There is a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War: Do not chase the enemy. It means don't chase the enemy who has no way out. Because the enemy has no way to go, he will be desperate, so that he can glow with great combat effectiveness. At this time, the enemy is in high spirits, so don't engage the enemy. However, if you can give the enemy a chance to live and let him see the hope of survival, he will fight you with his life, but he always wants to escape from that chance to live. This is human nature, and it is precisely because of the way to escape that the enemy will quickly collapse and give up his ambition. This is the best time to defeat the enemy.
Similarly, if Han Xin defeated and surrounded Xiang Yu in the Battle of Gaixia, if he could make Xiang Yu's army give up fighting spirit and then fight at high altitude, then he would wipe out Xiang Yu's army. Although this method is quite good, the Battle of Gaixia did not say that Han Xin was lenient. The battle of Gaixia is a strategic decisive battle, and the outcome determines the final outcome. In the battle of Gaixia in history, Xiang Yu was already in Liu Bang's strategic encirclement. This military campaign was extremely successful because of Liu Bang's politics, so there is no doubt that Xiang Yu's failure is doomed.
In the Battle of Gaixia, Xiang Yu had only10,000 Chu troops who were exhausted and lacked food and equipment, while the Han army alliance headed by Liu Bang had about 700,000 people, which gathered all the vassal forces in the world at that time, such as Han Xin, Cheng Peng, Ying Bu and Liu Bang's headquarters. Xiang Yu was besieged not only militarily, but also politically, because Liu Bei won all the land of Chu except yujiang county County East and Shandong Province. The Battle of Gaixia Han Xin, as a striker, led 300,000 troops to attack Xiang Yu first, and Xiang Yu fought with100,000 Chu troops. As a result, Han Xin was defeated and retreated, and Xiang Yu led the Chu army to pursue the Han Xin army. Then General Kong and General Fei on the two wings each led hundreds of troops to attack Xiang Yu's two wings. In the melee between the two sides, Han Xin went back and forth to fight with the defeated army. Xiang Yu was attacked on three sides, and the Chu army was defeated and returned to Gaixia City.
Although the first battle was defeated, although the 10th Wan Chu Army was surrounded by nearly 700,000 Han troops, Han Xin did not intend to let go of the encirclement, but closely surrounded the Chu Army. Because of this close encirclement, later generations called it an ambush on all sides, which means there is an ambush in all directions, which means there is nowhere to escape. However, this is not enough. Han Xin also used the embattled strategy to break the morale of the Chu army. Under heavy siege, Chu songs were sung in all directions. Most of Xiang Yu's men are Chu people. When they heard the songs of Chu, they thought that Chu had been captured by the Han army, so they had no fighting spirit and their morale collapsed.
Who came up with the plan of "besieged on all sides" is not recorded in the history books, perhaps Han Xin or Sean, but the degree of besieged on all sides is the last straw to crush Xiang Yu. After being besieged on all sides, Xiang Yu, who originally wanted to fight hard, also lost his determination to continue to resist, but chose more than 800 elite Chu troops and Jiangdong children to break through with him. Note that Han Xin didn't make a hole in Xiang Yu's breakthrough, and Han Xin didn't need to do so, because the Chu army has lost its fighting capacity and will. Under heavy encirclement, it is not necessary to play hard to get, but it will increase the difficulty of catching Xiang Yu, which is impossible.
Xiang Yu's breakthrough is the embodiment of his own military talent, and he came out by playing hardball. Do you think that 300,000 people in Han Xin didn't beat 100,000 down archers of Xiang Yu? At that time, no one was born who could play hardball with Xiang Yu, including Han Xin. Even if there are only 28 people left under Xiang Yu, he can still kill hundreds of Han troops like nobody's land. In the end, the Chu army was completely annihilated and all died. Xiang Yu did not surrender. Finally, Xiang Yu committed suicide, not intentionally left by Han Xin. Xiang Yu's suicide was a temporary decision.
Xiang Yu had a strong desire for survival, so he escaped with eight hundred heroes. However, when he was about to leave by boat, Xiang Yu heard what the boatman said, and when he entered, he was both sad and angry. He remembered that all the 8,000 Jiangdong children he had brought out were dead, and he felt ashamed to go back to see his elders in Jiangdong, so he committed suicide. If Xiang Yu doesn't commit suicide, no one can kill Xiang Yu at all.
From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, it was an eventful autumn. Although it was troubled times, it was the golden age of the rise of gentry. The so-called gentry is a big family that has been an official for generations, also known as the gate valve. Celebrities in the Three Kingdoms are basically from the gentry. Because the gentry have money, status, land, resources and connections, they can enjoy the best educational resources, and at the same time they can control the world's public opinion and talent recommendation channels. At the same time, gentry was also the main source of entering the upper class at that time. Celebrities are not so much from the gentry as they are created by the gentry.
