The Odd Story Of Emperor Gaozu’s Nephew, Marquis Soup Rattle

Liu Bang was a low-level official who rebelled against the Qin Dynasty to become king of Han (r.206-202 BCE) and ultimately the first emperor of the Han Dynasty (r. 202-195 BCE), thereafter gaining the name of Emperor Gaozu. As he had seen firsthand just how unstable an emperor’s position could be, Gaozu decided to entrust most of his empire’s noble feudal positions to members of his Liu family. As such, by the time of the emperor’s death in 195 BCE, only a single kingdom of China was ruled by a king who was unrelated to the imperial family.

Although Gaozu gave out kingdoms and other royal titles to his brothers, his sons, and his cousins, as well as to the descendants of all those listed above, the emperor oddly refused to hand out any title whatsoever to a certain unlucky nephew. His name was Liu Xin and he was the son of Gaozu’s deceased older brother, Liu Bo. Most family members of Liu Xin’s hereditary proximity to the emperor were given noble titles, yet Gaozu never considered the nephew for any feudal positions. Gaozu’s father, respectfully called the Venerable Sire or the Grand Supreme Emperor, apparently thought that Gaozu had simply forgotten about Liu Xin. When questioned, however, Emperor Gaozu reportedly stated that Liu Xin’s treatment was not a mistake, but a deliberate punishment.  As explanation, the emperor told an odd story about his past.

In the time when Emperor Gaozu was still the commoner known as Liu Bang, he apparently had a bad habit of bringing groups of friends to the house of Liu Bo, his older brother. Even worse, Liu Bang and his companions always arrived at his brother’s house at meal times. Although Liu Bang had the ability to be a people-person when it suited him and he usually acted respectfully toward family, he also often had an insufferable attitude, accentuated by bouts of extreme rudeness. As such, on those days when Liu Bang arrived on his brother’s doorstep with a party of friends in tow, he was the type of person who fully expected to be fed and entertained at his brother’s expense. Despite Liu Bang’s wants, he was not yet a king or emperor, so Liu Bo’s wife naturally felt no obligation to feed her scavenging brother-in-law.

Liu Bo’s wife apparently had one go-to tactic that she used whenever Liu Bang arrived in search of sustenance. As the story goes, she would go over to her kettle where food was being prepared and then loudly rattle the ladle. Feigning sympathy with their hunger, she would lie that her family had already eaten and that there was nothing left in the kettle. Upon hearing the news, Liu Bang’s disappointed friends would shuffle out of the home and search for another place to eat. Yet, on one of these occasions, Liu Bang peeked into the kettle after his friends had left and, low and behold, there was still plenty of food left in the pot.

After recounting that story to his father, Emperor Gaozu explained that he had long held a grudge against Liu Bo’s wife because of her kettle rattling. Fortunately, the Venerable Sire, as a good father should, eventually convinced Gaozu that his nephew, Liu Xin, should not be punished because of the actions of his mother. As a result, the neglected nephew finally received a noble title—a very unique position, at that. The promotion, however, was likely not what the nephew or the Venerable Sire had expected. According to Grand Historian Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), Liu Xin was given the special title of Marquis Soup Rattle.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Image of the The Dahuting Tomb mural, c. 2nd-3rd century CE, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Odd Ceremony Used By Emperor Gaozu To Bind His Ministers To A Pledge

According to Han Dynasty tradition, the first emperor of that dynasty, Emperor Gaozu (r. 202-195 BCE), wanted the majority of the kingdoms in China to remain firmly in the hands of the Liu imperial family. Therefore, by the end of Gaozu’s reign, the emperor’s sons, brothers and nephews ruled most of the empire’s kingdoms. The emperor was apparently so concerned about the rise of a rival family that he called his most important officials together in a meeting and had them swear to depose any new kings who were not from the Liu family.

The ministers and generals who were called forth to make this pledge were allegedly faced by an odd ceremony. According to the account of Grand Historian Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), the emperor brought a white horse to his meeting with these courtiers. In front of the crowd, the emperor supposedly sacrificed the white horse and smeared some of the animal’s blood on the lips of his ministers. Then, with their lips reddened, the important officials made their pledge to depose any new king that was not from the Liu family.

