This incident is recorded in Historical Records of the First Qin Emperor and Biography of the Great Emperor, which seems to be true. The specific time when this happened was designated as August of the second year and the third year in the Chronicle of Qin Shihuang. Although the Chronicle of the Great Emperor does not indicate the year and month, it will not be different from this time. Because both chronicles put forward a clear time mark, that is, the communication between Liu and Zhao took place after falling into the hands of Xiang Yu. According to Qin Chu's monthly schedule, Zhang Han fell to July in the third year of the second year, and the chronicle of Qin Shihuang also put the matter before August, and listed Zhao Gao's killing of Qin Ershi in August. However, for the record of this important event, the above two biographies are quite different, which inevitably leads to the following four questions:
1? Who initiated the contact; 2? Did this connection happen before or after Qin Ershi was punished? 3? Does this connection have anything to do with Qin Ershi's death? 4? Did the contact happen before or after Liu Bangjun broke the martial arts barrier?
This paper tries to reveal these problems one by one based on the historical data provided by Historical Records.
one
Biography of Qin Shihuang: "In August (the third year of the second year), ... Pei Gong sent tens of thousands of people to Tuwuguan to make people private. I am afraid of being angry and punishing myself, but I am sorry for my illness. " Biography of Emperor Gaozu: "(Pei Gong) sent wei ren and Zhang Junning as envoys to Qin and the future. At that time, Zhang Han had surrendered Xiang Yu to Zhao Yi with the army. " "And Zhao Gao has killed Qin Ershi, which makes people want to divide Wang Guanzhong. Pei Gong thought it was a fraud, so he talked about Qin generals with Zhang Shi and Lu Jia, and took advantage of the weakness to attack Wuguan and break it. " These two paragraphs have basically covered the above four issues. Although there are some discrepancies between the Records of the Emperor in Han Dynasty and Historical Records, the fundamental problem, that is, the communication between Liu and Zhao, is established. As for who initiated the contact first, Biography of Qin Shihuang and Biography of Gaozu clearly pointed out that it was Liu Bang's side. It's just that The Chronicle of the Emperor's Father didn't say that Ning Chang sent Qin to Zhao Gao. So there are two questions: 1, did Liu Bang's special envoy really go to Zhao Gao? 2. What is the messenger's mission? What was the result? Regrettably, history does not give a direct answer, but this does not prevent people from making inferences based on historical conventions and the development of things.
According to the tradition of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, belligerents can often send envoys to each other, and their mission is to explain their demands or concessions to each other. On the occasion of Qin Chu, it is obvious that the world is contending for Qin to destroy Qin. I'm afraid there is no room for bargaining. After more than two years of war, there is no afternoon problem. The biggest possibility is to persuade surrender. If this is indeed Ningchang's mission, then he can't go to Hu Hai, the son of heaven and the sinner on earth in the Qin Dynasty. There is a simple reason. Liu Bangbu's mission is to "carry the revolution through to the end", and Qin Ershi will be overthrown. On this premise, there is no need to contact with Qin Ershi, and the other party will never agree to Liu Bang's possible request to stop resisting. Therefore, Liu Bang's emissary was probably Zhao Gao, the politician and prime minister who actually presided over politics in Qin Dynasty. His purpose was to divide and disintegrate the enemy's front and make the war go smoothly. Zhao Gao was afraid that II would "punish himself, but he refused to go to court", probably because he was worried that the news of his contact with the enemy would leak out and cause Qin Ershi's dissatisfaction. After the engagement, Qin Ershi didn't watch out for Zhao Gao and was killed by Zhao Gao.
