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concept Updated 2026-08-23 Tags: Strategy, Alliance, Warfare, Chu-Han, Delegation

Xiayi Plan / 下邑画策

Xiayi Plan / 下邑画策 enters the wiki through Hanji 153 as 张良’s answer to 刘邦 after the 彭城之战. Liu Bang has just survived a catastrophic defeat, reached 下邑, and asks who can help him attack 项羽 if he gives away the lands east of 武关.

The plan is a strategic redesign after failure. Zhang Liang does not tell Liu Bang to seek another single decisive battle; he identifies three outside or semi-outside force centers. 英布 can be turned against Chu’s southern side because he already distrusts Xiang Yu, 彭越 can keep attacking Chu’s rear and communications, and 韩信 is the only Han-side general Zhang Liang thinks can be entrusted with large independent operations.

The concept therefore links incentives, delegation, and multi-front pressure. Liu Bang’s reward promise supplies the price, Zhang Liang’s diagnosis supplies the target list, and 随何’s volunteered mission to Ying Bu begins the execution phase. The point is not that Liu Bang has recovered strength already, but that he has stopped treating strength as one army under his own direct command.

Hanji 153 part 2 adds the first execution environment. Sui He leaves with a small party for Jiujiang, while Liu Bang falls back to 荥阳, 萧何 and 韩信 help stabilize the front, and 汉军骑兵建设 under 灌婴 begins to answer Xiang Yu’s cavalry advantage. The plan now has both an external diplomatic leg and a holding front.

Hanji 155-2 adds the northern leg in execution and limitation. After defeating 魏豹, Han Xin asks for troops to move through Zhao, Yan, and Qi and then cut Chu’s grain route from the north. Liu Bang accepts enough to send 张耳 with him, but the repeated removal of elite troops for Xingyang means the full cutoff plan is not completed by Han Xin; the pressure shifts toward 彭越 with 刘贾 and 卢绾.

Xiayi Plan is adjacent to 退让式根据地经营 and 实力重估式阵营转向. The first describes Liu Bang’s earlier Hanzhong survival-and-base turn; the second describes how Pengcheng makes many lords move away from him. Xiayi Plan names the counter-move: a defeated leader uses reward, distrust inside the enemy camp, rear harassment, and delegated command to rebuild a winning field.

Key Claims

  • Post-defeat strategy can begin before full recovery if the leader asks the next operating question quickly.
  • A direct military ceiling can be bypassed by changing the shape of war: frontal holding, enemy-side defection, rear raids, and independent campaigns replace one huge coalition battle.
  • Reward promises matter because outside actors need a future payoff that makes risk rational.
  • The best defection target is often someone whose relationship with the enemy is already damaged but not yet openly broken.
  • Delegating to Han Xin is part of the strategy, not an optional personnel note; Pengcheng has exposed the cost of keeping large-army command too close to Liu Bang.
  • The plan turns 实力重估式阵营转向 back against Xiang Yu by trying to make his own strong subordinate and rear threats reprice the field.
  • Hanji 153 part 2 adds that the plan needs a material holding environment: without 荥阳相持, cavalry repair, and Aocang-linked logistics, diplomacy alone cannot buy Liu Bang enough time.
  • Hanji 155-2 adds that delegated fronts can be strategically correct while still resource-constrained by the main front’s survival needs and ruler mistrust.

Connections