Recently, I carefully read the biographies of Xiang Yu and Emperor Gaozu in Sima Qian's Historical Records. I think I have to talk about my new feelings.
Xiang Yu is naturally a hero. Natural divine power, "Wuzhong children are afraid of it." His ambition is lofty and lofty. One day, when the late emperor visited Huiji, Xiang Yu blurted out, "This man can take his place!" " His uncle Xiang Liang was very surprised. Since then, there have been many followers. Burn one's bridges, save Zhao and break Qin, and make the princes "dare not look up." And the self-styled overlord of the West Chu, the kings rebelled, and also saw their bravery: crusade against things, fight in the north and south, be in a dilemma, and be tired of the unknown. He kept his word, because he agreed to Xiang Bo's suggestion to "meet" Liu Bang, and he let Liu Bang off the net at the Hongmen banquet regardless of his father's "three who showed it". After the defeat of Wujiang, he refused to board the lifeboat of Wujiang Tingchang. Facing the jungle behind him, he smiled at death and was very brave. A real soldier will not be intimidated.
Hero Xiang Yu finally committed suicide and died ... A sad song rang out in his ear: "When you rise from the mountain and make the world angry, you will be immortal." What if you don't fold? what can I do? "Xiang Yu attributed his failure to bad luck until his death. However, is it really just bad luck?
Some people say that Xiang Yu's biggest mistake was that he didn't listen to his adviser Fan Zeng at the Hongmen banquet, and even set the tiger free, which led to the final failure. I really don't agree with this statement.
After reading the history books carefully, we will clearly find that there are extremely serious defects in Xiang Yu's character: lofty but short-sighted; He is vain, and there is no lack of self-satisfied small-scale peasant consciousness; Everything is brave first, wisdom is behind, cruelty is more than enough, and kindness is not enough; Lack of leadership advice and magnanimous temperament. This determines his life. He should be just an all-powerful general, but he has no bearing of the emperor. His real mistake is not whether he killed Liu Bang, but his weakness. Even if he killed Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, he would be defeated by Zhang Bang, Wang Bang and Li Bang in the future. ...
Don't you believe it? Let's take a look at several small fragments in Historical Records:
Shinhan led the troops to defect. Xiang Yu did not give good supervision to surrender, but turned it into his own use. But because of fear of refusing to accept surrender, he "killed more than 200 thousand people in the pit at night."
When Xinfeng Hongmen heard that Liu Bang was going to be king in Guanzhong, Xiang Yu was furious and wanted to crush Liu Bang10,000,000 troops with 400,000 troops. Liu Bang was afraid that he would woo Xiang Bo, the father of Xiang Yu's Jishi family. He bowed in praise of Wang Xiang. Xiang Yu was obviously complacent and quite proud, so he listened to Xiang Bo and "met" Liu Bang. This is the eternal regret of Fan Zeng's "Counting is king" and "King must be silent" at the Hongmen banquet.
After entering the customs. Xiang Yu "marched west to slaughter Xianyang, killed Qin, and burned Qin Gong. In March, the fire did not go out, and the woman took it from the east. " Let the Qin people down.
Eliminate Qin. Someone advised Xiang Yu: "Guanzhong is cut off by mountains and rivers, and the land is rich and fertile, but it can dominate." At this time, Xiang Yu turned to the East and said, "If a man is rich and doesn't return to his hometown, it is like dressing up at night. Who knows? " Seeing that Xiang Yu was so short-sighted and disheartened, the admonisher said, "People say that Chu people' bathe monkeys and crown their ears', and it really happened." Hearing this, Xiang Yu was furious. "Cook the speaker."
In the winter of the second year of Han Dynasty. Due to improper sealing, Tian Rong rebelled. After Xiang Yu's rebellion, "Tian Rong, who was all in the pit, vowed to surrender to the death and took the old, weak, women and children to Beihai, where he destroyed a lot."
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There is no need to enumerate such examples.
Xiang Yu's character weakness runs through his life, and he seems to have no intention to change it, which is incredible for a hero with great ambitions and ideals. His growth process is only a brave growth history, but he ignores the pursuit and shaping of higher-level personality. His failure is inevitable. Although Sima Qian pitifully included it in his biographical records, he was just a powerful warrior.
Look at Liu Bang again. He is naturally cunning, glib and boastful, much like a gangster. "Don't worry about your family's homework" and "Good wine and lust". His background is extremely ordinary, his parents' names are unknown to the world, and of course he is not as good as Xiang Yu's descendants. In the eyes of people who have always attached importance to the aura and background, Liu Bang seemed dim, which made Liu Bang fall into a subordinate position when he first started fighting. But Liu Bang has his own way. Cunning and smooth is not a leader's temperament, but Pei Gong is good at constantly improving himself. He compared himself to the "new Ling Jun", thus setting himself a high level in life. He often unconsciously imitates Xin's way of life and behavior, adding rationality and ingenuity to his character and making his life a life of continuous improvement. Therefore, he is respected by the villagers.
