Next, let’s introduce Chen Ping, the founding father of the Han Dynasty.
Chen Ping, a native of Yangwu (now Southeast of Yuanyang, Henan Province), was born in poverty. He loved reading since childhood, especially the studies of Huang and Lao. In ancient times, the relationship between brothers was particularly good. There was a saying that "the elder brother is like the father." The elder brother was really responsible, and the brother really regarded his elder brother as his elder. It is said that if the family is poor, everyone in the family has to work to earn food. But Chen Ping's elder brother felt sorry for his younger brother. Seeing that Chen Ping loved studying, he asked him to concentrate on his studies. All the work at home was taken care of by his elder brother. Chen Ping's sister-in-law looked unhappy and made sarcastic remarks: "What's the use of reading those articles every day? Why don't the whole family continue to eat bran-thick vegetables! It's better not to have such a brother-in-law!" Chen Ping's brother said After hearing this, he divorced his wife at that time.
The elder brother was sincere in caring for his younger brother, but by divorcing his wife, Chen Ping was cheated. Although the "seven things" (i.e., disobedience to parents, childlessness, adultery, jealousy, bad diseases, talkativeness, and theft) were not adhered to in divorcing a wife at that time, which began in the Han Dynasty and became a divorce law in the Tang Dynasty, it could not be based on Divorce can be obtained on the grounds of "emotional discord". The villagers didn't know why the elder brother suddenly divorced his wife. They secretly speculated that the daughter-in-law must be at fault. What's the big mistake? Some people guessed: Chen Ping and his sister-in-law committed adultery, right? As he talked, the speculations became true and the public opinion became true! The power of the masses is powerful! Chen Ping gained the reputation of a "tongsao" for no reason.
My brother fully supported Chen Ping. Chen Ping also lived up to expectations, studied very hard, and became famous in villages all over the country. But because Chen Ping was not engaged in production, his family was poor, and he had a reputation as a "tongsao", people in the village, rich or poor, high or low, were unwilling to marry their daughters to him, so Chen Ping never married.
There was a wealthy local man named Zhang Fu. His granddaughter married five husbands, and all five husbands died young after they got married. Everyone said that this little widow had a tough life and no one dared to marry her. One of them had no one to marry, and the other had no one to marry, so Chen Ping was moved. Zhang Fu also visited Chen Ping's house and found that although Chen Ping was poor, there were many ruts in front of his house, which were traces of carriages stopping there. Nowadays, owning a car is a sign of wealth, but it was even more so at that time. People who were not wealthy were not qualified to use a car, and they could not afford a car. There are a lot of ruts in front of Chen Ping's house, which shows that many people with status and fame always come to visit him. Therefore, Zhang Fu believed that Chen Ping's future was limitless and decided to marry his granddaughter to him.
Because Chen Ping was too poor to afford the betrothal gift at the time, Zhang Fu even gave money to his grandson-in-law to cover up his shame. Zhang Fu is also a kind person. On the day of his granddaughter's wedding, he gave numerous instructions to her, telling her not to be rude and rude to her husband just because her husband's family was poor, and to treat her uncles and sisters-in-law like their parents. Chen Ping had a rich and good father-in-law as his support, and his social circle became wider and wider.
In the first year of Qin II (209 BC), the Dazexiang Uprising broke out, and Ji Jiu was established as King of Wei. Chen Ping felt that this was a good opportunity to honor his ancestors, so he bid farewell to his brother and rushed to Linji to join Linji. Later, because he was not appreciated, he turned to Xiang Yu to work as a plotter. Xiang Yu has a hobby. He likes his own physique very much. He likes people who are big, round, and majestic, preferably military generals. Chen Ping is a handsome man, with thin skin, tender flesh, and a slender body. With him looking like this, Xiang Yu naturally doesn't want to see him. The depressed Chen Ping met Liu Bang at the Hongmen Banquet and felt that this was the person he should follow.
