First, Xiang Yu's personal qualities led to his failure. First of all, Xiang Yu is by no means mentally retarded. On the contrary, Sima Qian considered himself brilliant. Liu Bang also thinks that he is not as brave as Xiang Yu, and Han Xin feels the same way. But Xiang Yu's extraordinary talent did not help him, but made him the ruler of the Qin Dynasty. Xiang Yu is extremely conceited by nature. Chen Ping defines it as "not trusting others" and "avoiding trusting others". In Xiang Yu's eyes, he is incompetent, so he does everything himself and makes himself very hard. This reminds people of Qin Shihuang. Hou Sheng and Lu Sheng said, "The first emperor was a man, and his sex was just violent for his own use. He believes that since ancient times, he has nothing to do with himself ... Everything in the world, big or small, is determined by the world. "
Xiang Yu has also been on the run, and finally became Chen Ping's double spy, becoming more lonely and becoming a real husband. Sima Qian commented on Qin Shihuang: "I thought I had five emperors and three kings in the vast land, but I was ashamed of it." Evaluation of Xiang Yu: "Strive for his private wisdom without learning the past." The second is harsh. Criticism is probably the style of Xiang Jia. When his uncle Xiang Liang refused to apply for a job shortly after the uprising, he accused the other party of not doing something well at a certain time, which was his proof. Later, Sima An, the king of Yin, rebelled against Chu, and Xiang Yu sent Chen to defeat him. Soon, Sima Ang surrendered to Han, and Xiang Yu prepared to investigate the participants in the above-mentioned military operations, which led to Chen Ping's return to Han. In contrast, many of Liu Bang's subordinates once opposed him, or surrendered to Xiang Yu, and were not investigated.
So although Xiang Yu always wins, there are fewer and fewer people; Although Liu Bang suffered repeated defeats, there were more and more people in the Vietnam War. Secondly, Xiang Yu inherited a set of ruling skills of Zhao Gao. Zhao Gao once presented a plan to Qin Ershi, saying that in order to consolidate his rule, only those who are cheap are expensive, those who are poor are rich, and those who are far away are close. This is exactly what was done when the system of enfeoffment was implemented. He demoted the original Qi Yan Wang to Jiaodong Wang and Liaodong Wang respectively, and named Qi Yan Wang and Yan Wang respectively. It was this ruling technique that immediately led to unstable factors and eventually ruined Xiang's rule. The broad masses of people who have experienced the rule of the Qin Dynasty can never stand the rule of Xiang. When talent turns into occupational fatigue, it's really cleverness that turns into cleverness.
Secondly, Xiang Yu phenomenon puts forward the stage proposition of historical characters. Peter's principle has a theory of incompetence, that is, when people in a certain system reach the position of incompetence, incompetence will follow. Xiang Yu's situation is exactly the same. It can be said that in the anti-Qin storm, without the destructive power of Xiang Yu, its success is unimaginable. His correct judgment of the situation and decisive decision to save Zhao before seizing power laid his historical position. But limited to this, the subsequent situation is beyond the scope of Xiang Yu's ability. The surrender of more than 200,000 Qin Jun is not only the most brilliant victory of Xiang Yu, but also the beginning of his failure. These prisoners, who are not far from the number of governors of the allied countries, will always be a hidden worry if they are not killed. Once Xiang Yu was killed, he lost his moral support and could not gain a foothold in Guanzhong. Another example is the enfeoffment system, which is not Xiang Yu's job. Xiang Yu used his power to force arrangements and filed a complaint.
As a result, Xiang Yu went from conforming to the historical trend to the opposite side. In this regard, Xiang Yu himself certainly has an unshirkable responsibility. He feels that since he has a set of military skills, he can't be poor in other aspects. Intriguingly, after two thousand years, Xiang Yu's way of thinking can still be popular in China. You can often see successful people in certain fields in your life, and you can't help pointing out all kinds of things. Then, it is not surprising that Xiang Yu's contemporaries acquiesced in his conceit. But the fact disappointed the world and Xiang Yu himself. If Xiang Yu didn't compete for dominance at that time, he would certainly not fall soon. Perhaps, just as Laozi said, "Zhi Zhi can survive" (Wang Bi's Note to Laozi). Unfortunately, Xiang Yu and others would never have this kind of consciousness at that time under similar circumstances. People are destined to grow up in mistakes.
Finally, Xiang Yu's contempt for knowledge still represents a certain social sentiment of China. As a teenager, Xiang Yu studied calligraphy, sword and art of war. In Xiang Yu's eyes, "books are enough to register surnames." Visible knowledge is worthless in his mind. Xiang Yu's obliteration of Yidi's achievements, to a great extent, represents China society's perception of knowledge. He said: "Anyone who has been exposed to the wild for three years, who destroys Qin and sets the world, must be the power of the princes and books." Words are forceful, but they are not.
After Xiang Liang was defeated and Chu suffered heavy losses, Yi Di was in charge of the plan. He personally deployed two armies to attack the State of Qin, and accomplished the great task that Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang failed to accomplish-eliminating Qin. Imagine that if the director of the printing factory came forward to deny the role of the best-selling author and the construction captain came forward to deny the role of the outstanding architect, no one would believe it. But Xiang Yu's above remarks can win the hearts of the people. Even Sima Qian was cheated by him, and historical records did not make a biography for the righteous emperor. Coincidentally, Liu Bangding rewarded Xiao He for his contributions to the world, which was resisted by military commanders.
Digging deeper, all the different interpretations of Xiang Yu originated from Sima Qian's narrative. Especially when Liu Xiang and his wife mention each other. When Sima Qian tried to describe it, Xiang Yu was always majestic and powerful, and his momentum was overwhelming; Liu bang is plain, even obscene. Hence Ruan Ji's exclamation that "there is no hero in the world, and his son is famous" when he boarded the Guangwu battlefield. Indeed, Liu Xiang insisted that Xiang Yu beat Liu everywhere. However, Xiang Yu's stubbornness is precisely against the trend of the times. Therefore, despite repeated battles and victories, the Wujiang River was finally broken. If you want to know Xiang Yu, you must read Sima Qian's praise to Liu Xiang.