Chapter 91 10. Enemies around you

Xiang Yu ordered a large chopping board to be made, and Liu Taigong, Liu Bang's father, was fixed on the chopping board in the shape of a large character with his hands and feet spread out.Then he lifted the chopping board out for Liu Bang to see clearly. Across a deep trench, the two started a conversation.Xiang Yu said: "Liu Bang, you can see clearly, this is not a fat pig, but your own father! It is because you disobeyed orders and raised troops and made troubles repeatedly that your father fell into such a state! Liu Bang, your father! The name is pit father!" Liu Bang: "Oh."

Xiang Yu: "Liu Bang, it's still too late for you to surrender, otherwise, you can just watch your father cook it into delicious boiled pork slices!" At this time Liu Bang spoke, and what he said was: "I and Xiang Yu were ordered to be king Huai in the north, and they said that they were 'brothers'. If my old man is like a young man, if he wants to cook, he will be lucky to share a piece of my pie." ( "Historical Records Xiang Yu Benji") When Liu Bang said this sentence, we will suddenly realize.Liu Bang held back this sentence for too long, too long, and finally waited until this day, when he could say this sentence happily.

What does this sentence mean? Let's take a look at when Liu Taigong and Lu Zhi became Xiang Yu's prisoners of war.That was in April 205 BC, when Liu Bang was defeated in the Battle of Pengcheng.And now when Xiang Yu finally pushed Liu Taigong out, exposed him to the meat case, and threatened Liu Bang, when was it?It was October 203 BC. During this time, it was two and a half years. What does it mean for such a long time? As early as two years ago, Xiang Yu had captured Liu Bang's father and wife, but this had no effect on Liu Bang, the two sides were still coming and going, fighting non-stop.Theoretically speaking, since Xiang Yu captured Liu Bang's father and wife, he has already mastered Liu Bang's weakness and is invincible.But when things went on, it turned out to be nothing like that at all, one can imagine how depressed and surprised Xiang Yu felt in his heart.

Obviously grasping Liu Bang's weakness, it turned out to be ineffective in the end. How could it be like this? Take a look at the following record, it will be clear: King Xiang was angry and wanted to kill him.Xiang Bo said: "The affairs of the world are unknown, and those who serve the world do not care about their families. Although killing them is of no benefit, it will only benefit the ears." King Xiang followed him. ("Historical Records Xiang Yu Benji") Some historians in later generations, who obviously had their brains flooded, took Xiang Bo's explanation as an explanation-Liu Bang is such a person, in order to compete for the world, his parents and wives simply don't bother to pay attention.This is a battle to the bottom line, Xiang Yu can't fight Liu Bang, so he can only admit defeat.

This explanation is certainly correct, but the key factor that makes this explanation stand is Xiang Bo himself. That's right, Liu Bang's father and wife fell into Xiang Yu's hands, which was originally Xiang Yu's most powerful trump card, enough to put Liu Bang in a certain defeat.However, due to the intervention of Uncle Xiang, an unstable factor, the situation was turned upside down. Originally the most valuable trump card, he became a negative asset in Xiang Yu's hands. One thing that is obvious is that as early as two and a half years ago, when Liu Taigong and Lu Zhi fell into the hands of Xiang Yu, Liu Bang began to think about the significance of this incident to him.As long as his mind is in order, he knows that sooner or later, Xiang Yu will take out his father and wife and force him to submit.This meant an extremely powerful ultimate move to him, and he had to figure out a way to deal with it in a desperate situation.

He quickly figured out a way to deal with it: Back then, Xiang Yu and I swore an oath to become brothers in front of King Huai of Chu.My father is your father, and my wife is your old... No, it is your sister-in-law. If you must kill your father, I have no objection. I just hope that you will take a share of the pie for my brother's sake. You cannot eat alone. Liu Bang must have thought about this line and recited it fluently. When Xiang Yu threatened the lives of his father and wife, he would use this standard copy to answer. Well, since Liu Bang came up with this line, he has turned the situation around, at least he is invincible.But the next question is, since Xiang Yu captured Liu Bang's father and wife, why didn't he take them out earlier instead of waiting until the situation turned and the Chu army turned into a downturn?

This is certainly related to Xiang Yu's sense of honor and self-esteem, but more importantly, it is Xiang Bo's role in the middle. From a mathematical point of view, Xiang Bo, the traitor, is equivalent to a minus sign.No matter what kind of advantage Xiang Yu has gained here, it will be multiplied by Xiang Bo's negative sign, and it will be over, and it will become a negative value.And it was precisely because of the negative number of Xiang Bo that Xiang Yu became the nanny of one hundred thousand Chu troops, making him unable to walk away even a step, unable to attack Ao Cang and seize the granary.Similarly, Liu Bang's father and wife, who were originally hostages, were also multiplied by Xiang Bo's negative sign and became Liu Bang's profit point and Xiang Yu's negative assets.