The purpose of Liu Bang's emissary to see Zhao Gao privately must be to surrender. Qin Jun's main forces were all wiped out by Zhao, and the land of the old Qin dynasty was doomed. It's just the difference between time and time, which should be the reason why Ningchang let Qin generals know. On this basis, it may be beneficial to lure them, which will be discussed further below.
two
The communication between Liu and Zhao was initiated by Liu Bang, and its time should be earlier than that. The two are consistent on this issue. However, we should also see that Liu Bang's mission to Qin was only a unilateral contact, which could not guarantee the success of his mission. "Gao Ancestral Family" especially puts forward the "future messenger", which also shows that the result of this contact is still unknown, and Liu Bang is obviously waiting for this result. Because Liu Bang's emissary has a big plan, Zhao Gao is needed as another liaison party to send his emissary to Liu Bang's army to carry out a liaison plot. After Zhao Gao killed Qin Ershi in history, he sent someone to contact Liu Bang and said that he would contract Wang Guanzhong. This rhythm is reasonable. At least, killing Qin Ershi can be regarded as a "gift". In this way, Liu and Zhao exchanged envoys, which is completely in line with the diplomatic etiquette of reciprocity. Sima Qian used the phrase "divide Wang Guanzhong", or suggested that Liu Bangceng had put forward similar conditions through his emissaries, and now Zhao Gaocheng agreed. It is very likely that the Biography of Qin Shihuang can provide strong circumstantial evidence for this matter. After Zhao Gao was killed, "he summoned the sons of his ministers and instructed him to punish the second son, saying,' Qin is the country, and the son of heaven rules the world, so he is called the son of heaven. Today, the six countries stand on their own feet, and the territory of Qin is small, so we should take an empty name as emperor. It is convenient to be king as before. "At the same time," Zi Ying and his two sons conspired to say,' I heard that Zhao and Chu reached an agreement to destroy the imperial clan of Qin and Wang Guanzhong ...' "The crown here refers to Zhao Gao as king. This echoes the language of "wanting to divide Wang Guanzhong". According to the Biography of Emperor Gaozu, Chu Huaiwang's heart "made Pei Gong Xi enter Guanzhong briefly, made an appointment with the general, and decided Guanzhong first." In order to enter the customs as soon as possible, Liu Bang probably asked his emissary to put forward the conditions for entering the customs to enfeoffment Wang Guanzhong, so as to induce Zhao Gao to submit. However, according to Records of Emperor Gaudi in Han Dynasty, "Pei Gong attacked Wuguan and entered Qin. Qin was afraid of Zhao Gao, but he killed the second child and sent someone here to divide Wang Guanzhong. Pei Gong is not allowed. " Technically, it seems that Liu Bang has never put forward similar conditions. This passage in Hanshu involves the time to break the martial arts barrier, and its authenticity and rationality will be discussed later. Because of this discrepancy in the records, we can make two conjectures here: 1, and Liu Bang never put forward such a condition; Liu bang did put forward such a condition, but because of the development and change of the current situation, he refused to recognize his previous promise. If the first speculation is established, it is impossible to understand the purpose and intention of sending envoys to Qin, and it is impossible to understand why Zhao Gao was "afraid of II's anger". Therefore, the second guess seems to be easier to establish. First of all, there is no contradiction between what happened in Historical Records and Hanshu. According to Records of the Historical Records, Liu Bang's reply to Zhao Gao's request was to break the martial arts barrier. Secondly, it took a lot of time from Liu Bang's envoy to Zhao Gao's envoy. During this period, Liu Bang got the exact news that Zhang Han and Qin Jun's army surrendered to Chu. This at least means that Liu Bang and his men will no longer be in danger of being caught between Scylla and Charybdis. The vassal's army is far away in Zhao (now Hebei Province), so it is impossible to directly attack the old territory of Qin in a short time. In this case, Liu Bang is naturally no longer interested in fulfilling his earlier promises. In a word, the communication between Liu and Zhao began before the second execution, and finally after the second execution, its final outcome lost its practical effect and could not be attributed to it.
three
According to the previous theory, the communication between Liu and Zhao began before the punishment, and it was impossible to have an impact on the punishment of II. However, according to the comprehensive historical records, this impact can only be indirect, not direct and fundamental. There should be a pertinent evaluation of this.
