-202 BC- the Eighteen Kingdoms period had finally ended and Liú Bāng had crowned himself emperor ("huángdì") of the Hàn (Hàn Gāozǔ) dynasty after reuniting all the Eighteen Kingdoms under his own (Kingdom of Hàn) banner.
-After his death, he would become known as Emperor Gāozǔ of Hàn ("Hàn Gāozǔ" or "High Ancestor of Hàn").
-Thus began one of China's greatest golden ages!
-Emperor Gāozǔ also named his son Liú Yíng as crown prince.
-This is significant not only because of inheritance stuff (obviously) but also because when Emperor Gāozǔ would be away from the capital he would leave both the crown prince and his queen, Empress Lǚ Zhì (Lǚ Hòu, Hàn Gāo Hòu, etc.), in charge of running the show (although of course they were assisted by courtiers and advisers and shit).
-Emperor Gāozǔ was smart in trusting Empress Lǚ in this way, as she proved to be a competent administrator; however, she could also be quite ruthless in terms of accomplishing her goals.
-One of the first things that Emperor Gāozǔ did was establish a new imperial capital. It was obvious that running the show from the original Hàn kingdom lands wasn't going to work since that region was such a backwater, so instead, by using fēng shuǐ (Chinese geomancy to determine the location which was the "center of the heavens") and historical inspiration (looking back to Yellow River Valley as the cradle of Chinese civilization), he declared that the new capital of the empire would be Chéngzhōu (former capital of the Zhōu dynasty, near modern-day Luòyáng, Hénán Province).
-However, it didn't take long for Emperor Gāozǔ to realize that Chéngzhōu, in reality, was not actually a very logical place to govern from, either. So, instead he finally decided to locate it across the river from Xiányáng (former capital of the Qín dynasty (and one of the former capitals of the Zhōu dynasty before that) and name it "Cháng'ān" ("Constant Peace", located in modern-day Xī'ān, Shǎnxī Province), the former capital of the Qín dynasty (and one of the former capitals of the Zhōu dynasty before that).
-With this change, he also forced thousands (!) of clans (which made up the military aristocracy) to relocate with him to the new capital.
-Emperor Gāozǔ did this in order to keep any potential military rivals close to him so that they wouldn't just go back to their own home regions and rebel against him and shit.
-In addition to this, it also forced the military to become united in their focus on keeping the Xiōngnú (and others) at bay (since Cháng'ān really wasn't that far away from the northern border with the various barbarian hordes of the north), and soon many additional fortifications began to be constructed in the north under new imperial orders.
-Something else Emperor Gāozǔ first did after being enthroned was immediately reduce taxes and corvée for those who had served in his army (as well as allow them to return home).
-Those who returned home and lived outside of Guānzhōng were exempt from taxes and corvée for six years, but those who remained in Guānzhōng (capital region) were exempt for 12!
-Seems like Emperor Gāozǔ really wanted to try and get everybody to stay in Guānzhōng (in order to still maintain control over them, most likely).
-He also freed any slaves who had voluntarily sold themselves into bondage in order to avoid starvation (I wonder how this actually played out).
-Interestingly, the influence that Legalism (Fǎjiā) had on the Qín dynasty in terms of an operating system was quickly diminished once Emperor Gāozǔ assumed power.
-Although he had ruled as a staunch Legalist, once he took the throne Emperor Gāozǔ quickly became influenced by the words of Lù Gǔ, a Confucian scholar and Hàn courtier.
-Fun anecdote: when they first met, Emperor Gāozǔ asked Lù Gǔ, "I do all my conquering from the back of my horse; what use have I for books and poetry?" Lù Gǔ replied, "Once my lord is done with the conquering, does he also intend to do all his ruling from the back of his horse?" Intrigued, Emperor Gāozǔ eventually allowed for Lù Gǔ to come to court and read some of his writings to the emperor (all of which would go on to be collected in the 12-volume work Xīnyǔ (New Words or something like that).
