In April 205 BC, Liu Bang took advantage of Chu to attack Qi, and Luoyang led 560,000 vassal soldiers to capture Pengcheng, the capital of Xiang Yu. Upon learning of the fall of Cheng Peng, Xiang Yu immediately led an elite 30,000-strong Han army to recover Cheng Peng and captured Liu Bang's father and wife Lv Zhi. Liu Bang only led dozens of riders to break through and rush to Xiayi (now Dangshan, Anhui). This is the famous Battle of Pengcheng.
In the second year of Hanwang (the first 205 years), Liu attacked Chu. At this time, Xiang Yu's army was putting down the Qi rebellion in the east, and the rear was empty. Liu Bang seized this opportunity and marched eastward, invincible along the way, and the soldiers pointed directly at Pengcheng, the capital of Xiang Yu. After Liu Bangding's Three Qin Dynasty, he joined five governors to crusade against Xiang Yu.
The Han army was divided into three roads, with the Middle Route Army under the personal command of Liu Bang, and the ministries, Chen Ping, Han Xin, Lv Ze, Zhang Er, Lu Wan, Xia Houying and five vassal armies. The Northern Route Army was led by Cao Can and Guan Ying, and Chen Yujun joined forces with Liang Lu to attack Cheng Peng with the Middle Route Army. Xueou and the South Road Army led by Xueou left Wuguan in Guanzhong, went to Wan, attacked Yang Xia and attacked Pengcheng in the east.
At this point, the Guanzhong is not stable, and Zhang Han and other forces are still fighting. Liu Bang left Xiao He to guard the Guanzhong, Zhou abandoned the mountain, and Fan Kuai Li Shang moved to all parts of the Guanzhong, so that the descendants of Korean nobles could believe that the king of Korea would pacify the land of Korea. As early as Liu Bangding's Third Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu had a premonition that Liu Bang would move eastward, but at this time he led troops to attack Qi.
For Liu Bang's attack, Xiang Yu made Zheng Chang king of Korea and went to Korea to resist Liu Bang's eastward advance. Longzhou was sent to resist the Northern Route Army, and the troops were sent to Yang Xia to stop the Southern Route Army. Except for the South Road, which is not recorded in the history books, all other battles have failed. Ying Bu, who had high hopes for Xiang Yu, stood by and gave up without a fight. Liu Bang's army was so vast that 560,000 troops occupied the territory of Chu in a few months.
Faced with such a situation, Xiang Yu made a bold move. He left the army and continued to attack Qi. He led 30,000 soldiers from Lu (now Qufu, Shandong Province) to the south quickly, occupied Xiaoxian County, and cut off the allies' retreat. Then, he counterattacked from west to east. After arriving at the periphery of Pengcheng, I lurked in the dark and suddenly attacked in the morning. At noon, he broke the allied forces and pushed Liu Bang and his party to the land of swimming water (located in the west of Xuzhou, Jiangsu).
The allies trampled on each other, and the Chu army killed more than 65,438+10,000 people, and the rest retreated to the southwest mountainous area. The Chu army chased Suishui to Lingbi (now southwest of Suixi, Anhui Province), annihilated more than 654.38 million allied troops and besieged Liu Bang. The weather was bad and the dust was heavy. Liu bang only led dozens of riders to escape. In this campaign, Liu Bang suffered a serious setback, and the princes rebelled against Han and returned to Chu.
The Battle of Pengcheng is a classic example. When Liu Bang seized Pengcheng, Xiang Yu faced five dilemmas. First of all, face two fronts. Qi has not been pacified, and if he returns to save Chu, he will be attacked between Scylla and Charybdis; Second, the strength is disparity. Liu Bang formed an alliance of 560,000 troops on an unprecedented scale. A maximum of100000 troops were mobilized (the historical records here are unclear); Third, the rear fell and went deep alone.
At this time, Xiang Yu's base areas were all lost, and he became completely lonely; Fourth, stay away from the battlefield and have long-term followers running around. On the other hand, the enemy used fortifications to resist the Li Chu army; Fifth, the allies betrayed and the environment fell into extreme isolation.
Faced with such a sinister political and military situation, the prefect of Xiang Yu dared to take a bold surprise attack and continued to pacify Qi with his generals as a means to confuse Liu Bang. I personally led 30,000 elite soldiers to bypass the rear of Pengcheng and lured Liu Bang with Pengcheng as bait. As Xiang Yu expected, the Han army was defeated.
The origin of Chu River Han boundary
Chu-Han border originated from Chu-Han War. The "Chu River Han boundary" is located in the ancient Chengyang-elevation area, with the Yellow River in the north, mountains in the west, plains in the east and mountains in the south. It is a battleground for military strategists in past dynasties. In 205 BC, after being defeated by Peng Cheng, Liu Bang only led dozens of riders to break through and rush to Xiayi (now Anhui Mountain) to collect the beaten army and retreat to Yang. Later, overlord Xiang Yu and Hanwang Liu Bang took Yang as the main battlefield and launched a fierce offensive and defensive war.
In 203 BC, Liu Bang sent troops to attack Chu, and Xiang Yu was short of food and soldiers, so he was forced to put forward the requirement of "dividing the world, cutting the gap for Han in the west and Chu in the east". Since then, there has been a statement from the Chu and Jianghan circles. Up to now, there are still two ancient city sites on Wushan Mountain in Yangguang. The west is called Hanwang City, and the east is called Wang Ba City. Legend has it that it was built by Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. Between the two cities, there is a big ditch about 300 meters wide, which is what people usually call the gap, and it is also the basis for marking the boundary river on the chessboard.