Western Han - Part V - Go West, Young Han!

-141 BC- So, Emperor Wǔ (age 15) was now the ruler of the Hàn Empire!
   -He was born in 156 BC as Prince Liú Chè, the son of Emperor Jǐng and Empress Wáng (AKA Lady Wáng, etc.) in Cháng'ān (capital of the Hàn Empire, modern-day Xī'ān, Shǎnxī Province).
      -According to legend, while she was pregnant Empress Wáng had had a dream in which a sun had fallen into her belly or something, which of course was an omen that this child was destined for greatness!
      -It was obvious that Emperor Jǐng had chosen Prince Liú Chè as his favorite son; for example, by the age of three he was already named prince of Jāodōng.
      -Anyway, a bunch of family drama happened between the time of his birth and his enthronement, but we covered most of that in the last post so don't worry about it too much.
   -Emperor Wǔ's style of rule was quite different than that of both his father and grandfather (who were largely "hands off" (wú wéi) in this respect, heavily influenced by Taoism).
      -While wú wéi had worked really well in terms of rejuvenating the empire's economy (which had gotten really fucked up during the Chǔ-Hàn Contention) due to the dynasty's 1-2 punch of government decentralization and economic freedom, but at the same time this (just like in the past with the Zhōu dynasty) gave vassal kings/princes too much power which of course ended up destabilizing the region.
      -To make matters worse, nepotism/corruption had infiltrated the government at all levels which resulted in a ruling class (made up of Liú clan members and their extended family (I'm pretty sure, at least for the most part)) that held themselves above the law (which was just there to control the peasants, of course).
      -For example, one of the first reforms Emperor Wǔ attempted to make upon his enthronement was to change the Hàn dynasty's embarrassing héqīn policy which up till that point had been how they had been attempting to placate the Xiōngnú, but obviously it wasn't working out too well since the Xiōngnú would benefit greatly from the héqīn system but then just invade Hàn territory anyway.
         -However, attempting to change this official policy (among many others) proved to be much harder than the emperor had anticipated, as he (of course) began to clash with the Hàn dynasty "deep state" of entrenched government officials, courtiers, nobility, and even his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Dòu (AKA Dòu Yīfáng, Empress Xiàowén (previously), etc.)), who was still a hardcore Taoist (even though Emperor Wǔ seemed to be drawn towards Confucianism way more than Taoism).
            -For example, when two of the emperor's advisers began to urge him to stop listening to Grand Empress Dowager Dòu, she had the two advisers arrested, tried for corruption (ironic...), and then forced to commit suicide, in addition to some other shady stuff.
      -To make matters more complicated, Emperor Wǔ and Empress Chén (his cousin!) were unable to produce any sons.  In addition to this, the empress had forbidden the emperor to have any concubines (ha!), so he wasn't able to have any sons that could serve as heirs that way, either!
         -Soon, the emperor's political opponents began using this as an excuse to claim that he wasn't prepared enough or even suitable as ruler of the empire and shit like that.
            -Apparently, even Grand Empress Dowager Dòu was plotting his removal, hoping to replace him with uncle Liú Ān (a grandson of Emperor Gāozǔ), vassal king of Huáinán (and apparently the inventor of soy milk and/or tofu! haha) and hardcore Taoist.
            -Realizing that he was very short on allies in the court, the emperor desperately reached out to his mother-in-law, Princess Liú Piáo.
               -Unfortunately, Princess Liú just ended up taking advantage of the emperor and his compromised position, so this resulted in an absolutely desperate Emperor Wǔ going to his mother, Empress Dowager Wáng, in order to try and have her get the grand empress dowager to be more reasonable.  However, his mom just advised him to just buck up and do his best to weather the storm...after all, Grand Empress Dowager Dòu was getting pretty old at this point and probably wouldn't be living for too much longer.
                  -Emperor Wǔ, realizing that he really didn't have much of a choice otherwise, decided to heed his mother's advice (although the grand empress dowager would continue to live for another few years! Doh (or Dòu :p))!  During this time he just went on hunting and sightseeing trips and shit like that, while at the same time doing his best to shore up as much support as he could manage.
         -Anyway, it didn't take too long for the emperor to figure out that the key source of his opposition was from the Three Lords and Nine Ministers (Sān Gōng Jiǔ Qīng), the government's central administrative system which had been introduced during the Qín dynasty and was composed of:
            -Three Lords:
               -Grand Chancellor (or Prime Minister)
               -Imperial Secretary
               -Grand Commandant
            -Nine Ministers:
               -Minister of Ceremonies
               -Supervisor of Attendants
               -Commandant of the Guards
               -Minister of Coachmen
               -Commandant of Justice
               -Grand Herald
               -Director the Imperial Clan
               -Grand Minister of Agriculture
               -Small Treasurer (haha)
            -However, it's worth noting that the Three Lords and Nine Ministers weren't necessarily against the emperor himself per se, they were just extremely conservative and anti-reform.