-Lù Gǔ's main argument was that it was better to govern through moral virtue rather than through enacting harsh laws (which is how the Qín dynasty had rocked it), and Emperor Gāozǔ soon became a huge believer in Confucianism (which would eventually become the official philosophy of the Hàn dynasty, replacing Legalism).
-Confucianism was back!
-That being said, a lot of the harsh laws still remained in place, so it wasn't like it was a complete overhaul of the Legalist system; torture, mass executions, etc. were all still on the table. Instead, it was more like a "Qín-light" version of things.
-Meanwhile in the north, shit was starting to get pretty serious with the Xiōngnú.
-Back in 209 BC- a Xiōngnú chanyu (official title meaning "warlord king", although it's actually short for "chēnglí gūtu chányú" ("child of the open sky" or something like that; this is comparable to the tiānzǐ ("son of Heaven") title used by the emperors of the Zhōu dynasty), although it may have actually translated to "child of the Heavenly Wolf" in Mongolian; it's unclear) known as Mòdù (AKA Mòdùn) had united a bunch of Xiōngnú tribes together (after murdering his father, the chanyu Tümen) into a massive barbarian horde.
-According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Tümen had had multiple wives (of course), so naturally he had multiple sons as well. However, Tümen had wanted one particular son to be his successor, so at some point he had Mòdù sent to the Yuèzhī (barbarians to the west of the Xiōngnú) as a hostage/peace offering or whatever, but then soon after this declared war on the Yuèzhī and attacked them so that they would kill Mòdù in retaliation. However, this plan didn't work out, as Mòdù was able to escape the Yuèzhī and return home. Impressed by his bravery, Tümen had him appointed as a commander over a large cavalry.
-Mòdù quickly amassed a group of hardcore loyal followers. In order to ensure their loyalty, he had them kill his favorite horse (!), and those that refused were executed. He then repeated this later on, except this time he had them kill his favorite wife (!!). Finally, as the ultimate test of their loyalty he had them kill Tümen (ah, it all makes sense now!!!); after they did this Mòdù declared himself the new chanyu of the brand-new Xiōngnú Empire (in 203 BC)!
-This would mark the beginning of the actual Xiōngnú Empire (as opposed to just being a loose confederation of tribes semi-united (but probably also prone to fighting among each other as well) by a similar culture).
-The Xiōngnú Empire would eventually stretch (in general) from modern-day Mongolia to Inner Mongolia, western Manchuria, Xīnjiāng Province, eastern Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
-In fact, it would actually expand to become bigger than even the Hàn Empire (!), eventually becoming one of the biggest empires in the world (in terms of landmass) up to that point in world history!
-That being said, it's also worth noting that amassing a bunch of territory in Eurasia wouldn't be THAT hard considering that this region was nowhere near as populated as like the Hàn or Roman empires, and it's always been this way in Central Asia.
-200 BC- it was around this time that Mòdù Chanyu began to expand his empire in all directions- north in to southern Siberia, east into eastern (modern-day) Mongolia and Manchuria, southwest into (modern-day) Kazakhstan, and lots of territory that had previously been lost to the Qín dynasty.
-Of course, it wasn't long before the Xiōngnú began to invade the Hàn Empire proper!
-Naturally, Emperor Gāozǔ raised a huge imperial army (led by the emperor himself) to drive off the invading Xiōngnú horde.
-The Hàn army was initially successful in driving back the Xiōngnú, but the emperor made the mistake of chasing the invaders into Xiōngnú territory.
-It didn't take long for the Xiōngnú to surround the Hàn army, in which a week-long standoff ensued (known as the Battle of Báidēng (in modern-day Dàtóng, Shānxī Province)) before Emperor Gāozǔ desperately sued for peace by sending precious gifts to Mòdù Chanyu's wife (or one of his wives/queens, whatever) and begging for her to convince Mòdù Chanyu to let the emperor and his army return home in exchange for these gifts.
