Liú Bāng 刘邦 Escapes from Xíngyáng 荥阳

The year was 204 BC, and the states of Chǔ 楚 and Hàn 汉 were still locked in a struggle over the territory that used to be the mighty Qín 秦 dynasty.

XIÀNG Yǔ 项羽, the brutal Chǔ leader, commanded several hundred thousand soldiers, and had surrounded the Hàn leader LIÚ Bāng 刘邦 in the fortified town of Xíngyáng 荥阳.

Liú Bāng knew he could not hold out for long, and sued for peace on the best terms he could get. However Xiàng Yǔ would have none of.

One of Liú Bāng’s subordinates was a man named CHÉN Píng 陈平, who suggested playing upon Xiàng Yǔ’s suspicious nature by bribing some of his men to spread rumors that his best lieutenants were disloyal.

Liú Bāng was pleased with the idea, and provided Chén Píng with the necessary gold. Chén used it to bribe some of the Chǔ troops to spread a rumor that the formidable General ZHŌNGLÍ Mèi 钟离昧 regarded himself as Xiàng Yǔ’s equal, and was entertaining thoughts of making himself king in the end instead of supporting Xiàng Yǔ. Another rumor was that General Zhōnglí had already been in communication with Liú Bāng and they had agreed to unite against Xiàng Yǔ when occasion presented itself.

General Zhōnglí was one of Xiàng Yǔ’s most capable and loyal warriors, but the rumor awakened doubts about him. A prominent counselor in Xiàng Yǔ’s court was FÀN Zēng 范增. When Xiàng Yǔ’s delegate came to Liú’s camp to continue the discussion of terms of surrender, Chén Píng saw to it that he was entertained with the finest tableware. When the delegate entered, Chén Píng affected great surprise, and explained, “Oh, we had thought you were representing Counselor Fàn Zēng. How embarrassing!”

The delegate returned and reported this to Xiàng Yǔ, who immediately suspected Counselor Fàn of conspiring with the enemy. When Counselor Fàn learned of the suspicion, he immediately offered his resignation.

Thus, by sowing distrust, Chén Píng cleverly deprived the ever suspicious Xiàng Yǔ of his two ablest advisors. But this did not lift the siege of Xíngyáng, and Liú Bāng’s situation continued to become more and more desperate. But with the two cleverest of Xiàng Yǔ’s advisers out of the way, the situation was somewhat simplified, and a new stratagem now seemed possible.

Liú Bāng had a subordinate named JǏ Xìn 纪信 who was of about the same height and weight. That night the gates of the besieged town of Xíngyáng were suddenly thrown open, and Jǐ Xìn, dressed as Liú Bāng, rode slowly out, as though forced by the shortage of supplies into unconditional surrender. The Chǔ soldiers hurried to the gate to watch, and even Xiàng Yǔ himself, filled with excitement, hurried from his headquarters to receive the surrender and witness the total humiliation of his enemy.

But when he arrived, Xiàng Yǔ realized that the surrendering man was not in fact Liú Bāng, who had slipped out the back gate while the Chǔ troops were distracted with the drama out in front. By the time Xiàng Yǔ realized his error, Liú Bāng had escaped back into Hàn territory.

Slightly over a year later, Liú Bāng had mustered sufficient strength that he was able to defeat Xiàng Yǔ, extend the rule of the state of Hàn throughout the lands that had been the Qín dynasty, and become the first emperor of what came to be called the Hàn dynasty.