Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms podcast.

This is a supplemental episode.

In this episode, I want to explain a remark made by Sima Yi in episode 123,

while discussing Zhuge Liang's strategy for a future invasion of the Kingdom of Wei, Sima Yi told the Wei Emperor that he expected Zhuge Liang

to emulate Han Xin and make a secret move on a passage called Chen Cang. Now there's a famous

story behind this reference, so let's delve

into it here. So first, Han Xin is somebody that we have mentioned more than a few times on our

podcast. He was one of the most important strategists in the service of Liu Bang,

a.k.a. the founder of the Han dynasty.

This particular story dates to after the fall of the Qin dynasty, which preceded the Han,

but before the founding of the Han.

After the Qin fell, the most powerful man in the realm was not Liu Bang, but rather a rival warlord named

Xiang Yu.

This Xiang Yu decided to use his power to make himself the strongman of the empire, but he did not

try to unite the empire.

Instead, he carved the empire into multiple parts and handed them out to the leaders of 18 rebel factions

that had risen up against the Qin.

Liu Bang was one of those leaders, and Xiang Yu decided to make him the king of Hanzhong,

giving him the region of Shu, which, of course, was where Liu Bei would later establish

his kingdom.

Now, Xiang Yu did this for a reason.

He recognized Liu Bang as the biggest potential threat to his hegemony,

...