Chapter 84 3. Counting impermanence and death without knowing

The third act of the battle of Chenggao opened, which is very graphic. This picture starts with a car.The car was very small and crude, and it squeezed out through the crack of the north gate on the day Cheng Gao broke the city for the second time.The driver is also very low-key, mixed among the refugees, not inconspicuous at all.There were two people crammed into the car, their faces full of tension and exhaustion, they were Liu Bang and Xia Houying.Behind them, there were loud shouts and blazing flames.The Chu army who broke the city massacred the fleeing Han soldiers while searching for Liu Bang's whereabouts.

However, Liu Bang is a born master of escape. Since he was young, he has been hunted down by officials of the Qin Dynasty for committing crimes, so he has accumulated rich experience in escape.He fled no less than a dozen times in his life, but he was never caught.It can be said that Liu Bang's successful escape is a record, and no one can break it so far. Why was no one able to catch him? Because he is familiar with the weaknesses of other people's thinking, but the world knows nothing about him. As for Xiang Yu, facing Liu Bang who disappeared mysteriously, he was only deeply confused and depressed.

Liu Bang fled to Xiaoxiuwu quietly. What is this place? Here, there is a powerful Han army led by Han Xin and Zhang Er. Liu Bang arrived at the gate of Han Xin's barracks at dusk, but he did not inform Han Xin, but pretended to be passers-by with Xia Houying, and lived in the simple guest house in Xiaoxiuwu.Judging from the situation at the time, he didn't sleep well that night. In fact, he just took a nap in the first half of the night.Before dawn, he and Xia Houying left the inn, modified the broken car, put a flag with feathers on it, and rushed towards Han Xin's camp. When he arrived at the gate of the camp, he did not reveal his identity, but claimed that he was a special envoy sent by the King of Han, and that he was able to enter the barracks smoothly with the relevant seals with him.Next, there should have been a small-scale exchange of fire. The people under Liu Bang and Xia Houying suddenly revealed their identities as the King of Han, and quickly captured Han Xin and Zhang Er's bedroom when Han Xin's followers were stunned.And without alarming the two of them, he confiscated the soldier seal first.When Zhang Er and Han Xin woke up ignorantly, what they heard was the voice of the king of Han raising his tent and ordering them to meet quickly.

This is the famous story in history of "Xiao Xiuwu Liu Bang seized the army, and Han Xin was assassinated in his sleep".But few people have explained why Liu Bang did this?Now that he has arrived at Xiaoxiu Wu, why didn't he notify Han Xin to greet him quickly, but he made such a trick, what's the meaning of this move? If you want to understand Liu Bang's intentions, you have to start with the tragic fate of King Huai of Chu. The King Huai of Chu mentioned here is actually the grandson of King Huai of Chu during the Warring States Period. After Qin Shihuang destroyed the six kingdoms and unified the world, the grandson of the old King Huai of Chu was beaten back to his original form and became a cowherd boy.But later, when Xiang Liang went to the east, in order to erect a battle flag that could command the world, he embraced this cowherd boy as the new King Huai of Chu.Later, Xiang Liang died in battle, and King Huai of Chu took over his power and deprived Xiang Yu of his military power.

But shortly thereafter, Qin general Zhang Han besieged Julu of Zhao State, and Zhao State asked King Huai of Chu for help.So King Huai of Chu chose Song Yi, whom he trusted the most, as his general, commanding 100,000 Chu soldiers to rescue Julu.Unexpectedly, Xiang Yu suddenly launched a mutiny on the way, killed Song Yi, and seized the military power. From then on, Xiang Yu never returned the military power to King Huai of Chu. King Huai of Chu was reduced to a lonely family with no branches to rely on. In the end, he was intercepted and killed by Yingbu sent by Xiang Yu in Jiangxin, costing his life in vain.

This living reality made Liu Bang deeply aware of one thing: the temptation of power is irresistible.No one is going to let go of power, no one is going to do that. It can be inferred from this that Han Xin will definitely not give up his power. Why hand over the power in your hands?Give Han Xin a reason first? Therefore, if Liu Bang informs Han Xin to greet him as soon as he arrives in Xiaoxiuwu, he cannot guarantee what will happen. There is no evidence that Han Xin will definitely kill Liu Bang.But what Liu Bang has to do is to do his best to avoid any accidents. This is called: "The golden wind moves the cicadas in advance, plotting impermanence and death without knowing it." As early as when he and Xia Houying fled to Xiaoxiuwu, Liu Bang was thinking about the danger he might encounter.He is not only avoiding Xiang Yu's pursuit, but also guarding against his own people.

There is no doubt that Liu Bang's life will be very tiring if he calculates like this - but at least, he will live longer than King Huai of Chu! If King Huai of Chu would plan as carefully as Liu Bang, there would probably be no place for Xiang Yu in this world.In fact, it was because of Liu Bangsuan's exhaustive strategy that led to Han Xin's miserable fate and made him lose his chance to become the second Xiang Yu. In addition, Liu Bang's move not only guarded against Han Xin, but also Zhang Er. You know, Zhang Er has a criminal record.In the early years, he and Chen Yu were ordered by King Chen Sheng to follow Chen Sheng's generals to conquer the Zhao land. After the Zhao land was defeated, Zhang Er and Chen Yu persuaded the military minister to establish himself as the king of Zhao.Although this incident was beneficial to the anti-Qin situation at that time, it meant great harm to Chen Sheng himself.

At this time, Zhang Er and Han Xin were in command of Zhao, and their strategic pattern was the same as that of King Chen Sheng.Liu Bang has no reason to believe that under the same pattern of political interests, the same thing will not happen again.If Zhang Er's old problem suddenly broke out, and he persuaded Han Xin to become the King of Zhao again, no one can guarantee the result of this matter. Therefore, Liu Bang guarded against Han Xin first and Zhang Er secondly. In fact, he could not believe anyone—as early as when he was down and out, he went to his sister-in-law’s house to grab a meal, and even the sister-in-law hinted that there was no food in the kitchen. It can be seen that this guy is highly suspicious of human nature.

Liu Bang doesn't believe in human nature—or, he only believes in human nature, which is unbelievable. It is very disappointing to work with people like Liu Bang.Unless they are burned or boiled like Ji Xin and Zhou Ke, they will not be able to gain Liu Bang's trust. So, why do you still choose Liu Bang instead of Xiang Yu? Choosing Xiang Yu is more desperate than choosing Liu Bang.On Liu Bang's side, at most, there is no advantage to take advantage of, but on Xiang Yu's side, he can only suffer suspicion for no reason like Fan Zeng, and he has fallen into the bottom of the sea without even finding a place to reason.

Comparing the two bosses Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, Liu Bang is just shrewd and cannot hide his secrets under his hands.But as long as you are serious and not selfish, there are still many opportunities for development.When meeting Xiang Yu, the only thing he trusts is Bo Xiang, the spy who should not be trusted the least, so the better you perform, the faster you will be out.This is also the main reason why historians are tolerant of Liu Bang after Xiao Xiuwu seized power. In short, Han Xin and Zhang Er, who got up from the bed in a hurry, faced Liu Bang, who was "squatting and washing" with the soldier's seal letter in his hand, only dumbfounded and at a loss.

Liu Bang is smiling, perhaps he still has a strong sense of accomplishment in his heart.He avoided the human confrontation that might result when Zhang Er and Han Xin were unable to resist the temptation of power.Since everyone has no chance to show the dark side of human nature, then everyone is still positive, sunny, and upward, and can still continue to cooperate.