If possible, which figure in history would you like your child to be? Someone once asked me this question, and I chose Xiang Yu.
This answer surprised many people, after all, Liu Bang was the victor in history, and Xiang Yu ended in the tragedy of "Wujiang self-killing".
This question is actually an exciting period in history - "Chu and Han Rivalry", which tells the story of Xiang Yu, a hero who swept the world, and Liu Bang, a scheming marketman, who competed for the world.
In the end, Liu Bang won the victory and established the Han Dynasty, which lasted for four hundred years, and the "Han" also became part of our nation and culture. Liu Bang left a deep mark on history.
But why do I still want my children to be like Xiang Yu? This shows that looking at the essence through the phenomenon, there are many little-known essential and logical problems behind this history, which may not be fully understood and understood.
History is not just about gods fighting or boiling blood, and we can't hope that history will show a certain appearance just because it is cool to watch. Before the "Chu and Han conflicts", let's review the basic logic of history.
Primitive society was the process of human transformation from individual behavior to group behavior, and eventually tribes were formed. With the changes in the means of production and the relations of production, "co-masters" and "states" were created, and domination was formed.
The logic of domination is a dynamic logic of competition, in which a part of the population will accept the punishment of defeat, and the primitive mode of production leads to the most barbaric relations of production, and humanity enters a slave society.
In a slave society, the slave could only be a bystander, and the main role was the slave owner. When the scattered group develops to a certain extent, an authoritative unicorn must be produced, which is the principle of "together for a long time, and for a long time, it must be united".
The first leaders, such as the "Three Emperors and Five Emperors", had the power of personal prestige and conduct, and the era of the Zen concession system gave birth to a rare and beautiful period in history. However, as the supreme ruler's relatives grew stronger, Xia Yu finally broke the last layer of window paper on the selfishness of power and entered the era of "family world".
Astute readers should have understood that the power of the "family world" has changed, and it is no longer virtue, but strength. The evolution and repetition of power eventually became the essential source of regime change in history.
Most of the regime subversion before the Zhou Dynasty only stayed at the state level, which was due to the relatively backward productive forces, and ordinary groups or individuals did not have enough strength and opportunities to subvert and ** a regime.
The Shang Dynasty Xia and the Zhou Dynasty Shang were essentially counterattacks and hegemony at the state level. By the time of the Zhou dynasty, Zhou Gongdan invented the Zhou rite, a way of setting conventions and rules for political rule.
Of course, this kind of rule still needs to be backed by strength. The appearance of Zhou Li made Zhou Tianzi stable for hundreds of years under the escort of the princes of the clan. However, with the development of the productive forces, especially the advent of iron tools and ridge farming technology, the concentration of production relations showed a downward trend, and the fists of many vassal states became harder and harder.
The force of the law of strength is that whoever has a harder fist wants to speak better. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the situation of hegemony began to appear, but because of the limited strength of the vassal states, there was still no large-scale annexation, and the so-called "hegemony" game could only stay at the level of the vassal states.
With the consolidation of the hegemony of the Jin Kingdom, history ushered in an important turning point - the division of the three Jins. Why is this event seen as a watershed between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period? Because its meaning is far-reaching.
First of all, after the three families were divided, the development trend of the world shifted from hegemony to merger, and then to unification; Second, the division of the three families marked the shift of the power game from between the vassal states to within the vassal states.
In the feudal order of Zhou Li, the country was divided into the world, the country and the family from top to bottom, in which the Son of Heaven ruled the world, the princes ruled the country, and the princes and scholars ruled the provinces and families respectively.
Overall, the division of the three families marks the sinking of the core of the Game of Thrones, starting with the mining into the core of the Game of Thrones. Therefore, it can be said that the division of the three schools is an important historical node in the sinking of the core of the Game of Thrones.
Why elaborate on the historical logic of this foundation? Because only by mastering this logic can we deeply understand the essence of many historical phenomena. For example, during the Warring States Period, why were there so many "travelers"?
Its essence is the political rise of the "gentry" group. These wanderers travel from place to place in search of a broader arena, the ultimate goal of which is the arena of politics. For example, Su Qin, Zhang Yi and others fearlessly disseminated their political ideas and policy ideas in various countries, which is precisely a manifestation of the openness of the political center of gravity.
The Qin Dynasty established China's first unified dynasty, ending state politics and becoming a landmark turning point in Chinese history. If you want to truly understand the essence of the "Chu-Han dispute", you must start from this node and follow the vine.
The Qin State eliminated the Six Kingdoms of Shandong, broke the state politics, and established a unified pattern of the county system, which was undoubtedly an advanced system and system. However, for that time, this was a new thing after all, and the new thing was bound to face the counterattack of the old thing, which was the inevitable law of transformation.
The power of the defeated princes of the Six Kingdoms was dispersed among the people, which made the power of the Shi clan group that had gradually awakened during the Warring States Period grow rapidly, and they were more closely integrated with the power of the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms, and their interests and needs were more in line with their action orientation.
The fall of the Qin Dynasty began with the Dazexiang Uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, which was also the first peasant uprising in Chinese history. In this uprising, Chen Sheng's slogan"What kind of prince will Xiangning have? "
Echoing in the sky of history. Although the specific details of this uprising are worth **, such as whether Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were really peasants, and whether the real initiators and advocates of this uprising were really the peasant class, it is undeniable that this uprising was the fuse for the collapse of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the struggle between Chu and Han.