For Zhao Gao, killing Qin Ershi is based on the comprehensive consideration of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, which is very consistent with Zhao Gao's consistent behavior tendency in Historical Records. Zhao Gao was ambitious, and he played a key role in a series of perversions in Qin Ershi. A series of killings in Qin Ershi cleared the way for Zhao Gao to reach the peak of power. In August of the second year and the third year, that is, this month of contacting him, Zhao conducted a famous experiment in North Korea, and the result was satisfactory to him. This shows that the time is basically ripe for him to replace Qin Ershi.
Qin Ershi is a typical bad king. He is not only addicted to pleasure, but also very violent and ferocious. In addition to brutally killing his eldest brother Fu Su, Montessori brothers and other sons, he also forced the right prime minister and general Feng Jie to get sick and beheaded the left prime minister Reese on the grounds of world turmoil. Shortly before he was punished, he sent a special envoy to kill Yang Xiong (see The Legend of Emperor Gaozu) and accused Zhang Han of repeated wars and defeats. Finally, just this month when he was killed, he "did his duty to make (Zhao) a thief" (Biography of Qin Shihuang). Therefore, although Zhao Gao controlled the state affairs to a great extent, he didn't have much sense of security. Because Qin Ershi is so violent, Zhao Gao has to always find a scapegoat to eliminate the disaster for himself. According to the Biography of Qin Shihuang and Biography of Xiang Yu, in April this year, Zhang Han sent his men Sima Xin back to the DPRK to report the war, and Zhao Gao wanted to take the rap for Sima Xin. Thanks to the vigilance of Sima Xin, he was able to escape. And when Qin Ershi's murder directly fell on Zhao Gao, he could never find body double. In this case, Zhao Gao had to get rid of Qin Ershi.
Qin Ershi killed his heart. This situation is by no means that Zhao Gao is too sensitive and anxious alone. Even outsiders can see his predicament very clearly. The book of Zhao Jiang Chen Yu's Legacy in Xiang Yu's Biography clearly points out: "Zhao Gaosu has been slandering for a long time, and this matter is urgent, so he wants to punish the general by law to plug his guilt." Therefore, in a catastrophe, both internal and external situations may be favorable to him, Zhao Gao finally made the move to kill Qin Ershi. Immediately after Zhao Gao ascended the throne, he called the ministers' sons to announce the regicide. This move may be seen as support for Liu Zhao's engagement. No matter what will happen to Zhao Gao in the future, at least at that time, after killing Jun wantonly, his contact with important enemy generals was a deterrent to his potential political opponents, making them afraid to make a move. In this sense, Liu Zhao contacted and intervened in the killing of Qin Ershi. And Zhao Gao may make full use of this connection to save the emergency.
In a word, Qin Ershi's punishment is the result of Zhao Gao's inflated personal ambition, emergency measures for self-protection, contact with Liu Bang and even some agreement. Only when it is eliminated can Gao be sure to make a promise to Liu Bang and put forward his own asking price. This asking price is most likely issued by Liu Bang earlier.
four
The discussion of the above problems will not help to solve the problem of whether the communication between Liu and Zhao occurred before or after the break of Wuguan. And this time limit problem determines the full value of this contact. There are different records about this time limit. According to Gao Ancestral Family (see the above picture for details), this contact ended before the break of Wu Guan. According to Qin Shihuang's biography, the contact only happened after the break of Wuguan. One of these two statements is doomed to failure. In addition to the ambiguity between the two biographies, Sima Zhen quoted Historical Records of Taikang Geography as saying: "Wuguan is the number one county west of Wuguan." "Stay at Houjia" more clearly records the purpose of breaking the Qin Dynasty and leaving the army. In this way, the original doubt about the connection between the break of Wuguan and Shaoguan was mixed with the question of whether it was broken by Wuguan or Shaoguan. Perhaps the two are not contradictory, and can even be unified as ending contact before breaking the customs. But this is too simplistic, completely divorced from the background of Liu Zhao's contact.
