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Fan Zeng was already quite elderly, yet he still had to spend his days advising Xiang Yu who usually refused to listen, guarding against Xiang Bo who had a dark heart, and in the process of the above, he also had to avoid angering Xiang Yu too much… After an entire day, he was both physically and mentally exhausted.
That morning, he personally watched Xiang Bo calm Xiang Yu’s anger with a bunch of nonsense and persuade him to cancel their attack on Han. He had almost spit out a mouthful of blood in anger.
However, this was inevitable. His words definitely were not considered as important as those of the patriarch of the Xiang clan, not to mention that Xiang Bo was also Xiang Yu’s close uncle. It was impossible for him to change the deceived Xiang Yu’s mind.
What’s more, it wasn’t good for a military commander to be indecisive.
After thinking about it, he made another plan to use those loyal to Xiang Yu and able to be moved, such as Xiang Zhuang, to eliminate Liu Bang during that farce of a banquet at Hongmen.
Fan Zeng knew that for this to happen, he had to hide it from Xiang Bo — and to hide it from Xiang Bo, he had to first hide it from Xiang Yu. Not a word was to be revealed unless absolutely necessary.
Of course, it was a serious taboo for courtiers to hide anything from their lord and do things on their own, but in the face of such a great opportunity, he couldn’t care much about it.
So after returning to his tent with a belly full of anger and without even the mind to eat lunch, he rushed out in search of Xiang Zhuang, and after painstaking persuasion they finally came to a secret agreement.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Yu summoned him as soon as he got back to his tent.
The timing was so coincidental that Fan Zeng couldn’t help but be surprised, wondering if Xiang Yu had sent spies to keep an eye on him.
But he soon refuted himself — he was sincere and loyal, and even if he did some things in violation of Xiang Yu’s orders, it was for the Chu army’s greater good.
He had no reason to be frightened even if he was being watched, but it was hard for him to believe that Xiang Yu, who was proud and disdained to play tricks, would suddenly change his habits.
Thinking up to this point, Fan Zeng calmly went to the main tent.
As soon as he entered, he noticed that Xiang Yu’s expression was dark for some reason, even darker than yesterday when he received Liu Bang’s provocations and was about to send troops in his rage.
“General.”
Fan Zeng was about to salute when Xiang Yu raised his hand to stop him. He was evidently trying to gentle his tone as he said, “Yafu, please sit.”
It really was a coincidence. Fan Zeng judged this quickly.
If Xiang Yu was dissatisfied with his small actions, he would definitely choose to attack on the spot instead of being so polite.
He could maintain his demeanour, which meant that the source of his anger wasn’t on himself but something else.
He secretly guessed at the reason for summoning him but didn’t show it on his face, he only sat down in an unhurried manner.
It was at this time that he inadvertently caught a glimpse of a red and black object placed on a table in the corner of his eyes. Upon closer inspection, terror swept through him and he jumped up, exclaiming in horror, “This is–”
How could there be a hideous human head covered in gore here!
Xiang Yu was quiet and seemed to be in deep thought. Only when Fan Zeng recovered his senses and sat down again did he briefly tell the origin of this head and the small gold plate.
Fan Zeng then became stunned.
While he digested that information, Xiang Yu tossed out the bloody jacket — which he received earlier that day, and sent someone to dig out — with a blank face, asking lightly, “What does Yafu think?”
He was currently in an extremely bad mood. Although he did his best to restrain himself, his few simple movements still revealed his fury.
Fan Zeng had long been used to Xiang Yu who was often angry and seldom smiled, and knew for a fact that this anger was not directed at himself this time, so all his attention was on the human head with its terrified expression as well as the small golden plate next to it.
As for the bloodied clothes, this matter started from the incident which occurred at the Qin Palace that day.
Although Liu Bang had been very greedy for the countless treasures and women within the Qin Palace Complex, he listened to his counsellors’ advice regarding the overall situation and, for the sake of his long-term ambitions, controlled himself. Except for sweeping up all the valuables within, he conducted his army peacefully and refrained from disturbing the people.
In order to vent his excess energy, he spent his time either investigating the former Qin ministers or holding military meetings all day long, wracking his brains to think up a way to stand up to the furious Xiang Yu.
How could he have expected that just as he was hesitating about whether to kill Ying Ziying, the former King of Qin, someone would make a move first and decide for him?
When some soldiers told him that not only had Ying Ziying been assassinated in his cloistered hall, he had been cruelly decapitated and his head gone missing, Liu Bang shuddered.
When he hurried to the palace where Ying Ziying lost his life and saw the two guards still on each side of the door with peaceful expressions on their faces — evidently killed by someone crushing their necks before they could react — Liu Bang felt ice slide down the back of his own neck.
