During the final years of the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Yu joined the uprising sparked by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. The Second Emperor of Qin dispatched General Zhang Han with a massive army to crush the rebellion, first eliminating Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu then crossed the Yangtze River westward, installed King Huai of Chu as a figurehead, and continued fighting the Qin forces. However, intoxicated by early victories, Xiang Liang grew overconfident and was defeated by Zhang Han at Dingtao (northwest of present-day Dingtao County, Shandong Province), where he was killed in battle.
Zhang Han, believing the Chu forces were no longer a threat, crossed the Yellow River and marched north to attack Zhao. The Zhao army, unable to withstand the assault, retreated to Julu (in present-day Pingxiang County, Hebei Province), where they were completely surrounded by the troops of Wang Li and She Jian, whom Zhang Han had dispatched.
After the Chu army's devastating defeat at Dingtao, King Huai of Chu was gripped by panic. He then heard his advisor Song Yi's strategic arguments and was so impressed that he appointed him as Supreme General, with Xiang Yu as his deputy, ordering them to lead the army to rescue the state of Zhao.
Song Yi led the army to Anyang (southeast of present-day Cao County, Shandong) and then halted for forty-six days without moving. Xiang Yu could not bear it and said to Song Yi, "The Qin army has already surrounded the King of Zhao in Julu City. Our forces should quickly cross the river northward and attack from outside the encirclement, while the Zhao army strikes from within the city. Coordinating from inside and out, we will surely achieve victory."
Song Yi disagreed, saying, "As the saying goes, a gadfly can annoy an ox but can't kill a louse. Now the Qin army is attacking Zhao. If Qin wins, they'll be exhausted, and we can strike them while they're weak with little effort. If Qin loses and gets bogged down at Julu, we can march west and crush Qin. So letting Qin and Zhao fight first is the best strategy. Frankly, when it comes to charging into battle, I'm no match for you, but when it comes to strategy, you can't compare to me!"
Then, Song Yi issued an order to the army regarding Xiang Yu: "Anyone as fierce as a tiger or too unruly to follow orders shall be killed, no matter who they are!"
Meanwhile, Song Yi sent his son to serve as prime minister in the state of Qi, using the occasion to throw lavish banquets. With the bitter cold and relentless rain, the soldiers were suffering from hunger and exposure. Xiang Yu seized the moment to rally the troops, declaring, "We should unite to attack Qin, yet we remain stalled here. The people are starving, our supplies are gone, yet the general feasts and waits for Qin to tire. But Qin is strong—it will crush the newly formed Zhao with ease, growing even mightier. Where is the chance to strike a weary enemy? Our Chu army was recently defeated; King Huai entrusted all his forces to the general, staking the nation's fate on this campaign. Now our men freeze and starve while the general cares only for himself—this is no loyal minister!"
After this stirring speech, Xiang Yu strode into the tent and killed Song Yi, then announced to the army, "Song Yi conspired with Qi against Chu, and the King of Chu secretly ordered me to execute him." The soldiers immediately acclaimed Xiang Yu as acting supreme general. When Xiang Yu reported this to King Huai of Chu, the king, seeing the situation was already settled, had no choice but to formally appoint Xiang Yu as supreme general.
Xiang Yu's execution of Song Yi not only shocked the state of Chu but also spread his fearsome reputation across all the warring states. Seizing the moment, he first dispatched General Dangyang and General Pu with twenty thousand troops to cross the river and relieve the siege of Julu. After they achieved a minor victory, Chen Yu urgently requested reinforcements. Without hesitation, Xiang Yu led his entire army across the river to rescue the Zhao forces.
After crossing the river with his entire army, Xiang Yu ordered all boats to be sunk and all cooking pots smashed, then burned the camp shelters, taking only three days' rations to show his troops they would fight to the death with no thought of retreat.
When the main army arrived at Julu, they launched an immediate assault, surrounding the forces of the Qin general Wang Li from the outside. After nine fierce battles, they cut off the Qin army's supply lines, and Wang Li was captured alive; another Qin general, She Jian, was surrounded and, refusing to surrender, threw himself into a fire and burned to death.
Before this, several allied armies had arrived to rescue Zhao, setting up over a dozen camps near the city of Julu, yet none dared to engage the Qin forces in battle. When Xiang Yu's Chu army arrived, his soldiers fought with ten times their usual ferocity, charging straight at the enemy with battle cries that shook heaven and earth. They ultimately routed the Qin army, and from that day on, the prestige of Xiang Yu's Chu forces overshadowed all the other allied armies.
After the battle, Xiang Yu summoned the various generals. As they entered the camp gate, they immediately fell to their knees, trembling, and crawled forward on their knees, not daring to lift their heads to look at him. From then on, Xiang Yu became the supreme commander of all the feudal lords, and every army followed his orders without question.
Later, people used the idiom "Breaking the Cauldrons and Sinking the Boats" to mean fighting to the death with no turning back.
Source: *Records of the Grand Historian*, "Biography of Xiang Yu"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "破釜沉舟" came to describe fighting to the death with no turning back.