When it comes to battles in which the weak defeated the strong, many people will think of classic and large-scale battles such as the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Weishui, and the Battle of Julu. Although the exact numbers are disputed and the details are difficult to verify, the military wisdom and strategy of the generals highlighted in these battles have been praised for thousands of years. In the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated 100,000 enemy troops with 20,000 elite soldiers, and the ratio of enemy and enemy forces was 5:1, which was thrillingIn the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu defeated Cao Cao's army of more than 200,000 with 50,000 sailors, and the ratio of enemy and enemy forces was 4:1, which made Cao Mengde sigh. In the Battle of Weishui, Xie Xuan defeated the enemy's army of more than 800,000 tigers and wolves with an army of 80,000, and the ratio of enemy and enemy forces reached 10:1. In the Battle of Julu, Xiang Yu defeated 400,000 Qin troops with 20,000 Chu troops, and in the Battle of Pengcheng, Xiang Yu defeated 560,000 Han troops with 30,000 Chu troops, and the ratio of enemy and enemy forces in the two wars reached or approached an astonishing 20:1!If these two wars still can't fully demonstrate the military talent of the overlord of Western Chu, then the small scale of the war we will take below is enough to prove that Xiang Yu is a well-deserved military genius.
The military strength of this war was almost unimaginable, the enemy had thousands of people, and Xiang Yu only had a mere twenty-eight horsemen. In a hand-to-hand battle, the enemy lost hundreds, and Xiang Yu was left with only twenty-six men, of whom only two were unfortunately killed. If I had to find an example of a greater disparity between the two sides of this war, the only ones I could think of would be "The Battle of Hiroshima" and "The Battle of Nagasaki"!This battle is known as the "East City Rapid War".
In the "Historical Records of Xiang Yu Benji", this paragraph is described very wonderfully: King Xiang led his troops eastward again and arrived in Dongcheng, leaving only twenty-eight horsemen. The Han army pursued thousands of people. King Xiang knew that there was no hope of escape, so he said to his cavalry: "I have been raising troops for more than eight years, and I have been in more than 70 battles, invincible, defeated the enemy, and have not tasted defeat, and dominated the world. However, being trapped here today is the destiny of heaven, and it is not the fault of war. Today I am determined to die in battle, and I am willing to win the victory for you, and I must win three times, break through for you, and capture the flag for you, so that you can understand that this is not a crime of war. Then he divided the twenty-eight horsemen into four teams, each of which broke through on all sides. The Han army encircled and suppressed layer by layer. King Xiang told his cavalry: "I will capture one of the enemy's generals for everyone." "Ordered the cavalry on all sides to dismount one after another, and agreed to meet at three locations in Shandong. So, King Xiang shouted loudly and led the cavalry down the mountain, the Han army broke up, and King Xiang killed a Han general. At this time, the Marquis of Chiquan chased after King Xiang, King Xiang reprimanded angrily, and the Marquis of Chiquan and the men and horses panicked and threw away for several miles. With its cavalry at the foot of the mountain, the Han army did not know the specific location of King Xiang, so they divided their troops again to surround them in three ways. King Xiang galloped again, killed a captain of the Han army, killed dozens of enemies, gathered cavalry again, and lost only two soldiers. He said to his cavalry, "How is it?"The cavalrymen knelt down and said, "As the king said!"”
Every time I read the description of this period of history, I can always feel the blood boiling and passionate. The subsequent story is that King Xiang was unwilling to cross the Jiangdong River, so he killed himself in Wujiang and did not repeat it. History is not conceivable, but future generations will inevitably imagine when they deeply regret this genius, if King Xiang crosses Jiangdong, with the love of the people of Jiangdong and his own military talent, will he still have a chance to make a comeback and once again be famous for the glory of the overlord of Western Chu?Jiangdong has a large number of talents, and the possibility of a comeback is not exciting?