Chen Ping had long wanted to return to the Han Dynasty. At this moment, Zhang Liang came to visit. The two hit it off and talked happily. After some probing, Zhang Liang finally revealed his intention to visit. Chen Ping frowned at first, and after thinking for a moment, he said: "It was originally easy to ask Xiang Yu to let the King of Han return to his fiefdom, but because Fan Zeng was there, it became a problem. In this case, if we want to save the King of Han, we must first get Fan Zeng away. , otherwise it’s absolutely impossible. Don’t worry about this, just look at me!”
The next day, Chen Ping asked to see Xiang Yu and gave Xiang Yu a clever idea: "Don't you hate King Huai? Why don't you give King Huai the title of 'Emperor Righteous' and use the reason that 'the emperor should live in the upper reaches'?" Move the capital to Chen County (now Chenzhou, Hunan), and occupy Pengcheng as your capital. In this way, won't you be able to gradually and legitimately command the world?"
Chen Ping's suggestion just matched Xiang Yu's thoughts. What a good idea! So when Fan Zeng came to visit, Xiang Yu couldn't wait to tell Chen Ping's suggestion, lying that he came up with it himself. Fan Zeng burst into tears after listening to Xiang Yu's words: God finally opened his eyes, and Xiang Yu's brain was finally able to come up with a clever plan! He responded immediately and even stated that he would do it himself. This move played into Chen Ping's heart.
Immediately, Xiang Yu announced his decision to the princes, respecting King Huai of Chu as the Righteous Emperor, sealing another piece of land for him, and sending him away. Originally, the emperor's status was greater than that of the king, but this was not the case for Xiong Xin - Xiang Yu elevated him overtly and secretly, and ignored him.
Everyone is granted the title of king by the emperor, but as for me, I was granted the title of king by my subordinates. Who can know the bitterness of it?
Who among the generals at that time dared to accuse Xiang Yu of being wrong? Their boss was Xiang Yu, and all the princes nodded: "General Xiang's proposal is very good. You can make the decision. We all agree." So, King Huai of Chu became the Righteous Emperor, and the capital was moved to Chen County and Pengcheng. It became Xiang Yu's capital.
After Xiang Yu announced his decision, Fan Zeng set off. Before leaving, Fan Zeng repeatedly told Xiang Yu: Liu Bang must not be allowed to return to his fiefdom. Xiang Yu made a solemn promise.
When Fan Zeng had gone far away, Chen Ping came to see Xiang Yu again and said, "Your Majesty, we can't go on like this. The princes have gathered in Xianyang. There are now a total of 500,000 or 600,000 horses. They spend countless money and food every day. The people can't afford it, but we We have to send money in every day. If we don’t let the princes return home quickly, there will be trouble!"
When Xiang Yu heard this, he realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately ordered all the princes to return home immediately. Those who were far away had a deadline of ten days, and those who were near had a deadline of five days. Prepare immediately without delay. The king of Han stayed in Xianyang for the time being, and met with the king of Chu. Discuss important matters together.
Seizing Liu Bang alone, Xiang Yu's move was completely within Chen Ping's expectation. Under Chen Ping's instruction, Liu Bang suddenly asked Xiang Yu to destroy Qin and Xinghan, and the road to governing the country was difficult 11.66%
Immediately, Xiang Yu announced his decision to the princes, respecting King Huai of Chu as the Righteous Emperor, sealing another piece of land for him, and sending him away. Originally, the emperor's status was greater than that of the king, but this was not the case for Xiong Xin - Xiang Yu elevated him overtly and secretly, and ignored him. Who among the generals dares to accuse Xiang Yu of being wrong? All the princes nodded: "General Xiang's proposal is very good. You can make the decision. We all agree." So King Huai of Chu became the Righteous Emperor, the capital was moved to Chen County, and Pengcheng became Xiang Yu's capital.