In 180 BCE, the Liu nobles and other loyal vassals did, indeed, rise against a rival family. Their rival was the Lü family, the clan to which Emperor Gaozu’s wife belonged. From the time of Gaozu’s death in 195, to the time of her own death in 180 BCE, Empress Lü had feverishly worked in hopes of making her Lü clan equal or greater than her husband’s Liu family—she placed numerous members of the Lü family in positions as generals, marquises and kings. Yet, when the empress dowager died in 180 BCE, the Liu nobility and their followers quickly raised their forces, seized the capital city, and launched a systematic extermination of the whole Lü clan. In the end, it is possible that the story about the white horse could have simply been propaganda produced by the Liu family to justify their massacre of the encroaching Lü.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Marengo, painted by James Ward (1769–1859), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

A Dragon Sighting Allegedly Ended The Political Career Of A Han Dynasty Chancellor

Zhang Cang was one of the longest serving officials in the early years of the Han Dynasty. He had joined the founder of the dynasty, Liu Bang, during the massive rebellion against the Qin regime, which took place from 209-206 BCE. While Liu Bang was fighting against rival rebels to become the new emperor, a process that took place between 206-202 BCE, he gave Zhang Cang various government positions in his growing realm, such as governor and prime minister. There were, however, even greater appointments in store for Zhang Cang in the coming years. It was after Liu Bang secured the title of Supreme Emperor, thereafter becoming known as Emperor Gaozu, that Zhang Cang would really start to ascend through the Han Dynasty social ladder.

Zhang Cang was granted the title of marquis of Beiping in 201 BCE and a few years later, in 196 BCE, he was also named as the marquis of Huainan. Zhang Cang also became the master of calculation, and, during the reign of Gaozu’s successor, Emperor Hui, he was promoted to the lofty government position of imperial secretary in 193 BCE. He also survived the deadly years of palace intrigue under Empress Dowager Lü (a span of time from 195-180 BCE) to be appointed as chancellor by Emperor Wen in 177 BCE. In short, Zhang Cang was a long-serving government official who had been respected by several generations of emperors. While many other powerful members of the Han court had been removed from power, exiled or executed, Chancellor Zhang had instead achieved decades of steady success. He had such job security that only an otherworldly force could dislodge him from his good fortune. Unfortunately for Zhang Cang, that is exactly what reportedly happened.

One of Zhang Cang’s jobs was to determine how the Han Dynasty aligned with the universe. With this in mind, he had to make findings such as which element the Han Dynasty corresponded to and which color should be honored by the new line of emperors. After studying these matters, Zhang Cang concluded that the Han Dynasty was aligned with the element of water and that the color black should be revered.

In the later part of the chancellor’s career, still during the reign of Emperor Wen, a scholar from the region of Lu published a rebuke against Zhang Cang’s findings in the matter of the Han Dynasty’s element. The scholar, a certain Gongsun Cheng, stated that the Han Dynasty did not correspond to water, but instead was more in line with earth. When Emperor Wen heard of this opposing view, he asked Zhang Cang to look into the matter. Chancellor Zhang, of course, humored the emperor, but quickly denounced Gongsun Chen’s findings to be erroneous and false.

Gongsun Chen, however, had one last finding to publish. He declared that, in proving the validity of his views, he could predict that a dragon would soon be spotted in China. He even specifically proposed that the color of the dragon would be yellow. When the claims reached the capital city, Zhang Cang disregarded these predictions just as he had the others.

Not long after the publication of these statements, Zhang Cang received terrible news. A dragon had reportedly been seen flying above Chenji and, as Gongsun Chen had predicted, it was said to have been yellow in color. When this rumor reached Emperor Wen, he immediately invited Gongsun Chen to join the court and appointed him as a member of the advisory erudite counsel. Once Gongsun Chen entered the government, he began to revise Zhang Cang’s earlier findings, adjusting the calendar and regulations, but doing so with the element of earth as his foundation, instead of water.

