Wandering the Heavens

Regarding letting Liu Ji become the King of Guanzhong as agreed, Xiang Yu opposed it, but Liu Ji agreed.

But the King of Chu had no say. Xiang Yu simply overturned the table and led his troops to leave the devastated Xianyang and return to Pengcheng. He obeyed the King of Chu Xiong Xin as the Righteous King and proclaimed himself the Overlord of Western Chu. All those who were familiar to him in the coalition of princes were given the title of king. Yi Xiaochuan was named King of Guanzhong, although he is now in the Mausoleum of Lishan. Liu Ji's title of King of Guanzhong was changed to King of Hanzhong. By the way, in order to be worthy of this title, Liu Ji changed his name to Liu Bang at the suggestion of Xiao He.

At this time, Liu Bang thought of his good brother Yi Xiaochuan, who had also suggested that he change his name, and it was also the word "Bang".

In fact, the King of Guanzhong became the King of Hanzhong, and the 400,000-man army was also cut, with 200,000 men assigned to the King of Guanzhong, Meng Yi. Liu Bang wanted to overturn the table at first, but under the persuasion of Zhang Liang and Xiao He, he once again acted like a grandson and obediently packed up his things and went to Hanzhong.

To be honest, it is true that Xiang Yu disliked Liu Bang and was also true that he was on guard against Liu Bang, but the fiefdom he gave to Liu Bang was the largest, including the Hanzhong Plain and the Sichuan Basin. In short, he hoped that Liu Ji would be sensible and live his life in this large area honestly, and not come to the Central Plains for fun.

"Father, why do you still look so worried now that the world is settled?" It was a rare moment of leisure for Lü Zhi.

After the basic framework of Pei County was set up, the eldest brother Lu Ze went to Yanmen County to take over Zhang Han's 200,000 troops, his younger sister Lu Su was learning Taoism with Cui Wenzi, and Yu Xian spent his days either fishing or reading the intelligence sent back by the Jinyiwei.

"The general never comes to visit unless there is something important! Tell me what difficulties you have encountered?"

Lu Su treated himself as a golden finger, and Lu Zhi treated herself as a wool to be fleeced. Her life was quite miserable.

"We have received the imperial edict from Emperor Yi, conferring the title of Prince of An on Zhi'er." Lu Zhi took out the imperial edict and showed it to Yu Xian.

Seeing Yu Xian taking the document, Lu Zhi also sat aside, picked up a fishing rod, put bait on it and threw it out.

"So? What title do you want?" Yu Xian felt that Xiang Yu was quite generous.

"King of Qin." Lu Zhi made no secret of her ambition.

"King of Qin? Don't you know that Hu Hai, who surrendered himself to be the King of Qin, was killed by Xiang Yu? Besides, since the Anmin Army came into being, they have apparently been working but not putting in any effort. It is already good enough for Xiang Yu to give you the title of a king, how can you still want the title of King of Qin?" Yu Xian advised earnestly.

"Uncle, you know what Zhi'er is thinking." Lu Zhi felt a little embarrassed.

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. The order established by Xiang Yu will not last long, and someone will rise up in rebellion soon. But in your hand is the Tai'a sword of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and this is the legal right for you to proclaim yourself the King of Qin. Remember, the closer you are to the target, the calmer you must be." Yu Xian comforted him.

"Is it true that someone would rise up in rebellion so quickly?" Lu Zhi found this a little unbelievable.

Now Xiang Yu holds the credit for destroying Qin, Emperor Yi is his puppet, he is personally invincible in bravery, and he has the assistance of the famous scholar Fan Zeng. Who would be so desperate as to destroy his place?

"Aren't you very confused as to why I asked Xiao He to join Liu Ji at the critical moment when the Anmin Army appeared? He is the candidate." Yu Xian revealed his trump card.

"So, my father-in-law has thought so far ahead." As soon as Lu Zhi finished speaking, she saw her float sinking.

"However, before Liu Ji raises his army, Xiang Yu will take action first, so An Guo must organize his army and be ready for war at any time." Yu Xian reminded.

Sure enough, not long after Liu Bang led his army into Hanzhong, King Cheng of Han was killed by Xiang Yu, the two kings of Yan fought each other, Tian Rong killed the Three Qis and proclaimed himself king and sent Peng Yue to attack Xiang Yu. King Zhao was causing trouble again, and the Yellow River was in chaos. Xiang Yu ordered King Jiujiang Ying Bu to kill Emperor Yi Xiong Xin.

Ying Bu was very obedient and tied up Xiong Xin on the same day. Two days later, Xiang Yu received the head.

Liu Bang was also very restless. He entered Hanzhong in April and did not even intend to take a break. In June, he came out again and headed north from Hanzhong straight to Xianyang. At this time, his good brother Yi Xiaochuan once again presented his 200,000 troops with both hands. He was the King of Guanzhong for nine months and then went back to farming.

Liu Bang, who had easily captured Guanzhong, suddenly became arrogant. He divided his troops into two groups, one to go out of Hangu Pass and the other to go out of Wuguan Pass. As a result, they were beaten up by Xiang Yu and almost lost their life. He could only quickly retreat to lick his wounds.

"Father, just as you expected, someone is sending supplies to Hanzhong and Bashu of Liu Ji at all costs." Lu Zhi felt that Yu Xian could always see something different.

