Chapter 54 53 Hongmen Banquet

After Xiang Yu accepted Zhang Han's surrender, he wanted to take advantage of the chaos in Qin State and rush to Xianyang. When the army arrived at Xin'an (now Xin'an, Henan Province), the Qin soldiers who surrendered talked one after another, saying: "Our homes are all in the middle of the pass. If we go into the pass now, we will be the ones who suffer the disaster. If we can't get in, the Chu army will take us to the east." , our whole family will be killed by Qin Chao. What should we do?" The Ministry will hear these discussions and report to Xiang Yu.Xiang Yu was afraid that he would not be able to control Qin's surrendered soldiers, so he became murderous. Except for Zhang Han and the two surrendered generals, he buried more than 200,000 Qin soldiers alive in the big pit overnight.After that, Xiang Yu became famous for his cruelty.

When Xiang Yu's army arrived at Hangu Pass, they saw soldiers guarding the pass and refused to let them in.The soldiers guarding the pass said: "We are under the order of Peigong, no matter what kind of army, we are not allowed to enter the pass." Xiang Yu's anger was no small matter, and he ordered his soldiers to storm Hangu Pass.Liu Bang's army was small, and it didn't take much effort for Xiang Yu to break into the pass.The army continued to move forward until they arrived at Xinfeng and Hongmen (northeast of Lintong, Shaanxi today), where they stationed. One of Liu Bang's generals, Cao Wushang, wanted to join Xiang Yu, so he secretly sent someone to Xiang Yu to inform him, saying: "This time Pei Gong entered Xianyang to become king in Guanzhong."

Xiang Yu stared angrily and scolded Liu Bang for being unreasonable. Fan Zeng, Xiang Yu's counselor, said to Xiang Yu: "Liu Bang did not covet wealth and beautiful women when he entered Xianyang this time. His ambition is not small. If we don't eliminate him now, there will be endless troubles in the future." Xiang Yu made up his mind to wipe out Liu Bang's troops.At that time, Xiang Yu had 400,000 troops stationed at Hongmen, while Liu Bang had only 100,000 troops stationed at Bashang.The distance between the two sides is only forty miles, and the strength of the troops is very different.Liu Bang's situation is very dangerous.

Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Bo, was an old friend of Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang once saved his life.Xiang Bo was afraid that if the war broke out, Zhang Liang would suffer disaster with Liu Bang, so he rode a fast horse overnight to Bashang to find Zhang Liang, and persuaded Zhang Liang to escape. Zhang Liang didn't want to leave Liu Bang, but told Liu Bang the news brought by Xiang Bo.Liu Bang asked Zhang Liang to accompany him to meet Xiang Bo, and repeatedly argued that he had no intention of opposing Xiang Yu, and asked Xiang Bo to help him say a good word in front of Xiang Yu. Xiang Bo agreed, and told Liu Bang to go to Xiang Yu's side to make amends.

Early the next morning, Liu Bang took Zhang Liang, Fan Kui and more than a hundred followers to Hongmen to meet Xiang Yu.Liu Bang said: "The general and I worked together to attack Qin. The general was in Hebei, and I was in Henan. I didn't expect to be able to pass the pass. It is a great pleasure to meet the General here today.How do you know that someone provoked you in front of you and made you angry, which is really unfortunate. " When Xiang Yu saw Liu Bang talking to him in a low voice, his anger disappeared.He said honestly: "This is what your subordinate Cao Wushang said. Otherwise, I wouldn't be like this."

On the same day, Xiang Yu left Liu Bang to drink in the barracks, and invited Fan Zeng, Xiang Bo, and Zhang Liang to accompany him. At the banquet, Fan Zeng winked at Xiang Yu again and again, and raised the jade ring (sound jue, a kind of worn jade in ancient times) on his body, telling Xiang Yu to make up his mind and take the opportunity to kill Liu Bang.But Xiang Yu pretended not to see it. Fan Zeng saw that Xiang Yu couldn't bear to do it, so he went out of the camp gate with an excuse, found Xiang Yu's cousin Xiang Zhuang, and said: "Our king (referring to Xiang Yu) is too soft-hearted. You go in and toast them. It's convenient to kill Liu Bang." gone."

Xiang Zhuang went in and made a toast, and said: "There is no entertainment in the barracks, please let me dance the sword for fun." Then, he drew out the sword and danced, danced and danced, and slowly danced in front of Liu Bang. Xiang Bo saw that Xiang Zhuang's intention of dancing the sword was to kill Liu Bang, so he said, "Let's dance against each other." Then he also drew his sword and danced.While dancing his sword, he kept protecting Liu Bang with his body so that Xiang Zhuang could not stab Liu Bang. Seeing that the situation was very tense, Zhang Liang also told Xiang Yu, left the banquet, and went outside the camp gate to look for Fan Kuai.Fan Kui hurried forward and asked, "How is it?"

Zhang Liang said: "The situation is very critical. Now Xiang Zhuang is dancing with swords. It seems that they are going to attack Pei Gong." Fan Kuai jumped up and said, "We must die together." Holding the sword in his right hand and the shield in his left hand, he rushed straight to the military gate. The guards tried to stop him.Fan Kuai hit the shield and knocked the guard down to the ground.He opened the tent, broke in, and looked at Xiang Yu angrily, his hair seemed to stand on end, his eyes were so wide that the corners of his eyes were about to burst. Xiang Yu was very surprised, and pressed his sword and asked, "Who is this man? What are you doing here?"

Zhang Liang had already followed in, and answered for him, "This is Fan Kuai, who was driving for Duke Pei." Xiang Yu said: "What a strong man!" Then he ordered the soldiers accompanying him to reward him with a glass of wine and a pork leg. While drinking, Fan Kui said angrily: "At the beginning, King Huai made an agreement with the soldiers that whoever advanced into the pass would be crowned king. Now Pei Gong entered the pass, but he did not become king. He sealed the treasury, closed the palace, and put The army is stationed in Bashang, waiting for the general to come every day.

He has worked so hard like this, and has not received any rewards. The general wants to kill him instead.This is walking the old road of King Qin, I am worried for the general. " After hearing this, Xiang Yu had nothing to answer, so he just said, "Sit down." Fan Kui sat down next to Zhang Liang. After a while, Liu Bang got up to go to the bathroom, and Zhang Liang and Fan Kui followed.Liu Bang left some gifts and gave them to Zhang Liang, asking Zhang Liang to bid farewell to Xiang Yu, and then ran back to Bashang along the path with Fan Kuai. Liu Bang walked away for a long time before Zhang Liang went in and said to Xiang Yu, "Pei Gong is a small drinker. He went back when he was drunk just now. Ask me to present a pair of white biscuits for the general and a pair of jade buckets for Yafu (" "Yafu" was originally Xiang Yu's respectful title for Fan Zeng)."

Xiang Yu took the white biscuit and put it on the seat.Fan Zeng was very angry. He threw the jade bucket on the ground, pulled out his sword, smashed it to pieces, and said, "Oh! What a useless boy, I can't help him. Liu Bang must be the one who will conquer the world in the future. We will wait for you." Just be a prisoner." A banquet that was on the verge of saber-rattling finally calmed down for the time being.