The dragon incident dealt an irreparable blow to Zhang Cang’s influence. After Gongsun Chen’s arrival at court, Chancellor Zhang began to distance himself from government life and he finally retired completely around 162 BCE. Even after his departure from government, however, Zhang Cang continued to have good fortune. He spent his peaceful retirement on his estates in the company of hundreds of concubines. He supposedly lived to be over a hundred years old and lost all of his teeth by the end of his life, requiring him to get most of his nutrition from milk. The long-lived marquis breathed his last in 152 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Jing.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Recreation of a Qing dynasty flag (1889-1912), 1889. Details based on Flags of maritime nations. United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Equipment 1899, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Tragically Ironic Mercy Of Lord Ding

In 221 BCE, King Zheng of Qin completed his family’s multigenerational conquest of China and became the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Yet, his dynasty had difficulty adapting to peace. Qin’s advantages in times of war—eradication of feudalism, extreme autocratic rule, and the promotion of legalism over religion or moral philosophy—quickly became irksome to the Chinese people when there was no more war to distract the mind. In the end, it was primarily the First Emperor’s fearsome reputation that kept the unhappy population subdued. As a result, in 209 BCE, only one year after the emperor’s death, widespread rebellions sprung up throughout the empire in a mass movement to oust the Qin Dynasty. The rebels succeeded in seizing the Qin capital city by 207 BCE, and the last monarch of the Qin Dynasty (who had demoted himself to the rank of king) was executed by 206 BCE.

The rebellion against the Qin Dynasty was a time of incredible social mobility. It was an age when former nobles and generals were deposed or executed while peasants and swamp bandits became the new generation of kings. Although the Qin emperors had been overthrown and China had been shattered back into a patchwork of kingdoms, few of the new kings could forget the idea of imperial rule. The new kingdoms began to fight amongst themselves, jostling for power in the new order. Eventually, two of the kings—Liu Bang in Han and Xiang Yu in Chu—began to dominate post-Qin China, forcing the other kingdoms to choose a side in an inevitable civil war.

A certain man named Lord Ding chose to fight on the side of Xiang Yu. To the people living in that age, without the benefit of hindsight, Xiang Yu would have, indeed, seemed like a great choice. He had been the commander-in-chief of the rebel forces, and he was the one who granted or affirmed the kingships of the other rebels-turned-monarchs. He was even the one who placed Liu Bang on the throne of Han in 206 BCE. In addition, Xiang Yu was a brilliant military strategist and a warrior with a fearsome reputation. He was also reportedly much more polite and respectful than Liu Bang. Nevertheless, Liu Bang had a clear advantage in one important aspect of rule. Whereas Xiang Yu liked to do everything himself, Liu Bang was adept at recruiting wise advisors and deputizing his followers to accomplish important tasks.

From 205-202 BCE, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu wrestled for supremacy in China. During these years, the king of Han was battered by many defeats as a result of Xiang Yu’s military prowess. In 205 BCE, Liu Bang suffered what was perhaps his most devastating loss, in a battle near Pengcheng, which took place along the Sui River. After the battle, there were so many Han dead in the river that the water reportedly stopped flowing. In the aftermath of the battle, Liu Bang’s family was also captured.

At the time of this catastrophic battle, Lord Ding was an officer in Xiang Yu’s army. He led his force in pursuit of the remnants of Liu Bang’s force, which was retreating back to the west. He reportedly intercepted the fleeing king, or, at least, had the ability to block Liu Bang’s escape. Yet, when he had the defeated king in his grasp, Lord Ding had a change of heart—he was convinced that Liu Bang was a worthy man, so Lord Ding decided to withdraw back to Xiang Yu and allowed the king of Han to slip away and rebuild.

Years later, after Xiang Yu was killed at the decisive Battle of Gaixia in 202 BCE, Lord Ding went to see the man he had spared at Pengcheng. By then, King Liu Bang had become Supreme Emperor and would later be given the posthumous name of Emperor Gaozu, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. If Lord Ding had been imagining a warm reception with rewards and titles for his past act of mercy, then he must have been quickly disappointed.

Perhaps, if Lord Ding had defected to Liu Bang’s side while the civil war was still ongoing, his fate would have been kinder. Yet, as it was, Emperor Gaozu was now the monarch of a new imperial regime and he had important precedents to set. As such, the emperor was faced with a dilemma when Lord Ding arrived. By rewarding the man, he would in effect be applauding the disloyalty of a vassal to his liege. As a new emperor, Gaozu needed to stamp out any hint of disloyalty or insubordination, even if it had been directed at his old rival, Xiang Yu. Therefore, Emperor Gaozu reportedly had Lord Ding arrested and beheaded as an example of what happens to disloyal nobles.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Fresco of two men from a Han dynasty tomb in Sian, Shensi. Housed in the Xi'an University of Technology. [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Morbid Loyalty of King Tian Heng’s Followers

Tian Heng was one of many unlucky kings of ancient Qi. His family had successfully rebelled against the Qin Dynasty during the widespread rebellions of 209 BCE, and they had managed to stake their claim to the region of Qi even though the powerful hegemon of the rebel forces, Xiang Yu, tried to take the kingdom away from the Tian clan and hand it over to another prominent rebel.