He didn’t know who this useless prince had provoked for him to be so brutally assassinated…
But just looking at the results of that decisive, ruthless act gave him lingering fears.
What would happen if such a meticulous killer who dared to penetrate deep into a heavily-guarded palace yet left no trace, and had such excellent martial skills, targeted him instead?
He knew rationally that there were many guards around him and it would be difficult for any assassin to find an opportunity, but Liu Bang still broke into a cold sweat.
Compared to Liu Bang who was secretly afraid, Zhang Liang, who had arrived a step later, also saw the headless body but quickly calmed down after only a brief shock.
Unlike the others who directly identified this headless corpse as Ying Ziying, he was much more cautious.
In order to prevent a possible substitution plot, he first summoned the former servants of the Qin Palace and asked them for Ying Ziying’s physical characteristics, then sent people to check them against the body one by one.
After a lot of tossing around, they quickly arrived at the conclusion — this was indeed Ying Ziying.
Zhang Liang frowned.
He was very clear that there was no meaning to sending troops to chase the assassin now, not when there was nary a trace of their coming or going. The current focus should be to increase protection around Liu Bang, then on dealing with the aftermath.
After all, everyone knew that Xiang Yu, who had shown great power at the Battle of Julu, was barred from entering Hangu Pass by none other than Liu Bang’s army of a hundred thousand men.
If the world was to hear that the seemingly impenetrable Han army was too incompetent to prevent the former King Ziying of Qin from being killed under their own noses… even if it didn’t discredit Liu Bang wholly, it in any case wasn’t a glorious thing.
Since they couldn’t find the assassin, then just let it be known that Liu Bang had heeded the wishes of the lords and kings, and personally cut off the last of the Qin bloodline.
“Must we admit it?” Liu Bang asked uneasily.
His original plan was to set up Ying Ziying as a puppet prime minister to show his benevolence and also make it easier to absorb the Qin army into his own forces, then quietly dispose of him once his use was exhausted.
And the result? Not only did this plan go up in smoke, he also had to grit his teeth and claim that he killed Ying Ziying. He truly wasn’t reconciled.
Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Liang persuaded him some more. “It has never been appropriate for Ying Ziying to be the prime minister. You must know that after Qin conquered the six kingdoms,1The Qin’s wars of unification were a series of military campaigns launched in the late 3rd century BC by the Qin state against the other six major Chinese states: Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu and Qi. Wikipedia the kings all surrendered, yet which didn’t receive devastation in return? Even King Huai of Chu who is most sympathetic to us would never stand for keeping Ying Ziying’s life. Our ancestors’ blood debts are heavy. If Ying Ziying would live and not pay with his death, how would you pacify the people’s wrath? What’s more, could they accept that this palace — which was built based on the palaces of their homeland, as if in mockery — be used by him?”
“What you say is true.” Liu Bang knew his idea was bad and, embarrassed, he objected softly, “It’s a pity, I originally wanted to use Ying Ziying to provoke Xiang Ji2Xiang Yu’s birth name into making a mistake, but it seems it can’t happen now.”
Zhang Liang frowned in disagreement. “Xiang Yu’s army is powerful. With our current power, we are definitely not his opponent. If we rashly provoke him, it may invite disaster.”
Not even mentioning the fact that Xiang Yu had four hundred thousand men in high spirits while Liu Bang had only one hundred thousand, just their generals’ respective abilities in strategizing and leading the charge were incomparable.
Liu Bang nodded but secretly curled his lips, internally disapproving.
It wasn’t until three days later when Xiang Bo rushed to their camp overnight and informed them that Xiang Yu was in a rage and intended to send his troops to attack Han that he realised disaster was imminent, panicked, and clasped Zhang Liang’s hands, repeatedly asking what he should do.
Although Zhang Liang was disappointed in him for revealing his ambitions too early and his reckless refusal to listen to advice, he still felt relieved that he was willing to repent in time.
Since that fool Xiang Bo sent himself to their door, he used ‘righteousness’ to pressure him to their side. With Liu Bang also lowering himself and trying his best to cooperate, they finally worked together to muddle through this disaster.
Liu Bang had a flash of inspiration. In order to gain Xiang Bo’s trust and at the same time draw out the spy who leaked the news, he handed Ying Ziying’s blood-soaked robe to Xiang Bo and said, “…As for the matter of establishing Ying Ziying as prime minister, that can only be a traitor’s lies! Sir, your family has a deep hatred for the Qin, how could I reuse him? I had long ordered for his execution. The corpse hasn’t yet been buried, you can see it in the coffin at any time.”