The author tends to think that Liu Zhao's communication began and ended before Liu Bangjun broke through Wuguan. There is no hard material to directly support this view except Biography of Gaozu. However, the communication between Liu and Zhao ended before the customs was broken, but it has another historical support. "Han Gao" records: "In September (the third year of the second year), Zhao's second disciple Ying was the king of Qin. Zi Ying destroyed Zhao Gao, and sent his troops to leave Shanhaiguan. Pei Gong wanted to attack it, saying, "Qin Jun is still strong, so we should not underestimate it. May the pioneers raise flags on the mountains as suspicious soldiers. "Let Shi Li and Lu Jia talk about the generals of Qin, which is beneficial. Qin Jiangguo wants to make peace, and Pei Gong wants to make it. Sean said, "Only this one wants to rebel, but he is afraid that his soldiers will not follow. It is better to hit it, because it is lazy. "Pei Gong led his troops around the pass, crossed the mountain, struck, broke the south of Lantian and reached Lantian." It should be pointed out that this passage is a collection of Biographies of Gaozu and Family Living Abroad, which seems unconvincing as other evidence. Generally speaking, Hanshu is basically a record of Historical Records, which can be obtained by comparing the relevant texts of Hanshu, Biography of Chen Ji, Biography of Ji and Biography of Sean, such as Biography of Xiang Yu, Biography of Gao Zu, Family of Chen She, Family of Stay Hou, etc. There are few differences between the two books, and this little difference often leads to great problems, as is the case with several words in Hanshu quoted in this paper. For example, the literal meaning of this passage just now is extremely unreasonable. It seems that there is no need to break the customs, and Pei Gong's army can bypass it. What's the use of sending Ziying's army away from the customs? Either it was broken by the attack between Scylla and Charybdis, or it was broken by the battle between Chekov and Qin Jun in the south of Lantian, because it is also called Lantian Pass, and its location is just in the south of Lantian. Obviously, these situations are unreasonable. What the actual situation is, I am afraid, is beyond the explanation of this obviously different recorded text and its dispute. In order to solve these problems, we might as well put the dispute between Wuguan and Guanguan and the communication between Liu and Zhao together for a comprehensive investigation.
First of all, let's compare the specific situation of Guan and Wu. Geographically, Wuguan was the barrier of the old Qin Dynasty. Guanguan is a pass not far from the southwest of Xianyang, the capital of the old Qin Dynasty. Pei Gong's westward expedition to Qin led to the burial of the marquis of Wu, which was recorded in the Historical Records of Zhou Bo's family in Jiang Hou, Cao Jiahe. After Lantian broke Qin, it entered Xianyang to destroy Qin. Judging from the actual occurrence of the war, there should be fierce fighting between Wuguan and Guiguan, and there is no problem of bypassing them. "Cao Guo Xiang's Family" clearly records: "Attack Wuguan in the west and take Shaoguan." The same is true of the record of zhou bo Family after the River. Strategically, the importance of Wuguan is far more than Jiuguan, the gateway of the old Qin State to Chu State, and its position is no less than that of the famous Hangu Pass. Therefore, the defense construction and force allocation of Wuguan are obviously stronger than Guanguan, which is very difficult to overcome. It is precisely because of this that it is necessary to design and break it.