In the struggle to keep Qi independent, Tian Heng lost several kinsmen. King Tian Rong, the first Tian king of Qi, was defeated by Xiang Yu in a battle at Chengyang around 205 BCE. Power then passed to Tian Guang, but his land was quickly invaded by the Kingdom of Han in 204 BCE. King Tian Guang was captured and executed by the general, Han Xin, and Han forces consequently occupied the kingdom of Qi during 203 BCE. Tian Heng assumed power after the fall of his kinsmen and tried to push the Han forces out of Qi. Nevertheless, he was defeated by a Han Army at Yingxia and was forced to flee from his kingdom.

Tian Heng received shelter from Peng Yue, another rebel warlord who was trying to keep his claim to Liang intact during the civil war between the king of Han (future Emperor Gaozu) and the king of Chu (Xiang Yu). When Tian Heng learned that the forces of Han had defeated and killed Xiang Yu in the battle of Gaixia (202 BCE), he fled to an island off the coast of Peng Yue’s domain, as he feared that Emperor Gaozu would label him an enemy of the state. Just over 500 loyal followers reportedly journeyed with Tian Heng to stay with him on his island refuge.

According to the Han historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), Emperor Gaozu eventually sent a messenger with a pardon to the island, clearing the refugee king of any wartime transgressions. Tian Heng did not believe the pardon—during his heyday, he had once participated in the boiling alive of a Han diplomat—and he refused to leave the island. When Emperor Gaozu heard of Tian Heng’s reservations, he sent the messenger back to the island with even more incentives to lure the king out of hiding. Tian Heng was told that the emperor’s pardon was genuine and that he could expect to be granted the noble title of marquis. The messenger also hinted that the Emperor might even have been willing to restore Tian Heng as king of Qi.

The messenger finally coaxed Tian Heng to leave the island refuge, but the king of Qi had no intention of acknowledging Emperor Gaozu as his ruler. Accompanied by two loyal followers, Tian Heng traveled by carriage to meet the emperor at Luoyang. He halted his carriage, however, when he was still a short distance away from the city. As the story goes, Tian Heng pulled his two followers aside and instructed them to bring his head to the emperor. After giving them their orders, the fallen king of Qi proceeded to cut his own throat.

After the deed was done, the two followers finished the job of removing Tian Heng’s head and brought the macabre trophy to Emperor Gaozu. The emperor, for his part, was apparently moved by Tian Heng’s final actions. The two followers who delivered the head were promoted to the rank of colonel in the Han Army. Furthermore, Emperor Gaozu tasked 2,000 soldiers with constructing a kingly burial mound for Tian Heng. The two followers who had brought the head watched as their king was entombed, and, once the funeral was complete, they allegedly dug two holes in the side of the mound. When the holes were complete, the followers supposedly killed themselves so as to stay with their leader.

Later on, Emperor Gaozu sent another envoy to Tian Heng’s island, thinking that if the rest of the followers were like the two who had brought the head, then the island would be a treasure trove of worthy men. Unfortunately, Emperor Gaozu had correctly predicted that the men on the island would have the same resolve of the two that had accompanied Tian Heng. When the emperor’s envoy arrived on the island, he allegedly discovered that news of Tian Heng’s death had already reached the island and that all of the 500 refugees living there had committed suicide.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Image from "An authentic account of an embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China," c. 1797, [Public Domain] via Flickr and Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Tragic Success Of The Han Diplomat, Master Li Yiji

Around the year 204 BCE, King Liu Bang of Han (the founder of the Han Dynasty) sent Master Li Yiji into the kingdom of Qi to see if they would peacefully submit to Han rule. Li Yiji, however, was not the only person Liu Bang set on course to Qi. If negotiations fell through, the brilliant general, Han Xin, was waiting with an army on the other side of the Yellow River, ready to invade Qi and subjugate the region by force.

