Season 1 · Episode 9 · 4 min read
How Xiang Yu Broke the Cauldrons and Won the Battle of Julu
The pots were smashed and the boats were sunk. After that, the Chu army had only one road left: charge the Qin army and come back alive.
In the last episode, Zhang Liang had moved closer to Liu Bang. On the Chu side, the burden left by Xiang Liang's death was settling onto Xiang Yu.
He had not yet fully secured first place among the lords.
Julu would change that.
After Xiang Liang's Death, King Huai Tried to Recover Control
With Xiang Liang gone, King Huai of Chu felt he had more room to command directly.
He moved the capital to Pengcheng, recalled scattered commanders, and reallocated forces.
When Zhao came under desperate pressure from Qin, this became the next major test. Whoever could save Zhao and strike Qin's main force would immediately gain enormous prestige.
King Huai did not want to hand total freedom to Xiang Yu. So he appointed Song Yi as commander and Xiang Yu as deputy for the northern rescue force, while Liu Bang was sent on another line toward Guanzhong.
Song Yi Reached the Front and Then Waited
Once near Julu, Song Yi stopped.
Other relief armies had also arrived but did not dare advance. Song Yi joined the paralysis. Day after day passed. In the end, more than forty days went by without decisive action.
The Zhao position grew more desperate. Supplies tightened. Frustration inside the Chu camp deepened.
Song Yi Wanted to Let Qin and Zhao Exhaust Each Other
When Xiang Yu challenged him, Song Yi explained his logic.
If Qin and Zhao wore each other down first, Chu could strike at the right moment and profit from their mutual exhaustion. It was not a completely foolish calculation on paper.
But the timing was wrong, and Song Yi's own conduct damaged him further. While the front stalled, he was also occupied with advancing his son's interests and holding feasts.
Soldiers hungry for action and angry at delay did not miss the contrast.
Xiang Yu Solved the Problem With a Sword
At last Xiang Yu entered the command tent and killed Song Yi.
Then he emerged carrying the severed head and announced that the commander had endangered the state and army through cowardice and delay.
At that moment, no one in the camp needed further argument. Many officers were already furious with Song Yi. Xiang Yu now had the will to act and the authority of fear.
The northern Chu force passed into his hands.
He First Tore at Qin's Edges Before Committing the Main Blow
Xiang Yu did not throw everything in at once.
He first sent smaller forces to harass Zhang Han, disrupt supply and pressure positions, and coordinate with Zhao. Step by step, this raised Chu morale and unsettled Qin dispositions.
Once the army's confidence had been sharpened, he took the main force across the river.
That was when he made the choice for which the battle is remembered.
Breaking the Cauldrons Meant Cutting Off Retreat
After crossing, Xiang Yu ordered the boats sunk, the cooking pots smashed, and the tents burned. Only a few days' food were carried.
The meaning was unmistakable.
There would be no retreat.
If the army moved forward, it might live. If it looked backward, it would die anyway. That turned desperation into violent clarity.
Later tradition remembered the act as breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats.
At Julu, Xiang Yu Won by Turning Necessity Into Fury
The Qin side did not expect this level of reckless commitment.
The Chu soldiers knew they had no road home and fought accordingly. Qin troops, by contrast, were struck before some formations had properly stabilized.
Once disorder spread, Xiang Yu pressed hard toward the forces around Wang Li. The Qin line broke under the shock.
Wang Li was killed, and the siege of Julu collapsed.
The Victory Did More Than Save Zhao
The battle did not merely lift the siege.
It transformed Xiang Yu's standing. Other lords had watched from safer distance, hesitant and calculating. Now they had seen a commander who had actually smashed Qin's main field strength.
After Julu, they looked at Xiang Yu differently.
King Huai could no longer restrain him as before. The Song Yi arrangement was dead. Xiang Yu was no longer simply Xiang Liang's nephew or a fierce general inside a broader coalition.
He had become the man the other lords had to reckon with.
But victory in Hebei did not mean the race for Guanzhong would wait for him.
While Xiang Yu was proving himself at Julu, Liu Bang was already moving by another road.
In the next episode, we follow Zhang Han, the last major Qin commander, and the pressures that drove him into surrender.