The story of Zhang Liang and Liu Bang, in more detail
Liu Bang’s legendary deeds are well known to every household. He went from being the head of a pavilion in Surabaya to being the founding king who conquered the world. Zhang Liang is Liu Bang's right-hand man and his loyal minister.
Liu Bang heard that Dongyang Ningjun and Qin Jiali established Jingju as the false king of Chu in Liu (southeast of today's Pei County), so he defected to Jingju, hoping to borrow troops to attack Feng. On the way to defect to Jing Ju, he met Zhang Liang who also wanted to defect to Jing Ju. After Zhang Liang and Liu Bang met and talked, they seemed to regret meeting each other late. So Zhang Liang gave up the idea of defecting to Jingju and defected directly to Liu Bang. Liu Bang made Zhang Liang his general.
After Zhang Liang took refuge with Liu Bang, he began to persuade Liu Bang to fight for the world. Liu Bang followed Zhang Liang's advice and led the army out of Guanzhong. At this time, Xiang Yu was still fighting in Qi State, and Liu Bang took the opportunity to occupy it. his capital. When Xiang Yu found out, he immediately ran back day and night with 30,000 troops and horses, and then easily rescued and defeated Liu Bang.
Liu Bang was defeated, and even his father and wife were captured by King Chu Ba. The King of Han was helpless. Zhang Liang analyzed the situation and gave him some advice: King Yingbu of Jiujiang was a fierce general of Chu, but he had conflicts with the overlord of Chu; Peng Yue, a fierce general, rebelled against Chu in Liang; only Han Xin, the king of Han, among your own generals, could stand alone and entrust you with important tasks. If you reward these three people with the land in Guandong, Chu will be defeated.
After Han Xin conquered the State of Qi, he sent a letter to Liu Bang and wanted to be the king of Qi on his behalf. Liu Bang was very angry after seeing this letter because he felt that Han Xin was blackmailing him and did not He noticed that the messenger beside him began to curse. Zhang Liang immediately stepped on Liu Bang's feet secretly. Liu Bang immediately changed the meaning of his words and said that he must be the real King of Qi, not the acting King of Qi, which stabilized Han Xin.
After listening to Zhang Liang's words, Liu Bang immediately changed his strategy from passive to active, turning his disadvantage into an advantage. Xiang Yu had won a hundred battles, but he couldn't resist Zhang Liang's idea. His advantage turned into disadvantage, so he had to sue for peace. Using the canal "Chasm" as the boundary, we want to divide the world equally. Liu Bang wanted to withdraw his troops, but Zhang Liang came up with another idea: he could not withdraw his troops. Letting the Chu army go is called "raising tigers and causing trouble".
Liu Bang listened to his words again and pursued Xiang Yu without giving him a chance to breathe. He then killed Xiang Yu in a battle. After Liu Bang conquered the world, he rewarded the meritorious officials and asked Zhang Liang to choose a fiefdom of 30,000 households, but Zhang Liang declined. He said that the emperor and I first met in Liu County, and it was enough to just grant Liu County to me.
After Zhang Liang entered Hangu Pass with Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and Liu Bang became the emperor, Zhang Liang lived quietly to cultivate his Qi, not eating food, and staying at home. He said: "I am trusted by the emperor to be a military advisor. However, Being granted the title of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households when I have some ideas is already the highest treatment and is enough. I just want to escape from the worldly affairs and follow the immortal Chisongzi to travel in the world."
Extended information
Zhang Liang only asked for the fiefdom to be retained in the county just to show that he was not greedy, because at that time, the county had been devastated by war and probably had no more than 10,000 households. At the same time, Zhang Liang is a man who knows right from wrong and understands the truth, and he is fully aware of the illusion of gods and immortals. This is where his intelligence lies.
Because in such a feudal society and feudal system, he understood that between merit and fame, it was difficult for him to be a minister for a long time. Sure enough, the three people who had made the greatest contributions to conquering the world, Han Xin was killed, Xiao He was detained, and only Zhang Liang threw honor and wealth behind and became a "god".
Zhang Liang adopted this prudent and self-protective attitude, which was determined by various reasons such as objective situation and environment.
Reference materials: People's Daily Online - Zhou Enlai Nostalgia: Why the three people who helped Liu Bang conquer the world had different fates
Baidu Encyclopedia - Zhang Liang
Baidu Encyclopedia - Liu Bang