100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 86 3 The Struggle at the Hongmen Banquet

Chapter 93 The Struggle at the Hongmen Banquet——Continuously make decisions and be subject to chaos. For those decisions that must be made, you can't always look forward and backward, and be indecisive.

After Chen Sheng and Wu Guangda's uprising in Ze Township failed, the two peasant uprising armies led by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu had become the main force against Qin.They accepted the order of King Huai of Chu. Liu Bang led his troops to attack the city and enter the pass to the west, and Xiang Yu went to the north to rescue Zhao and enter the pass.They also made an oath in public: Whoever defeats the Qin army first and enters Xianyang will be the king of Guanzhong.

After Xiang Yu accepted Zhang Han's surrender, he wanted to take advantage of the chaos and shortage of troops in Qin State to rush to Xianyang.

When Xiang Yu fought in the east and then went west to Hangu Pass, he found that Liu Bang had already entered Guanzhong.Liu Bangjun guarding Hangu Pass saw Xiang Yu's army approaching and refused to let them pass.Xiang Yu knew that this anger was no small matter, and he immediately ordered his soldiers to storm Hangu Pass.Because Liu Bang had few troops, it didn't take much effort for Xiang Yu's army to break into Hangu Pass.After entering the customs, the army continued to move forward until it arrived at Xinfeng Hongmen (now northeast of Lintong, Shaanxi Province) before stationing.

One of Liu Bang's left Sima Cao Wushang wanted to join Xiang Yu, so he secretly sent someone to Xiang Yu to inform him, saying: "This time Peigong entered Xianyang to become king in Guanzhong."

Xiang Yu stared angrily and scolded Liu Bang.Fan Zeng, Xiang Yu's counselor, took the opportunity to say to Xiang Yu: "Liu Bang went to Xianyang this time, uncharacteristically, he didn't covet wealth and beautiful women, but he was trying to win people's hearts. His ambition is not small. If you don't eliminate him now, there will be endless troubles in the future." Xiang Yu nodded and said. yes.

Therefore, Xiang Yu made up his mind to wipe out Liu Bang's troops.At that time, Xiang Yu had 40 troops stationed at Hongmen, while Liu Bang had only [-] troops stationed at Bashang.The distance between the two sides is only forty miles, and the strength of the troops is very different.Liu Bang's situation is very dangerous.Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Bo, was an old friend of Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang once saved his life.Xiang Bo was afraid that when the war broke out, Zhang Liang would suffer with Liu Bang, so he rode a fast horse to Bashang to find Zhang Liang at night, told him what happened, and advised Zhang Liang to escape as soon as possible.Of course Zhang Liang didn't want to leave Liu Bang, so he told Liu Bang the news brought by Xiang Bo. Liu Bang immediately asked Zhang Liang to accompany him to meet Xiang Bo, and repeatedly argued that he had no intention of opposing Xiang Yu, so he asked Xiang Bo to help him say something nice to Xiang Yu. Clear up this misunderstanding before unpleasantness happens.

Xiang Bo believed Liu Bang's words, agreed to his request, and told Liu Bang to go to Xiang Yu's side to make amends in person tomorrow.

The next day, Liu Bang took Zhang Liang, Fan Kui and more than 100 entourages to Hongmen to meet Xiang Yu.Liu Bang respectfully said to Xiang Yu: "The general and I have worked together to attack Qin. The general is in Hebei and I am in Henan. I didn't expect to be able to advance to the pass. It is really a happy thing to meet the general. Where are you?" It is very unfortunate to know that someone has discorded us in your presence and made you angry."

Xiang Yu is a bold, courageous and resourceful person. Seeing Liu Bang talking to him in such a low voice, he honestly said to Liu Bang: "This is all from your subordinate Cao Wushang. Otherwise, I would not have said anything to you." So disrespectful."

Then, on the same day, Xiang Yu hosted a banquet and left Liu Bang to drink in the barracks, and invited Fan Zeng, Xiang Bo, and Zhang Liang to accompany him.

At the banquet, Fan Zeng winked at Xiang Yu repeatedly, and raised the jade (half of Wang + Jue) on his body, intending to make Xiang Yu make up his mind and take the opportunity to kill Liu Bang.But Xiang Yu just pretended not to see it, and continued to drink and talk with Liu Bang.

