Chapter 262: I am the one who made Chu rise, and I am the one who made Chu fall
The peace talks in Xingyang went very smoothly. Xiang Yu did not take the opportunity to raise any conditions. He withdrew part of the Huai and Si lands and left them to the State of Qi.
He just asked for some important passes leading to Jiangdong. He was going back to Jiangdong and would stay in Chu and not come out.
Since I can't be the king of the world, it would be nice to be the King of Chu who rules the country by dividing its territory.
Liu Bang felt very aggrieved, but he did not dare to refuse.
After seeing Lu Zhi, Liu Ying and Liu Le, he did not show any joy, but became more and more irritated.
Lu Zhi felt happy about regaining her freedom and was also delighted about finally being able to hold power again.
In the past two years, Luo Xin has often taught her, and she has made great progress.
Deep down in Liu Bang's heart, there was even a trace of fear. The power of the Lu family was too great, or the power of the clan system was too strong.
Liu Ying, a child whom most people had never seen, was born with the support of so many people simply by virtue of his status as the eldest son.
But can Liu Ying master this power? Liu Bang asked himself.
The Chu army began to retreat, and the Han army also retreated. Xiang Yu began to let the Jiangdong young men return to their homeland in batches.
As batches of Jiangdong young men followed the Chu people and left the area north of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, the heavy stone in Xiang Yu's heart finally fell to the ground.
At least the Jiangdong people were saved, and he still had the face to return to Jiangdong to worship his ancestors.
It was necessary to exchange Lu Zhi back. This was the consensus of most people in Liu Bang's group. But when the return began, not only Liu Bang, but many people began to feel uncomfortable, as if there was a bone stuck in their mouth when eating fish.
Many princes, in particular, looked at the gradually leaving Chu army and a trace of fear slowly rose in their hearts. The further they walked, the clearer an idea became, and many people even whispered to each other.
Then, someone took the lead and the group went straight to Liu Bang. Zhang Liang said directly: "Your Majesty, I have heard that people who achieved great things in ancient times did not care about trivial matters.
I have heard that those who uphold justice for the world should not care about their personal reputation.
I have heard that benevolence and righteousness can be great or small, and virtue can be true or false. Corrupt scholars are confined to small benevolence and righteousness and follow false virtues. This is not what a king should do.
The world was in chaos, and the Chu and Han dynasties stopped fighting, and things seemed stable.
But in the past, the princes made an agreement that whoever enters Guanzhong first would be king, and Your Majesty entered Guanzhong first, but Xiang Yu broke his promise and gave you the title of King of Han instead.
He was also unfaithful to the other kings in many ways and treated the people of the world harshly, especially the Qin people, who suffered greatly from him. This was why people of the world were unwilling to obey him.
You followed petty benevolence and morality, but let such a tyrant go for the sake of the world. This is not true benevolence and morality, but the behavior of a corrupt scholar.
I beg the king to send troops to attack Chu immediately. If Xiang Yu is not killed, the world will not be at peace!"
The sound of armor clashing and men clashing filled the camp, and all the generals said in unison: "We ask the king to attack Chu!"
Liu Bang looked at Luo Yi with some uneasiness. He wanted to ask about Luo Ling's attitude.
Luo Ling was different from the previous heads of the Luo family. He displayed too many magical powers and his wisdom was too high. He was like a mountain, pressing on the hearts of the princes of the world.
Even though Luo Ling has settled down in Zhaocheng and never uttered a word again, there are still countless people hoping for his death. As long as he is alive, everyone will need to consider his opinion when doing anything.
This feeling is very uncomfortable.
Luo Yi closed his eyes slightly, it was destined to be so.
There has never been a peace talk without fighting in this world. The outcome of the war between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu has not yet been determined. Even if this is a destined war, it is still too ugly.
Facing Liu Bang's inquiry, Luo Yi just shook his head. He didn't know his elder brother's opinion. No one could know. His elder brother was the pinnacle of mortal political scheming. At any moment, there were countless possibilities in his mind.
…
Xiang Ying.
Xiang Yu looked at Luo Xin's departing figure. Yu Ji's eyes were filled with sorrow as she wept, "My king, didn't you say you wouldn't fight anymore?"
Xiang Yu sighed and said, "The time for peace talks is only one year, and after one year we will draw up a contract based on the relationship between the two sides.
If Liu Ji was unwilling to give up, Ji really didn't know what would happen. It would be too difficult to win by attacking the whole world with the territory of Chu.
Send Su'er away now and he will be safe in Zhaocheng. With his contribution to the fall of Qin, Lord Luo will protect him."
