The Annals of Xiang Yü (Shiji 7)

Sima Qian’s account of the rise and fall of Xiang Yü paints a portrait of a man virtually
the opposite of the Han dynasty founder, Liu Bang. Xiang Yü was a talented aristocrat from the
southern state of Chu. Despite or perhaps because of his intellectual and physical talents, he
failed to study anything to completion, foreshadowing his rise to and fall from power as the Qin
dynasty crumbled.

Xiang Ji, was a man of Xiaxiang, and his courtesy name was Yü. He first rose to prominence at
the age of 24. His father’s younger brother was Xiang Liang. Liang’s father was the Chu general
Xiang Yan, who was killed by the Qin general Wang Jian. The Xiang clan had been Chu generals
for generations, enfeoffed at Xiang, therefore the clan surname was Xiang.

When Xiang Ji was young he studied books incompletely, then left that to study fencing, also
incompletely. Xiang Liang was angry with him. Ji said: “Book learning is enough to record
names and surnames, that’s all. Fencing can oppose one man, neither is worth studying, [I
want] to study the way to oppose ten thousand men.” Because of this Xiang Liang then taught
Ji military methods (bingfa). Ji was very happy, and he roughly understood its ideas, but was
again unwilling to study the subject completely.

Xiang Liang got arrested in Yueyang. He asked Cao Jiu, the Prison Warden of Qi, to write to Sima
Xin, the Prison Warden of Yueyang to overturn it, and thereby obtained his freedom. Because
of this affair, in which Xiang Liang had killed someone, and he went to Wuzhong with Ji to avoid
revenge. All of the distinguished elites of Wuzhong subordinated themselves to Xiang Liang.
Every time there was a great project or funeral in Wuzhong Xiang Liang was put in charge. He
surreptitiously gathered a group of guests and retainers, training them in military methods
according to their abilities.

When the First Emperor of the Qin traveled through Kuaiji, and was crossing the Zhe and Jiang
rivers, Liang and Ji went to watch.
Ji said: “He could be captured and replaced.”
Liang covered his mouth and said: “Don’t speak recklessly, what of our family!”
Because of this Liang felt that Ji was extraordinary. Ji was more than eight feet tall, strong
enough to lift a tripod, and his talents and vigor were beyond ordinary men. Consequently, the
Wuzhong retainers all feared Ji.

In the seventh month of the first year of the second Qin emperor’s rule, Chen She arose in the
great swamp. In the ninth month Tong the Defender of Kuaiji said to Liang: “All of Jiangxi is
rebelling, this is the moment when Heaven is destroying Qin. I have heard that the one who
acts first will govern others, [one who acts] later will be governed by others. I want to send out
troops, making you sir and Huang Chu generals.” Huang Chu was hiding in the swamp at that
time.
Liang said: “Huang Chu is in hiding, no one knows where he is except for Ji.”

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Liang then went out, warning Ji to take his sword and wait outside the room. Liang returned
and entered, sitting with the Defender. He said: “Please summon Ji, to receive the order to
summon Huang Chu.”
The Defender said: “I agree.”
Liang summoned Ji to enter. At the right moment, Liang gave Ji a sign, saying: “You may carry it
out.”
At that, Ji thereupon drew his sword and beheaded the Defender. Xiang Liang took the
Defender’s head, and tied his seal of office to his belt. The office was greatly alarmed, and
thrown into chaos; Ji attacked and killed several tens of men, nearly a hundred in all. All those
in the office were frightened and submitted, none dared to oppose them. Liang then
summoned the powerful officials he had known before and explained the reasons for initiating
this great affair (a rebellion). He was therefore able to raise troops in Wuzhong. He raised
eight thousand elite troops by drafting men from the districts subordinate to him. Liang placed
the power holders from Wuzhong in charge of his units as commanders, commandants, and
cavalry commanders. There was one man who was not employed, and he complained to Liang.
Liang responded: “Sir, I previously I assigned you to be in charge of some matters at someone’s
funeral, but you were unable to take care of them. Because of this I did not entrust anything to
you.” The people then all submitted. Liang became the Defender of Kuaiji because of this, and
Ji was made his Assisting General, responsible for the subordinate districts.

