The social status of the family
Xiang Yu's grandfather, Xiang Yan, was a famous Chu, who was killed in the Chu War. Many of his ancestors, Shi Xiang, were also generals of the State of Chu.
Early Xiang Yu
"Historical Records of Xiang Yu" said that Xiang Yu "failed to learn books and swords when he was young. Uncle Xiang Liang was dissatisfied with him and said, "Books are enough to register surnames. The sword is an enemy, and it is not enough to learn. We should learn from 10,000 enemies. "So Xiang Liang taught him the art of war, and Xiang Yu refused to continue learning after learning a little. Later, because Xiang Liang killed someone, he fled to Wuzhong (now southern Jiangsu) with Xiang Yu to escape his enemies. During Qin Shihuang's inspection tour, Xiang Yu and Xiang Liang watched the emperor's inspection tour together. Xiang Yu said, "You can replace him", which scared Xiang Liang to cover his mouth. From then on, Xiang Liang showed great respect for Yu.
Arise against Qin
In July of the first year of Qin Ershi (209 BC), Guangwu and Chen Sheng rose up against Qin. In September, the magistrate of Huiji proposed to oppose Qin, and consulted with Xiang Liang. However, Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu killed the satrap of Huiji, and they fought against Qin alone in the deployment. Soon, 8,000 elite soldiers assembled. Xiang Liang was appointed ShouJiang, Xiang Yu was appointed general. Later, Xiang Liang led 8,000 people to cross the river, and some anti-Qin troops joined, increasing their strength to 670,000 and entering Xiapi. Xiang Liang adopted Fan Zeng's suggestion, found Chu Huaiwang's Sun Mi-xin among the people, made him king of Chu, and respected the king, so as to win the hearts and minds of Chu people.
the Battle of Julu
Xiang Liang was later killed by Zhang Han, the general of the Qin Dynasty, in the battle of Dingtao. So, Zhang Han led an army to attack Zhao and defeated Zhao's army. Zhao Wangzhao retreated to Julu (also known as Julu). After the defeat of Ding Tao, Chu Huaiwang moved to Pengcheng and appointed Yi Song as the general. Xiang Yu will lead the troops to save Zhao and seal the title for the public. After Song Yijun arrived in Anyang, he stayed there for 46 days. Xiang Yu suggested sending troops, but Yi Song refused to accept it, so Xiang Yu was killed. The generals of Chu army did not dare to resist Xiang Yu, so Xiang Yu became a fake general. Xiang Yu sent someone to report to Wang Huai, and Wang Huai appointed Xiang Yu as the general. Xiang Yu invaded Julu and defeated Qin Jun in the Battle of Julu in 207. Other anti-Qin vassal armies are welcome. Xiang Yu became the general of the princes and the commander-in-chief of the armies of the princes. Zhang Han, the general of Qin, later led his troops to surrender to Xiang Yu, who was worried about the mutiny, so he ordered the Chu army to kill more than 200,000 soldiers in Qin Jun in the south of Xin 'an overnight, but did not kill Zhang Han, Sima Xin, the king of Qin, and Dong Kun, a surname.
Enter Guanzhong
Xiang Yu continued to March into Guanzhong, but Pei Gong Liu Bang had already taken the lead in occupying Xianyang and Qin Dou. Liu Bang's subordinate Sajima Cao Wushang sent someone to see Xiang Yu and said, "Pei Gong wants to be the king of Guanzhong, make Zi Ying as the phase, and have all kinds of treasures." Xiang Yu flew into a rage. At that time, Xiang Yu commanded 400,000 troops, while Liu Bang had only100,000 troops. Fan Zeng lobbied Xiang Yu to get rid of Liu Bang. Xiang Yu invited Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, but he didn't kill him during the dinner. Liu Bang left safely, and later generations called this banquet "Hongmen Banquet". In the first 206 years, Xiang Yu entered Xianyang, killed Qin, descended and burned Qin Gong.
Self-reliance is king.
At this time, someone persuaded Xiang Yu to stay in Guanzhong, which could be successful, but Xiang Yu did not intend to stay in Guanzhong. Although Xiang Yu is nominally a vassal of Chu Huaiwang, Wang Huai can no longer restrain Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu respected himself as the righteous emperor, enfeoffed the world by himself, and made some active subordinates and other anti-generals king, Liu Bang as Hanwang, Qin surrendered, Sima Xin and Dong Kun as kings, each with its own territory. Xiang Yu also changed the territory and titles of the former kings of the six countries. Xiang Yu established himself as the overlord of the west Chu, ruled the nine counties of Liang and Chu, and made Pengcheng its capital. Xiang Yu soon moved Yidi to Chen County, Changsha, and secretly ordered him to be killed halfway. Xiang Yu's move to change the fiefs of the six countries made some people dissatisfied, and countries such as Qi and Zhao fell into turmoil shortly after the enfeoffment.
Chu-Han War and the Death of Xiang Yu
In the first 206 years, Hanwang Liu Bang sent troops to occupy Guanzhong, and Xiang Yu did not attack Liu Bang with all his strength because he was fighting in Qi. In the first 205 years, the Han army attacked Chu with 560,000 troops and occupied Pengcheng. Xiang Yu led 30,000 troops to rescue and defeated the Han army, which lost hundreds of thousands of people. Liu bang escaped. Xiang Yu led his troops to the west to pursue, while the Han army clung to Xingyang, but the Chu army could not go west. In the first 204 years, the Chu army captured Xingyang, and since then, the Chu and Han armies have become a seesaw situation in Henan Province. However, Han Xin led the Han army to win many battles in the area north of the Yellow River, and the situation began to be unfavorable to Xiang Yu. In the first 203 years, Chu and Han made peace, sharing the world equally, with the gap as the boundary, belonging to Han in the west and Chu in the east. Xiang Yu led the army to return to the east, and Liu Bang quickly broke his word and sent troops to attack Chu. In the first 202 years, Xiang Yu was defeated by Gaixia. Xiang Yu led more than 800 people to break through, and the Han army followed. Xiang Yu retreated to Wujiang River and refused to cross it. He fought the Han army, killed hundreds of people and committed suicide. After Xiang Yu's death, the rest of the western Chu surrendered to Hanwang, who buried Xiang Yu with him in Gucheng.