Chapter 42 1. Chen Ping: I fool, so I exist

We have proved above that Li Shiqi cannot be compared with Zhang Liang at all. If you want to find another person in the Han army who can form a Gemini constellation with Zhang Liang, it must be Chen Ping.Chen Ping has been rehearsing backstage for a long time, and now it's time for him to play. Liu Bang asked Chen Ping: The world is in such chaos, when do you think it will be stable? Chen Ping said: If you want the world to be stable as soon as possible, you must get rid of Xiang Yu as soon as possible. If you want to get rid of Xiang Yu, you only need to get rid of Fan Zeng, Zhong Limei, Long Qi and others.

Liu Bang sighed: Fan Zeng is an old man, Zhongli Mo and Dragon are as ferocious as a tiger, how difficult it is to get rid of them. Chen Ping: Wrong!If you are willing to give tens of thousands of catties of gold and let me disturb their internal affairs, separate their monarchs and ministers, and make them fight with each other, then we can sit back and relax and reap the benefits of being a fisherman. It is difficult for Xiang Yu to be undefeated. Liu Bang applauded: "Good idea, I will do as you say." For Liu Bang, on this battlefield where human lives are ignored, such things as money and jewelry are not brought with him when he is born, and he is not taken with him when he dies. What?Therefore, Liu Bang immediately gave Chen Ping 40,000 catties of gold, and promised not to ask about its use.

Liu Bang's love for Chen Ping is really surprising.In the Han army, except for Wei Wuzhi, no one has ever said a good word for Chen Ping, but he has been reused more and more. Does he have any magic power?In fact, Chen Ping won Liu Bang's heart not because of his supernatural power, nor because he took advantage of being handsome.And all of this is mostly due to Liu Bang's personality charm: Liu Bang concluded that Chen Ping would definitely become his right-hand man based on his experience in the world! Without further ado, Chen Ping finally took action. He asked someone to disguise himself and infiltrate the Chu army with a huge sum of money. The first target was Zhonglimei.

Xiang Yu has always confidently believed that the former Yingbo, Zhonglimei, and Longjue were like three sharp sabers guarding him. These three killers have always been famous for their fierceness in the Chu army. But as long as Zhongli Mo and Long are at their side, no one can shake his invincible iron army. However, from Chen Ping's point of view, Xiang Yu will be a strong soldier, but this does not mean that Xiang Yu is invulnerable. Chen Ping has firmly grasped his fatal weakness.This fatal part of Xiang Yu is a little confusing. When Xiang Yu was playing with water to become king, he named many generals from other countries who were not very good friends as princes. But he was not included in the list of kings.

This strange question happened to be the breakthrough point for Chen Ping to use countermeasures.Why can't Zhong Limo get a piece of the pie when Yingbu is crowned king?In fact, there is no need to say much about this question, it is all due to Xiang Yu's character-too selfish. Han Xin once said that Xiang Yu smoothed the edges and corners by holding the official seal in his hand, and he was reluctant to hand it over to his subordinates.That being the case, Xiang Yu, I, Chen Ping, will let you suffer from narrow selfishness and eccentricity. The spy squad sent by Chen Ping moved very quickly.Within a few days, the Chu army was enveloped by a rumor that came from nowhere, as if being cast by a spell. They said that Zhong Limei and other Chu generals had done a lot. Attach to Han, destroy Xiang Yu, and carve up the Western Chu Kingdom as a member of the princes!

There are two terrible things in the world, one is betrayal and the other is rumors.Now these two terrifying things just became one again, sprinkled in the air by Chen Ping, like countless throwing knives, cutting Xiang Yu's sore spots with knives. It is said that when God created man, he took the earth as a model. Where there are high mountains, there must be deep valleys, and where there are vast oceans, there must be ditches.The strengths of human character are like mountains and oceans, and the weaknesses are like valleys and ditches.Xiang Yu seems to belong to this kind of method. He has a well-developed military mind, but a mentally retarded mess. He unfortunately believed the rumors, and temporarily blacklisted Zhong Limei as a key surveillance target.

