In November of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.), the soldiers of the princes had served in Qin and were whipped by the Qin soldiers, but now the Qin soldiers surrendered to the princes, and the princes and soldiers all drove the Qin soldiers as slaves, causing the dissatisfaction of the Qin soldiers and secretly making plans. When the princes heard about the Qin soldiers' strategy, they told Xiang Yu, who convened Duo Bu, General Pu and others to discuss, thinking that there were many Qin soldiers, and if they did not obey the order after entering the customs, it would cause a very big disaster. So, Xiang Yu killed more than 200,000 Qin soldiers overnight in the south of Xin'an City.

Divide the vassals

After Xiang Yu eliminated the main force of the Qin army, he led the princes' army to advance to the pass, marched to the Hangu Pass, found that there were soldiers guarding the pass, Xiang Yu's army could not pass, and heard that Liu Bang had broken through Xianyang, Xiang Yu was furious, and sent Dangyang Jun to break through the Hangu Pass, 400,000 troops were stationed in Xinfeng Hongmen, and Liu Bang's army was stationed in Bashang.

Liu Bangzuo Sima Cao sent someone to tell Xiang Yu that Liu Bang wanted to be the king in Guanzhong, and used Ziying as the phase, and all the treasures were possessed. Fan Zeng also told Xiang Yu that Liu Bang was greedy for money and lustful when he was in Shandong, but after entering the customs, he did not take money and women, and his ambitions were not small, so he should be killed as soon as possible.

Xiang Yu's uncle Xiang Bo had a friendly relationship with Zhang Liang under Liu Bang, and went to Liu Bangjun to see Zhang Liang overnight, trying to persuade Zhang Liang to escape, but was won over by Zhang Liang. After Xiang Bo came back, he told Xiang Yu that Liu Bang had made great achievements in attacking Xianyang, and if attacking him was an unrighteous act, Xiang Yu agreed.

Liu Bang led more than 100 cavalry to see Xiang Yu the next day, and Fan Zeng hinted that Xiang Yu killed Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu couldn't bear it and couldn't do it silently. So, Fan Zeng asked Xiang Zhuang to dance his sword during the banquet, waiting for an opportunity to assassinate Liu Bang, and Xiang Bo also drew his sword and danced to block Xiang Zhuang. Seeing this, Zhang Liang went to the military gate to find Fan Xu.

Fan Hao forcibly entered the account and made a statement to Xiang Yu, but Xiang Yu was speechless. So Liu Bang waited for an opportunity to escape. He left Zhang Liang to dedicate the white jade bucket to Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, and on the pretext of going to the toilet, he threw down the car and rode, and only took Fan Xu, Xiahou Ying and others to escape back to Bashang from Lishan Road. Xiang Yu accepted Bai Bi and put it on the table, but Fan Zeng threw the jade bucket on the ground and drew his sword to cut it, sighing: "The person who won Xiang Yu's world must be Liu Bang." ”

After Xiang Yu entered Xianyang, he led the troops to slaughter Xianyang, killed the prince of Qin, burned the palace of Qin, the fire burned for three months without extinguishing, collecting treasures and beauties to prepare to return to Jiangdong, some people persuaded Xiang Yu that Guanzhong was rich and could become a king. But Xiang Yu saw that the palace of King Qin had been destroyed, and he was eager to return to Jiangdong, so he didn't listen. The man said again, they all said that the Chu people were cruel, and that was indeed the case. When Xiang Yu heard this, he killed that person.

After obtaining the consent of King Huai of Chu, Xiang Yu established himself as the overlord of Western Chu, named Liu Bang as the king of Han, Zhang Han as the king of Yong, Sima Xin as the king of Sai, Dong Peng as the king of Zhai, Wei Wang Bao as the king of Western Wei, Shenyang as the king of Henan, Sima Weiyin as the king, Zhao Wang Xie as the acting king, Zhang Er as the king of Changshan, Dangyang Jun Yingbu as the king of Jiujiang, Wu Rui as the king of Hengshan, Gongao as the king of Linjiang, Yan Wang Han Guang as the king of Liaodong, Zang Tu [zāngshū] as the king of Yan, Qi Wang Tianshi as the king of Jiaodong, Tiandu as the king of Qi, Tian An as the king of Jibei and other eighteen princes and kings.

Battle of Pengcheng

Xiang Yu finished dividing the princes, the princes went to the feudal country, Xiang Yu moved Emperor Yi to Chenxian County, Changsha, and secretly ordered Wu Rui, the king of Hengshan, and the king of Linjiang to kill Emperor Yi on the way.