The two were talking quietly to each other when Long Qie suddenly asked to see him. Xiang Yu walked out of the outer hall and saw Long Qie's anxious face. His heart skipped a beat and he asked, "Long Qie, what happened?"
Long Qie said anxiously: "Your Majesty, Liu Jinas has broken his promise and torn up the contract. The Han army is surrounding us again."
Xiang Yu was filled with uncontrollable anger when he heard this. He had never expected that Liu Bang would tear up the contract in less than a month. He shouted in a low voice, "Liu Ji, you are a hero, but I am ashamed to be associated with you.
Since you want to fight, then fight. Do you think I am afraid of war?"
After receiving Liu Bang's order, Han Xin decisively began to reassemble his army. King Lu Cheng of Qi mounted his horse again with an indifferent attitude and followed Han Xin into battle.
Han Xin had 400,000 soldiers, the King of Qi had 150,000 soldiers, Liu Bang had 150,000 soldiers, the King of Huainan had 100,000 soldiers, and other princes led hundreds of thousands of troops. This was a true million-strong army.
Liu Bang learned the lesson from the last battle between Xiang and Ying and let Han Xin take charge. Then Han Xin was appointed as the general of the Han State and was given the seal of the prime minister, so he was able to command the heroes.
Han Xin had no idea how long he had been preparing for this day, and now he was finally able to complete his ever-improving vision by commanding an army of millions.
He sent the troops of King Huainan and others to cut off the return route of the Jiangdong youths to prevent them from returning to support Xiang Yu. Without Xiang Yu's leadership, although these Jiangdong youths were brave, they were still no match for Ying Bu and others.
Han Xin naturally fought against Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu now had nearly 150,000 troops under his command, of which 20,000 were led by Xiang Yu himself, and the other hundreds of thousands were led by generals such as Long Ju.
Xiang Yu, Long Ju and others soon felt the horror of the densely woven net. The 700,000-strong army formed layers of encirclement nets in the land of a hundred miles around Xiang Ying, which was really suffocating. Under such an airtight organization, food and grass from the outside world naturally could not get in. Han Xin quickly cut off Xiang Yu's food supply.
Xiang Yu and others naturally would not sit idly by and wait for death. They each led their troops to fight against the Han army. Then Xiang Yu deeply felt the gap between Han Xin and Liu Bang.
When he attacked Liu Bang that day, he felt that there were loopholes everywhere in the army, and he couldn't even seize all the opportunities.
Now when he meets Han Xin, although he can still rely on his unparalleled bravery and ability to seize opportunities to gain victories, and even kill generals and capture flags, it is of little use.
He failed to defeat the Han army. After one line of defense collapsed, another line of defense was waiting for him, and the previous defeated soldiers were quickly absorbed and attracted by the neat formation.
As the battle went on day after day, Xiang Yu looked back and found that there were fewer and fewer Chu people around him.
Long Qie cried, "Your Majesty, Ying Bu and his men are harassing Jianghuai, and the reinforcements cannot go north. We are trapped here and cannot get new food and grass. Once the food and grass are completely used up, we will surely die."
Xiang Yu's posture was still upright, but there was a hint of fatigue in his eyes. It had been too long, this completely hopeless charge had lasted too long.
The entire Han army felt that victory was coming. Liu Bang said excitedly: "The Feng Wanhu who participated in killing Xiang Yu..."
Luo Yi was about to speak when he heard this.
“No!”
Everyone turned around and saw that it was Lu Zhi. Liu Bang frowned and said, "What do you mean, Queen? Xiang Yu captured you back then. Do you still want to plead for him now?"
Lü Zhi said calmly: "You and King Xiang are fighting for the world, so you naturally cannot tolerate King Xiang's survival.
But after King Xiang captured me, he treated me with the courtesy of a king and did not abuse me in the slightest. Isn't this a kindness to me?
Even if the king wants to kill King Xiang, he should still give him the last bit of dignity. Besides, King Xiang is the emperor no matter what. How can the emperor be killed by swords?
After King Xiang died, you were the emperor. Now that you have killed King Xiang with a sword, won’t others follow suit the next day?
Although you are a vassal king and a friend of the emperor, you were granted a fief by Xiang Yu after all, and you still have the status of a subject.
To kill the king by using one's subject is not loyalty.
Even if you say that this was a punishment for a tyrant, Xiang Yu was not a king like Jie, Zhou, You and Li who were rebelled against by the whole world.
He may not be the king of the world, but he is definitely the king of the Chu people. The Chu people deeply love him, especially those in Jiangdong, who are all his subjects.
How can you become the king of Chu if you kill Xiang Yu like this? Can you still kill all the millions of Chu people?