In fact, the rumor that Chen Ping spread would not cause major problems to others.Now it has been two or three years since Xishui Fengwang, the rumors don't come sooner or later, why come at this time?Moreover, generals are jealous, which is a big taboo in war.Guessing each other, if you go east and I go west, no matter how powerful the iron army is, it will become a waste army. Didn't Xiang Yu see that there is a fraud in it? The fun has only just begun.Chen Ping took advantage of the victory to attack, and his next target was the legendary old man Jing Fan Zeng. How difficult it is to deal with Fan Zeng, he is a fox among foxes, more like a cunning rabbit than a cunning rabbit.Chen Ping knew that there was only one way to deal with Xiang Yu's military coach, and that was to wait, and wait for the heaven to give him a chance.

This time, four months have passed.From winter to summer, in these long and short four months, we can only see flowers fading and blooming, things changing, and the struggle between Chu and Han has entered a critical moment of intensification. 204 BC, summer, April.Liu Bang tried his best to defend Xingyang. Both sides were exhausted from the tug-of-war. Liu Bang could hardly stand it any longer.Liu Bang's plan is to cut the east of Xingyang as Chu, and the west of Xingyang as Han. However, when Liu Bang sent an envoy to send this proposal to Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, Fan Zeng patted the table and said to Xiang Yu: If you don't take it, you will be blamed. If you don't rush to take Liu Bang today, you will regret it in the future !

Fan Zeng's words sounded like a thunderbolt, shaking Xiang Yu's ears.What Yafu said is right, if you don't fight now, fight when you are still waiting. Therefore, Xiang Yu once again increased his troops to besiege Xingyang.Now, the unfortunate Xingyang was surrounded by Xiang Yu into a big iron pot, and what was even more unfortunate was that Liu Bang himself became a piece of raw beef waiting to be fried on the iron pot. Liu Bang finally realized what suffering is, and this is the real suffering. However, no matter how difficult the torment is, we must persevere.In the Battle of Xingyang, Xiang Yu attacked fiercely, and Liu Bang also defended the city of Xingyang tragically. The two sides entered a stalemate again like boiled meat.

When Liu Bang was getting more and more desperate, a miracle happened. Xiang Yu was suddenly willing to accept negotiations and sent envoys to Liu Bang to negotiate a peace.It's strange, good beef is not fried, why did Xiang Yu suddenly change his mind and want to stop the fire? Xiang Yu changed his mind not because he felt sorry for Liu Bang, but because he was trapped by Chen Ping's countermeasures. Money is really a bloodless knife. It can make people unhappy, it can make people happy, it can destroy human nature, and it can also turn angels into devils.At this critical juncture, Chen Ping frequently resorted to golden spells and spread rumors among the Chu army, saying that Fan Zeng had ulterior motives in persuading Xiang Yu to attack Xingyang.

