Why Xiang Yu's Division of the Empire Quickly Began to Fail

In the last episode, Liu Bang survived the Hongmen Banquet. But survival did not stop Xiang Yu from taking Guanzhong.

Once he entered Xianyang, he seemed to stand at the highest point in the realm.

It was also from that height that he began losing hearts.

His First Actions in Guanzhong Deepened Hatred

The people of Qin had already heard of the massacre of surrendered Qin troops. Then Xiang Yu's men entered and plundered further.

Palaces were looted. Xianyang burned. Ziying, though already surrendered earlier, was seized and killed.

These actions marked total conquest, but they did not create a base of rule.

He Never Intended to Honor the Promise About Guanzhong

King Huai had earlier declared that whoever first entered Guanzhong would rule there.

By that standard, Liu Bang should have received it.

Xiang Yu never intended to accept that outcome. In his view, the real military burden of destroying Qin had fallen on him, not on Liu Bang's earlier arrival.

When King Huai answered "as promised," Xiang Yu was angered even more.

He Elevated King Huai to "Righteous Emperor" Only to Push Him Away

Rather than challenge the issue crudely at once, Xiang Yu changed the form of it.

He elevated King Huai to the title "Righteous Emperor," which sounded honorable. In practice it was a way of removing him from the center.

The emperor was then sent far south, away from the main arena of power.

It looked like exaltation. It functioned like exile.

Xiang Yu Gave the Largest Share to Himself

Then came the great settlement of the realm.

Xiang Yu established the Eighteen Kingdoms and named himself Hegemon-King of Western Chu, keeping the most important eastern territories around his own base at Pengcheng.

Liu Bang was not left in Guanzhong. He was sent away as King of Han to Bashu and Hanzhong.

The title sounded grand enough. The geography told the truth. It was a remote and difficult placement, almost a political exile disguised as rank.

The Settlement Looked Magnificent but Re-Fragmented the Realm

Qin had spent immense effort smashing the old world of competing kingdoms and binding the empire together.

Xiang Yu had now broken that unity back into multiple kingships. Worse, many of the recipients did not truly accept his arrangement in their hearts.

Old aristocrats felt cut down. New men felt insufficiently rewarded. Liu Bang felt cheated. Others understood that a settlement imposed by Xiang Yu's will could also be changed by Xiang Yu's will.

So even while titles were accepted, loyalty remained shallow.

He Also Refused the Strategic Logic of Staying in Guanzhong

Some urged Xiang Yu to remain in Guanzhong, the defensible and fertile heartland of empire.

He refused.

His instincts remained rooted in Chu. He wanted to return east in visible triumph. His famous line about wealth without returning home being like wearing embroidered clothes at night captures that feeling exactly.

But the remark also revealed a limitation.

He could win the world by force. He did not think as clearly about where and how to sit inside it.

Cruelty Could Inspire Fear Without Creating Obedience

When someone mocked him privately as a monkey dressed in human cap, Xiang Yu had the man boiled alive.

That kind of response deepened his reputation for ferocity.

Yet fear is not the same as loyalty. The more men feared what Xiang Yu could do, the more many also looked for a chance to escape his reach.

Liu Bang Left for Hanzhong With His Humiliation Still Burning

Of all the men dissatisfied by the settlement, Liu Bang had perhaps the most reason.

He had entered Guanzhong first and gathered local support there. Now he was being pushed westward instead. Xiao He urged patience. Hard resistance at that moment would only bring destruction.

So Liu Bang accepted the humiliation and moved toward Hanzhong.

Zhang Liang advised one more important step. The plank roads behind them should be burned. That would reassure Xiang Yu that Han had accepted its confinement and would also dramatize separation for the Han camp itself.

But it had another effect. Once those roads burned, many eastern soldiers felt trapped in a remote land and began to think about desertion.

The settlement that looked like Xiang Yu's greatest triumph had therefore already created the conditions for his opponents to regroup against him.

In the next episode, one of the most important men in Liu Bang's camp nearly slips away, and Xiao He rides into the night to bring him back.