After Xiang Yu announced his decision, Fan Zeng set off. Before leaving, Fan Zeng repeatedly told Xiang Yu: Liu Bang must not be allowed to return to his fiefdom. Xiang Yu made a solemn promise.
When Fan Zeng had gone far away, Chen Ping came to see Xiang Yu again and said, "Your Majesty, we can't go on like this. The princes have gathered in Xianyang. There are now a total of 500,000 or 600,000 horses. They spend countless money and food every day. The people can't afford it, but we We have to send money in every day. If we don’t let the princes return home quickly, there will be trouble!"
When Xiang Yu heard this, he realized the seriousness of the problem and immediately ordered all the princes to return home immediately. Those who were far away had a deadline of ten days, and those who were near had a deadline of five days. Prepare immediately without delay. The king of Han stayed in Xianyang for the time being, and met with the king of Chu. Discuss important matters together.
Seizing Liu Bang alone, Xiang Yu's move was completely within Chen Ping's expectation. At Chen Ping's instruction, Liu Bang suddenly asked for leave from Xiang Yu and asked to return to his hometown of Peixian County to visit relatives. Xiang Yu hesitated. It would be unkind not to let Liu Bang go back; to let Liu Bang go back, I don't know what Liu Bang's intentions are.
At this time, Zhang Liang stood up and deliberately objected, saying: "When the King of Han goes back, he must take over his family or occupy Pei County and become king. You can't let him go back. Why not order him to go to Hanzhong quickly on the grounds that Bashu is in urgent need of stability, and at the same time send People went to Pei County to take his family members as hostages so that he would not dare to have any different intentions."
Chen Ping also said from the side: "Since your Majesty has made Liu Bang the King of Han and has announced it to the world, if he insists on not letting him take office, it may not be enough to win the trust of the world and cause bad effects. It is better to follow Zhang Liang's plan. It preserves credit and restrains the King of Han."
Xiang Yu thought about it for a while, agreed, and ordered Liu Bang to put state affairs first and quickly appease Bashu. The matter of visiting relatives would be discussed later.
After Liu Bang received Xiang Yu's order, he immediately organized his troops and prepared to set off, fearing a long night and many dreams. At that time, Liu Bang originally had 100,000 troops, but Xiang Yu used tricks to distribute them to others. In the end, he only had 30,000 troops left. However, Liu Bang remained calm and had no complaints, which made the world's heroes look up to him with admiration. Tens of thousands of princes turned to Liu Bang because they thought it would be more promising to follow Liu Bang, and were willing to follow him to Hanzhong.
In April of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 BC), it was the early spring. Liu Bang led his army to Hanzhong. Zhang Liang saw him off all the way until they reached the territory of Hanzhong. The emperor and his ministers parted in tears. Before leaving, Zhang Liang told Liu Bang to burn the plank road along the way.
Plank road refers to a kind of road built along cliffs, also known as pavilion road and complex road. From Guanzhong to Bashu, there are mountains and ridges everywhere in between, and there is no way to pass. In order to communicate, the ancients dug holes in the cliffs, inserted strong wooden squares, arranged like the sleepers on today's railways, and then laid wooden boards on the wooden squares to form an air corridor, which is a plank road. It takes many years to pave a section of these plank roads. Once burned down, it will take only three to five years to repair.
Zhang Liang asked Liu Bang to burn the plank road, firstly to prevent the princes from attacking through the plank road when Liu Bang had not yet established a foothold; secondly, to show Xiang Yu that he had no intention of returning to the Central Plains, so that Xiang Yu would relax his vigilance against Liu Bang; thirdly, Zhang Liang asked Liu Bang to burn the plank road. It is to reduce the number of soldiers fleeing. There is no smooth way back home. Unless a man of skill is bold, who would dare to escape over mountains and ridges?
Therefore, in order to become king and dominate, it is absolutely impossible not to have a counselor at your disposal to advise you.
