffed Wei Bao in Hedong, made Pingyang his capital, and called him King of the Western Wei Dynasty. Judging from the two points that Wei Bao entered the pass with Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu sealed him in Hedong, Wei Bao obeyed Xiang Yu's orders.However, after Liu Bang returned to the Three Qin Dynasty, he attacked Chu in the east. When he arrived at Linjin (now Dali County, Shaanxi Province), Wei Bao saw Liu Bang's menacing approach, so he took refuge in Liu Bang, and then followed Liu Bang to the east to Pengcheng.After Liu Bang was defeated in Pengcheng, he retreated to Xingyang. Seeing that the situation was not good, Wei Bao asked to "see his relatives' illness" and asked for personal leave to go home.After Wei Bao returned to the fief, he immediately "judged the riverside (rebellion) Han", raised the anti-Han banner without hesitation, and fell to Xiang Yu's side again. Wei Bao rebelled, and Liu Bangzheng was trapped by Xiang Yu and couldn't take care of himself, so he asked Li Shiqi to persuade Wei Bao, and made a wish: If you can persuade him, I will make you the Marquis of Ten Thousand Households.Li Shiqi was greatly encouraged and went on the road full of confidence, but this time he lost face. Wei Bao didn't buy his account at all, saying: "The king of Han is arrogant and insulting, and scolding the princes and ministers is like scolding slaves. I can't bear to see you again." He said that Liu Bang loves to scold the street too much, and he doesn't care when he scolds. In his mouth, we are slaves who are not as good as pigs and dogs. I don't know how to be polite at all.Liu Bang has always had these problems, and this is just Wei Bao's rhetoric. If Liu Bang hadn't died, he would have continued to suffer without complaint. Liu Bang saw that he couldn't make up his mind, so he sent Han Xin to pacify Hedong, and then brought Wei Bao back to Xingyang.Liu Bang treated Wei Bao very well and asked him to be the princess of Xingyang and stationed in Xingyang.Judging from the fact that Liu Bang did not kill Wei Bao and continued to employ him, Liu Bang was indeed a more thoughtful person.Because although the Wei State was destroyed, Wei Bao's prestige was still there, and many people in Wei still supported Wei Bao. With Wei Bao around, these people would not defect to Xiang Yu. Later, Wei Bao was killed, and it had nothing to do with Liu Bang, but Zhou Ke and Cong Gong, the other two guards of Xingyang.Xiang Yu besieged Xingyang, and the two of them thought Wei Bao was not pleasing to the eye, so they discussed and said: "The king who rebels against the country is hard to defend the city." up.For the sake of safety, "Nai Gong killed Wei Bao". It can be seen that Wei Bao, like Peng Yue, has his own living thoughts.The difference is: Peng Yue is looking at the interests, while Wei Bao is looking at the wind direction.Therefore, Peng Yue has always benefited from Liu Bang, and has always contributed to Liu Bang.Wei Bao will choose his own direction according to the progress of the war, swinging left and right.Wei Bao didn't want to follow Liu Bang later, but was defeated by Han Xin and had to return to Liu Bang's camp.This is also the reason why Zhou Ke killed Wei Bao later. Through the analysis of the above types of talents, we will find the following four problems: One is that there is no shortage of loyal and dedicated talents around Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. The second is that there were more talents who turned to Xiang Yu than Liu Bang at the beginning, but in the end Liu Bang had more talents than Xiang Yu. The third is that people who are not talents on Xiang Yu's side become talents on Liu Bang's side. Fourth, all centrist talents were won over by Liu Bang. The most critical point is the third point: people who are not talents on Xiang Yu's side will become talents on Liu Bang's side.This is very interesting and worth thinking about.For example, Han Xin and Chen Ping, they are both talents, and they are outstanding talents, no one doubts this.But they didn't become talents because they followed Liu Bang, but they were talents from beginning to end, and they were no exception when they were messing around under Xiang Yu.Then why did they behave mediocrely in Xiang Yu's place, but they were extraordinary in Liu Bang's place?Such a big difference before and after can only explain one problem: Liu Bang is indeed better than Xiang Yu in employing people.