Master Li Yiji successfully obtained an audience with Prime Minister Tian Heng and King Tian Guang, the rulers of Qi. Li Yiji’s task would not be easy. Han was definitely one of the greatest Chinese kingdoms at that time, but its power was far from undisputed. Only a year prior, Liu Bang had suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of his most powerful rival, King Xiang Yu of Chu, in a battle at the Sui River. Nevertheless, the kingdom of Han had regained its momentum quickly after the battle, and much of their recovery was due to Han Xin, the very general who was at that moment leering at Qi from the other side of the Yellow River. In 204 alone, he had toppled the kingdoms of Wei, Zhao and Dai, capturing all of their kings in battle.

With Liu Bang offering a peaceful transition and Han Xin positioned threateningly on the border, the king and prime minister of Qi were eventually won over by the arguments of Master Li Yiji. Records of the exact terms of their agreement were vague, with their deal amounting to either a complete submittal or possibly a military alliance against Xiang Yu. Whatever the case, the king and prime minister of Qi agreed to disband or relocate the forces they currently had on the Yellow River and redeploy their army against Chu.

Civil wars, however, can bring about the worst in people. Although Master Li Yiji and the leadership of Qi were happy with their bloodless agreement, there was one other powerful player in the region who did not want a peaceful solution. Conquering Qi by force, as Han Xin had been prepared to do, could bring the conqueror fame, wealth and power. Now that Qi was submitting freely, Han Xin was cut off from these opportunities. Even worse—Master Li Yiji, not Han Xin, would get all of the credit for bringing the kingdom of Qi over to the Han side of the war.

Suffice it to say, Han Xin began to eye the newly lowered defenses of Qi greedily. Disregarding Li Yiji’s successful diplomacy, Han Xin crossed the Yellow River and quashed a startled Qi army at Lixia and seized the city of Linzi.

When news of this invasion reached the king and prime minister of Qi, they quickly arrested Master Li Yiji, thinking that the diplomat had been complicit in the treacherous attack. In the end, Master Li Yiji met the grisly end of being boiled alive. Han Xin, on the other hand, captured King Tian Guang and forced Tian Heng into hiding, finally completing his conquest of Qi by 203 BCE, when he proclaimed himself to be king of the region.

Written by C. Keith Hanley.

Picture Attribution: (Depiction of Zhang Qian, Mogao caves 618-712 CE, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.  

General Han Xin And The Strategic Wei River Flood

Around the year 204 BCE, or early 203 BCE, a skilled general named Han Xin led an army against the kingdom of Qi. His mission was to subjugate Qi and deliver it into the hands of Liu Bang, the King of Han, who would found the Han Dynasty. Liu Bang’s main rival at the time was Xiang Yu, the king of Chu. Although Liu Bang and Xiang Yu only claimed to be kings, they had come to dominate the other minor kingdoms of post-Qin China, with Liu bang lording over the west and Xiang Yu commanding the east. When Xiang Yu heard that his Han rivals were moving against Qi, he sent an army of Chu soldiers, led by general Long Ju, to help King Tian Guang of Qi defend the kingdom.

The forces of Qi and the army of Long Ju combined their strength and marched together to face Han Xin’s invading troops. They intercepted the Han army before it could cross the Wei River. When the two opposing forces met, the Qi and Chu soldiers observed that the river was oddly low and shallow.

The shallow water did little to encumber the Han forces as Han Xin led half of his troops into the river. Han Xin by this point had an impressive résumé—in 204 BCE, he had personally captured the kings of Wei, Zhao and Dai in battle. Yet, the forces of Qi and Chu found the army in front of them to be underwhelming—when Long Ju led some of his troops to skirmish with the Han soldiers in the river, it seemed to the Qi and Chu forces as if Han Xin had lost his nerve. Not long after the fighting began in the shallow waters of the river, the Han army began fleeing back across the river, where the rest of their troops were still waiting.

Seeing the Han army flee before him, Long Ju apparently believed he was nearing the end of a decisive victory. Eager to deliver the killing blow, Long Ju signaled for the Chu and Qi forces to cross the river and attack the wavering Han army.

