Everyone wants to be rich, but they don't know that the poor have the joys of the poor, the rich have the troubles of the rich, the humble have the comfort of the humble, and the nobles have the dangers of the nobles.
Everyone has his own troubles, and everyone has his own peace and uneasiness.
Xiang Liang got rid of Qin Jia on the pretext that "Chen Sheng's life and death are unknown and he established a false king without permission." Xiang Yu, who was ordered to attack Xiangcheng (now Xiangcheng County, Xuchang, Henan Province), after burying all the Qin troops alive in Xiangcheng, brought back a piece of very happy news: Chen Sheng had been killed.
Xiang Liang convened a meeting of all his generals in Xuecheng to study and elect a new king of Chu.
Hearing that Xiang Liang was going to hold a meeting to study the candidate for the king of Chu, Fan Zeng, a native of Huan County (now south of Tongcheng, Anhui), couldn't sit still. Fan Zeng was already seventy years old at this time, but he had no consciousness of staying in his hometown and spending his old age peacefully. He made a special trip to find Xiang Liang and made a suggestion: Chen Sheng must be defeated. When Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, Chu was the most innocent. Since King Huai entered Qin, he has not rebelled, and the people of Chu have pitied him to this day. Therefore, Duke Nan of Chu said, "Although Chu has three households, if Qin is destroyed, it will be Chu." Now Chen Sheng's first thing is not to establish a Chu queen but to stand on his own. His power will not last long. Now that the king has risen to the east of the Yangtze River, the generals of Chu and Fengwu are all vying to join the king. With the king of Chu, generals from generation to generation will be able to restore the queen of Chu.
Fan Zeng believed that Chen Sheng's defeat and Zhang Chu's fall were entirely his own fault. The reason is that Chen Sheng did not establish a descendant of the King of Chu but made himself king. Among the six kingdoms destroyed by Qin, Chu was the most innocent. Moreover, King Mi Xionghuai of Chu Huai died in a foreign country because he was deceived by King Zhaoxiang of Qin with lies and was forcefully detained in Qin. Therefore, the Chu people's hatred for the country's subjugation was unforgettable, so Chu Nan Gong said, "Although Chu has three households, Chu will definitely destroy Qin." He pointed out: After Xiang Liang's uprising, Chu people flocked to him and rushed to join him. They were interested in the fact that Xiang Liang was a general of Chu State, and believed that Xiang Liang would definitely support the bloodline of King Chu. Fan Zeng's conclusion is: to choose the king of Chu, you must choose the descendants of Xiong Huai.
There are two points worth mentioning in Fan Zeng's suggestions to Xiang Liang.
The first is "Chu is the most innocent". Fan Zeng said that Chu is the most innocent country. Do you believe it? This is wishful thinking.
Qin and Chu had great grievances during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In 505 BC, Wu Zixu led the Wu army to attack the capital of Ying of Chu (today's northeastern suburb of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province), and whipped the corpse of King Ping of Chu to express his hatred for his father. King Zhao Zhao of Chu, who was in power at that time, fled in panic and sent people to Qin for help. Qin accepted the request and sent troops to defeat the Wu army with the Chu army, thus resolving the crisis of Chu's collapse.
Of course, Qin did not help Chu for no reason, but had its own political purpose. But the Qin State was kind to the Chu State to save the nation. This is an objective fact after all. How did Chu State repay it?
In 318 BC, the five kingdoms of Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, and Chu jointly attacked Qin, and King Huai of Chu was selected as the "vertical commander" of the coalition. If these five countries had not each had their own evil intentions, Qin would have perished.
In 313 BC, King Huiwen of Qin, who defeated Shang Yang in his chariot, sent Zhang Yi to lobby King Huai of Chu in order to dissolve the Qi-Chu alliance before attacking Qi. Zhang Yi lied and said: "Chu Cheng can defeat Qi, and Qin is willing to offer 600 miles of land to merchants." King Huai of Chu was greedy for gain, so he immediately broke off diplomatic relations with Qi and sent people to take over the land. Zhang Yi regretted on the spot and said that she had promised six miles, not six hundred miles. King Huai of Chu was furious and raised troops to attack Qin. The Battle of Danyang between Qin and Chu, recorded in historical books, broke out. As a result, the Chu army was severely defeated by the Qin army, but the Qin army took away 600 miles of territory. Unwilling to accept defeat, King Huai of Chu sent troops to attack Qin, but was defeated again.
After that, King Chu Huai sometimes formed alliances with Qin and sometimes with the princes. He was capricious and selfish, offending not only Qin but also other princes. Therefore, saying that "Chu is the most innocent" is an extreme exaggeration.
Second, I want to say something like "Although Chu has three households, if Qin is destroyed, Chu will definitely die."
This was said by Chu Nan Gong, a nobleman of Chu State, after the fall of Chu State. Regarding the interpretation of this sentence, everything else is easy to say, except for the word "three households", which has been controversial in the historians since ancient times. Some people say that this "three households" refers to the three famous families in Chu State - Zhaojia, Qujia and Jingjia. Some people also say that "Sanhu" refers to the place Sanhujin in Chu State. Others say that "three households" is a false reference, which means "as long as the Chu people are not extinct, Qin will definitely be destroyed."
Comparatively speaking, explaining this sentence based on place names is unreasonable. Obviously the place name theory is not correct. The "three tribes" theory is inconsistent with etiquette, because this explanation does not include the Mi surname of the Chu king's family. As a proud Chu countryman, this would be too much to look down on his own king. Therefore, the third statement is the most reasonable.
Of course, there is no way to know what Chu Nan Gong meant. Today, people can only guess.
Besides, Lao Fan Zeng said wishfully that everyone defected to Xiang Liang in order to support the descendants of the King of Chu, but he was able to wake up the dreamer with his words. Xiang Liang wanted to be king, but once he proclaimed himself king without establishing a descendant of King Chu, the good reputation earned by his father Xiang Yan and his ancestors would be completely ruined. Furthermore, the people of Chu really hated the fate of King Huai of Chu and the demise of Chu State. If a descendant of King Chu was invited to be a frontman, he would definitely win the enthusiastic support of Chu people.
In the second year of Qin II (208 BC), Xiang Liang sent people to look for the descendants of King Huai of Chu. At this point, a shepherd boy was brought out of the ravine. After confirmation by insiders, the sheepherding boy was confirmed to be the grandson of Mi Xionghuai, King Huai of Chu, named Mi Xiongxin. Mi Xiongxin was quickly taken to Xutai, which is today Xuyi, Jiangsu Province. In order to arouse the feelings of the Chu people who share the same hatred with the enemy, he was asked to accept the posthumous title of his grandfather, also known as King Huai of Chu, historically known as King Huai of the Queen of Chu, and later known as Emperor Yi, with Xutai as his capital (today's Xuyi, Jiangsu). Xiong Xin has the same posthumous title as his grandfather, hoping to inherit his prestige and "follow the expectations of the people."
