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In the history of China, which is full of famous generals, Han Xin is the only general who is qualified to be called the God of War. It took him only three years to go from a vagrant to a general under Liu Bang.

Afterwards, with his outstanding military talents, he led his army to conquer the Three Qins, capture Wei, defeat Dai, take Zhao, subdue Yan, and destroy Qi, until the Battle of Gaixia, when he completely annihilated the Chu army and forced the Overlord of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, to commit suicide.

He never lost a single battle and no one in the world dared to compete with him. He conquered 2/3 of the territory of the Han Dynasty on his own.

He helped Liu Bang to become emperor and establish the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang praised him for being victorious in battle and taking every city he conquered, and said, "I am not as good as you." But later on, he was killed because of Liu Bang's fear of him.

At the same time, Han Xin is the person who created the most idioms in Chinese history.

He only lived to be 35 years old, but he created more than 30 idioms for history.

These idioms not only demonstrate Han Xin's military talent, but also his life of humiliation, neglect, glory, disappointment and tragic end.

"Han Xin was a native of Chu during the late Qin and early Han dynasties. He was born in Huaiyin County. His family was poor and his parents died early."

"The Records of the Grand Historian records that he was not good at business and often relied on others for help."

"He was once taken in by a village headman in Nanchang, but was disliked by the village headman's wife and left on his own."

"Later, when he was fishing under the city, he was supported by an old lady who was washing yarn for dozens of days, which made Han Xin very grateful."

"Han Xin was insulted by a young man in the Huaiyin market, who threatened that Han Xin would crawl under his crotch if he was afraid of death."

"Han Xin endured the humiliation and ignored the ridicule of the crowd, and slipped under the crotch of the young man."

"In the second year of the reign of Qin II, Han Xin defected to the Chu army when Xiang Liang, the leader of the anti-Qin uprising army, led his army across the Huai River."

"But Xiang Liang was defeated and died in Dingtao County. Later, Han Xin defected to Xiang Yu and served as a doctor."

"During this period, Han Xin offered several strategies but none of them were adopted."

"When Liu Bang, the King of Han, entered Hanzhong, Han Xin escaped from the Chu army and defected to Liu Bang. He managed the warehouse in the Han army, but was still not valued."

"Han Xin was sentenced to death for breaking the law and was beheaded. During the execution, he met Xiahou Ying, the Duke of Teng."

"Doesn't the King of Han want to unify the world? Why does he want to kill the brave man?"

"Han Xin's words and performance impressed Xiahou Ying very much, so he recommended him to Liu Bang, and Han Xin was appointed as the commander of the grain department by Liu Bang."

"Although Han Xin was not valued by Liu Bang, he was highly appreciated by Prime Minister Xiao He."

"Xiao He recommended Han Xin to Liu Bang several times, but to no avail."

"Han Xin was still not taken seriously, so when the Han army approached Nanzheng, he fled with more than a dozen generals. Xiao He hurriedly chased Han Xin back."

"Liu Bang was puzzled, and Xiao He explained that Han Xin's talent was unparalleled in the world, and if they wanted to fight for the world, they had to rely on Han Xin."

"Finally, Liu Bang was persuaded and officially appointed Han Xin as a general in the first year of Emperor Gaozu of Han."

"After being appointed as a general, Han Xin and Liu Bang had a deep discussion on how to pacify the world."

"He pointed out the weaknesses of his opponent Xiang Yu and advised Liu Bang to be righteous and reward his meritorious officials."

"At this time, Liu Bang was stationed in Hanzhong and Nanzheng. When Xiang Yu divided the princes, he divided Guanzhong into three parts and gave them to Zhang Han, the Prince of Yong, Dong Yi, the Prince of Di, and Sima Xin, the Prince of Sai, respectively, to block Liu Bang."

"In order to escape this dangerous situation, Han Xin planned to publicly repair the Baoxiang plank road, but in fact he went west along the old road, secretly crossed the Qinling Mountains, and attacked Chencang by surprise."

"In the first year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang and Han Xin led a large army northward across the Qinling Mountains, passed Chencang, and then marched eastward into Guanzhong to attack Zhang Han's army."

"Zhang Han could not resist and retreated to Feiqiu, whereupon the Han army won a great victory."

