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In 206 BC, in February of the first year of Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu carved up 18 vassal state on the land of China by virtue of his overwhelming military superiority, restored the feudal regime in the pre-Qin Dynasty, and then became the overlord of the western Chu, returning to Chu with a large number of jewels, possessions and beautiful women, and making Pengcheng (now Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province) its capital.

Repair the plank road

In April, Hanwang Liu Bangxin went to Hanzhong to defect to the country with dissatisfaction. Burn the plank road on the way to prevent the vassal army from pursuing the sneak attack, and show that there is no intention to move eastward. To paralyze Xiang Yu; It was also during this period that Xiang Yu moved Chu Huaiwang to Chenzhou in the south on the grounds that the emperor wanted to live in the upper reaches of the river, and took the opportunity to send Ying Bu to ambush the team of the king of Chu in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River, resulting in the death of Yidi. This move marks the final rupture of the buffer zone between the two major groups in Liu Xiang, and the two sides have already torn their faces. In May, Tian Rong, a Qi man, rebelled against Chu, annexed Sanqi and became the king of Qi, so Xiang Yu chose to send troops to attack Qi and pacify the unstable factors that threatened him.

Hanguguan Mode in Qin Dynasty

In July, Xiang Yu clearly realized that when the main force marched northward to attack Qi, Liu Bang was very likely to take the opportunity to arise and break his preset blockade. Liu Bang first attacked the Qin area, and Xiang Yu's main force was pinned down by the battlefield of Qi State, so it was impossible for Liu Bang to go to Xiliang for rescue when he attacked Sanqin. So, Xiang Yu settled for second best, immediately killed Han Cheng, the king of Korea who had a good relationship with Liu Bang Group, and changed Zheng Chang into the king of Korea, establishing a solid border barrier to resist Liu Bang's possible eastward advance. South Korea, centered on Xinzheng and Xingyang, is located just east of Hanguguan Passage in Xiaoshan. It was the main export of Qin's power to the east and the first political power in Shandong during the Warring States Period. During the Guangwu Uprising in Chen Sheng, it was also here that Guangwu's army was hindered from westward expedition to Guanzhong. Now, Qin is the first line of defense to stop Liu Bang from going north, and South Korea is the second line of defense to stop the rise of Liu Bang's forces.

Liu's situation map

At the same time, Sima Chen, the king of Yin Ping, set up a defense line in North Korea, sent Long Qie to set up a defense line in North Korea to resist other vassal armies that might go south from North Road, and sent troops to guard near Xia Chendi to stop Liu Bang from going south, thus forming a fan-shaped defense line centered on South Korea.

Xiang Yu's old subordinate, King Jiujiang's motherland is located in the land of southern Chu, and is highly anticipated by the overlord of Chu. When he found that Liu Bang and the vassal's army were advancing eastward, he ordered Ying Bu to attack from the north wing. Xiang Yu believes that even if the Han army can break through the fan-shaped defense system built with South Korea as the center and then attack Pengcheng, the capital of China, as long as Ying Bu is deployed in the rear, it will be foolproof.

Schematic diagram of dark warehouse II. Liu bang's breakthrough

In August, just as Xiang Yu was attacking Qi in the north, during the empty gap period of the rear base, Liu Bang listened to the advice of General Han Xin and made up his mind to raid Guanzhong and compete with Xiang Yu in the east. In August, Liu Bang took Han Xin as the general, Cao Can and Fan Li as the pioneers, and sent troops from Nanzheng (now east of Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province) to confuse Zhang Han, the king of Yong, with the plan of "bedding, sneaking out and attacking Chen Cang in Zhang Han's territory (now east of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province)". Zhang Han came to the rescue from the abandoned hill in Yongdu (now Xingping, Shaanxi Province), and was defeated by the Han army, and retreated to the abandoned hill and Artemisia branch (now East of Ganxian County, Shaanxi Province) respectively. The Han army pursued a 56-point attack, divided into two ways, and defeated Zhang Hanjun in Rangdong (now southeast of Shaanxi Wugong) and Haozhi successively, and then retreated to the barren hills surrounded by the remnants of Zhang Han. After a long siege, the next year, Han Xin diverted water to fill the city, which greatly destroyed Zhang Han.

Qin Han

At the same time, the Han army soldiers attacked the city in multiple ways. He led an army to attack Lacquer County (now Binxian County, Shaanxi Province), broke the headquarters of Zhang Ping and Yao Yin, captured Ji (now Longxian County, Shaanxi Province) and Long (now Gansu Province), and returned to the army to conquer Tan (now East Weihe River, Meixian County, Shaanxi Province) and Pinyang (now Fuping County, Shaanxi Province). Jinyun and Li Shangjun captured Longxi (county ruled Didao, now Lintao, Gansu) and Beidi (county ruled Yiqu, now Ningxian, Gansu) and other counties; Guan Ying soldiers arrived in Liyang (Saidu, now Fuping, Shaanxi), forcing Saiwang Sima Xin to surrender. The Han army continued to go deep into the north, and arrived at the Supreme County (the county ruled the skin, now Nanyuhe Fort in Yulin, Shaanxi Province), and Dong Kun, the king of Zhai, also chose to surrender. At this point, the Han army captured most of Guanzhong and achieved the strategic goal of pacifying the Three Qin Dynasties. The two lines of defense set by Xiang Yu for Liu Bang were quickly broken by Liu Bang.

