In February of the third year of Qin II (207 BC), with the melancholy of his failed attack on Changyi and riding the still chilly spring breeze, Liu Bang traveled westward and passed by Gaoyang. While Gao Yang was resting his team, an old man walked into the military camp.
The old man's surname was Li and his given name was Shiqi. He was from Gaoyang in the Wei State. He was a descendant of Chen Liuhou of the Zhou Dynasty and a Confucian scholar. Although his ancestors had been wealthy, by Li Shiqi's generation, not to mention the fiefdom had long been gone, and the family was in dire straits. Li Shi, who was well-read, was born at the wrong time. He lived until he was sixty years old and never had the opportunity to make a fortune. He reluctantly found a small job as a prison guard in the local area to make a living. Although his position is low and he can't make a living other than talking loudly, Lao Litou is poor and ambitious, his horse is skinny and his hair is not long, he is so crazy that he is famous in the county, and he loves to drink. As fate would have it, people call him "Gaoyang Drunkard". Because of this, the people in the yamen didn't dare to use him at all, and they kept him like an old man all day long.
Others don't need Li Shiqi, and Li Shiqi doesn't look down on such a bad job in the yamen. He felt that he couldn't bring his wealth of knowledge into the soil, so he had to find a lord whom he could entrust to do something great.
Ever since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang took the lead in the uprising, waves of heroes came to Gaoyang with cheers and cheers. Li Shiqi looked at them with cold eyes, none of them looked like they could be great.
When Liu Bang arrived in Gaoyang, Li Shiqi came out of the mountain. Even though Liu Bang didn't do much, he was famous. So Li Shiqi had heard about Liu Bang for a long time. Based on other people's stories, Li Shiqi analyzed Liu Bang and felt that although this man was arrogant and often looked down on others, he had great ambitions and could accomplish things. Compared to others, Li Shiqi was still willing to follow Liu Bang.
Here is a key question: Since Liu Bang is arrogant, he may not be taken seriously if he takes the initiative to seek refuge. What should we do? Li Shi has his own clever plan.
Coincidentally, there was a man in Liu Bang's Guards who was from Gaoyang and was acquainted with Li Shiqi. When the army was stationed near Gaoyang, this fellow villager took leave and went home to visit relatives. Liu Bang was thirsty for talents at this time and often asked people around him if there were talents in his hometown. Li Shiqi had heard about it a long time ago, so he quickly went to find the fellow villager, expressed his intention to join him, and asked the fellow villager for help in introducing him.
How to recommend yourself?
Li Shiqi told the fellow villagers: "Don't say that I want to see Pei Gong. When you have nothing to do, just treat it as small talk and say, 'There is a Confucian scholar named Li in my hometown, who is more than sixty years old, but has a strong body and is eight feet long. Others are like Say he is a mad student, but he claims not to be a mad student. Just say that."
The fellow was very embarrassed: "Old man, why don't you bother yourself? You don't know that what my Pei Gong hates the most is Confucian scholars. Whenever anyone comes to see Pei Gong wearing a Confucian scholar's hat, Pei Gong will immediately pull off the person's hat and put it inside Peeing; when talking to them, they often curse. I think you should not get into this bad habit!"
Li Shiqi frowned: "If I tell you to say it, you just say it. What are you afraid of?"
The fellow had no choice but to do as Li Shiqi told him after he returned. However, Liu Bang, who usually hated Confucian scholars the most, became interested in Li Shiqi and immediately sent someone to invite him. It was an invitation, but Liu Bang didn't pay much attention to Li Shiqi. While waiting, he sat on the bed and asked the two maids to get foot washing water to wash his feet. Li Shiqi came over excitedly, and Liu Bang washed his feet to receive him.
How could an ordinary person dare to challenge Liu Bang on this matter? Li Shiqi was not an ordinary person. Instead of throwing up his sleeves and walking away, he stepped forward, bowed symbolically, and asked: "Are you coming here to help Qin conquer the princes, or do you want to help the princes fight against the enemy?" Where is Qin?"
Liu Bang was really rude, and he scolded him when he opened his mouth: "Confucianism!" Confucianism was just like calling others "bastards" now. It was a typical swear word at that time. Then Liu Bang said: "The world has been suffering from Qin for a long time, so the princes united and rose up to resist. How dare you say that I help Qin fight against the princes? You are insulting me!"
Li Shiqi gave a weird smile: "You also know that you are here to fight against Qin? Isn't it just talk about overthrowing the Qin Dynasty? Shouldn't we gather the people and recruit volunteers to do this together? You are so arrogant and shameless Did you receive the elders politely? Did I insult you or did you insult me? Aren't you pushing all your talents to the Qin Dynasty? This is not helping Qin, but is it attacking Qin?"
After Liu Bang was scolded, he immediately corrected his mistake, dressed neatly, and invited Li Shiqi to his seat. In this way, the host and guest conducted extensive and in-depth discussions on the current domestic situation in a friendly atmosphere and reached a number of consensuses.
Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action. After listening to Li Shiqi's talk about the world and the way of the seven heroes of the Warring States period to unite vertically and horizontally, Liu Bang knew that he had really found a talent, and immediately invited Li Shiqi to dinner. While eating, Liu Bang asked himself what to do. Li Shiqi immediately said: "You have just gathered a bunch of rabble, collected a group of defeated soldiers, and have less than 10,000 men. Just relying on these people to attack Qin is equivalent to sticking your head into a tiger's mouth. You The most important thing now is to quickly improve our strength. To achieve this goal, Chenliu (now southeast of Kaifeng City, Henan Province) must be taken. Chenliu is located at the strategic point of the world and is connected in all directions (meaning "extending in all directions"). Refers to the land of east, west, south, north and center, there is sufficient food and grass in the city. I have a good relationship with the county magistrate Chenliu. If you agree, I can send Chenliu as your envoy to persuade him to surrender. If he does not surrender, I will act as an internal coordinator. If you lead the troops to attack from outside, it will not be difficult to capture Chenliu."
After hearing Li Shiqi's words, Liu Bang was very happy and immediately followed the plan and captured Chenliu. Chenliu is a big city, and it is also the largest city that Liu Bang has conquered by himself so far. This was of great significance to Liu Bang. It not only boosted morale, replenished supplies, but also increased his popularity.
Li Shiqi helped Liu Bang occupy Chenliu. His younger brother Li Shang got the news and also defected with four to five thousand people. This time, Liu Bang's military strength has increased a lot, and it can be said that it has a "household of ten thousand people". Overjoyed, Liu Bang made Li Shiqi the Lord of Guangye, specifically responsible for diplomatic work; he made Li Shang a general, commanding Chen Liubing, and went with him to seize territory.
When Liu Bang took Zhang Liang to defect to Xiang Yu, Zhang Liang and Xiang Liang borrowed more than a thousand troops to support the Korean prince Hengyang Junji as the king, and accompanied the Korean king to regain the old land of Korea. The King of Han and Zhang Liang captured a few cities, but they were taken back by the Qin army when they turned around. Just like this, you come and go, today I will knock it down, and tomorrow you will take it back. The Han army was small, and Zhang Liang did not dare to confront the enemy. He led the Qin army in Yingchuan (the jurisdiction is equivalent to today's Dengfeng City, Henan Province, east of Baofeng, west of Weishi and Yancheng, south of Xinmi City, and Ye County , north of Wuyang) in circles.
Fortunately, Liu Bang occupied Chenliu and came with his troops to help. Zhang Liang immediately joined forces with Liu Bang, defeated the Qin army, and finally obtained a large and stable territory for the King of Han.
King Jicheng of Han was very happy. When Liu Bang set off again, he ordered Zhang Liang to lead a large group of troops to see Liu Bang off. He said he was seeing him off because he was afraid that Xiang Yu would pick trouble. In fact, he was asking Zhang Liang to assist Liu Bang in his attack on Xianyang.
Seeing that his strength is growing day by day, Hangu Pass is in front of him, Xianyang City seems to be within easy reach, and the most competitive Xiang Yu is still confronting Zhang Han, Liu Bang laughs out loud in his dreams.
How wonderful it would be to make a fortune secretly!
Liu Bang bumped around, got lucky, and became stronger day by day. Estimating the days and analyzing the situation, he couldn't wait to send troops to Xianyang.
The shortest way into Xianyang is to drive directly from Hangu Pass (in today's Wangduo Village, Lingbao, Henan). However, Liu Bang definitely does not have this strength.
Hangu Pass is one of the earliest fortresses built in Chinese history and is known as the "unparalleled fortress". Before the Qin State conquered the world, Hangu Pass had always been a major gateway to the Qin State. Even after the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, it served as the east gate to guard Xianyang, so it was highly valued by the Qin State. The walls of Hangu Pass are strong and tall, and the terrain is dangerous. It is definitely not something Liu Bang, who only has 20,000 soldiers and generals, can covet. Therefore, Liu Bang's strategy was to bypass Hangu Pass and enter Xianyang from Wuguan (on the north bank of the Wuguan River in the east of Danfeng County, Shangluo, Shaanxi today) and Aoguan.
In August of the third year of Qin II (207 BC), Liu Bang left the Korean king to guard Yangzhai (now Yuzhou City, Henan Province), and led Zhang Liang and others to conquer Xiawan (now Nanyang, Henan Province) first, preparing to attack Wuguan.
At this time, Zhao Gao had killed Hu Hai and secretly sent people to negotiate with Liu Bang. He was willing to switch to allow Liu Bang to enter Xianyang, but asked Liu Bang to make him the king of Guanzhong. Zhao Gao was cunning, cunning and greedy, and Liu Bang couldn't trust him at all. Besides, if Liu Bang enters Xianyang, according to the agreement made by King Huai, Guanzhong should be his territory. When Guanzhong was given to Zhao Gao, wouldn't Liu Bang's hard work be in vain, making wedding clothes for others?
So, partly because he didn't trust Zhao Gao and partly because Zhao Gao shamelessly raised the price, Liu Bang ignored Zhao Gao's request and insisted on attacking Wuguan. Negotiations between the two sides broke down. In this case, there is nothing more to say. No matter how difficult Wuguan is to defeat, we must win it.
Although Wuguan Pass is not as dangerous as Hangu Pass, it is also the throat of Guanzhong, and its importance is self-evident. But this great pass was still captured by Liu Bang.
The capital of the Qin Dynasty, Xianyang, is closer to me.