"Later, Han Xin divided his troops into several groups and attacked cities in Guanzhong. He quickly captured Haozhi, and King Yong was forced to flee to Feiqiu."

"Han Xin captured Feiqiu, and King Yong committed suicide."

"After Han Xin occupied Xianyang, King Zhai and King Sai surrendered one after another."

"In September of the same year, the Three Qins were pacified."

"In the second year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, the Han army was defeated in Pengcheng, and King Sima Xin of Sai and King Dong Yi of Di abandoned Han and defected to Chu."

"Liu Bang failed to persuade Wei Bao, the king of Wei, so he appointed Han Xin as the left prime minister to attack Wei."

"Han Xin set up a decoy force and pretended to cross the river from Linjin, but secretly crossed the river from Xiayang to attack Anyi."

"Finally, Wei Bao was captured, and Han Xin pacified Wei and renamed it Hedong County."

"Afterwards, Han Xin received an additional 30,000 troops from Liu Bang, and he and the Han general Zhang Er took advantage of the victory to march north and attack the states of Zhao and Dai."

"Han Xin asked Liu Bang to increase his troops, lured the enemy to attack, mobilized the troops, fought a quick battle, and successfully conquered Dai and captured Dai's prime minister Xia Shuo alive."

"In the third year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Han Xin and Zhang Er led tens of thousands of troops to attack the State of Zhao in the east."

"When the King of Zhao and Chen Yu, Lord of Cheng'an, learned of this, they sent 200,000 troops to guard the Jingxing Pass."

"During this period, Chen Yu did not follow the strategy of his adviser Li Zuoche to use the terrain to cut off the enemy's retreat."

"After hearing this, Han Xin sent out 2,000 lightly armed cavalrymen to hide in the mountains at night to observe the Zhao army."

"Then he dispatched 10,000 men to set up their battle array with their backs to the river to deceive the State of Zhao."

"After daybreak, Han Xin led his army out of Jingxing Pass, pretending that he could not support the Zhao army in the fight, and fled into the army, leaving behind his flags and drums."

"The Zhao army fell into the trap and rushed out in full force to chase the Han army."

"Han Xin had earlier sent two thousand light cavalrymen to replace the Zhao army's flag with the Han army's flag while the Zhao army's camp was empty."

"When the Zhao army learned that the battle was going badly, they wanted to return to the camp, but when they saw that the camp was full of Han banners, they scattered and fled."

"In October of the third year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, the Han army defeated the Zhao army, captured countless soldiers and horses, killed Chen Yu, captured Zhao Wang Xie alive, and ordered the capture of Li Zuoche alive."

"Han Xin highly recognized Li Zuoche's military talent in the battle against Zhao State, treated Li Zuoche as a distinguished guest, and asked him for strategies to attack Yan State to the north."

"Li Zuoche believed that the Han army was already exhausted and might be attacked by Qi and Yan, so it was not appropriate to take the initiative to attack."

"Han Xin followed Li Zuoche's advice, pacified the people of Zhao and consolidated the country;"

"Send an eloquent envoy to Yan State to pretend to attack, relying on the reputation of the previous war to intimidate Yan State into surrender."

"In the third year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, after the State of Yan surrendered, Han Xin sent troops to report to Liu Bang, requesting that Zhang Er be made the King of Zhao to deter the State of Zhao, and Liu Bang agreed."

"Liu Bang fought against the State of Chu and was defeated in succession."

Liu Bei: Han Xin was born in Huaiyin County, Sishui County, now Huaiyin District, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province.

His family was aristocratic family of Chu, one of the seven major powers in the Warring States Period, and he received a good family education since childhood.

But when Han Xin was 9 years old, Han Xin's family fell into decline because Qin Shihuang destroyed the State of Chu, unified the six kingdoms and established the Qin Dynasty.

So when Han Xin grew up, his family fell into poverty and his parents died early, leaving him helpless. He wandered around all day with a broken sword on his back and was often hungry.

Once, an old woman saw that Han Xin was almost starving to death, so she gave him a bowl of rice.

When Han Xin returned home with fame and success, he rewarded the old woman with a thousand gold coins to thank her.