Geographical distribution of Sanqin

After Liu Bang captured the Three Qin Dynasties, he gained the geographical advantage of the Qin State in the Warring States period, which was based on solid trust and held the land of Yongzhou. He also obtained the land with relatively closed Guanzhong and superior agricultural conditions, which won him a relatively stable rear area and formed a strategic dive to the eastern princes. The Ministry of Life ordered Xue Ou to March out of Wuguan to Chu, and was blocked by the south wing of Chu's fan-shaped defense line in Yang Xia (now Taikang, Henan).

Qi jun

At this time, Xiang Yu was caught in the quagmire of guerrilla warfare in Tiki Tian Rong. When Xiang Yu fought Qin in his early years, he fought with his uncle because he refused to send troops to help the Chu army, and there were a lot of massacres recorded. This time, because of the trouble of the Qi army, Xiang Yu's tyrannical wildness broke out again. Can't fight for a long time, murderous. It is clearly written in the history books that Xiang Yu's war against Qi was almost a massacre, a slight massacre. Xiang Yu hoped to subdue Qi by means of terror, but the resistance of Qi army was still not completely eliminated.

Schematic diagram of Xiang Yu princes

Liu bang moved eastward. In the case of being attacked on both sides, Xiang Yu thought that the western defense attack could be resisted for a while, and it was safe to have Ying Bu's side to deal with it. Therefore, Xiang Yu intends to adopt the strategic deployment of taking Qi first and then Han, and continue to attack Qi. Liu bang once again seized the fighter plane, consolidated Guanzhong, expanded his power, and personally led the army out of Shaanxi County (now Sanmenxia City, Henan Province) and eastward. He forcibly landed in Shenyang, the king of Henan, and at the same time incited Han Xin, the prime minister of South Korea (with the same name as General Han Xin, the royal family of South Korea), to rebel, and fought with Zheng Chang, the king of South Korea, and even pulled out more than ten cities. Zheng Chang, the king of Korea, was forced to land in Han, and Liu Bang was changed to the king of Korea. The Korean defense line wavered, which led to the rapid disintegration of Xiang Yu's fan-shaped defense system with South Korea as the core. Later, he joined Wei's army. Liu Bang defeated South Korea, and then captured Sima An, the ancestor of Sima Qian, the king of Yin, and quickly occupied the vast areas of central and southern Henan and Shanxi, resulting in a favorable situation of eastward advancement. Xiang Yu's carefully designed western defense line began to loosen. The third direction set by Xiang Yu was disintegrated. Three. Liu Bangdong Zheng

In April of two years, Liu Bang took advantage of the stalemate between the two armies of Qi and Chu, took Xiang Yu's killing of Yidi as an excuse, took revenge for Yidi as a politically correct banner, contacted local governors, led 560,000 five-way allied forces, claimed to be a million heroes, and marched eastward to Chu.

The five princes at that time were Wei, Sima An, Wang Shenyang, Sima Xin and Zhai Wang Dongming. In addition, when Liu Bang's allied forces captured Cheng Peng, Peng Yue also took advantage of the fish in troubled waters and attacked Chu from the south of Emperor Liang. This road should not belong to a former five-way vassal.

Liu bang divided the troops into three roads, and the middle route army was personally commanded by Liu bang. Will be Sean, Chen Ping, Lv Ze, Zhang Er, Lu Wan, Xia Houying, and the five-way vassal army, straight out of the East Gate, straight for Cheng Peng. The Northern Route Army led by Cao Can and Guan Ying joined forces with Chen Yujun and the Middle Route Army to attack Pengcheng, cutting off the contact line between Xiang Yu and Chu in Qi. The South Route Army was drawn from Guanzhong by Xue Ou and Wang, and went out of Wuguan to take Wan, attacked and entered Pengcheng in the east. General Han Xin missed the battle because he continued to stay in Zhang Han, Guanzhong, and did not take part in the peak confrontation with Xiang Yu.

