項羽為何不渡烏江？

Why did Xiang Yu not intend to cross over Wujiang？

《史記‧項羽本記》記載，項羽垓下兵敗，突圍之後欲東渡烏江，烏江亭長檥船待，謂項王曰：「江東雖小，地方千里，眾數十萬人，亦足王也。願大王急渡，今獨臣有船，漢軍至，無以渡。」項王笑曰：「天之亡我，我何渡為！且籍與江東子弟八千人渡江而西，今無一人還，縱江東父兄憐而忘我，我何面目見之？縱彼不言，籍獨不愧於心乎？」於是決定不渡烏江，乃自刎而死。依據《史記》著者司馬遷的看法，項羽臨時決定不渡烏江，是因為當初起兵時的江東八千子弟未能一同返回故里，自己一人回到江東，實無顏見江東父兄。換言之，他是基於羞恥心與責任感所做的決定，後人頗為項羽的自殺惋惜，例如唐代的杜牧在〈題烏江亭〉一詩云：勝敗兵家事不期，包羞忍恥是男兒，江東子弟多才俊，卷土重來未可知。從這首詩中可明顯看出，杜牧認為項羽如果回到江東，重新號召江東子弟，仍有機會與劉邦再戰，一決勝負。但是宋代的王安石對於杜牧的看法就不以為然，他在〈烏江亭〉一詩云：百戰疲勞壯士哀，中原一敗勢難廻，江東子弟今雖在，肯為君王卷土來？王安石認為，即使項羽隻身渡過烏江，面對鋪天蓋地追殺而來的漢軍，眼前的江東子弟，是否還會站在項羽的一邊，與漢軍決一死戰是有問題的。王安石詩是用的疑問句，但意思是傾向肯定的。杜牧是一位詩人，具有浪漫情懷與理想性，王安石則有實際從政的經驗，對人性的體會較深，他的看法對於探究「項羽為何不渡烏江？」頗具啟發性，本文即從王安石的觀點，進行討論。

Xiang Yu's （項羽）home-bound troops were ambushed and destroyed by the Hanarmy in Gaixia.（垓下）'The Basic Annals of Xiang Yu' of the Shi Ji stated that thevillage head of Wujiang（烏江）who was waiting with a boat on the bank of the river,attempted to persuade Xiang Yu to step on board. Xiang Yu firmly refused saying thathe could not bear to save himself and travel home to face the families of all the menwho had lost their lives. He cut his own throat and died.The Grand Historian Sima Qian（司馬遷）remarked that Xiang Yu felt ashamedand instead committed suicide. Once, with 8,000 royal followers from the land east ofthe river, Xiang Yu crossed over and marched west, but not a single man of themreturned. Du Mu,（杜牧）noted poet of the Tang dynasty, indicated that on thebattlefield, winning and losing were both quite common. If Xiang Yu put up with thehumiliation of defeat and did cross over Wujiang, he might rally his supporters andcrushed Liu Bang's army. Wang Anshi, （王安石）a governmental reformer of the Songdynasty,questioned the troops in Xiang Yu's homeland would fight for him when theywere confronted by the formidable Han army. This paper discusses Xiang Yu's heroismand his death.