"We can't let Liu Ji eat too much. Just let him eat until he is three-quarters full." Yu Xian thought this was very kind.

"Father, how did you think that there would be someone supporting Liu Ji in the territory of the King of Western Chu?" Lu Zhi was a little confused.

"Hanzhong and Bashu were not destroyed by the war, but the transportation there is inconvenient and the roads are rugged, which is not conducive to the movement of large armies. So if Liu Ji's army wants to quickly leave Hanzhong or Bashu, they cannot bring too much food and grass. If they don't bring enough food and grass with them, it means that someone outside has prepared enough food and grass for them." Yu Xian explained.

"But why would these families want to join Liu Ji?" Lu Zhi couldn't understand these people's train of thought.

"Of course it was for the benefit. On the surface, Xiang Yu was very generous in enfeoffing the kings. But as you can see, some people did not submit to him at all. The ink on the enfeoffment edict had not even dried yet! Those people started fighting each other. This is what you can see, and in places you cannot see. You will find that the kings enfeoffed by Xiang Yu were a huge blow to the native gentry." Yu Xian began to teach Lu Zhi again.

"I've said before that when the Qin Emperor unified the world, he had to continue to employ officials from the original six kingdoms because of a shortage of officials and clerks. This was even more true for the clerks, who were in even greater shortages. For a time, families with a certain amount of power in the local area took the opportunity to send their children into the ranks, and some courageous people also took the opportunity to sneak in. For example, Liu Ji's Sishui Pavilion Chief was appointed in this way."

"These people completely eroded the ruling foundation of the Qin Dynasty in a very short period of time. Xiang Yu's enfeoffment of the kings this time means that they will face the most direct rule, and their every move will be carried out under the eyes of the king. They can no longer gain benefits for their families and themselves by deceiving their superiors and subordinates. Therefore, it is inevitable that they betray Xiang Yu. As for why they chose Liu Ji, it was because the military advisor next to him made the choice."

"Liu Ji is a jerk, but also very generous. As long as it is useful to him, you can point your finger at him and scold him. As long as Liu Ji defeats Xiang Yu, they can drive away the kings above their heads and return to the old days."

"But aren't they worried that Liu Ji might turn against them?" Lu Zhi was a little confused.

"As mentioned before, Liu Ji is a very generous person. These people not only support Liu Ji, but also temporarily give up some of their interests to Liu Ji and the generals under him. It's also a price to pay, but it is many times better than Xiang Yu's enfeoffment that leaves no way out," Yu Xian explained.

"I see." Lu Zhi also focused on maintaining the stability of her country. She didn't know how to distribute power in order to appease these people after defeating Liu Ji and Xiang Yu and unifying the world in the future.

Liu Bang's rise and success were incredible. Although he gained Hanzhong and Bashu, which became grain production areas due to proper development, the terrain caused serious transportation problems. Four hundred years later, the prime minister's northern expedition failed repeatedly due to logistics and food problems; eight hundred years later, Li Bai was still shouting that the road to Shu was more difficult than climbing to the sky.

There were only two not-too-told disasters for Shu in history. One was the Battle of Changping between Qin and Zhao, when Qin transported grain and recruited soldiers from Bashu; the other was when Liu Bang went east several times to attack Xiang Yu.

At this time, could the organizational and mobilization capabilities of the areas under Liu Bang's rule be comparable to those of the Qin State during the reign of King Zhaoxiang of Qin?

So this is the magic of Liu Bang. He also occupied Bashu and relied on Xiao He to support the logistics. He defeated Xiang Yu, who was just missing his wife and children, and made him collapse. The King of Western Chu even shouted that they should fight one on one and not to bother the common people and soldiers.

Some people say that if Liu Bang had defeated Zhang Han and the three Guanzhong kings, and the Guanzhong Plain was also in his hands, there would be no problem with logistics.

After Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and was about to establish the country, his subordinates had a dispute over the capital. One side said Guanzhong, the other side said Luoyang. Liu Bang himself was in favor of making Luoyang the capital. As for the reason, Guanzhong had not recovered from the disaster caused by Xiang Yu, and the place was too shabby.

There was a man named Lou Jing who presented the facts first, and Zhang Liang then used reason to persuade Liu Bang to move to Guanzhong and build the capital, which was Chang'an City.

Therefore, at this time, Guanzhong could not provide any help to Liu Bang at all, and it was good enough that they did not hinder him.

Yu Xian had an idea long ago. Xiao He was now in charge of logistics in Liu Bang's rear. At the same time, he arranged for the Jinyiwei to monitor these two places and found out that it was Zhang Liang who was behind the incident.

He has a really large circle of friends. Relying on this network, he was able to roam freely throughout the country even after his plan of bribing a strong man to assassinate Qin Shi Huang was exposed. Now, delivering supplies to Liu Bang's army is no problem at all.

However, Yu Xian intervened and only 30% of the troops were successfully delivered to Liu Bang. It was not good for them to fight a war that was too prosperous, as it would be easy for them to forget the hard struggle during the anti-Qin campaign.

However, since they surrendered to Liu Bang, it would be tantamount to betraying Xiang Yu, and Yu Xian could only help Xiang Yu.

Soon Xiang Yu received a report from Ying Bu that a family under his rule was secretly supplying supplies to Liu Ji, and asked Xiang Yu how to deal with it.