Chapter 23 Chapter 23 The world is in chaos

Xiang Yu sent envoys from Xianyang to Pengcheng (Xuzhou) to report to King Huai on the pacification of Guanzhong.Because of this fight against Qin, the nominal commander is King Huai of Chu. As a result, King Huai sent an envoy to convey: —According to the agreement. The so-called "covenant" here refers to "the one who enters Guanzhong first is the king of Guanzhong". Xiang Yu was furious when he received King Huai's order. "Is this fair?" He said to Yu Ji who was brought to the formation to accompany her. Yu Ji, who was born in Kuaiji, was Xiang Yu's favorite woman in Jiangdong period. Since Xiang Yu was reluctant to leave her, he took her with him in this expedition.In fact, most of the generals who challenged Qin were served by their wives and concubines.If the family is left behind, they may become hostages, so it is safer to go with them.

Recently, Xiang Yu always felt that Fan Zeng frightened him.Fan Zeng was bitter about the fact that he hadn't killed Liu Bang in Hongmen - a lot of people of his age were still acting like children, and when they spoke to him, they would answer him indifferently or rudely.There is nothing wrong with Fan Zeng. Therefore, Xiang Yu had no choice but to keep a respectful distance from Fan Zeng, and turned to Concubine Yu to express his distress. "Because you are a strong person, they force you to do all the difficult things...Of course, it's unfair for them to do this." Yu Ji pressed her hand to Xiang Yu's chest while talking.

Xiang Yu caressed her slender fingers and said, "King Huai is really unreasonable. He wanted me to compete with Liu Bang to enter Guanzhong first, but sent me to Zhao in the north, and let Liu Bang go straight to Guanzhong in the west... I think he seems like Partial to Liu Bang." In fact, Huai Wang did intend for Liu Bang to win this contest.Because Xiang Yu's influence is already too strong, and he has a strong personality. Song Yi, his boss who had beheaded himself in the past, may show an overbearing attitude towards King Huai at any time. Of course, he cannot sit back and watch his power grow day by day.Therefore, cultivate forces that can compete with Xiang Yu, and then manipulate the two heroes who are evenly matched to stabilize your position.King Huai, who has no power of his own, must do so in order to survive.

King Huai hoped that Liu Bang would have the strength to compete with Xiang Yu.The current situation is that Liu Bang's military strength is far inferior to Xiang Yu's.But if Liu Bang is made the king of Guanzhong with fertile land, his power will gradually increase, and he will soon be evenly matched with Xiang Yu. King Huai, who had this idea, replied that "according to the agreement" is a matter of course.And this answer made Xiang Yu furious, and it was inevitable. King Huai's orders could not be ignored.But let Liu Bang become the king of Guanzhong for no reason, which made him unwilling.What should I do now? —— You can't consult Yuji about this kind of thing!

After thinking about it for a long time, Xiang Yu had no choice but to find the military teacher Fan Zeng. At that time, Fan Zeng, who repeatedly insisted that Liu Bang must be killed, probably would not agree to let Liu Bang take the position of King of Guanzhong.What Xiang Yu wanted to ask was why he refused Liu Bang.Unexpectedly, Fan Zeng replied: "We must let Liu Bang become the king of Guanzhong." "why?" "If you don't keep the promise you made, you will lose your promise to the princes." "I know...but, I don't want to give Liu Bang the Guanzhong I got for nothing!"

"Guanzhong is a dangerous place, and the land is very fertile. If you lose your trust because of this and let the princes encircle and suppress it, it will be even worse... Therefore, the best way is to use strategy." "What's your strategy?" "Guanzhong is generally called the area between Hangu Pass and Wuguan...but what pass is there in the west?" "Usually, people refer to the danger of the Shu Road as the pass." "However, this is not an official pass. Ba and Shu on the other side of the Shu Road can also be said to be in the middle of the pass."

