In 207 BC, Wang Huai made an appointment, and whoever entered the customs first was named the king of Guanzhong. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu divided their forces to attack Qin. Xiang Yu sent troops to the northern line to fight with Qin Jun in Julu. Because Qin Jun's main force is Xiang Yu's engagement, while Liu Bangze basically has no resistance, and easily captured Xianyang. Although Xiang Yu made great contributions to the elimination of Qin Jun's main force, he lagged behind Liu Bang in the entry time. Liu bang took the lead in entering the customs, and naturally he was quite proud, thinking that he would soon be the king of Guanzhong. But Xiang Yu heard that Liu Bang didn't make much contribution, but he had the idea of being king. He was very angry and prepared to send troops to destroy him. The Hongmen Banquet was produced under this background.
This was originally a banquet to kill Liu Bang, but in the end it failed due to various factors, allowing Liu Bang to escape successfully. How did Liu Bang resolve this dangerous banquet? Was his escape accidental? Of course not. In fact, the performance of these four people determines the inevitability of his successful escape. Why do you say that? Let's have a look.
First of all, Xiang Bo, as Xiang Yu's uncle, has a high natural position in the Chu camp, so the seating at the banquet is second only to Xiang Yu. So what role did he play in Liu Bang's escape? First, on the eve of the banquet, Xiang Bo took the initiative to leak Xiang Yu's plan to Sean. His motive for betraying Xiang Yu was that Sean had saved his life, so he came overnight to tell Sean to leave quickly and not to be implicated by Liu Bang. Sean knew about Xiang Yu's attempt, which was equivalent to Liu Bang's knowing. So, in order to please Xiang Bo, Liu Bang promised Xiang Bo on the spot that they could marry their children's in-laws, hoping that Xiang Bo would mediate the matter. And Xiang Bo is indeed a man of his word. At the banquet, Xiang Zhuang tried to assassinate Liu Bang many times, but all of them were stopped by Xiang Bo. If Xiang Bo hadn't stopped him, Liu Bang would have died by the sword of Xiang Zhuang.
Followed by Xiang Yu, many people may think that Xiang Yu is obviously going to kill Liu Bang, but why did he become the person who saved Liu Bang? Isn't this a contradiction? It seems a bit inconsistent, but it is not. In order to save his life, Liu Bang did not hesitate to preach at the banquet how to be affectionate and righteous, and would never do anything wrong to his brother. Its purpose is to make Xiang Yu softhearted. Looking at Liu Bang's sincere and weak appearance, Xiang Yu really began to relent. After killing him, he felt that he had become a heartless little man. Therefore, Xiang Yu's weakness in character greatly increased Liu Bang's chances of survival. You know, with the absolute advantage of Xiang Yu, it is easy to kill Liu Bang anyway, but Xiang Yu did not kill him decisively. It was his character that saved Liu Bang's life.
Furthermore, Sean, when Xiang Bo told him to run away quickly, Sean did not abandon Liu Bang for personal safety, but delayed Xiang Bo and called Liu Bang, trying to persuade Xiang Bo to help him. This not only allowed Liu Bangyou enough time to prepare, but also added Xiang Bo, a person who secretly helped himself. At the same time, when Liu Bang fled in the name of going to the toilet, Sean sat at the banquet to deal with the aftermath, delaying Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, and winning enough time for Liu Bang's escape. Without Sean's last plan, even if Liu Bang escaped, I'm afraid he would be caught by Xiang Yu's pursuers, so his life would be in jeopardy.
The last person was Fan Kuai, and Fan Kuai's sudden intrusion into the Zhongjunzhang played an extremely important role. His generous speech not only made Xiang Yu like him very much, but also rewarded him with wine and meat. And the appearance of Fan Kuai is not accidental, of course, it is planned and purposeful. Liu Bang must have studied it at a meeting the day before. Fan Kuai's words, summed up, are nothing more than telling Xiang Yu: Liu Bang is a meritorious person, killing him is an unjust move, and will be laughed at by the whole world! So the appearance of Fan Kuai once again strengthened Xiang Yu's determination not to kill Liu Bang.
Therefore, the performance of the four of them paved the way for Liu Bang's successful escape and made it inevitable that Liu Bang would finally survive. Xiang Yu gave a banquet in honor of Liu Bang. At the banquet, Fan Zeng frequently motioned to Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu ignored it. This is enough to show that Xiang Yu didn't kill Liu Bang, and Liu Bang escaped from Xiang Bo at the Hongmen banquet. However, all this became a foregone conclusion the night before the hongmen banquet. Later, only Fan Zeng wanted to kill Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet. If Xiang Yu really killed Liu Bang, then Liu Bang could not escape from Chu Camp even if he had wings.