The gentry of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Ru Nan Yuan and Si San Gong, were the most famous gentry in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, especially Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. They are famous because their ancestors served as senior officials in the imperial court, and they are also senior officials at the three levels, so their descendants have a very high background and a very good reputation. As long as they cheer, they are even more successful than ordinary people from poor backgrounds. For example, Yuan Shao was the most famous celebrity at that time. His family came from runan county and belonged to Yuzhou, one of the thirteen states in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Apart from Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, Cao Cao's hometown is Peiguoqiao County, and Cao Cao's family is also a local celebrity, including Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xia. So, there was a saying at that time.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu Yingchuan County belong to Yuzhou, which is today's Yuzhou City in Henan Province. Located in the south of Henan Province, this place is one of the six counties in Yuzhou, one of the thirteen states in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Yuzhou governs: Chenjun, runan county, Anfeng, Yiyang, Yingchuan and Liangzhou. If we look at the whole land of China, Yuzhou is in the middle of China, and Yingchuan County is in the westernmost part of Yuzhou. Yingchuan County is the nearest county in Yuzhou from Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its geographical location is very important. A place close to the capital with developed transportation is generally a strategic place, such as Tianjin today, much like Yingchuan County in the Three Kingdoms period. Why are there so many celebrities in Yingchuan County?
The fundamental reason for the thirteen states in the Eastern Han Dynasty is that there are four families in Yingchuan County, namely, the Xun family in Yingchuan, the Chen family in Yingchuan, the Zhong family in Yingchuan and the Yu family in Yingchuan. This situation is very similar to the four major families in Jiangdong, namely, Lu, Zhu, Zhang and Gu, which is often called Wu Jun's four surnames. Because of the rise of the gentry at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, any force that wants to rule the local area must get the consent of the local family, otherwise the rule will not be stable. 1, Yu Xun, Xun You, Xun's Eight Dragons and their descendants are representatives of Xun's family in Yingchuan. Yu Xun is known as a gifted scholar in Wang Zuo. He abandoned Yuan Shao and Cao Cao with an eye and became the official secretary of Cao Cao's reign, mediating and handling internal affairs in the court, and was the leader of celebrities at that time. Xun You was one of the five great advisers in Cao Cao's early days, and he was also a master of Cao Cao's tactics. He was also a celebrity at that time. 2. The representatives of Chen in Yingchuan are Chen Ji, Chen Qun and Chen Tai IV. Among them, Chen Qun has the greatest influence and popularity. Speaking of Chen Qun, we all know that the Nine Grades Zheng Zhi system promoted by Cao Pi is the work of Chen Qun, and this talent selection system covers the whole Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and has far-reaching influence.
Yu Xun and Xun You 3. Zhong You and Zhong Hui are the representatives of Zhong's family in Yingchuan, among which Zhong Hui is the most influential. He is one of the heroes who destroyed Shu and Han in Wei Dynasty in 263 AD, and also one of the chief culprits of Chengdu Rebellion. 4. The representatives of the Yu family in Yingchuan are Yu Ben and Yu Dun. Yu Dun's great-grandchildren are two brothers, Yu Bing and Yu Liang, the powerful ministers of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The Yu family in Yingchuan was also one of the four families in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and its influence reached its peak in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In addition to the four famous families born in Yingchuan, Guo Jia, Si Mahui, Xu Shu, Guo Tu, Han Fu, Chun Yuqiong and others are also famous in Yingchuan. The fundamental reason why Yingchuan can produce so many celebrities lies in its unique geographical location and long history and humanities.
Yingchuan, Yuzhou, where Yingchuan County is located, is only about 140 km away from the capital Luoyang. At that time, it only took half a day to ride a fast horse, only about 200 kilometers away from Nanyang County, the most populous county in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it only took more than one day to ride a fast horse. Yingchuan is only 44 kilometers away from Xudu, where Emperor Xiandi of Han Dynasty was at that time, and it takes only one hour to ride a fast horse. In other words, the geographical position of Yingchuan at that time was at the core of an important city in the Central Plains. From Luoyang or Nanyang to Xudu, you should pass through Yingchuan, and from Xudu to Luoyang or Nanyang, you should also pass through Yingchuan. Here is the traffic artery, belonging to the one-day economic circle of the capital at that time, which is not only very important in geographical location, but also not inferior in economy. That's why many people live here. The more people there are, the more natural families there are, and the more celebrities there are. According to "The Second Country of the Later Han Dynasty", Yingchuan County was under the jurisdiction of 17 city in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, with a registered population of 263,440 and a population of 14365 13.
This is a big county with a population of one million. It was a rare county with a population of over one million at that time. Compared with Jizhou, which had a population of one million at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population of a county is more than that of a state. This shows how prosperous Yingchuan is. To carry such a huge population, there must be a corresponding amount of cultivated land to support it. At that time, although population was the primary productive force, no resources were as useful as population resources. The larger the population, the more prosperous it is, attracting quite a few large families to live here and producing more celebrities. In addition, Yingchuan County is also the oldest county in history. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor was born in Yingchuan County, and Yu Xia, the founding king of Xia Dynasty, also established his capital in Yingchuan County, so the history of Yingchuan County is more than 4,000 years, almost at the same time as Chinese civilization. It is precisely because of such a long history that Yingchuan was developed very early, and there were a large number of nobles living in the Yellow Emperor period and the Xia Dynasty. After being handed down from generation to generation, aristocratic families were formed in Yingchuan County, and the number of aristocratic families increased, so did the number of celebrities.