Chapter 51 50 Liu Bang and Xiang Yu

After Chen Sheng and Wu Guang launched the peasant uprising, people from all over the country killed officials one after another in response to the uprising.Not long after, the storm of peasant uprising swept across most of China. Chen Sheng sent troops and generals to respond to the uprisings in various places. They won every victory and occupied a large number of places.However, due to the long battle lines and inconsistent orders, some places were occupied by the old nobles of the six countries.Less than three months after the uprising, people in Zhao, Qi, Yan, Wei and other places declared themselves kings under the banner of restoring the six kingdoms.

Chen Sheng sent the rebel army led by Zhou Wen to attack westward, and soon entered Guanzhong (referring to the area west of Hangu Pass), approaching Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty.Panicked, Qin II quickly sent general Zhang Han (sound han) to release the prisoners and slaves who were doing hard labor in Lishan, and formed an army to counterattack the insurgents.The nobles of the original six countries each occupied their own territory, and no one went to support the rebel army.Zhou Wen's rebel army fought alone and finally failed.Wu Guang was killed by his subordinates in Xingyang.In the sixth month after the uprising, Chen Sheng was killed by a traitor on the way to retreat.

Although Chen Sheng and Wu Guang are dead, the fire they ignited to resist the Qin Dynasty is burning everywhere.In the south of Kuaiji County (the seat of the government is today Suzhou, Jiangsu). The momentum is bigger. It was Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Yu who raised troops in Kuaiji County.Xiang Liang was the son of Xiang Yan, a general of Chu State.When the state of Chu was attacked and destroyed by Wang Jian, the general of the state of Zuo, Xiang Yan was defeated and committed suicide.Xiang Liang always wanted to restore the state of Chu.His nephew Xiang Yu was tall and smart, and Xiang Liang taught him to read and write himself.But Xiang Yu had only studied for a few days, and he was unwilling to continue.Xiang Liang taught him how to learn the sword again, and Xiang Yu learned it for a while, but also dropped it.

Xiang Liang was very angry, but Xiang Yu said nonchalantly: "What's the use of reading and writing? If you learn it, you just need to remember your own name; if you master the sword, you can only fight with a few people. It's no big deal. If you want to learn, you must learn." The ability to fight big battles." Xiang Liang heard that his tone was serious, so he took out the ancestral military book and taught him.Xiang Yu understood it as soon as he heard it, but he got a little careless, and he refused to drill deeper.Xiang Liang was originally a minister (now southwest of Suqian, Jiangsu Province), but because of an enmity with him, he hid in Wuzhong, Kuaiji County.The young people in Wuzhong admired him when they saw that he was capable of writing and martial arts, and treated him as a big brother.Xiang Liang also taught them the art of war and their skills.

This time, when they heard of Chen Sheng's uprising, they thought it was a good opportunity, so they killed the governor of Kuaiji County and occupied Kuaiji County.In less than a few days, a team of 8,000 people was assembled.Because most of the members of this team are local youths, they are called "children soldiers". Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu crossed the river with 8,000 soldiers, and soon captured Guangling (the name of the county, where the government is located in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province), and then crossed the Huaihe River to continue their march.Along the way, uprising teams from various places came to Xiang Liang and joined them.

In the second year, a team of more than one hundred people, led by Liu Bang, came to join Xiang Liang. Liu Bang was originally from Pei County (now Pei County, Jiangsu Province). Under the rule of the Qin Dynasty, he was a pavilion chief (ten miles in the Qin Dynasty was a pavilion, and the pavilion chief was a small official who managed within ten miles). Once, the boss asked him to escort a group of peasants to Lishan to do hard work.They were on their way day by day, and there were always a few civilian husbands who deserted and escaped every day, and Liu Bang couldn't control them if he wanted to.But if it goes on like this, it will not be easy to do business in Lishan.

One day, he sat on the ground to rest with the peasants.He said to everyone: "When you go to Lishan to do hard work, you will either die from exhaustion or be beaten to death; even if you don't die, you don't know when you will be able to return to your hometown. I will release you now, and you can find a way to survive by yourself! " The peasants burst into tears with gratitude and said, "Then what should you do?" Liu Bang said: "Anyway, I can't go back. Wherever I escape to." At that time, more than a dozen civilian husbands were willing to follow him to find a way out.Liu Bang fled to Mangdang (sound mangAdang) mountain together with a dozen civilian husbands and hid there.After a few days, more than a hundred people gathered.

Xiao He, the county clerk, and Cao Can (shen), the prison officer, knew that Liu Bang was a good man, and they sympathized with him very much, so they secretly contacted them. When Chen Sheng came to conquer Chen County, Xiao He and the people in Pei County killed the county magistrate, and sent people to Mount Mangdang to bring Liu Bang back, and asked him to be the leader of Pei County.Everyone called him Pei Gong. After Liu Bang raised troops in Peixian County, he recruited two or three thousand people and captured his hometown Fengxiang. Then he led some troops to attack other counties, but unexpectedly the subordinates who stayed in Fengxiang rebelled.Liu Bang got the news and wanted to go back to attack Fengxiang, but his own troops were not enough, so he had to borrow troops from other places.

When he arrived in Liucheng (now southeast of Pei County, Jiangsu Province), it happened that Zhang Liang also brought more than a hundred people to join the rebel army.When the two met together, they got along very well.After discussing, they felt that Xiang Liang was the most powerful among the nearby uprising teams, so they decided to go to Xiang Liang. Xiang Liang saw that Liu Bang was also a talent, so he allocated others to help him take back Fengxiang.From then on, both Liu Bang and Zhang Liang became Xiang Liang's subordinates. After Chen Sheng, Wu Guang and other main uprising leaders died, because the leadership of uprisings in various places fell into the hands of the nobles of the old six countries, they competed with each other for territory and fell apart.Qin's generals Zhang Han and Li You wanted to take the opportunity to defeat the rebels one by one.

At this critical juncture, Xiang Liang held a meeting in Xuecheng, determined to rectify the rebel army.In order to expand his appeal, Xiang Liang listened to the advice of counselor Fan Zeng, and recruited the grandson (named Xin) of King Huai of Chu who was living among the people, and made him King of Chu.Because the people of Chu State have always held injustice for King Huai of Chu who was cheated and died in Qin State.In order to increase his appeal, everyone still called his grandson King Huai of Chu.