On Fan Zeng.........Su Shi

范增论

苏轼

汉用陈平计，间疏楚君臣，项羽疑范增与汉有私，稍夺其权。增大怒曰：“天下事大定矣，君王自为之，愿赐骸骨，归卒伍。”未至彭城，疽发背，死。

苏子曰：“增之去，善矣。不去，羽必杀增。独恨其不早尔。”然则当以何事去？增劝羽杀沛公，羽不听，终以此失天下，当以是去耶？曰：“否。增之欲杀沛公，人臣之分也；羽之不杀，犹有君人之度也。增曷为以此去哉？《易》曰：‘知几其神乎！’《诗》曰：‘如彼雨雪，先集为霰。’增之去，当于羽杀卿子冠军时也。”

陈涉之得民也，以项燕。项氏之兴也，以立楚怀王孙心；而诸侯之叛之也，以弑义帝。且义帝之立，增为谋主矣。义帝之存亡，岂独为楚之盛衰，亦增之所与同祸福也；未有义帝亡而增独能久存者也。羽之杀卿子冠军也，是弑义帝之兆也。其弑义帝，则疑增之本也，岂必待陈平哉？物必先腐也，而后虫生之；人必先疑也，而后谗入之。陈平虽智，安能间无疑之主哉？

吾尝论义帝，天下之贤主也。独遣沛公入关，而不遣项羽；识卿子冠军于稠人之中，而擢为上将，不贤而能如是乎？羽既矫杀卿子冠军，义帝必不能堪，非羽弑帝，则帝杀羽，不待智者而后知也。增始劝项梁立义帝，诸侯以此服从。中道而弑之，非增之意也。夫岂独非其意，将必力争而不听也。不用其言，而杀其所立，羽之疑增必自此始矣。

方羽杀卿子冠军，增与羽比肩而事义帝，君臣之分未定也。为增计者，力能诛羽则诛之，不能则去之，岂不毅然大丈夫也哉？增年七十，合则留，不合即去，不以此时明去就之分，而欲依羽以成功名，陋矣！虽然，增，高帝之所畏也；增不去，项羽不亡。亦人杰也哉！

On Fan Zeng

Su Shi

Emperor Gao of the Han Dynasty adopted Chen Ping’s strategy to alienate the monarch and the minister of the West Chu. As Xiang Yu suspected Fan Zeng of conspiring with Han, he gradually deprived him of his power. Fan Zeng was furious at this and said: “Now that things under heaven have been settled, Your Majesty can handle them yourself! I beg you to grant me my skeleton intact and allow me to return to my home village.” But before reaching Pengcheng, he died from an ulcer on his back.

Su Shi said: “Fan Zeng was right in leaving for hometown. Xiang Yu would have killed him if he hadn’t left. It’s a pity he hadn’t left sooner.”Then for what reason could Fan Zeng have left sooner? Fan Zeng advised Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu did not take his advice, thus losing the whole land under heaven in the end. Should he have left for that reason? My answer is: “No. It was the duty of a courtier to suggest killing of Liu Bang. The fact that Xiang Yu did not kill Liu Bang indicated that he had the tolerance of a monarch. How could Fan Zeng have left because of this?The Book of Changes says：‘It is divine to understand the omen of things!’ The Book of Songs says: ‘Before it rains or snows, vapor must gather into graupel first.’ When Xiang Yu had the supreme military commander Song Yi killed, it would have been the right time for Fan Zeng to leave.”

Chen She won the popular support using the pretext of avenging Xiang Yan. Xiang Yu’s rise was due to his enthroning Xiong Xin as monarch, the grandson of King Huai of Chu. Later the princes rebelled against Xiang Yu because of his regicide of Xiong Xin, the Righteous Emperor. Moreover, as Fan Zeng was the chief advocator for enthroning the Righteous Emperor, the survival or perishing of the Righteous Emperor was related not only to the rise or fall of Chu, but also to the misfortune or blessing of Fan Zeng himself. After the regicide of the Righteous Emperor, it was impossible for Fan Zeng alone to survive for long. Xiang Yu’s killing of Song Yi was a precursor to the regicide of the Righteous Emperor, and the regicide of the Righteous Emperor was the basis for Xiang Yu’s suspecting of Fan Zeng, and therefore was it necessary for Chen Ping to alienate them?An object must decay before worms can grow inside; people become receptive to slanders only because they have already cherished suspicion. Clever though Chen Ping was, how could he possibly drive a wedge between an unsuspecting monarch and his courtier?

I once commented that the Righteous Emperor was a good monarch. He only sent Liu Bang to the Guanzhong Region instead of Xiang Yu; he also selected Song Yi from among the masses of subordinates and promoted him to the position of supreme military commander. Wasn’t he wise enough? As Xiang Yu killed Song Yi on the pretext of an order from Righteous Emperor, the latter would certainly not tolerate it. It didn’t need to take a wise man to know that either Xiang Yu would commit regicide of the Righteous Emperor, or the latter would have the former killed. As it was Fan Zeng who persuaded Xiang Liang to enthrone Xiong Xin as Righteous Emperor, for which the vassals obeyed, the later regicide of the Righteous Emperor certainly can’t have been Fan Zeng’s idea.Not only far from being his idea, he must have strenuously objected to it but failed. Xiang Yu must have begun to suspect Fan Zeng when he rejected the latter’s advice and committed regicide of the one whose enthronement the latter had advocated.

At the time of Xiang Yu’s killing of Song Yi, both Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng were at the service of the Righteous Emperor, and the relationship between the two as monarch and courtier had not been decided yet. For Fan Zeng’s benefit, he should get Xiang Yu killed if he was able to. If not, he should leave Xiang Yu. Wasn’t he a very decisive man then? Fan Zeng was already seventy years old. If the two had consensus, he could stay, and if they disagreed with each other, he should leave. It would have been senseless of him if he had not left but relied on Xiang Yu for fame and success in life. Nevertheless, Fan Zeng was the man feared by Emperor Gao of Han. Had Fan Zeng not left, Xiang Yu would not have perished. Alas, Fan Zeng was also an outstanding personality!

Translated by Jin Deming