-Surprisingly, this actually worked, but Mòdù Chanyu demanded that in order for their to be peace between the two empires the Hàn would have to do some things for the Xiōngnú, first.
-After returning home, Emperor Gāozǔ was to send emissaries to the Xiōngnu for additional peace talks (to which the emperor obliged). After the Hàn emissaries arrived, they had to have their faces tattooed (!) before speaking with Mòdù Chanyu in his personal yurt. The chanyu then demanded that the Hàn dynasty recognize the Xiōngnú Empire as its equal (with their dividing boundaries defined by the fortifications originally built by the Qín dynasty). Also, Mòdù Chanyu demanded that every year the Hàn dynasty had to send silk, booze, rice, and women from the royal family (for the purposes of marrying Xiōngnú nobles, a practice known as héqīn ("peace marriage") which would become a tradition (not just with the Xiōngnú, but any other political entity of note that the Chinese would be making deals with) that would last throughout the rest of imperial Chinese history!) to the Xiōngnú as tribute.
-202 BC- meanwhile, trouble was quickly brewing in the Hàn Empire.
-General Hán Xìn had garnered an excellent reputation as one of the best Hàn commanders during the Chǔ-Hàn Contention (and would eventually become known as one of the "Three Heroes of the Early Hàn Dynasty" ("Hàn Chū Sān Jié")), and after the war, as a reward for his service, Hán Xìn had been named vassal king of Chǔ (which was obviously a big deal since Chǔ had always been one of the most powerful kingdoms of Ancient China) by Emperor Gāozǔ.
-However, the drama started when Hán Xìn decided to help out his close friend Zhōnglí Mò, a former Chǔ general under Xiàng Yǔ who was still wanted by the Hàn government, by giving him a place to stay at his royal fief.
-Of course, it wasn't long before Emperor Gāozǔ found out about this, and soon Hán Xìn faced immediate pressure from the emperor to arrest Zhōnglí Mò. However, Hán Xìn couldn't bring himself to do this.
-Soon, Emperor Gāozǔ began to hear of rumors claiming that Hán Xìn was preparing to rebel against the Hàn dynasty, so the emperor decided to invite Hán Xìn to a meeting (which was to be held in a town near the modern-day Zhōukǒu, Hénán Province). Both Hán Xìn and Zhōnglí Mò knew that this was going to most likely result in the arrest (and subsequent execution) of the former, so Zhōnglí Mò killed himself in order to give Hán Xìn a chance to survive by presenting Zhōnglí Mò's head to the emperor as proof that he was still ultimately loyal to his imperial lord.
-Unfortunately for Hán Xìn, Emperor Gāozǔ wasn't convinced of his former general's loyalty, so he had Hán Xìn arrested anyway.
-Upon his arrest, Hán Xìn allegedly exclaimed, "It is true when people say that the hunting dog becomes food as well after it is used to hunt game; a good bow is discarded when there are no birds left for shooting; an adviser dies after he helps his lord conquer a rival kingdom. Now that the empire is in place, I no longer serve any purpose!"
-However, apparently Emperor Gāozǔ later on had a change of heart, and Hán Xìn was eventually released (although Hán Xìn soon found that he was no longer the vassal king of Chǔ, but instead had been demoted to "marquis of Huáiyīn" (modern-day Huái'ān, Jiāngsū Province)).
-This indicated to Hán Xìn that Emperor Gāozǔ no longer trusted him as much as he once did.
-197 BC- Chén Xī, the marquis of Yángxià (not sure where this is/was, exactly), approaches Hán Xìn with an offer to join him in rebellion against Emperor Gāozǔ. However, Hán Xìn refuses.