Han Xin observed from his side of the river as a significant portion of the Chu and Qi forces waded into the water. Everything had gone exactly as planned—now it was time to spring his trap. Using some sort of signal, Han Xin communicated a message upriver to a group of engineers who were eagerly awaiting orders. These men were overseeing a sandbag dam in the Wei River, which they had rigged to catastrophically fail when triggered by some sort of mechanism. When Han Xin’s message arrived, the engineers collapsed the dam and let the impatient water rush violently back into the depleted Wei River.

Before the soldiers of Qi and Chu could identify the roaring sound coming from upstream, the powerful flood was already upon them. Much of the army was drowned in the flow, but those in the frontlines who had followed Long Ju to the other side of the river were now cut off from the rest of the surviving army. Han Xin and the Han army then charged against the vulnerable troops who had survived the flood and general Long Ju was slain in the resulting massacre. King Tian Guang of Qi, who was watching the catastrophe from dry land on the other side of the river, decided that the battle was lost and fled with what remained of his army. Nevertheless, Han Xin soon intercepted and captured the fleeing king and the last remnants of his troops.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Battle at the River Thi-cau, c. 18th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

General Han Xin And The Great Flag Ruse

Han Xin was one of the more quirky generals that served Liu Bang, the King of Han who emerged as the first Han emperor after the fall of the Qin Dynasty. The Qin forces were toppled by 207 BCE, and in 206 BCE, China was once again shattered into numerous kingdoms, with Liu Bang dominating the west from Han and Xiang Yu lording over the east from Chu. When civil war erupted between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, other minor kings and rogue generals had to choose a side. It was around 206 BCE, when the anti-Qin rebel leaders were claiming their kingdoms, that Han Xin defected from the camp of Xiang Yu and joined Liu Bang.

According to the Han historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), Han Xin was a man of undiscovered talent when he joined the Han army. He had no money, no noble lineage, and although he had been in the rebel coalition for years, he had not been able to distinguish himself in battle. Yet, he was a brave man and had an unorthodox way of envisioning military strategy. Even though Han Xin had thus far not been able to prove his talents, several notable Han officials recognized a spark of something special in the man. Lord Teng and Prime Minister Xiao He allegedly vouched for Han Xin and, following their counsel, Liu Bang granted the defector a rank of commissary colonel in the Han military. By 204 BCE, Han Xin had been promoted to the rank of major general and became a prime minister.

That same year (204 BCE), Han Xin and Zhang Er were sent by the king of Han to conquer the kingdoms of Zhao and Dai. The kings of those two regions, Xie in Zhao and Chen Yu in Dai, were close friends and they combined their forces to defend against the Han army.

The armies clashed at the Jing Gorge, located southwest of Dai and northwest of Zhao. Han Xin and Zhang Er allegedly possessed an army of around 20,000-30,000 men strong, which was positioned in the mouth of the gorge. The forces of Dai and Zhao was apparently much larger, supposedly reaching around 200,000 troops.

When the opposing generals came into contact, it was uncertain who had the terrain advantage. The Han troops were in the mountainous gorge and as long as they stayed on the mountainside, they had a favorable position. Yet, they were the invaders and their army would have to move eventually. On the other side, the forces of Zhao and Dai set up a fortified encampment on a strong position overlooking the mouth of the gorge, from which they could defend against a Han invasion. As long as they stayed in their fortifications, the defenders would have a significant advantage.

The two sides held their positions for some time, each waiting for the other to move first. Eventually, the Han forces looked to the ingenuity of Han Xin for a solution to their current predicament. Han Xin, for his part, would not disappoint.

Sima Qian wrote that Han spies had infiltrated the opposing fortification and were sending back information to Han Xin. One of the conclusions that the general made from the information he received was that the Zhao and Dai forces were confident—fatally confident—and that Chen Yu, the lead opposing general, underestimated the strength of the Han troops. Han Xin constructed his strategy around this information, planning to use the confidence and ignorance of the Zhao and Dai forces as a weapon to turn the battle in his favor.

To encourage the enemy to underestimate the Han forces, Han Xin began breaking basic military axioms known to all ancient Chinese warriors. First, Han Xin split his already outnumbered army into two halves and sent one of them to a vulnerable section of the gorge. As an extra embellishment, he had that portion of the army back itself against the river that ran through the gorge—an action that Chinese military proverbs warned against. It was such a breach of accepted military strategy that the defenders in the Zhao and Dai army could supposedly be heard openly howling with laughter.

