What happened
Liu Bang secured the Guanzhong heartland and survived a crushing defeat at Pengcheng in 205 BC. He held the Xingyang line while his great general Han Xin conquered the northern and eastern kingdoms and Peng Yue raided Chu’s supply lines. A truce at the Hong Canal in 203 BC briefly divided the empire, but Liu Bang broke it on his advisers’ urging.
Background
The four-year struggle for the empire left by Qin’s collapse pitted Xiang Yu, Hegemon-King of Western Chu, against Liu Bang, King of Han.
Consequences
At Gaixia in 202 BC the encircled Chu army heard Chu songs on every side; Xiang Yu died at the Wu River, and Liu Bang proclaimed the Han dynasty. The war lives on in the idiom “Chu songs on four sides,” in the opera behind “Farewell My Concubine,” and in the “Chu river, Han border” dividing every Chinese chess board.