-Unfortunately for Hán Xìn, however, while the emperor was off putting down Chén Xī's rebellion, Empress Lǚ Zhì heard rumors (someone out there must have really hated Hán Xìn!) that Hán Xìn was secretly involved in the revolt, so she began to plot with Imperial Chancellor Xiāo Hé to take down Hán Xìn.
-By the time Emperor Gāozǔ finally found out about this plot (after putting down Chén Xī's rebellion), Hán Xìn had been arrested, tortured, and executed along with his entire family, and that his entire clan had actually been executed as well!
-Apparently, Emperor Gāozǔ had a mixed reaction to the news of his former comrade's death- both happiness but also regret.
-196 BC- the drama wasn't over yet, though, as Emperor Gāozǔ then started to learn of rumors claiming that Péng Yuè, the vassal king of Liáng, was plotting a rebellion against the Hàn dynasty.
-Believing these rumors, Emperor Gāozǔ stripped Péng Yuè of his vassal lordship, demoted him to mere commoner status, and then finally had him exiled to a remote county near modern-day Yǎ'ān, Sìchuān Province.
-However, apparently this punishment wasn't severe enough for Empress Lǚ Zhì, so she actually went so far as to intercept Péng Yuè as he was making the journey to his new home. Knowing that her being there could only mean imminent death for Péng Yuè, the former vassal lord begged for his life. Surprisingly, the empress seemed to agree with Péng Yuè that his life should be spared, but of course she was just pretending, and as Péng Yuè was returning back to his ancestral home (near modern-day Hézé, Shāndōng Province) he was subsequently arrested, tortured, and executed in Chéngzhōu (along with his entire family).
-According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Empress Lǚ Zhì must have really hated Péng Yuè because after he was killed she had him ground up into mincemeat, salted, and then sent to all the other noble families of the Hàn dynasty as a warning not to fuck with the Hàn dynasty!!
-While this may have scared many of the elite families into complete submission, it seemed to also have the opposite effect (scaring many of the elite families into rebellion out of fear) for many of these families as well.
-One of the lords scared into action against the imperial throne was the former king of Jiǔjiāng, Yīng Bù (whom Emperor Gāozǔ had granted the title "King of Huáinán" ("Huáinánwáng", or "King of the Lands South of the Huái River") after the Chǔ-Hàn Contention (also see last post for more info on this dude, but basically he was considered to be one of the greatest military commanders (initially fighting for Chǔ before switching sides and joining the Hàn army) of his day)).
-He secretly began raising an army with the tentative plan of rebelling against the Hàn dynasty just in case he was the next in line to be tortured and executed by the empress. He also felt that his odds were pretty good since the other two greatest generals, Hán Xìn and Péng Yuè, were out of the picture, so he only really had to worry about Emperor Gāozǔ (in terms of being matched in military tactical genius), who was also getting pretty old at this point, too.
-The catalyst for the showdown between Yīng Bù and the Hàn dynasty all started with one of Yīng Bù's concubines (I guess whose name has been lost to time...).
-This concubine had become ill, so she was sent to go see the local physician who happened to be neighbors with Bēn Hè, an official of the Hàn court.
-Apparently the concubine had a chronic illness or something because she had to go visit this physician on a regular basis, and she was also most likely really hot which resulted in Bēn Hè seeing her and secretly charming her with expensive gifts and drinks at his house and shit.
-When Yīng Bù found out about this, he was obviously pissed off (or at least very suspicious about Bēn Hè's relationship with the concubine) and because Yīng Bù was so scary, Bēn Hè was scared for his life. So, in order to save himself, he made up a rumor that Yīng Bù was going to be the next vassal king to rebel against the emperor after fleeing to his home to Cháng'ān.
-Emperor Gāozǔ was immediately skeptical of this accusation and discussed the matter with Xiāo Hé. Xiāo Hé made the argument that Yīng Bù probably wasn't going planning to rebel against the emperor and that it was more likely that Yīng Bù's enemies were trying to frame him. However, just to be safe, Xiāo Hé advised the emperor to send some imperial investigators to go check out Yīng Bù.