When Liu Bang's allied forces marched eastward, King Jiujiang, who had high hopes from Xiang Yu, did nothing. I don't know if I'm afraid of 560,000 troops, but Ying Bu has been on hold, secretly observing. Then Liu Bang's army of about 500,000 troops moved in. Except for the South Route Army of Xiang Yu in the history books, all other roads failed, and Liu Bang won a great victory. Liu Bang's allied forces quickly occupied most of the territory of Western Chu north of the Yangtze River and captured Pengcheng, the capital of Chu in the plain area. After entering Pengcheng, Liu Bang was busy occupying Xiang Yu's harem and collecting Chu's treasures, but this was only a superficial action. Liu bang is very sober. At the same time, the headquarters was ordered to immediately step up the construction of fortifications on the east and west sides of Pengcheng facing Qi, and prepare for the elite troops brought back by Xiang Yu from the battlefield of Qi.

Xiang Yu once fought hard in Qi State.

In this way, Xiang Yu, who was still far away from the rebellion of Qi and Guo Ping, fell into an unprecedented crisis. First of all, Chu is facing the pressure of third-line operations, and its strength is very different. In addition, Xiang Yu fell behind the State of Qi and went deep alone, while Liu Bang's army used fortifications to resist Li's Chu army. Finally, in his feudal country, almost all his allies betrayed, either surrendering to Liu Bang and attacking Chu, or waiting for death and watching the tiger fight.

However, in this extremely unfavorable situation, after learning that Chu was occupied, Xiang Yu immediately made a decision: under the condition of strictly blocking the news and preventing the army from shaking, the generals led the army to continue to pacify Qi as a means to confuse Liu Bang. He personally led 30,000 soldiers to bypass the rear of Pengcheng, lured Liu Bang with Pengcheng as bait, and then attacked the rear of Liu Bang. Liu bang has occupied an absolute advantage at this time, while Xiang Yu has no advantage in terms of time, place and people. Moreover, Liu Bang's entire strategic cloth itself is relatively complete.

But this is the case. Xiang Yu resolutely led 30 thousand chosen men out of Qixi, around the northwest of Chu, and then down from the southwest. He took the route of Yang Du-Qiyang-Philadelphia-Lu Xian County, quietly bypassed Liu Bangjun's supply column and the marching queue of the follow-up troops from the west, and avoided the vigilance of Liu Bangjun on the east and west sides of Cheng Peng. He stayed up all night, almost. After finally arriving in Xiaoxian, Xiang Yu was in no hurry to launch an attack, but waited for Liu Bang to complete the assembly of all 560,000 troops under Pengcheng.

Xiang Yu cavalry four. Xiang Yu's chariots and troops

Xiang Yu assembled 30,000 elites. These people ambushed in Xiaoxian County before Liu Bangjun completed the rally under Pengcheng. They made the best use of their mobility, so quietly passed through Liu Bang's subsequent columns that it was reasonable to use cavalry and chariot soldiers. In Shang Dynasty before Qin Dynasty, there was early riding in Central Plains. By the Warring States period, all countries had formed cavalry units. Among them, the ancestors of Qin State and Zhao State were the herdsmen and commanders of the imperial army of Shang Dynasty, so they had natural advantages in communicating with the grassland people, learning riding and foreign culture. After riding and hunting, Zhao's mausoleum planned to attack Xianyang from the south with cavalry. The battle of Changping, with cavalry as a surprise attack, staged Zhao Liangdao. Cavalry is playing an increasingly important role in the battlefield.

Chu cavalry can fight hand-to-hand

Cavalry raid

However, due to the lack of unified command between the ministries during the pursuit, and the fact that Chu cavalry constantly disturbed the formation of the allied forces along the way, the formation of the allied forces in Gu and Surabaya was completely chaotic, and the terrain here was more suitable for cavalry operations. After arriving here, all the cavalry of the Chu army launched an all-out attack. Chu soldiers attacked the middle of the Coalition forces, and cavalry attacked the two wings. Based on the chaotic formation of the enemy, they constantly divided the pursued enemy-annihilated and then cut-and then destroyed, destroying hundreds of thousands of Coalition forces. The fighting will of the allied forces collapsed. Seeing this soberness, Xiang Yu led the army in pursuit and pressed the cavalry to the south. In order to survive, the chaotic Coalition forces fled south desperately and fled to the water east of Lingbi, further south. When he arrived here, Xiang Yu once again launched a powerful group impact. As soon as the enemy retreated, they retreated and pressed, and rows were squeezed into the water. In this way, the allies killed each other and drowned 100 people. In the past, a steady stream of water was blocked by the body!

Chu cavalry has great advantages over Liu cavalry.

The battle of Pengcheng is a classic victory of a few elite cavalry against a huge infantry regiment. Xiang Yu was confused by the main force and the cavalry rushed far away. He unexpectedly attacked the rear of Liu Bang's allied forces and defeated 560,000 of them, including nearly 300,000 who were killed and drowned, nearly100,000 who were chased by deserters, and all the rest fled in flight. The cavalry's superb maneuverability, silent concealment, sudden fighting, driving, impacting, dividing and squeezing, all the tactical performances of the cavalry have been absolutely perfect in this campaign. This is a classic battle in the history of China.