At the time of the widespread
revolts against the Qin Dynasty, in 209 BCE, Zhang Han was one of the leading
generals charged with crushing the rebellion. He is first mentioned as having
been stationed as a treasurer at the First Emperor of Qin’s tomb, made famous
by its terracotta warriors. When the rebellion broke out, he conscripted the
local laborers and set out against the rebel forces. Zhang Han formed his
recruits into a fighting force and crushed a rebel army led by a man named Zhou
Wen. After a series of battles, Zhou Wen ultimately committed suicide.
Zhang Han continued to march
his troops against rebel forces, who were beginning to consolidate under a
leader named Chen She. The Qin general broke up a rebel siege at the city of
Xingyang. Chasing the momentum, Zhang Han attacked several more rebel
leaders—he scattered one band led by a man named Deng Yue and shortly
thereafter defeated more rebels led by a certain Wu Xu. Finally, Zhang Han
marched his troops toward the most influential rebel leaders. In the resulting
battle, the Qin forces killed a major rebel general named Zhang Jia, and the
original agitator of the revolt, Chen She, was assassinated not too long after
the battle.
Although Zhang Han had not
personally killed Chen She, he would have a much more hands-on involvement in
the death of Chen She’s successor, Xiang Liang. When Zhang Han’s forces moved
against Xiang Liang, the rebel leader sent two of his own generals out to
challenge the approaching Qin forces. The two unlucky generals, a certain Yu Fanjun
and Zhu Jishi, met the Qin in battle near the region of Li. In the resulting
defeat, the former rebel was killed in battle and the latter was executed when
he returned to his boss.
Despite the loss, the rebel
hegemon, Xiang Liang, won a string of victories against the Qin. Yet, in 208
BCE, Zhang Han received more reinforcements and attacked Xiang Liang at the
city of Dingtao and killed the rebel leader. Following the victory, Zhang Han
moved his forces against the region of Zhao.
In the aftermath of Dingtao,
Xiang Liang’s nephew, Xiang Yu, took control of the rebel forces. He proved to
be a much more deadly force than his uncle. Xiang Yu annihilated a Qin army at
the city of Julu. After that victory, he positioned his army across the Zhang
River from Zhang Han’s own camp at Jiyuan. By this time, the Qin general
supposedly feared that he had fallen out of favor with his emperor and began to
send messages proposing an alliance with Xiang Yu. Despite the messages, the
rebels attacked Zhang Han at least two more times before they considered his
offer. According to the Grand Historian Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), Zhang Han
was accepted into the rebellion and was crowned as the rebel king of Yong. The
Qin troops he had been leading, however, were not so lucky—Sima Qian wrote that
200,000 of Zhang Han’s former troops were executed.
Unfortunately for Zhang Han,
his kingdom of Yong was adjacent to the kingdom of Han. In 205 BCE, Liu Bang,
the future first emperor of the Han Dynasty conquered Yong, prompting Zhang Han
to commit suicide.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Mausoleum
Terracotta Army of the Qin Emperor, [Public Domain] via
maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com).
- The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
- http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_zhang_han.html
- http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/personszhanghan.html
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