Han Xin stayed with the half of the army still on the mountainside. There, he split off another group of soldiers, a force of 2,000 light cavalry, and had them hide where they could inconspicuously watch the battlefield. When the cavalry had disappeared, Han Xin led the rest of the army down the mountain to a position not too far from the rest of the Han forces by the river.

From their defenses, the Zhao and Dai troops could not believe their eyes. The Han army was willingly lining up with its back to the river, ready to be pushed into the deadly water by the much larger defending force. The opportunity was too enticing for the Zhao and Dai troops to ignore. So, a large portion of the defenders charged against the half of the Han army personally led by Han Xin. After the battle raged for a time, Han Xin withdrew his troops back to the river, joining up with the other half of the Han army on the riverbanks. When the rest of the defenders in the Zhao and Dai fortification saw Han Xin retreat to the river, their bloodlust got the better of them, and they too charged out of the camp to join the battle, leaving only a scattering of men in the fort.

This second charge from the Zhao and Dai camp was exactly the sign that the 2,000 hidden Han cavalry were told to look for. When the horsemen saw that the enemy camp was virtually deserted except for a scattering of men, they took off down the mountainside. The Han cavalry successfully evaded the eyes of the occupied Zhao and Dai army and reached the walls of the enemy fortification without being discovered. There, they dismounted and grabbed their secret weapons from their bags—each of the 2,000 horsemen had a single bright red Han flag. With these flags in hand, the horsemen rushed into the fortification and went to work.

Back by the river, where Han Xin and Zhang Er were desperately trying to keep their troops from being pushed into the water, things were looking grim. The Zhao and Dai forces had pinned down their opponents, but the Han army was putting up a valiant stand. Still, the Zhao and Dai soldiers had been confident of victory ever since they rushed out of their camps, all they had to do was break the will of the trapped Han forces. Yet, it was the Zhao and Dai armies that would break first. When troops in the back lines of the Zhao and Dai forces looked back at their camp, they saw a startling sight—all of the Zhao flags on the defensive walls had been cut down and replaced by vibrant Han standards.

The unexpected flags apparently caused a sense of insurmountable panic to flood the minds of the Zhao and Dai troops. Had another Han army arrived? Had their kings or generals fallen during the battle? Did they fall into an elaborate trap? Faced with such questions, the Zhao and Dai soldiers lost all of their confidence and, instead of finishing the battle, they began to flee. The panic only increased when an unseen band of Han cavalry crashed into the back of the Zhao and Dai army.

In the end, the battle at the Jing Gorge turned out to be a crippling defeat for the Zhao and Dai forces. The Han army managed to capture both King Xie of Zhao and King Chen Yu of Dai, the latter of which was executed by his bitter rival, Zhang Er, who was crowned as the new king of Zhao by Liu Bang.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Horsemen carrying flags from Ming Dynasty Departure Herald, from the Jiajing reign period in China(1522-1566 AD), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

Sources:

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Interesting Relationship Between Emperor Gaozu And His Peasant Father

As was proper in ancient China, Emperor Gaozu showed great respect to his father, known only as the so-called “Venerable Sire” or “Sir Liu”. In fact, according to the historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), the emperor made sure to visit his father at least once every five days as a sign of his filial devotion. Yet, Emperor Gaozu had begun life as a peasant, and therefore his father was also a peasant. As such, after becoming the king of Han around 206 BCE and achieving the rank of Supreme Emperor by 202 BCE, the disparity of social status between Gaozu and his father had grown massively. Nevertheless, the emperor was determined to continue showing respect to his father.

Despite Gaozu’s resolve, the optics of an emperor continually expressing deference to an aging peasant was so troublesome that even the Venerable Sire’s household attendants began to worry about the situation. According to Sima Qian, a steward brought up the issue with the Venerable Sire—he suggested that when the emperor paid his next visit, the Venerable Sire should carry a broom with him while he met with his son. This action, the steward believed, would remind the emperor that the Venerable Sire was a member of the working class, far beneath the status of the imperial throne. When Emperor Gaozu saw his father, broom in hand, he understood the point. The emperor then paid the steward 500 catties of gold and went to work finding a loophole around social customs.