"I don't disagree with your statement." "All these areas are collectively called Guanzhong. It is impossible for such a large area to be ruled by a single king. Therefore, we can divide Guanzhong into four countries and become the four kingdoms of Yong, Zhai, Han, and Sai. Let Liu Bang become the king of Han, Wouldn't it be enough to rule only the lands of Ba, Shu and Hanzhong?" It is too much to divide the so-called "Guanzhong" into four parts and then only give Liu Bang one of them. Therefore, we first define "Guanzhong" as a larger area, and then divide it into four—— Military teacher Fan Zeng has a good mind after all, and the method he came up with is really ingenious.

Ba and Shu are present-day Sichuan Province, and their scope is really vast, but they are remote places.Giving only this place would inevitably make Liu Bang feel like he was being exiled, so it would be less unreasonable to give Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong (a county adjacent to Sichuan Province in present-day Shaanxi Province) at the junction of the so-called Guanzhong . "Then what about the real Guanzhong?" "We stuffed Liu Bang to the frontier, and then blocked the entrance of the cave with a huge stone. This huge stone can be trusted by the Qin State. For example, let Zhang Han be the king of Xiyongdi from Xianyang, and Chang Shixin to be the fortress to the east of Xianyang. The king of land, Dong Yi is the king of Zhai in Shangjun... how about this?"

"Good! This is indeed the best policy!" Xiang Yu suddenly realized. Regarding the economics of the world after the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, Xiang Yu only had one thought—returning to the past! He has absolutely no intention of inventing a new system.It is Xiang Yu's ideal to restore the state of separatism before Qin unified the world.It's not creation, it's just retro.Does such a reform make sense? "Return to the old state? This will not make the generals turn to the king." When he heard what Fan Zeng said, Xiang Yu immediately said: "Then let's add more countries!"

Xiang Yu's purpose is only to make himself an overlord, that is to say, to make himself a super king, and entrust the other kings to a country that is far smaller than the princes of the Warring States; he is the only overlord in the world, and the rest are small kings. Therefore, he believes that dividing Guanzhong into four is the "best policy", and he agrees with it.Divide the territory of King Qin, who was only one of the seven heroes before the unification of the world, among four people. Of course, none of such kings can compare with Overlord. Xiang Yu generously distributed the territory to the generals who had made contributions to the Qin Dynasty, and named them "kings".

