Hongmen Club
Hongmen Club
Yang Weizhen
The sky is confusing, the earth is confusing, the east dragon is white, the west dragon is raining .
Ringing the bell, drinking wine and overwhelming sorrow, the green fire blowing in the nest.
There are no two crows shining in the sky forever, and the remaining stars break through the moon and open the sky.
There is a guest emperor in the seat, and there are seventy-two pearls on the left side.
The sound of a hundred thousand soldiers vibrates the roof tiles, and the swords are like ocher when facing people's faces.
The general put down his horse and moved the mountains, and the wind rolled into the Yellow River and he drank wine.
The sky is cold and dim as the sword shines, and the land is divided into rivers and mountains in Ming Dynasty painting.
The general calls the dragon to send the guests away, and the stone breaks through the blue sky and hits the jade bucket.
Appreciation
The Hongmen Banquet was an important round of the conflict between Chu and Han and had a profound impact on history. This poem with the characteristics of ancient Yuefu expresses the wonderful moments of this incident to perfection. The first two sentences summarize the background of the era when heroes emerged and the world was in strife, as a foreshadowing of the Hongmen Society. The main part is written with hearty strokes, creating a tense atmosphere at the Hongmen Meeting. Emphasizing that Liu Bang is the destined emperor and highlighting Fan Kuai's courage are also its focus. This arrangement is not only conducive to reflecting the main line of events within a limited space, but also implies the future victory or defeat of both parties in the struggle. The poem concludes with two contrasting details: Liu Bang escaped from Hongmen under the protection of Fan Kuai and others, and Xiang Yu's counselor Fan Zeng smashed the jade fight in anger, highlighting Liu's gains and Xiang's losses in the Hongmen meeting. ending.
In October of the first year of Han Dynasty, Liu Bang entered Guanzhong from Wuguan. Prince Qin Ying surrendered to Liu Bang, and the great Qin Dynasty was destroyed. After Liu Bang entered Guanzhong, he followed the advice of Confucian scholars: "Qin is ten times richer than the world, and the terrain is strong. Now I heard that Zhang Han surrendered to Xiang Yu, and Xiang Yu was named King Yong, King of Guanzhong. If we come now, Pei Gong may not be able to do this. We can urgently send troops to guard. There are no princes' troops at Hangu Pass, so I will recruit troops from the pass for my own benefit. "Send troops to guard Hangu Pass, and I want to be the king in the pass."
Liu Bang's strategy has the political basis for the treaty made by King Huai of Chu in the early years. As early as the third chapter of the treaty, Liu Bang told the elders of Guanzhong: "I have made an agreement with the princes. Whoever enters the pass first will be king. I will be the king of Guanzhong." ." Here Liu Bang changed the protagonist of Chu Huai's Promise to change the day to himself, showing that he was arrogant at this time, forgot everything, and couldn't wait to become the king in Guanzhong. Of course, it is logical to send people to guard Hangu Pass to prevent other anti-Qin princes from taking a piece of the pie. But at this time Liu Bang made a serious strategic mistake. The anti-Qin princes fought to the death with the Qin army in the north, and finally defeated the Qin army. However, Liu Bang took advantage of Qin's main force being restrained by the princes and easily stole the fruits of victory, but closed the door behind him. Exclusive results. From a moral point of view, Liu Bang's behavior was unkind and was spurned by all the princes; from a profit perspective, Liu Bang's actions greatly angered all the princes, causing them to work together to eliminate Liu Bang as a stumbling block.
Sure enough, soon Xiang Yu led the coalition of princes to Hangu Pass, but was blocked by Liu Bang's army. Xiang Yu ordered Yingbu to defeat Hangu Pass, and the army stationed in Xixi confronted Liu Bang's army stationed in Bashang. At this time, Liu Bang's left Sima Cao Wushang saw that Liu Bang was in danger, so he "sent people to say to Xiang Yu: 'Pei Gong wants to be king in Guanzhong and makes his son and infant his prime minister, and he will have all the treasures.'" Xiang Yu heard this. Angry, he decided to attack Liu Bang the next day. Xiang Yu's sub-father Fan Zeng even saw that Liu Bang was Xiang Yu's potential enemy, and persuaded Xiang Yu to attack quickly and not miss. At this time, Xiang Yu's attack on Liu Bang cannot only be seen as Xiang Yu's attack on Liu Bang because he listened to Cao Wushang's words. It can be seen as a representative of various princes attacking Liu Bang who want to monopolize the fruits of victory.
There is a bit of a problem here. It took more than half a month from Xiang Yu's attack on Hangu Pass to his stationed in Xixi to confront Liu Bang. Even Liu Bang's subordinates knew about this and were making plans secretly, but Liu Bang had no plan. From the later information, it seems that he just woke up from a dream. Not only did he not have any strategy to deal with Xiang Yu's attack, he was completely unprepared. What’s the explanation? The author has two guesses here. One is that when Liu Bang entered Guanzhong, he was dazzled by victory, lust for power, beautiful women, and treasures. He thought that he had an agreement with King Huai and was in alliance with the princes. Others would not do anything to him. At most, he wanted to share a piece of it. Just soup. The second is that Liu Bang misjudged the situation and did not expect that after Xiang Yu unified the various princes, the strength of the Chu army was no longer tens of thousands, but a coalition of 400,000 princes. Liu Bang thought that Xiang Yu's own military strength could not do anything to him. After all, he had an army of 100,000. He did not expect that this time it was a coalition of princes who wanted to destroy him.
When Liu Bang was in danger, things took a dramatic turn. Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Bo, Zuo Yin in the Chu army, was once saved by Liu Bang's subordinate Zhang Liang. At this time, in order to repay the favor of saving his life, he rushed to Liu Bang's camp overnight and told Zhang Liang what happened. Zhang Liang told Liu Bang about the matter again. Only then did Liu Bang realize that a disaster was coming. He followed Zhang Liang's advice and won over Xiang Bo. He regarded him as an elder brother and made him his son and daughter's family. He asked Xiang Bo to speak for himself.
As for Xiang Bo’s late-night lawsuit against Zhang Liang, people throughout the ages have questioned the authenticity of the matter. Scholar Zhou Jian once believed that "it is unbelievable that Xiang Bo accomplished six things in one night" and "it is unbelievable that Hongmen and Ba Shang traveled forty miles", thus believing that Xiang Bo could not accomplish so many things in one night. Scholar Xue Quankai refuted this question one by one in his article "Hongmen Banquet Presents Doubts and Discussions", believing that it is indeed only more than forty miles from Hongmen to Bashang, and only more than twenty miles from the small road. From a time perspective, it is completely timely. .
While Xiang Bo agreed to help Liu Bang intercede, he told Liu Bang before leaving that he must come to Xiang Yu in person tomorrow to apologize.
This is the origin of Hongmen Banquet, a banquet through the ages.