Rumors immediately spread to Xiang Yu's ears, and the suspicious Xiang Yu suddenly became alarmed.A strange question suddenly popped up in Xiang Yu's head. Why did Fan Zeng insist on him attacking Liu Bang quickly? Could it be that Fan Zeng really had ulterior motives? The rumors were entangled in Xiang Yu's head like a virus, and he really couldn't unravel them.However, he immediately found a way.Didn't Liu Bang issue an armistice document?Then send envoys to the Han army, use the excuse of discussing war, and touch Liu Bang's old background along the way. If there is fraud, then make another plan. Therefore, Xiang Yu, who was blinded again, sent envoys to pretend to negotiate a peace to find out. The poisonous snake's tail was finally exposed, and Chen Ping was ready to trap and kill. Booby tools: a whole cow, several dishes of vegetarian dishes; Method: Take turns to blackmail. After everything was ready, Xiang Yu's envoy also came to Xingyang. When it was time to eat, Chen Ping was seen enthusiastically carrying a roasted cow with fragrant oil to the envoy's banquet. Chen Ping's gang of wage earners had already prepared their lines, and they asked Xiang Yu's emissary: ​​Is this the emissary of Mr. Fan Zeng? Xiang Yu's envoy shook his head and said: I am sent by the Overlord of Western Chu! The person carrying the roasted ox pretended to be disappointed, and hurriedly yelled: I made a mistake, I thought it was sent by Yafu. So, like a play, this group of people carried the roasted beef out again like worshiping a god and going to the wrong temple.After a while, they served the dishes again, this time only a few small dishes were replaced. This blow was too great, Fan Zeng's envoys ate beef, while Bawang's envoys could only eat cold dishes.Why do you neglect Bawang's people, but treat Yafu's people so well? Did that old fellow Fan Zeng do you any favors? ! The complaints come back, but the rice still needs to be eaten.Xiang Yu's emissary had no choice but to swallow the small plate of cold dishes, then left his job and left in anger, not forgetting to say: Just wait and see! Chen Ping looked at the back of the messenger leaving and smiled.Brother, if you want to know why you were so neglected, go back and ask Fan Zeng yourself, maybe you will find out the big inside story. The big insider is not as stimulating as this neglected insider.When Xiang Yu heard his subordinates crying to him about the embarrassing and shameful incident in Xingyang, he suddenly realized that Yafu told him to rush to attack Xingyang because he had an ulterior secret! Xiang Yu immediately issued a new order to the generals: All generals listen carefully, no attack on Xingyang is allowed without my order, and those who disobey will be killed without mercy! The ridiculous thing is that the whole world is rumoring that Fan Zeng has a dark heart, and only Fan Zeng is kept in the dark and ignorant.When Fan Zeng heard that Xiang Yu suddenly issued an order to stop attacking Xingyang, he ran up to Xiang Yu and said, "If you don't rush to attack the city, you will miss the opportunity if you are too late!" Xiang Yu sneered: Come on, Yafu, do you think I don't know what you did? Fan Zeng looked at Xiang Yu suspiciously: what are you talking about, boy, where did you hear the evil words? Xiang Yu sneered again: I've never heard of demon talk, but I saw an old demon farting in front of me! Fan Zeng became angry and jumped up immediately: "Zhuzi, if you dare to scold me, I tell you, if you don't attack Xingyang quickly, you will die!" Xiang Yu jumped up too, and shouted at Fan Zeng: That's enough, stop pretending to be righteous, and I'll tell you too, if you tell me to run, I'll stand, if you tell me to attack, I'll retreat! Fan Zeng also showed his old temper, and shouted: "Okay, you are ruthless!"Do it for yourself, please allow me to retire from my old age and return to my hometown, I swear, I will never ask about affairs in the world from now on! Fan Zeng turned and left. Xiang Yu turned his back to Fan Zeng and didn't even look back. Fan Zeng really left this time, and the summer wind slapped his face, causing waves of scorching pain.A life of seventy years has been rare since ancient times, and decades of rain, snow and wind and frost, what has he gained?He was just like an old bird who had once circled the chaotic sky, and now he had to follow the old road back to his old nest. Fan Zeng was heading towards Pengcheng, but when he was halfway there, the old man became anxious and a sore suddenly appeared on his back.But he still carries a heavy burden and walks alone. He stops and walks alone all the way, without traveling companions or condolences. The air seems to be filled with the strange laughter of conspirators and the tragedy of fools. He is really old, and only when he is old will he produce such meaningless sentimentality and lamentation in vain, let the sky rain heavily, let him cry tears and sadness to the sky in the rain, let the hope of despair Say goodbye to this vast and ancient land!People prayed to heaven, and it really rained heavily in the sultry sky.Lightning lit up the dark sky, thunder struck the gray earth, and heavy rain poured down, burying Fan Zeng's vicissitudes of life. Fan Zeng raised his head to the sky and opened his arms. He was like a bird struggling in the sky for many years. The wind and snow had eroded his feathers time and time again. escape. Well, no need to despair, no need to look back, let this heavy rain end happily.Fan Zeng summoned up the last strength in his life, and shouted into the distance: O boundless earth, let me die with you forever! After Fan Zeng shouted, the sore broke out, and this strong body finally fell down slowly in the wind and rain. The wind and rain have drowned out his voice, and the earth will bury his body deeply. History will definitely remember that there was a strong old man who finished his life with fearless fighting spirit and desperate wisdom. Rest in peace, Mr. Fan, heaven has sounded the bell of happiness for you!