In April of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 BC), a group of princes turned from generals set off from Xishui near Xianyang to their respective feudal states. Liu Bang went to Hanzhong in the west. Along the way, he set fire to the plank road he passed.The road from Dunant to Eclipse is very narrow, and the road is paved with sleepers like today's railways. This is the so-called plank road.After burning, such roads will gradually disappear. "Why do you want to do this?" The matter of burning the plank road was proposed by Zhang Liang.Liu Bang, who left everything to Zhang Liang, was puzzled by the move. "After the fall of Qin, the former generals who became princes did not need too many soldiers, so they dismissed most of the soldiers by the water. The soldiers who were dismissed are likely to form a group of thieves in the future. I do this It is to prevent these thieves from attacking us. And..." "And how?" Liu Bang asked. "Burning the plank road is tantamount to showing that you have no intention of returning to the east and competing in the Central Plains. King Xiang has always thought that you might compete with him for the world, so he is quite wary. This will remove his suspicion, won't it?" "It's good to dispel King Xiang's suspicion, but without the plank road, wouldn't I not be able to go to the east in the future? Do you want me to live in this place forever?" "No, that's not the case." Zhang Liang smiled, "The plank road is a new road created by people, and the ancient road still exists. This road is seldom known by people, so it will be convenient if you take a secret action. Therefore, it is not a pity to burn the plank road... ...What's more, my talent and knowledge are born to assist those who will become the lord of the world in the future. People who are only satisfied with being the lord of Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong are not worthy of asking me to be a military adviser!...The real victory and defeat will not come until the end It will be revealed, that is to say, I am only now about to truly display my strategy skills, Lord, please wait and see!" Zhang Liang said. "How long do I have to stay in this remote place in Hanzhong?" Liu Bang felt a little sad when he thought of staying in this remote place for a period of time. Liu Bang was not the only one who hated coming to remote places like Ba and Shu, and many soldiers under his command fled on the way because of this. The soldiers who obediently followed to Nanzheng, the capital of Hanzhong, sang songs of homesickness every day.Their hometowns are all in the east of Hangu Pass. When he heard the soldiers singing homesickness, Liu Bang secretly made up his mind to return to the East as soon as possible.Homesickness is the source of great power, and Liu Bang didn't know that he already had a powerful weapon. Xiang Yu believed that the success of destroying Qin was entirely due to his own strength.Therefore, he believes that rewarding his subordinates for their merits is a kind of charity.Since the real credit lies with oneself, the person who gets the reward is tantamount to being honored, and there should be no dissatisfaction.With such a state of mind, his discussion of merit and deed rewards is naturally lacking in detail. Although many small lords were created, the number was limited after all. Some people who thought they were qualified to be crowned kings but failed to hope would naturally feel dissatisfied.Dissatisfaction is growing because there is no clear benchmark for meritorious deeds.In fact, whether to reward or not depends entirely on Xiang Yu's personal likes and dislikes. The principle of Xiang Yu, a revivalist king, is that the descendants of the princes before Qin unified the country are the first priority. As for who to choose, it all depends on Xiang Yu's preferences. Taking Qi as an example, when Li Si, the prime minister of Qin, was executed, the king of Qi was on holiday.But Tian Jia was later exiled by Tian Rong and took refuge in Xiang Yu.Later, because Zhao was attacked, Chu Nai ordered Qi to go to rescue.However, Tian Rong refused to accept this order on the grounds that Tian Jia fled to Xiang Yu's place. ——Unless Tian Jia is killed, there will be no troops. When he received this answer, Xiang Yu was furious. As a result, General Qi Tian Du betrayed Tian Rong and rescued Zhao for Xiang Yu. After defeating Qin, Xiang Yu did not make Tian Rong the king of Qi, but made Tian Du the king of Qi.Tian Rong was naturally very angry, so he killed Tian Du and made himself King of Qi.Not only that, but he also appointed Peng Yue as a general to start a rebellion in Liangdi. Originally, Chen Yu and Zhang Er, who had a very good friendship, later had a gap in their friendship because Zhang Er became the king of Changshan, while Chen Yu was not.Chen Yu, who complained about Xiang Yu, asked Tian Rong for reinforcements to attack Zhang Er, the king of Changshan.As a result, Zhang Er fled and went to seek refuge with Liu Bang. For this reason, Xiang Yu was furious, and immediately sent troops to attack Qi Guotian Rong. After finally destroying Qin, the world fell into chaos again. Xiang Yu is too intolerant. The thing that King Huai of Chu, who is the titular ruler of the world, has always worried about, is gradually showing signs of becoming a nightmare. ——It was I, Xiang Yu, who brought peace to the world, and King Huai has no achievements to speak of.King Huai is just someone brought by my uncle Xiang Liang, there is no need for me to bow my head to him! This is Xiang Yu's idea.He then said to King Huai: Now that the world has been settled, I hope you will stop being the king of Chu and become emperor instead. Xiang Yu then enshrined King Huai as Emperor Yi. He originally planned to use this to control the real power by himself, but in the end he still felt that the existence of Emperor Yi was quite an eyesore. "Can't I be the master of the world?" Xiang Yu asked Yu Ji like this. "Who says it can't be done! It's the king alone who killed Qin Quan, and Emperor Yi didn't do anything during that time. The king is the one who is qualified to be the master of the world!" Yu Ji replied. "Exactly." Xiang Yu thought it was time to eliminate Emperor Yi. He then sent an envoy to report to Emperor Yi: "It has been the practice since ancient times for an emperor to have a territory of thousands of miles, and to use the upper reaches of the river as his base. I have found an ideal place for the emperor, and I beg your majesty to move it. " Xiang Yu forced Emperor Yi to move his capital to Changsha. "It's not right—" Emperor Yi's retainers roughly guessed Xiang Yu's intentions, but they all fled before reporting to Emperor Yi. After the retainers dispersed like birds and beasts, there was no one to guard Yidi anymore. Xiang Yu ordered Hengshan King Wu Rui and Linjiang King Gongao to kill Emperor Yi on the Yangtze River. This is half a year after the princes left the water playing position and went to the fiefdom.