In the end, the emperor allegedly came up with an interesting plan to continue expressing his devotion to his father. As Gaozu, himself, was the “Supreme Emperor,” he proclaimed that his father would henceforth be given the titular title of “Grand Supreme Emperor.” Of course, the rank of Grand Supreme Emperor granted no real responsibilities or authority, but it did give the Venerable Sire enough status that Emperor Gaozu’s visits no longer seemed improper.

The lords of China understood the message: the emperor’s father was a man who deserved respect. When the so-called Grand Supreme Emperor died in 197 BCE, several of the kings who served Emperor Gaozu attended the funeral.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Song Dynasty Painting of three men of Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Chinese Kingmaker, Xiang Yu, Created Or Affirmed At Least Nineteen Kingdoms In The Intermission Between the Qin and Han Dynasties

Xiang Yu and his uncle, Xiang Liang, joined the rebellion started by Chen She in 209 BCE, which set in motion events that would topple the Qin Dynasty in China. Once the rebels had secured a foothold, Chen She declared himself to be the king of Chu, and several other rebel leaders similarly proclaimed themselves to be the kings of the regions they liberated. In this way, new kings emerged in regions such as Zhao, Yan, Qi and Wei. When Chen She was assassinated not long after the rebellion started, Xiang Liang became the leader of most of the rebel forces. Xiang Liang chose not to make himself the king of Chu, as Chen She had done before him, he instead placed King Huai on the throne of Chu, but kept most of the military under his own control. Xiang Liang eventually died in battle in 208 BCE, and was succeeded by his nephew, Xiang Yu.

Under the leadership of Xiang Yu, the Qin Dynasty was successfully toppled. By 206 BCE, the rebels had defeated the armies of Qin, took the capital city of Xianyang and executed the last Qin prince, Ziying. With the empire in his hands, Xiang Yu let China slip back into feudalism, presumably with the hope that he would remain a hegemon in charge of the revived monarchies of ancient China. According to the historian, Sima Qian (145-90 BCE), Xiang Yu personally crowned or formally recognized at least nineteen kings around the year 206 BCE, giving them power to govern the newly freed regions of China. These are the kings and kingdoms he is known to have created or affirmed:

1. Zhang Han was crowned king of Yong. 
2. Sima Xin was crowned the king of Sai.
3. Dong Yi was crowned the king of Di.
4. Shen Yang was crowned as king of Henan.
5. Sima Ang was made king of Yin.
6. Zhang Er was placed on the throne of Changshan.
7. Qing Bu, previously a lord of Dangyang, was appointed as king of Jiujiang.
8. Wu Rui, the lord of Po, was crowned king of Hengshan.
9. Gong Ao was crowned the king of Linjiang.
10. Xiang Yu allowed King Cheng to remain ruler of Hann (an extra “n” was added by the translators so that it is not confused with the Han Dynasty, formed by another kingdom).
11. Xiang Yu demoted King Bao from his kingdom of Wei, and instead made him king of only Western Wei.
12. Xiang Yu removed King Xie from power in Zhao and placed him on the throne of Dai.
13. Xiang Yu removed King Huang Guang from his domain of Yan and instead made him ruler of Liaodong.
14. With Huang Guang relocated, Xiang Yu made Zhang Tu the new king of Yan.
15. Tian Shi, the king of Qi, was relocated to a new domain in the kingdom of Jiaodong.
16. With Tian Shi gone, Xiang Yu crowned Tian Du as the king of Qi.
17. Tian An was crowned king of Jibei.
18. Not to be left out, Xiang Yu crowned himself the “Dictator King of Western Chu.”
19. Most importantly, Liu Bang, the Governor of Pei, was crowned as the king of Han. He killed Xiang Yu around 202 BCE and eventually became Emperor Gaozu, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. As such, all of the kingdoms listed above were eventually absorbed by the Han. 

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Photograph of a Chinese terracotta miniature, from the Historian's Hut Archives, on top of a Public Domain rubbing detail from Stone Chamber 1 on the West Wall of the Wu Family Shrine in Shandong Province, China, dated 2nd century AD during the Eastern Han Dynasty).

Sources:

Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

The Great Successes And Horrible Betrayals Of The Qin General, Zhang Han

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).

Sources:

• 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