Sima Qian is the author of Historical Records, and also a famous historian in the Western Han Dynasty. He served as an official who recorded history in the Western Han Dynasty. As an official of the Han Dynasty, Sima Qian classified the biography of Xiang Yu, the greatest enemy of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, as? Ji? This is Xiang Yu in Historical Records.
Sima Qian and Historical Records
In other words, Sima Qian, as an official of the Han Dynasty, publicly acknowledged Xiang Yu's imperial status. Historical Records puts Xiang Yu's Biography before Gao Zu's Biography, just like Five Emperors' Biography, Xia Benji, Yin Benji, Zhou Benji, Qin Benji and Qin Shihuang's Biography.
That is to say, Sima Qian admitted the legitimacy of Xiang Yu in the history of China, otherwise he would not have appeared in Historical Records. Why did Sima Qian include Xiang Yu in the biography that only the emperor can call Ji?
The first reason is that the legitimacy of the Han Dynasty came from Xiang Yu.
Xiang Yu
Generally speaking, a new dynasty must have a source of legitimacy, and the source of legitimacy in the Han Dynasty is that Xiang Yu named Liu Bang as the king of Hanzhong.
At the end of the Qin dynasty, there was chaos in the world. Chen Sheng and Guangwu first opposed the Qin Dynasty, and Liu Bang led the army into Guanzhong, forcing the king of Qin to surrender. Finally, Qin Jun's main force was defeated by Xiang Yu in the Battle of Julu. In fact, the Qin Dynasty was mainly destroyed by Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. After the demise of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu became the Lord of the world in fact and in name, because Xiang Yu became the leader of the vassal-allied forces at the end of the Qin Dynasty with his super meritorious service in destroying Qin Jun.
At the same time, after the demise of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu began to enfeoffment the world. Liu Bang was the first vassal to enter the Guanzhong area and should be crowned as the king of Guanzhong. However, for his own benefit, Xiang Yu did not seal Liu Bang in Guanzhong area, but sealed Liu Bang in Hanzhong area, which looked poor, backward and remote at that time, and named Liu Bang the king of Hanzhong. After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu in the Chu-Han War, did Liu Bang still use the title? Han? And this Han is a small bag sent by Xiang Yu. Without Xiang Yu's enfeoffment, Liu Bang's title is not necessarily Han, so there may be no Han Dynasty in China's history.
Xiang Yu and Liu Bang
After the demise of the Qin Dynasty, there was a short time when the world was ruled by the Western Chu State of Xiang Yu, that is, during the Chu-Han War between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu for four years, this history could not be blank. Although Chu and Han contend, Chu is in the front and Han is in the back, but Chu Dahan is small. After Liu Bei destroyed Xiang Yu, he occupied all the territories in the world, which was tantamount to inheriting the territory of the Western Chu State. Therefore, Liu Bang's legitimacy must come from Xiang Yu.
The second reason: Xiang Yu is the overlord of the western Chu Dynasty.
The overlord of Xi is a title invented by Xiang Yu, which means the Xi Chu Dynasty of Xiang Yu. The dynasty of Xi Chu had two monarchs, the first was Chu Huaiwang Xiong Xin, the righteous emperor killed by Xiang Yu, and the second was Xiang Yu, the overlord of Xi Chu. Xi Chu is a dynasty between Qin and Han dynasties in history, with only four short years.
Xi Chu overlord Xiang Yu
The word overlord comes from the Spring and Autumn Period, which means a powerful vassal. For example, being the first overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period is equivalent to being a powerful vassal who maintained the whole world order for Zhou in the Spring and Autumn Period. He was a special vassal and of course an emperor. Xiang Yu is the overlord of the place of Chu, and he is also equivalent to the overlord of the place of Chu. Since he is the emperor, of course, he can be written into the historical records? Ji? Medium.
In historical records, the princes under the system of enfeoffment and the emperors under the system of counties and counties are actually emperors. The only difference is the political system, and the biographies of princes are based on? Ji? Generally speaking, the emperors under the enfeoffment system before Qin Shihuang were all listed in the same discipline in the name of dynasties. For example, Zhou Benji is the biography of all Zhou emperors, while Qin Benji is the biography of all Qin kings before Qin Shihuang unified the world. After Qin Shihuang unified the world, another emperor was established as a biography, and Xiang Yu was the first emperor after Qin Shihuang, so he took punishment.