Another time, Han Xin was insulted by a butcher while wandering on the streets of Huaiyin.

Although you look tall, you are actually a coward. If you are not afraid of death, stab me with your sword. If you are afraid of death, crawl under my crotch.

In order to achieve his lofty ambitions, Han Xin endured the humiliation and crawled under the butcher's crotch, thus the idiom "humiliation under the crotch" came into being.

After the death of Qin Shi Huang, the reigning Qin Er Shi implemented a brutal rule, which led to the outbreak of the peasant uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang.

All parts of the Qin Dynasty responded, and the old nobles of the six kingdoms also took the opportunity to launch a movement to restore their country.

Han Xin believed that the opportunity to display his talents had come, so he carried his broken sword and joined the leader of the anti-Qin uprising army, the Chu noble Xiang Liang.

But under his command, he did not get the opportunity to display his talents.

The following year, after Xiang Liang was defeated and killed by Qin general Zhang Han, Han Xin returned to his nephew Xiang Yu.

During this period, Han Xin offered advice to Xiang Yu many times, but the arrogant Xiang Yu did not adopt any of his advice.

After Xiang Yu and Liu Bang destroyed the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu proclaimed himself the King of Western Chu by virtue of the absolute strength of his 400,000-man army.

As the overlord, he divided the country into eighteen kingdoms and enfeoffed various princes, generals and surrendered generals as kings.

He named Liu Bang, the greatest contributor to the destruction of Qin, as King of Han, and his territory was the Hanzhong area where Qin Dynasty exiled criminals.

At the same time, in order to trap Liu Bang, a powerful rival who might compete with him for the world, Xiang Yu divided Guanzhong into three parts.

He conferred titles on Zhang Han, Sima Xin and Dong Yi, the surrendered generals of the Qin Dynasty, as King of Yong, King of Sai and King of Zhai respectively, known in history as the Three Qins, in order to contain Liu Bang.

Han Xin was not valued by Xiang Yu, and he heard that King Liu Bang of Han was good at using talented people, so when Liu Bang entered Hanzhong, Han Xin escaped from Xiang Yu's army and joined Liu Bang.

However, he was only appointed as a minor official in charge of the warehouse and was still not reused. Although Han Xin was not reused by Liu Bang, he was highly appreciated by Liu Bang's Prime Minister Xiao He.

"In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang ordered Zhang Er to defend Zhao and appointed Han Xin as prime minister to attack Qi in Xingyang." "Han Xin led his troops eastward, but when he heard that Liu Bang had sent people to persuade Qi to surrender, he did not cross Pingyuanjin and wanted to stop his advance."

"But the counsellor Kuai Tong persuaded Han Xin to continue attacking Qi. Han Xin listened to his advice, led his troops across the Yellow River, and took advantage of the victory to attack the capital of Qi, Linzi."

"After Han Xin pacified Linzi, he pursued the fleeing King of Qi eastward to the west of Gaomi."

"In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, the Chu State sent General Long Ju with 200,000 troops to rescue the Qi State and joined forces with Qi King Tian Guang to fight against Han Xin."

"Someone told Long Ju that we should hold our ground and recruit those cities that have surrendered."

"The Qi and Chu armies joined forces to attack the Han army."

"Long Qie ignored the advice and attacked first."

"Han Xin adopted the tactic of blocking the river with a bag of sand, and then led half of his army across the river to fight Long Ju, pretending to be defeated and retreating."

"Long Ju fell into the trap and crossed the Huai River to pursue him."

"Han Xin sent people to clear the blocked river, causing most of Long Ju's soldiers to fail to cross the river."

"In November of that year, Han Xin killed Long Qie, and Long Qie's army and Qi Wang Tian Guang fled in all directions along the east bank of the Wei River."

"Han Xin pursued the defeated troops to Chengyang and captured Tian Guang."

"The Chu army surrendered completely, and Qi was pacified."

"In the fourth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Qi was pacified."

"Han Xin wrote to Liu Bang, saying that Qi was cunning and fickle, and that it was close to Chu, so the situation was unstable. So he offered to serve as the acting king of Qi to stabilize Qi."

"At this time, Liu Bang was besieged by the Chu army in Xingyang. Hearing what Han Xin said, he was very angry."