In August of the first year of the Han Dynasty (206 BC), the princes of Qi and Zhao rebelled, Xiang Yu led the army to quell the rebellion, heard that Liu Bang had been set in the pass, he was very angry, named Zheng Chang as the king of Han, and sent him to block Liu Bang, so that Xiao Gongjiao blocked Peng Yue. After Peng Yue defeated Xiao Gongjiao, Zhang Liang pretended to be a letter to Xiang Yu as King of Han, saying that Liu Bang only wanted to win Guanzhong and would not use troops to the east, and pretended to be King of Qi and Wang Liang to Xiang Yu and said that King Zhun Ben of Qi and King Liang worked together to destroy the state of Chu. So Xiang Yu was relieved to attack the Qi State. Xiang Yu recruited Yingbu, the king of Jiujiang, but Yingbutuo was ill and sent his generals to lead only a few thousand people, so Xiang Yu resented Yingbu.

In the winter of the second year of the Han Dynasty (205 BC), Xiang Yu went north to Chengyang, Tian Rong led his troops to fight, but was defeated by Xiang Yu, Tian Rong fled to the plains, and was killed by the people of the plains. Xiang Yu burned down the houses of Qi and killed all the soldiers. The captive men, women, old and children were all moved to Beihai, with countless casualties, so the people of Qi gathered together to rebel, Tian Heng took the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of Qi soldiers to counterattack Chengyang, and Xiang Yu could not attack it for a long time.

Liu Bang led the five princes with 560,000 soldiers and horses, and attacked Chu to the east. After Liu Bang captured Pengcheng, he collected treasures and beauties and held a banquet. Xiang Yu led the army from the morning to fight from the west to the east from Xiao County, and at noon to Pengcheng, breaking Liu Bang's army and killing more than 100,000 Han soldiers. Liu Bangjun fled to Nanshan, Xiang Yu led the army to chase to the east of Lingbi to block, and the Han soldiers fell into Suishui more than 100,000, and Suishui did not flow. Xiang Yu surrounded Liu Bang on three floors, but was disrupted by a gust of wind, and Liu Bang took the opportunity to lead dozens of cavalry to escape.

Battle of Pengcheng

Liu Bang fled to Xiayi, collected the defeated and scattered to Xingyang, and the defeated armies from all walks of life came to rendezvous, Xiao He also mobilized the people who were not registered in Guanzhong to come to Liu Bang, and Liu Bang's army was revived. Xiang Yu took advantage of the victory to fight, but he could not win. After Liu Bang's defeat in Pengcheng, the princes rebelled against Liu Bang and attached themselves to Xiang Yu.

In the third year of the Han Dynasty (204 B.C.), Liu Bang built Yongdao in Xingyang to cross the river to get grain from Aodi, Xiang Yu's army invaded Yongdao many times, Liu Bangjun could not obtain grain and grass supplements, and was very afraid, so he negotiated peace with Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu agreed.

Divide and negotiate

At Fan Zeng's suggestion, Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng besieged Xingyang, intending to eliminate Liu Bang. Liu Bang was very frightened, and adopted Chen Ping's strategy to drive a wedge between Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, and Xiang Yu deprived Fan Zeng of his rights. Fan Zeng didn't expect Xiang Yu to suspect that he had colluded with Liu Bang, and he was very angry, so he returned to his hometown, but died of illness on the way.

Xiang Yu besieged Liu Bang in Xingyang on all sides, Liu Bang's army was very critical, and the general Ji Xin led two thousand troops to pretend to be Liu Bang out of the city in a yellow car, saying that Liu Bang was willing to surrender, Xiang Yu rushed to see Ji Xin and asked where Liu Bang was, Ji Xin said that Liu Bang had fled, and Xiang Yu burned Ji Xin to death.

In the fourth year of the Han Dynasty (203 BC), Xiang Yu captured Xingyang and executed Xingyang's guards Zhou Cao and Fang Gong. And Liu Bang went to Wan and Ye, and sent people to persuade Yingbu to betray Xiang Yu and enter Chenggao. When Xiang Yu learned about it, he quickly led his troops to attack, captured Chenggao, and marched all the way west. Liu Bang fled to Gongxian and sent heavy troops to block it, but Xiang Yu was unable to advance.

At this time, Peng Yue crossed the river to attack Dong'e, Chu defeated Xue Gong's soldiers and died, Xiang Yu personally led the army to attack Peng Yue, Peng Yue was defeated, but Cheng Gao was taken by Liu Bang. Xiang Yu returned to the army and confronted Liu Bang in Guangwu and held each other for several months.