So, what is the Chu and Han rivalry talking about? The uprising of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang opened the prelude to the rebellion against the tyrannical Qin, and many people responded positively and revolted one after another.
Liu Bang, an old hooligan with both wisdom and bravery, kept up with the pace of the times, and the heroic Chu overlord Xiang Yu was born, and finally succeeded in overthrowing the rule of the tyrannical Qin. In the end, the treacherous and cunning Liu Bang successfully played Xiang Yu in the palm of his hand, achieved the final victory, and established the Han Dynasty.
The surface of history is often only the tip of the iceberg, and the real historical logic needs to be excavated step by step. Although the world was in turmoil at the end of Qin, although it was instigated by a peasant uprising, it was not a real peasant uprising in essence.
Historically, no uprising that relied on peasants as the main body eventually overthrew a certain regime, and the overthrow of the rule of the Qin Dynasty did not rely on the power of the peasants.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were not peasants, they were just subversives of the Qin Dynasty; Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were also not peasants, they were the terminators of the unification of the Qin Dynasty; Xiao He, Han Xin, Zhang Liang and others were not peasants, they were key figures in the struggle for the world in the last years of the Qin Dynasty.
The collapse of the Qin Dynasty was actually a counterattack by the old aristocratic forces of the Six Kingdoms against the unified forces of the Qin Dynasty. So, what is the resulting "Chu-Han dispute" about?
After the fall of the Qin Dynasty, what was the core contradiction? Undoubtedly, it is how to establish a system of distribution of benefits that everyone can accept or cannot resist. So who are the subjects involved in this distribution of benefits?
Mainly Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, Tian Rong, Han Wangxin, etc., the old nobles of the Six Kingdoms, as well as emerging forces such as Liu Bang Group, Peng Yue Group, etc. What is the logic of power behind them?
Xiang Yu hopes to centralize power to a greater extent and consolidate his position and vested interests; The nobles of the Six Kingdoms wanted to return to the situation of the juxtaposition of princes in the Warring States period and have greater freedom of power;
And Liu Bang and Peng Yue, these emerging forces, if they do not form the first two stable situations, they can only become cannon fodder, so their only way out and strong desire is to stand up completely.
Objectively speaking, the strength foundation of Liu Bang Group is weak, which is also the reason why they have been trying to survive in the cracks in the early stage, and it is also the reason why their way of acting is destined to be smooth and sophisticated.
Without strength, willful behavior will pay a price.
New copywriting: From this dialogue, we can see that the struggle between Chu and Han is actually a game of class interests. At the heart of the game is who can represent the interests of the broadest range of people.
Xiang Yu represents the interests of the nobles of the Chu State or the military class behind the Xiang family, while Liu Bang represents whose interests?
Although Liu Bang's camp has descendants of Korean nobles like Zhang Liang, there are more wanderers like Han Xin and Xiao He and rangers like Peng Yue in his camp, that is, Liu Bang represents more interests close to the bottom of society.
In the final analysis, the Chu-Han rivalry was a further manifestation of the rise of the Shi clan and an important sign of the downward shift in the center of gravity of the power game. When looking at this period of history, many people habitually focus on the behavior of Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Han Xin, Zhang Liang, Xiao He, Peng Yue, Yingbu, and others, but ignore their class background.
This singular focus often prevents us from fully understanding this history.
1.Xiang Yu does not reuse Han Xin, not because he has no eyes, but because Han Xin's talent and Xiang Yu's overlap is high, and there are differences in the interests of the two classes. Han Xin's value space was squeezed, so Xiang Yu was given an official position when Han Xin first defected, but he did not reuse it.
Han Xin's talent is highly regarded in the eyes of Xiang Liang, Fan Zeng and others.
2.Zhang Liang assisted Liu Bang, not Xiang Yu, not because Liu Bang's personal charm surpassed Xiang Yu, but because Zhang Liang wanted to overthrow the Qin Dynasty and avenge his family and country, and Xiang Yu made him see another Qin Shi Huang, which he was unwilling to accept.
He can see more in Liu Bang, and after becoming famous, Zhang Liang chose to go back, implying that he did not fully approve of Liu Bang, and only wanted to share weal and woe, not seek common prosperity.
3.Peng Yue and Xiang Yu fought to the end, not because of deep hatred, nor because Liu Bang made him die, but because Xiang Yu did not meet his interests and expectations when he divided the world, they retaliated against Xiang Yu's emotional resonance.
To truly understand the history of the struggle between Chu and Han, we need to pay attention to the transformation of the mode of power play, understand the class attributes behind historical figures, and the ways in which different classes chose to struggle.
The struggle between Chu and Han was actually a duel between the aristocratic class and the noble class, just like the struggle between the rich second generation and the professional managers now. I hope that my child can become Xiang Yu instead of Liu Bang, because Xiang Yu is a nobleman among nobles, and Liu Bang is just a representative of the counterattacker, and the advantages of the former are obvious and even rare.
The reason why the Chu-Han rivalry is wonderful is that before the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings, the scholars mainly intervened in the power game through lobbying, and the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprisings marked that they officially issued their own roars and shouts, and from then on they really rose.
From the beginning of the struggle between Chu and Han, the scholar group gradually became the main body of feudal politics, influencing Chinese history for thousands of years, until the warlords at the end of the Tang Dynasty slowly changed to the landlord politics of the two Song Dynasty.
This is the history of the struggle between Chu and Han, more details and logic, looking forward to the future **.