ABSTRACT
Liu Pang's voice was trembling with sincerity, but Hsiang Yu's uncle advised him to seek an audience with his nephew and present his apologies personally. While Hsiang Yu sat speechless in the face of this tirade, Liu Pang swiftly took advantage of the distraction to go to the privy, and presumably it was his long purse that enabled Chang Liang and even the bodyguard to slip out and join him. Liu Pang employed a talented deserter from Ch'u named Ch'en P'ing to "control battles" for him in the best traditions of Sun Tzu by operating a spy network that could draw on the army's coffers for up to half a million ounces of gold. In the course of the Liu Pang won new allies and raised another army, only to find himself fleeing almost alone through the north gate of another beleaguered city, and not long after that he was confronted by Hsiang Yu yet again across a ravine.