Though if Xiang Yu requested to see the body and they could only hand over a stinking headless corpse, he would definitely be suspicious.
But they would be able to get away with this by relying on Xiang Yu’s arrogance and certainty that no one would dare play him for a fool.
Zhang Liang felt somewhat uneasy as he watched Liu Bang hold out the bloody cloth — the double-edged sword — but he could do nothing but smile thinly.
It should be fine…
After all, he reflected, seeing Chu’s reaction, Xiang Yu is still quite restless. He still sends envoys every day to scold us and continuously mentions Ying Ziying’s murder.
If the assassin was a member of the Chu army, Xiang Yu, as the instigator, should have been very happy to have avenged his ancestors’ grievances, and be even happier to humiliate Liu Bang for having seemingly impenetrable but actually scattered defences.
It was unnecessary for him to pretend to be ignorant on this matter.
Since it wasn’t someone from the Chu army, then with such skill, he feared that it was done by a hermit who only came to the Qin Palace to kill his enemy with his own hands.
“As this is a misunderstanding, I must ask my virtuous brother to clarify things with General Xiang.”
Xiang Bo nodded dazedly and carefully received the bloody clothes. Liu Bang, overjoyed, gripped his hands, then said dejectedly, “I hope you can say a few words for your foolish little brother to the general, don’t let him be swayed by villainous slander!”
Regardless of whether Xiang Bo truly didn’t understand or was pretending not to, upon his return to the Chu camp, he indeed lived up to the expectations of his ‘Brother Liu’, who would also be his in-law in the future.3According to Wikipedia: during their meeting, “[Liu Bang] treated Xiang Bo with respect and expressed his intention to marry his daughter to Xiang Bo’s son. Xiang Bo was touched and promised to help Liu Bang resolve the misunderstanding with his nephew.”
Seeing the bloody clothing and knowing that the descendant of his ancestors’ enemies had been killed, Xiang Yu’s face turned a little gloomy, but under Xiang Bo’s earnest persuasions, he agreed to meet Liu Bang at Hongmen to let him explain himself.
The bloody garment which proved Liu Bang’s ‘innocence’, that he had personally killed Ying Ziying, lay in front of Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng now.
Fan Zeng’s thoughts turned, determined to take advantage of this, and even more than that, he wanted to meet the brave man who dared to go into the Qin Palace alone and easily took a head to use as a token of guarantee.
He raised his eyes, looking at Xiang Yu who was tall, mighty, and was obviously in a bad mood. In a neither hurried nor anxious tone, he said, “As Sir has called for I alone, you must have a conclusion in your heart, only you do not wish to believe it.”
Ying Ziying had only one life, yet it had been claimed by two individuals. The very notion was absurd.
Of the two, one must be false — either Liu Bang was playing tricks, or the wandering warrior was being greedy for profit.
The former had rhetoric on his side, however in reality, he held onto Hangu Pass and refused to allow them passage and could only produce a piece of bloodied cloth which might or might not be genuine; on the other hand, the latter spoke few words but came to the Chu camp alone and brought with him Ying Ziying’s head and identity plate.
It was obvious who was more sincere.
Fan Zeng did not suspect that the man surnamed Lü was a spy sent by Liu Bang. If he aimed to endear himself to Xiang Yu on Liu Bang’s orders, the Han would only be too happy to cooperate with the head in his hands, instead of paradoxically sending bloody clothes as well which instead gave them reason to doubt.
There was a mountain of ironclad evidence testifying to the truth, to the point that even Xiang Yu, who was notoriously insensitive to politics, could no longer be deceived.
In response to Fan Zeng’s words, Xiang Yu only frowned, noncommittal.
He was well aware of the discord between his Yafu and his uncle, so he deliberately ignored Fan Zeng’s hints.
Only, while he didn’t think his uncle knew the truth when he conveyed this matter, and nor did he participate in the deception…
He understood very well that if Lü Bu hadn’t come with the head and become the biggest flaw in Liu Bang’s plan, the man may very well have succeeded in playing his tricks.
Maybe Liu Bang was lounging back and laughing triumphantly right now, laughing that he was so easy to fool!
Thinking of this, Xiang Yu’s double pupils flared with anger.
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- 1The Qin’s wars of unification were a series of military campaigns launched in the late 3rd century BC by the Qin state against the other six major Chinese states: Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu and Qi. Wikipedia
- 2Xiang Yu’s birth name
- 3According to Wikipedia: during their meeting, “[Liu Bang] treated Xiang Bo with respect and expressed his intention to marry his daughter to Xiang Bo’s son. Xiang Bo was touched and promised to help Liu Bang resolve the misunderstanding with his nephew.”
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