Seeing that Xiang Yu couldn't bear to do anything, Fan Zeng found an excuse and walked out of the camp gate, found Xiang Yu's cousin Xiang Zhuang, and said to him: "Our king is too soft-hearted to do anything. You go in and toast them. It's convenient. Let Liu Bang kill him."

So, Xiang Zhuang went in and toasted Liu Bang first, and then said to Liu Bang: "There is no entertainment in the barracks, please let me dance the sword to cheer everyone up." Dancing, slowly dancing to Liu Bang.

Uncle Xiang saw that Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was intended to kill Liu Bang, so he hurriedly said to Xiang Zhuang, "Let's dance against each other." Then he also drew his sword and danced.While dancing his sword, he kept protecting Liu Bang with his body so that Xiang Zhuang's sword could not pierce Liu Bang.

One wanted to be assassinated and the other wanted to be protected. Liu Bangquan saw it, and couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.Seeing that the situation was very tense, Zhang Liang also told Xiang Yu, left the banquet, went outside the camp gate to look for Fan Kui, Fan Kui hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "What's the matter?"

Zhang Liang said: "The situation is very critical. Now Xiangzhuang is dancing swords. It seems that they are going to attack Peigong (that is, Liu Bang)." Fan Kui jumped up anxiously when he heard this, and said, "We must die together." Then, he With a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left, he rushed straight to the military gate.The guards wanted to stop him, but Fan Kuai hit him with a shield and knocked the guards down to the ground.He opened the tent, broke in, and looked at Xiang Yu angrily, his hair seemed to stand on end, his eyes were wide open, and the corners of his eyes seemed to be split.Xiang Yu was very surprised when he saw a tall and thick man suddenly barging in with a fierce look on his face. He pressed his sword and asked, "Who is this man and what are you doing here?"

Zhang Liang had already followed in and replied, "This is Fan Kuai who was driving for Pei Gong."

Xiang Yu praised: "What a strong man!" Then, he ordered the soldiers accompanying him to reward him with a glass of wine and a pork leg.

While drinking, Fan Kui said angrily: "At the beginning, King Huai of Chu made an agreement with the soldiers that whoever entered the pass in Hangu first would be crowned king. Now that Duke Pei entered the pass, he did not become king. The treasury was sealed and closed. The palace, stationed the army on Bashang, and waited for the arrival of the general every day. A person like this has not received any rewards for his hard work, but he did not expect the general to want to kill him. This is the old way of the king of Qin. I am worried for the general. Mile."

After hearing this, Xiang Yu had nothing to answer Fan Kui, so he said to him, "Sit down." So Fan Kui sat down next to Zhang Liang.

After a while, Liu Bang got up to go to the bathroom, and Zhang Liang and Fan Kui followed suit.Liu Bang left some gifts and handed them to Zhang Liang, asking Zhang Liang to bid farewell to Xiang Yu, and then quietly ran back to Bashang along the path with Fan Kuai.

Liu Bang walked for a while, and Zhang Liang reckoned that he had reached Bashang, so he went in and said to Xiang Yu, "Pei Gong is a small drinker. He just went back when he was drunk. He asked me to present a pair of white biscuits to the general; A pair of jade buckets was given to Yafu ("Yafu" is Xiang Yu's respectful name for Fan Zeng)."

Xiang Yu took the white biscuits and put them on the seat.However, Fan Zeng was very angry with Xiang Yu's performance and actions today. He threw the jade bucket on the ground at once, drew out his sword, smashed them to pieces, and said to himself: "Oh! What a useless boy, I can’t give him any advice. Liu Bang must be the one who will conquer the world in the future, and we’ll just wait to be captured.”

A banquet that was on the verge of saber-rattling finally calmed down for the time being.The relationship between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu seems to have eased on the surface, but in fact, the prelude to the Chu-Han War is slowly opening, and finally Liu Bang won the world and established the Han Dynasty.

Wisdom Interpretation:

It is not advisable to decide a matter arbitrarily, nor is it advisable to be indecisive when it should be decisive.Xiang Yu did not grasp the opportunity to kill Liu Bang at the Hongmen Banquet, and ended in defeat.So when making a decision in front of one thing, indecision will cause us to lose many opportunities, and decisiveness will allow us to grasp them.

(End of this chapter)