One year, 300,000 men from Qin surrounded Julu (present-day Pingxiang County, Hebei Province) in the state of Zhao (that's not the original one), and the king of Zhao sent a request for help to King Huai of Chu (that's not the original king of Chu). King Huai of Chu sent Song Yi as the first general and Xiang Yu as the second general to lead 200,000 men to rescue Zhao. When Song Yi heard that the Qin army was powerful, he stopped halfway and stopped advancing. There was no food in the army, and the soldiers cooked vegetables and beans as food, but he didn't care about it, he just held a banquet and ate and drank a lot of food. Xiang Yu's lungs exploded with anger. He killed Song Yi and became the "fake general" himself, and took his troops to save Zhao.
Xiang Yu first sent a force to cut off the Qin army's road to transport food; he personally led the main force across the Zhanghe River to rescue Julu.
After the Chu army crossed the Zhanghe River, Xiang Yu let his soldiers have a full meal, and each of them brought three days of dry food, and then passed down the order: sink the boat (anciently known as a boat), smash the cooking pot (anciently known as a kettle), and burn down the nearby houses by setting fire to them all. This is called breaking the kettle and sinking the boat. Xiang Yu used this method to show his determination to win the victory.
The soldiers of the Chu army saw that their commander's determination was so strong that none of them intended to go back alive. Under Xiang Yu's personal command, they took one for ten, ten for a hundred, and desperately rushed towards the Qin army, and after nine consecutive charges, the Qin army was defeated. Several generals of the Qin army were killed, some were taken prisoners, and some surrendered. This battle not only relieved the siege of Julu, but also beat the Qin army to the extent that it could not be revitalized any more, and after two years, the Qin Dynasty was destroyed.
After this battle, Xiang Yu became a real general, and many other armies came under his command, and his fame spread all over the world.