-Despite the imperial court doubting the likelihood of Yīng Bù secretly planning a rebellion, Yīng Bù decided to go forward with his plan of rebelling due to his fears that he had been ratted out by Bēn Hè (due to Bēn Hè's conversations with Yīng Bù's concubine (she may have spilled the beans about Yīng Bù raising an army with the tentative plan rebelling at some point in the near future)), but even IF the court found Yīng Bù to be innocent, Yīng Bù knew that the likely followup would be for the paranoid/insane empress to have him killed one way or another anyway.
-The first thing Yīng Bù did was have his soldiers round up Bēn Hè's family and execute them while expelling Emperor Gāozǔ's investigators from his property.
-Next, Yīng Bù started invading territory in the south (away from Cháng'ān) and was initially successful! However, he started meeting real resistance when he invaded the territory belonging to the (former) state/kingdom of Chǔ, but was still able to defeat them too (due to his military genius).
-Finally, everything came to a head when Yīng Bù's army clashed with Emperor Gāozǔ's army at some place (a town? field? idk) called Zhuì (in modern-day Sùzhōu, Ānhuī Province).
-The battle did not go well for Yīng Bù and his army, and soon he was on the run with like 100 dudes that were the remains of his shattered army. However, he WAS able to have one of his archers seriously injure Emperor Gāozǔ by
-Finally he was able to get in contact somehow with his father-in-law's grandson, Vassal King Āī of Chángshā, who promised him a safe getaway to the kingdom of Nányuè (in modern-day southern China and northern Vietnam; although it was officially a Han subject state, the kingdom seems to have retained a large measure of de facto autonomy, hence why it made sense that it would be a good place for Yīng Bù to escape to) to the south, but this plan actually turned out to be a ruse and Yīng Bù was captured and executed in Xīnpíng (modern-day Jǐngdézhèn, Jiāngxī Province).
-At this point it was obvious that no one could really fuck with Emperor Gāozǔ, but it was obvious that not only was he getting older, but also his arrow wounds from the Battle of Zhuì were getting worse, too.
-It was obvious that Emperor Gāozǔ was on his way out, so he began to make plans for what was to happen after he died.
-While he had named his son Liú Yíng crown prince years ago, as time had gone on Emperor Gāozǔ had grown increasingly critical and disappointed in his son, believing him to be too weak and unfit for imperial rule.
-Emperor Gāozǔ even went so far as to say that he didn't really see any resemblance between himself and his son (implying that Liú Yíng wasn't actually his son, of course).
-Although Liú Yíng was indeed the son of Empress Lǚ and Emperor Gāozǔ (as far as we know), over the years the emperor had actually gone on to favor Liǘ Rúyì (his son from his favorite concubine, Consort Qī) as his preferred heir instead of Liú Yíng. Emperor Gāozǔ's advisers had strongly cautioned the emperor in following through with this plan, however, and facing intense pressure from all sides (including the empress who obviously you really didn't want to fuck with) he decided to back down and go along with the original plan of having Liú Yíng be the next in line instead.
-As he rapidly approached death, Emperor Gāozǔ got super-depressed and began barricading himself in his chambers and refusing to let anyone in (with the exception of his personal eunuch servant).
-Fearing another situation similar to what had happened with the eunuch Zhào Gāo and Qín Èr Shì, Emperor Gāozǔ's advisers pleaded with him to come out of his room and resume his imperial duties. Luckily, the emperor seemed to meet their concern with good humor, and he eventually acquiesced to their requests.
-However, the emperor's health continued to deteriorate. Empress Lǚ tried to get the emperor's health back on track by hiring a physician claiming that he could heal the emperor's ailments completely, but the emperor stated that he was determined to live according to the way that the heavens had planned for him, and he ended up eventually just sending the physician away.
-Emperor Gāozǔ finally died on June 1, 195 BC.
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