"But he still listened to the advice of his subordinates Zhang Liang and Chen Ping and agreed to it."

"He also sent Zhang Liang to appoint Han Xin as the King of Qi, and at the same time transferred most of Han Xin's troops to attack the Chu army."

"When the Chu State lost its general Long Ju, Xiang Yu sent Wu She, a native of Xutai, to persuade Han Xin to surrender to the Chu State."

"Han Xin was grateful for Liu Bang's kindness and declined the offer."

"When Wu She left, his adviser Kuai Tong persuaded Han Xin to betray Liu Bang and divide the world into three parts with Chu and Han. But Han Xin rejected Kuai Tong out of his friendship with Liu Bang."

"In April of the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, the armies of Chu and Han negotiated peace and withdrew from the ancient Grand Canal Honggou as the boundary."

"Xiang Yu retreated eastwards, Liu Bang violated the agreement and pursued the Chu army, and the Han army was defeated. Han Xin led an army of 300,000 to join Liu Bang."

"In December of that year, the Han army surrounded the Chu army that had retreated to Gaixia."

"Han Xin ordered his soldiers to sing the folk songs of Chu at night to disrupt the morale of the Chu army."

"Xiang Yu led his troops to break through the encirclement, and the Han army pursued them and attacked the Chu army in Jingxian and Suoting."

"The Chu army was badly defeated and could no longer advance westwards."

"Under the attack of the Han army, Xiang Yu finally committed suicide at Wujiang Pavilion."

"After Xiang Yu's death, Liu Bang took away Han Xin's military power."

"In the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang changed Han Xin's title to King of Chu and established his capital in Xia Pi."

"Han Xin arrived in Chu and summoned the woman who had fed him in the past, and gave her a thousand gold coins as a reward."

"He went to the headman's house again and gave him a hundred coins as a reward."

"Han Xin was good friends with the Chu general Zhongli Meng. After Xiang Yu died, Zhongli Meng defected to Han Xin."

"In the winter of the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, in October, Liu Bang sent troops to the State of Chu to capture Zhongli Mei."

"On the way, someone reported that Han Xin was rebelling. Liu Bang listened to the advice of his adviser Chen Ping and went to Han Xin's fiefdom to find out the truth."

"When Liu Bang was about to arrive in Chu, Han Xin wanted to lead an army to rebel, but he was worried that he would fail and be captured."

"Later, Han Xin listened to the advice of his advisers and wanted to take Zhongli Mo's head to please the King of Han."

"When Zhongli Mei heard the news, he cursed Han Xin and then committed suicide."

"Han Xin brought Zhongli Mei's head to see Liu Bang, but was captured by Liu Bang."

"Han Xin lamented that the cunning rabbit died and the good dog was cooked."

"Han Xin was then escorted to Luoyang, where Liu Bang pardoned Han Xin's crimes and made him Marquis of Huaiyin."

"When Han Xin was Marquis of Huaiyin, he pretended to be sick all day and refused to go out to the court."

"Han Xin once went to visit General Fan Kuai, who treated Han Xin with the courtesy of a king of a different surname. After Han Xin left, he laughed at himself for having fallen into the same status as Fan Kuai and others."

"Liu Bang once discussed with Han Xin privately the talents of the generals and asked how many troops each of them led."

"Among them, Han Xin believed that Liu Bang could not lead more than 100,000 troops, while he believed that the more troops the better."

"Han Xin's good friend Chen Xi was appointed as the Prime Minister of Zhao to supervise the frontier troops and bid farewell to Han Xin."

"Han Xin told him that he would help Chen Xi rebel and raise troops from the capital to serve as an internal support."

"In the tenth year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Chen Xi rebelled."

"Liu Bang led his army to fight, but Han Xin pretended to be sick and did not follow him, and secretly conspired with his retainers."

"At night, a false imperial edict was issued to pardon criminals and slaves in the government, and then to arrest Empress Lü and the crown prince."

"One of Chen Xi's retainers offended Han Xin and was imprisoned by Han Xin."

"The retainer's brother wrote a letter to Empress Lü, reporting Han Xin's rebellion."

"Empress Lü falsely announced that Chen Xi was dead and requested all the ministers to pay their respects to her in order to lure Han Xin into the palace."