Secondly, the most important thing is time, which is not only related to the survival of the Qin Dynasty, but also related to the reasonable composition of Liu Zhao's communication. From the time point of view, on Liu Bang's side, the capture of Guan Guan and the Lantian War should be stormy, and it is impossible to spend too much time. Liu Bang and his men are eager to capture Xianyang and Qin Dou, which is close at hand. "Cao Jiashi" contains: "Before attacking Lantian South, attacking its North at night, and breaking down, I went to Xianyang to destroy Qin." Visible, liu bang and his men are completely continuous combat, don't give Qin Jun any respite. It is not difficult to draw a conclusion that Guan Yu was captured and surrendered only a few days before and after. In this case, the destruction of martial arts in the biographies of Emperor Gaozu should not be interpreted as the destruction of martial arts. Even from the reign of Zi Ying, the same conclusion will be drawn. Zi Ying, king of Qin, reigned for 46 days. For example, after Liu Bang conquered Wuguan, he contacted Zhao Gao. During this period, a series of events happened, such as Liu Bang's special envoy's trip to Xianyang, Zhao Gao's killing of Xia Houdun and Zi Ying, and Zi Ying's killing of Zhao Gao. I don't know how long it took, but it must have exceeded the capacity of 46 days. However, after Wuguan, Liu Bang's Ministry only met with slight resistance in GuanLantian area. It is unreasonable for Liu Bang and his army, who were eager to pacify the Qin Dynasty, to spend 46 days in such a narrow range. Perhaps other time materials provided by historical books can also be used as circumstantial evidence. The Chronicle of Qin Shihuang said: "Zi Ying was the king of Qin for forty-six days, and General Chu Pei Gong broke Qin Jun into Wuguan, so he went to be king." Biography of Lisi also said: "Since March in Zi Ying, Pei Gong Bing has entered Wuguan." (Note: The Qin calendar was attacked in the early Han Dynasty, and its calendar year began in October. August of the second year of the Han Dynasty to October of the first year is exactly three months. ) These two places clearly put forward that Zi Ying entered Wuguan many times after he acceded to the throne. Is it true that it was only after Zi Ying became the king of Qin that Wu Guan was broken? By the same token, considering this time factor, it is impossible for Zhao Gao to contact Liu Bang again after Wu Guan was broken.
Therefore, the author thinks that the relevant historical facts should be based on Biography of Gaozu, and the record of Sean's design of breaking Wuguan should be Wuguan to the east of Shangxian, not Shaoguan to the south of Lantian. Of course, there is no need to rule out Sean's redesign to break the custom. As for Liu Zhao's contact, it should only happen before Pei Gong's army breached Wuguan. At least at that time, both Liu and Zhao wanted to use each other: Liu Bang was trapped under Wuguan, and he wanted to create chaos for the enemy and divide and disintegrate the Qin camp; Zhao Gao, for killing Qin Ershi, is eager to win foreign aid to consolidate its position. It is this premise that makes it possible for the two sides to contact. But it can be said with certainty that this kind of contact has not brought benefits to both sides, and there is no need to continue. Zhao Gao's emissary met Liu Bang before he conquered Wuguan, but Liu Bang promised nothing. Liu Bang probably thinks this move is unnecessary, not only because Sean has preset a plan for him to break the martial arts barrier, but even this plan is already in progress, and as mentioned above, he has no worries and can act calmly. There is no information that Liu Zhao contacted again after that. That kind of thing is actually impossible, because Zhao Gao was soon killed by Zi Ying. Maybe when Liu Bang met Zhao's envoy, Zhao Gao had been killed. The communication between Liu and Zhao should also be marked by the capture of Wuguan.
In a word, Liu Zhao's contact is an extraordinary behavior that happened in an extraordinary period. In August of the following year, the communication between Liu and Zhao was initiated by Liu Bang. Before the conquest of Wuguan, it ran through Qin Ershi's execution and influenced the whole event, and was finally abolished by Liu Bang. As a floating cloud at the end of Qin dynasty, the emergence and disappearance of Liu Zhao's communication was not transferred by the subjective will of the parties, but was completely controlled by the changes of the whole situation. As long as it is placed in the atmosphere of world competition, it is not difficult to see that it is extremely reasonable and meaningful regardless of its emergence and demise. Limited by the lack of historical materials, what people can see now is only the communication between Liu and Zhao. Even so, it is confusing and inconclusive. As for the essence of communication, its origin, promotion, development, change and even what it is is impossible to know. For such an important issue, people's information and means are extremely limited, which is a great regret for this study.