During the two and a half years of military confrontation, Liu Bang continued to send envoys to visit his father and wife in the Chu camp.At this time, Bo Xiang used his sense of honor to trick Xiang Yu, and asked Xiang Yu to allow Han envoys to enter the Chu camp so that he could send Liu Bang the information he had collected on the Chu army. During this process, Xiang Bo did not feel guilty at all.Because he has already married Liu Bang, and Lu Zhi is his mother-in-law. Speaking of Liu Taigong, he is really his father.Therefore, Xiang Bo tried every means to stimulate Xiang Yu's arrogance complex, so as to prevent Xiang Yu from taking the wrong path of blackmailing opponents with old women.Under the secret plan of Xiang Bo, Liu Taigong and Lu Zhi were in the Chu camp. Not only was there no risk, but Xiang Yu was in a dilemma.

In the confrontation between the two armies, there is another terrible rule: spies are often more likely to gain the trust of the other side.Simply put, Xiang Bo is easier to gain Xiang Yu's trust than his father Fan Zeng.This is because Yafu Fan Zeng put all his attention on analyzing the situation of the enemy and himself, and had no time to consider Xiang Yu's emotions.When Fan Zeng spoke, he picked out what Xiang Yu didn't like to hear, because he wanted Xiang Yu to avoid self-will and make mistakes.But Uncle Xiang doesn't care about these things, he only pays attention to Xiang Yu's emotions, and specially selects those words that Xiang Yu likes to hear the most.This is the reason why Fan Zeng is loyal but Xiang Yu suspects him, while Xiang Bo is trusted despite his hard work.

In short, Xiang Yu's situation at that time was like this. With Uncle Xiang standing beside him, no matter how he fiddled with this game, he would lose.But he still could not control himself to listen to Bo Xiang's words, because every sentence of Bo Xiang's words was designed for his psychological weakness, which made Xiang Yu want to listen to it again, as if he was addicted to drugs. Now, Xiang Yu is still confused by Xiang Bo's words as before, and gave up killing Liu Bang's father and wife.This means that he also missed the last chance.If these two people are killed, the Chu army will have no reason to accept Han envoys, and Xiang Bo's information transmission needs to establish another channel.But the huge risks brought by this may deter Xiang Bo, and eventually cause Xiang Bo and Liu Bang to drift away.

Without Xiang Bo's information, Liu Bang's attack on Xiang Yu will quickly weaken-he can no longer determine where Xiang Yu is, and he will act with his hands tied, which means that the time for Xiang Yu's big reversal has come.But poor Xiang Yu, he never thought of it until his death, he was always betrayed by his relatives around him. So at this time, Xiang Yu still followed his inherent thinking logic and made an incredible proposal to Liu Bang. Chu and Han were in a stalemate for a long time, and the young and strong were suffering from the army, and the old and weak were transferred to Cao Cao.King Xiang said to the King of Han, "The Hungarians in the world who are a few years old will only have my ears. I am willing to challenge the King of Han to a decisive battle, and I will not suffer for the father and son of the people of the world." ("Historical Records · Xiang Yu Benji") This description is Sima Qian's most successful literary creation.Here, Xiang Yu proposed to Liu Bang: "The world has been in chaos for several years because of the two of us. For the sake of the world, Liu Bang, can you act like a man and stand up and fight with me? Don't let innocent fathers and folks be implicated by you and me." Over the years, this classic description has become the legend of Xiang Yu's heroic, upright and bright iron-framed hero. Of course, it also subtly sets off Liu Bang's cowardice, despicableness and shamelessness. Is that so? Let's take a look at the ages of the two when Xiang Yu said this. The year was 203 BC.Xiang Yu was thirty years old this year, and he was a strong man.Liu Bang was fifty-four years old this year, and he was already an old man over fifty years old. Just look at this scene, a 30-year-old man in his prime pointed out his finger to a 54-year-old man: "Come here, come here, old man, come here, let's fight it out, and see if I don't beat you to death!" Now we finally know why Xiang Bo betrayed his family and turned his back on Xiang Yu. This thirty-year-old man's mind is like a child's, completely immature.He didn't even think about how incredible and surprising it would be to challenge a fifty-four-year-old man in his prime.As long as Xiang Bo's thinking ability is normal, he will not dare to follow such a childish person.People with immature minds make people unable to see the future and hope. Facing this opponent whose physical strength was at the peak but whose intelligence was stagnant at the child stage, Liu Bang responded with a smile: The king of Han thanked him with a smile and said, "I would rather fight wits than strength." ("Historical Records · Xiang Yu Benji")