"As soon as Han Xin entered the palace, he was tied up by warriors ordered by Empress Lü."

"In the eleventh year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Han Xin was beheaded in the bell room of Changle Palace, and his three clans were also exterminated."

Cao Cao: Han Xin felt that Liu Bang was not a wise leader because he had not been valued for a long time, so he fled from Liu Bang and looked for another wise leader.

Upon hearing the news, Xiao He brought Han Xin back overnight and told Liu Bang that Han Xin was a unique talent and that he was the one to rely on if they wanted to fight for the world.

So there was the story of Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moon and the idiom "a peerless national talent". Eventually Liu Bang was persuaded by Xiao He and appointed Han Xin as the general.

After Han Xin was appointed as a general, Liu Bang asked him about strategies to pacify the world. Han Xin pointed out that the weaknesses of his opponent Xiang Yu were his womanly kindness and cowardly courage.

He suggested that Liu Bang should practice benevolence and righteousness, reward meritorious officials, first seize Guanzhong and then seize the world.

Liu Bang asked Han Xin how many soldiers he could lead, and Han Xin replied that the more the better. Hence the idiom "a woman's kindness, a common man's courage" and "the more the better" came into being.

After that, Han Xin lived up to everyone's expectations. He used the idiom "repairing the plank road in the open and crossing Chencang in secret".

In less than a year, he defeated Xiang Yu's three younger brothers who had trapped Liu Bang, Zhang Han, King of Yong, Sima Xin, King of Sai, and Dong Yi, King of Zhai, and seized Guanzhong.

Using the idiom "Mugong crossing the river", the ingenious method of crossing the river and the tactics of surprise attack defeated the Wei army, captured Wei Wang Bao, and thus pacified the Wei State.

Using idioms such as fighting a desperate battle, changing the flag, risking one's life and then surviving, and even the wisest man can make mistakes, he successively defeated Dai, took Zhao, conquered Yan, and seized the land of Yan and Zhao.

He used the idioms "using sand bags to block water", "attack the enemy when they are halfway across the river", "destroy the State of Qi", "seize Qi's territory", and was named King of Qi by Liu Bang.

Finally, he used the idiom "ten-sided ambush" to annihilate the Chu army, forcing Xiang Yu to commit suicide, thus helping Liu Bang to seize the world, become emperor and establish the Han Dynasty.

But after Liu Bang became emperor, Han Xin helped him conquer 2/3 of the country, and his contribution was too great to be rewarded. Among the three heroes of the early Han Dynasty, his contribution was also the greatest.

At the same time, Han Xin was a man who could stand on his own and was invincible in battle, which made Liu Bang very wary and suspicious of him.

From this, later generations extracted the idioms such as "merit that threatens the master", "unrewarded merit", "the top three heroes", "standing on one's own", and "invincible".

Soon, Liu Bang adopted Chen Ping's plan of pretending to visit Yunmeng, that is, Liu Bang first pretended to tour Han Xin's fiefdom Yunmengze, and then arrested Han Xin when he came to pay a visit.

After Han Xin was captured, he shouted, "When the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked; when the birds are all gone, the good bow is hidden."

Hence the idioms “fake trip to Yunmeng”, “the bow is put away when the birds are all gone”, and “the dog is cooked when the rabbit is dead”.

After Han Xin was arrested by Liu Bang and brought to Chang'an, he was demoted from king to Marquis of Huaiyin. As a result, he was often depressed and resentful day and night.

Finally, he accumulated resentment and plotted rebellion, which gave rise to the idiom "居常鞅鞅".

While Liu Bang was away to quell a rebellion by foreign princes, Han Xin planned to launch a coup to attack Empress Lü Zhi and Crown Prince Liu Ying who were staying in Chang'an, but was reported to Empress Lü Zhi by the younger brother of his retainer.

So, Lu Zhi and Prime Minister Xiao He conspired to lure Han Xin into the bell room of Changle Palace and kill him, which led to the idiom "Bell Room Disaster".

Since Han Xin was recommended by Xiao He to be crowned king and appointed general, and was eventually murdered by Xiao He, later generations derived the idiom "Success is due to Xiao He, and failure is also due to Xiao He". (End of this chapter)