This is what I am worried about for you."
Liu Bang paused for a moment and said, "What the queen said makes sense. Tell this to King Xiang, and ask him to commit suicide for the people of Chu.
I will bury him in Jiangdong with the rites of an emperor, and hold sacrifices for him during the four seasons.
As long as the Xiang clan members behave themselves, I will not settle accounts with them, and I will treat the Jiangdong people well and will not discriminate against or oppress the Chu people."
That night.
Xiang Yu kept drinking fine wine, Yu Ji danced for him, Xiang Yu hummed the aria-like ballads of Chu and beat the drums for Yu Ji. He could survive, as he had made great contributions to the destruction of Qin. As long as he was willing to live in Zhaocheng for the rest of his life, Luoling would still save his life even if Liu Bang was unwilling.
No one dared to touch the person that Luo Ling wanted to protect, not even the emperor.
But Xiang Yu didn't want that. As long as he was alive, the people of Chu could not live well.
The people of Chu have shed too much blood for him, now it is time for him to bleed for the people of Chu.
He remembered what Luo Xin said: You will rise because of this, and you will fall because of this.
Xiang Yu hummed softly: "My strength is as great as that of a mountain and my courage is as great as that of the world, but the time is not right and my horse will not move. What can I do if my horse will not move? Yu Xi, Yu Xi, what can I do?"
Yu Ji knew Xiang Yu too well. She had already made her choice. It was a situation where he was bound to die, and he would not drag more Chu people to be buried with him.
She was not afraid, her sleeves fluttering with fragrance as she danced close to Xiang Yu, singing softly in Wu dialect: "We will live together and be buried together in death."
The deafening sound of Chu songs rang out around the Chu army, and all the Chu people wept, recalling the rivers and fields of their hometown.
But not many people were shaken. It was Xiang Yu who led them out of Chu. The land grant that Chu had not completed for 800 years was completed by Xiang Yu who forced the nobles to do it with a knife.
The king may be sorry to the people of the world, but he is worthy of the people of Chu.
The favor was so great that the only option was death. Their eyes turned to Xiang Yu’s central military camp.
The next day, the news of King Xiang's suicide spread throughout the Chu army camp. The soldiers wept and cried. One of them left a will, "Han has the Mandate of Heaven. All the soldiers can return to it."
Ji Bu and other four generals of Xiang Yu knelt before Liu Bang and asked to take Xiang Yu's spirit back to Chu. Liu Bang sighed and said, "What a righteous man! From now on, your descendants will guard Xiang Yu's tomb."
With the death of Xiang Yu, the Chu army set out on their journey home. There was a brief silence among the Han army, and then suddenly there was an outbreak of thunderous cheers.
The war is finally over!
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Xiang Yu is a rather tragic hero in history, especially his love story with Concubine Yu is well known. He has a very high prestige among the Chu people. Even after the rule of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu's ancestral temples and sacrifices continue in the land of Wu and Yue. Thousands of years later, the King of Chu's Mausoleum is still admired. Such a historical figure is an important part of our culture, which is the purpose of our building a theme museum. —— "Speech on the Opening of the Western Chu Cultural History Museum"
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When Qin lost its power, the whole world was chasing it. Chen She started the rebellion, and heroes emerged. Xiang Yu inherited his ancestors' virtues, respected them and was loved by the people of Chu. So he led the Chu army to attack Qin. He was unparalleled in bravery and destroyed Qin in one battle. The tyranny of Qin collapsed. He who had done favors to the people of the world made an agreement in Zhaocheng, and the one who had made the greatest contributions would rule the world. Xiang Yu then became the Son of Heaven, and was enfeoffed as a prince and was called "Overlord". His rise was so rapid that it had never been heard of in recent times.
However, Xiang Yu was proud of his achievements and did not show his benevolence. He occupied the position of the Son of Heaven and thought he was the King of Chu. The princes and common people were all resentful. Emperor Gaozu raised his arms and heroes rose up. Xiang Yu still did not blame himself and wanted to dominate the world by relying on his strength. He died three years later, and his country was destroyed. He was laughed at by the world. His sudden death was also unprecedented in recent times! - "Records of the Grand Historian: The Biography of Xiang Yu"
After thinking again and again, dying for the Chu people might be the best ending for Xiang Yu. He was too strong and too young. Liu Bang would not have allowed Xiang Yu to live until he died of old age. If it was not written this way, Xiang Yu would really have been imprisoned in Zhaocheng for the rest of his life, which would have felt even more depressing.
In addition, it will be updated on time at 12 noon.
(End of this chapter)
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