The
final decade of the 3rd century BCE and the first decade of the 2nd century BCE
were times of heavy state building in Asia. China’s Qin Dynasty collapsed
because of widespread revolt between 209 and 206 BCE. The warlords who toppled the
Qin regime subsequently fought against each other in a free-for-all. Emperor
Gaozu emerged victorious from this power struggle in 202 BCE, declaring the
supremacy of the new Han Dynasty. As a new emperor of a fledgling dynasty,
Gaozu had an inwardly-focused reign in which he was much more concerned about
enforcing his authority on his subjects than on launching campaigns to expand
the empire outside of the Chinese heartland. Emperor Gaozu’s philosophy was
shared by his immediate successors, a trend which gave China’s neighbors a few
precious decades of peace in which to thrive. To the north and west of Gaozu’s
lands, the Xiongnu nomads greatly expanded their influence under the leadership
of Shanyu Maodun (ruled approximately from 209-174 BCE). Northeast of
the Han empire, the warlord Wei Man created a kingdom for himself in northern
Korea, beginning his rise to power around 195 BCE. Finally, in the south, a
former official of the Qin Dynasty by the name of Zhao Tuo united the
China-Vietnam borderlands into the kingdom or empire of Southern Yue, also
known as Nanyue.
Zhao
Tuo reportedly ruled Southern Yue for a remarkable period of about seventy
years, approximately from 209/206-137 BCE. During his successful reign, he
developed a state policy of calculated deference and flattery to keep the
Chinese emperors both happy and unimposing. Among his favorite moves in his
foreign relations playbook were delay tactics, the skillful ability to negotiate
any Han offer of vassalage into a non-aggression pact, and a strict code of
never, ever, visiting Han territory in person. Unfortunately, Zhao Tuo’s diplomatic mastery
would be made all the more apparent by just how quickly his realm fell apart
after his death.
Zhao
Tuo’s successors in Southern Yue attempted to continue their predecessor’s
model of foreign policy, but the new rulers could not keep up the precarious
balance of independence and deference as effectively as Zhao Tuo had done. King
Zhao Mo of Southern Yue (r. 137-122) sent his son and successor, Zhao Yingqi
(r. 122-113), to the Han capital of Chang’an, where Yingqi met and married a
Chinese princess. When Zhao Yingqi’s father grew ill around 122 BCE, he
successfully broke free of the Han court and returned to Southern Yue. He
brought his Chinese bride with him, and they eventually had a son named Xing.
Despite
Zhao Yingqi’s close ties to China, once he assumed the throne in 122 BCE, he
quickly assumed the model of foreign policy laid out by his predecessors and
cut off any further personal contact with the Han government. The new king’s
continuance of the difficult balancing act of independence and deference came as
a great relief to an official named Lü Jia—he was a member of the Southern Yue
old guard who had likely first come to prominence at the end of Zhao Tuo’s
reign. Lü Jia went on to become prime minister for Zhao Mo and Zhao Yingqi, and
his family became one of the most well-connected clans in Southern Yue through
marriage contracts and powerful friendships. With Lü Jia as his advisor, Zhao
Yingqi was able to maintain Southern Yue’s record of deferring just enough to China
to stay safe from invasion, while also retaining enough independence to remain
a sovereign state. Zhao Yingqi’s past would come back to haunt the state,
however, when he died unexpectedly around 113 BCE. He was succeeded by his
young son, Zhao Xing, and, as the boy was still a child, it was the king’s
Chinese mother who became the realm’s main advisor. Lü Jia, for his part, was
reappointed as Prime Minister of Southern Yue and he immediately set about
trying to counteract the queen dowager’s pro-Han influence.
In
an epic tug-of-war, with the king of Southern Yue in the middle, the queen
dowager and Prime Minister Lü Jia battled for influence over the ruler, with
the former wanting to bring her son closer into Han imperial circles, while Lü
Jia was pressing for the status quo of carefully maintained independence. Naturally,
young Zhao Xing was swayed more by his mother than by the old minister. Yet, Lü
Jia remained a persuasive and influential individual, and although the queen
dowager had the advantage at that time, the whims of rulers can easily shift.
Therefore, the queen dowager and her pro-Han allies deemed Lü Jia to be a
threat that needed to be handled as quickly as possible. With this in mind, the
queen dowager invited Lü Jia to attend a banquet with her and some Han
diplomats. Instead of discussing diplomacy, the pro-Han individuals at the
banquet tried (unsuccessfully) to assassinate the prime minister. The queen
dowager, herself, was said to have personally tried to take a stab at the
minister during the chaotic party. Despite the queen dowager’s best efforts, Lü
Jia had suspected a trap from the beginning and managed to escape the banquet
without suffering any significant injuries. After this attempt on his life, the
prime minister abandoned his hopes of winning over the king and instead called
together his long list of pro-independence kinsmen, friends and allies to plot
a revolt against the queen dowager and her puppet king.
When
the queen dowager learned of the prime minister’s intrigues, she reached out to
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (r. 141-87 BCE) for assistance. The emperor, not
yet committing to a full invasion of Southern Yue, responded to her plea by
sending a small band of 2,000 warriors to support the queen dowager. When this
force crossed into Southern Yue, Lü Jia used the inflammatory occasion as an
opportunity to launch his rebellion. Moving quickly, the rebels attacked the
palace, executed the queen dowager, deposed King Zhao Xing, and replaced him
with Zhao Jiande, a pro-independence member of the royal family. After
completing this regime change, Lü Jia’s army then turned against the 2,000
approaching Han warriors and massacred them on the road in a successful ambush.
Unfortunately
for Lü Jia, the rebellion he launched in hopes of saving Southern Yue from Han
influence instead proved to be the beginning of the end for the realm’s
independence. When Emperor Wu had received a request for help from the late
queen dowager, he had only sent 2,000 warriors. Yet, once the emperor
subsequently learned that these troops had been massacred, he took the attack
personally and decided to send the full weight of the Han military against
Southern Yue. In 112 BCE, Emperor Wu sent multiple armies on a multi-pronged
campaign to avenge the deaths of the 2,000. By 111 BCE, Southern Yue was
conquered, its capital city was burned, and Lü Jia and Zhao Jiande were
captured.
Written
by C. Keith Hansley
Picture
Attribution: (Photographed Longzhong Plan pattern painted at Long Corridor of
Summer Palace, [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.
- http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/yue.html
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