What good qualities did Liu Bang learn from Xin Lingjun? I think nothing more than the following points:
First, the weaving method is extremely clever. According to the present statement, he is good at speculating people's psychology according to the situation, lubricating interpersonal relationships, having strong cohesion, and being able to attract others for their own use.
According to historical records, after Liu Bangxian entered the customs, Xiang Yu heard the news and wanted to attack it. At that time, Liu Bang thought, 100,000 troops were defeated by Xiang Yu's 40,000 troops, and he was eager to win over Xiang Bo, the father of Xiang Yu's season, and respectfully "served his brother" and "was ordered" to talk about marriage. Xiang Bo urged Xiang Yu to "meet" Liu Bang, and drew his sword and danced with Xiang Zhuang at the Hongmen banquet, so that Fan Zeng's plan to kill "China" was a complete failure!
On the surface, Liu Bang doesn't seem to have any special talents, but his subordinates are brilliant. Xiao He, Han Xin and Chen Ping are all loyal to their work. Even Sean, who thinks highly of himself, admires people and says, "This is almost a repeatable talent." As a "prodigal son" from a civilian background, it is impossible to unite a large number of talented counselors and generals to work for it.
The second is tolerance, kindness and generosity.
Contrary to Xiang Yu's "bankrupt" behavior, Liu Bang was more measured in doing things. The elders of Chu praised him and said, "Pei Gong is also an elder." According to historical records, in the early ten years of Han Dynasty, Pei Gongbing was first a vassal and then a tyrant. Zi Ying, the king of Qin, rode on a white horse, tied his neck to form a ball, sealed the emperor Jeff, and set off. The generals still defeated the king of Qin with words. Pei Gong said, "At first, I was sent by the king to be tolerant, but people have come down and killed me, which is an ominous sign." So the king of Qin became an official and went west to Xianyang.
After Xiang Yu's defeat, Liu Bang buried Xiang Yu's lonely city with him. "Hanwang wail away. Hanwang doesn't punish Xiangzi's branches. "
The third is to be calm when things go wrong, and like to defeat the enemy without fighting.
Chu and Han have been fighting for a long time. Xiang Yu once said to Liu Bang, "People of several years old in the world are willing to challenge Hanwang with my ears." Hanwang thanked him with a smile and said, "I would rather fight for wisdom than strength." Liu bang naturally won't do such a stupid thing.
When attacking Wancheng, in order to avoid the disadvantages of storming and damaging soldiers, Liu Bang listened to Chen Hui's suggestion and appointed Xu Yuan as Yin Hou (equivalent to Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong now). Later, Liu Bang used this method to lead troops to the Western Expedition. "No one is inferior."
The fourth is perseverance and self-denial. After Liu Bang entered the customs, he remonstrated with Fan Kuai and sealed Qin's heavy property in the state treasury without taking a penny. And publicly announced: "My father has suffered from Qin's harsh laws for a long time ... I am here to kill pests for my father, without any violence or fear!" At the same time, send people to all counties and villages to publicize. The Qin people were overjoyed and offered cattle, sheep and wine to entertain the sergeant. Pei Gong refused, saying, "There are many corn in the warehouse, so I don't want to waste people." In this way, the Qin people are even happier, lest Pei Gong should not be king. Clever Fan Zeng saw this clearly: "When Pei Gong lived in Shandong, he was greedy for money and goods, so he loved Maggie. Now he has entered the customs, but he has nothing to take. Women are lucky. This ambition is not small. " Liu bang's nature is also greedy for money and lust, but in order to achieve his goal, he became very restrained. This is in sharp contrast with Xiang Yu's "woman who collects her wealth and treasures" after each siege and siege.
"The big bank doesn't care about the details, and the big gift does not hesitate to make small concessions." In order to achieve great things, Liu Bang can often endure considerable pain and make amazing moves. When Chu and Han confronted Xingyang, Xiang Yu wanted to cook Liu Bang's father and forced him to retreat. Liu bang actually said: we are already brothers, and my father is your father. If you want to cook your father, "you will be lucky to share a part of it." Xiang Yu was so angry that he threatened to bankrupt the plan.
To sum up, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang in the hegemony have the same ambition to unify the whole country, and Xiang Yu's talent is also better than Liu Bang's. It's a pity that he doesn't pay attention to self-management, and he is always angry and unrestrained. This is the taboo of success. On the contrary, Liu Bang was mediocre at first, but he was good at perfecting himself in the process of pursuing his goals, demanding himself with high standards, cultivating excellent qualities and restraining undesirable elements in his nature. His success is not accidental, not just luck.