The Annals of Xiang Yu continues to chart the rise of his uncle, Xiang Liang, his death,
and Xiang Yu succeeding him.

Xiang Yu’s declining fortunes eventually found him encamped at Gaixia with the
remnants of his army, surrounded by the Han army and its allies.

King Xiang’s army was encamped at Gaixia. He had few troops and his provisions were
exhausted. The Han army and the troops of the various Marquises surrounded him in several
layers. That night he heard the Han army on four sides all singing the songs of Chu. King Xiang
was greatly alarmed: “Has the Han already completely taken Chu? How could they have so
many men of Chu!” King Xiang then arose in the night, drinking wine in his tent. He had with
him the famous beauty Yu whom he usually favored and traveled with him, and [nearby] the
renowned horse Zhui that he usually rode. King Xiang then sadly sang of his regrets, composing
this verse himself:
“My strength uprooted mountains, my spirit covered the age;
the time was not advantageous, Zhui is not dead; Zhui is not dead, what can be done? Yu, Yu
what can you do?”
He sang several times and the beauty accompanied him. King Xiang cried several lines of falling
tears, and all those around him also cried, none able to raise their eyes and look at him.

That night Xiang Yü broke out of the encirclement with slightly more than eight hundred
cavalrymen and headed south. By the time the Han army realized what had happened and
ordered a pursuit, Xiang Yü, now down to perhaps a hundred cavalry, had crossed the Huai

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river. An old farmer intentionally misdirected Xiang Yü into a swamp, allowing the pursuing
forces to catch up to him. Riding further east, he arrived at Dongcheng with only twenty-eight
cavalrymen.

King Xiang himself concluded he could not escape. He said to his men: “It is now 8 years since I
raised an army, and I have personally fought more than 70 battles. Those I faced were defeated,
those I attacked submitted, and I was never defeated until I possessed All Under Heaven as
Hegemon. But now I am suddenly trapped like this. Heaven destroyed me, not a failure in
battle.”

With his remaining men, Xiang Yü continued what he knew to be a futile attempt to flee.
He suddenly attacked his pursuers and personally killed many of them, until he reached the
Yangzi River. The village head of Wujiang proposed that Xiang Yü cross the river, taking the
only boat and thereby evading his pursuers. At that point, Xiang Yü reconciled himself to his
fate, lamenting the fact that he had originally crossed the river with 8,000 men to fight for
power and that all of those men were now dead. It would be shameful to return without them.
He therefore gave the village head his horse Zhui, because he could not bear to kill the steed
who had carried him for five years. Xiang Yü then faced his pursuers on foot. In a final act of
bravado, he killed himself as they attacked, leading to a murderous struggle as each man sought
his body to obtain the reward for killing Xiang Yü.

The Grand Historian says: “I heard that Zhou Sheng said: “Shun’s eyes had double pupils,” and
heard that Xiang Yü also had double pupils. Could it be that Yü was his (Shun’s) descendant?
How did he rise up suddenly? The Qin lost its authority, Chen She led the troubles, strongmen
arose like wasps in numbers that could not be successfully counted contending with each other.
Yü did not have so much as a foot or an inch of land, but in three years, taking advantage of the
uprisings in the mountains and fields, he came to command the five marquises in destroying
the Qin, dividing All Under Heaven, and enfeoffing kings and marquises. Yü controlled the
government and was called the Hegemon King. Although his rule did not last until his end, there
has never been anyone like him from ancient times to the present.

When Yü put his back to the Pass and returned to Chu, having deposed the Righteous Emperor
and established himself, the resentful kings and marquises rebelled against him causing trouble.
He bragged about his accomplishments in battle, held to his personal opinions, and did not
follow the ancients. One could say of the rule of the Hegemon King that he wanted to hold All
Under Heaven through the army and strong military campaigns, and the result was that his
court was destroyed in five years. He died in Dongcheng, yet he did not recognize this and take
responsibility for his transgressions. He concluded that: “Heaven destroyed me, not a failure in
battle.” How could this not be an error!