               -Realizing this, Emperor Wǔ knew that he would have to work around the TLNM (instead of through), so he began to appoint commoners to mid-level positions in the government, banking on the idea that they would be high enough in level to have a significant influence on government administration but at the same time be low enough to be relatively anonymous as well.
                  -This group of officials were loyal to the emperor because he was the source of their power (since the bottom line was that they were still commoners), and Emperor Wǔ dubbed these loyalists his "insider court" (nèi cháo).
                  -In addition to this insider court, the emperor also made a huge push to have scholars and other intellectuals from commoner backgrounds to seek government positions (in order to off-balance the Liú clan's stranglehold on power).
-138 BC- war breaks out between the independent (I think?) vassal kingdoms of Mǐnyuè (AKA Mân Việt (in Vietnamese)) and Ōuyuè (AKA Dōng'ōu (or Âu Việt (in Vietnamese))) to the south, as the former invaded the latter.
   -These "-yuè" kingdoms were actually made up of ethnically non-Chinese indigenous people who were the ancestors of the Vietnamese (and maybe other Southeast Asian peoples, idk), although the Chinese had always just referred to these people as the Yuè people/tribes (AKA Bǎiyuè, Hundred Yuè, or Việt (in Vietnamese)).
      -Of course, this is starting to get into controversial territory because China has always claimed that these Yuè/Việt kingdoms were Chinese, but Vietnam has always claimed that these were actually Vietnamese people, so that's important to keep in mind.
   -Dōng'ōu called on the Hàn dynasty for help, and after some debate Emperor Wǔ agreed that the best course of action was to send reinforcements (led by an official named Yán Zhù) to help defend Mǐnyuè.  However, there was one problem- Emperor Wǔ didn't actually possess the authority to dispatch troops since he wasn't in possession of the tiger tally (hǔ fú), a bronze (previously jade) artifact/token whose possessor indicated the authority to mobilize armies (the way it had been since perhaps as early as the Warring States period, if not earlier); instead, it was actually Grand Empress Dowager Dòu who had the tiger tally.
      -Grand Empress Dowager Dòu didn't give a fuck about defending Ōuyuè, which she probably considered to be a backwater and unworthy of imperial attention in the first place.
      -So, the emperor and Yán Zhù decided to circumvent this technicality by just ignoring it!  When Yán Zhù arrived at the Kuàijī Commandery (near Ōuyuè) to mobilize the navy there, the local commander refused to follow Yán Zhù's orders because Yán Zhù didn't have the tiger tally... so Yán Zhù simply had the commander executed!  Obviously, that got people moving, and it didn't take long for the armies of Mǐnyuè to abort their attempted invasion of Ōuyuè.
         -This was significant not necessarily because of what happened with Mǐnyuè backing down, but instead because it was obvious that Emperor Wǔ had realized that he was no longer beholden to the traditional laws which restricted his authority (such as only being able to command the armies if you possessed the tiger tally (which is obviously a little silly)), and that imperial decree could potentially supersede all other checks on his power.
-Later in 138 BC- Emperor Wǔ's concubine, Weì Zǐfū, became pregnant with his first child (which was important because up until that point he wasn't able to have any kids!).
   -It's also worth noting that, as stated above, Empress Chén had forbidden Emperor Wǔ to have any concubines, but I guess after years of sexual frustration and the inability to have kids with the empress (which of course his political opponents had used to attack his legitimacy as ruler) the emperor had had enough and finally brought a concubine (a dancing girl he met at a party) back to the palace, which I'm sure pissed off Empress Chén to no end.
-135 BC- Grand Empress Dowager Dòu finally dies.
   -Soon after her death, Emperor Wǔ realized that he had full control of the government and used this as an opportunity to declare an end to all of the Taoist influence on public policy, with Confucianism becoming the new official ideology of the state.
-It was around this time that Emperor Wǔ decided to expand his empire in all directions (except for the sea to the east), starting with the invasion of Mǐnyuè in the south!
   -This was triggered by Mǐnyuè invading another state, this time Nányuè (located directly to the south of the Hàn Empire).
      -Nányuè had just enthroned a new king, Zhào Miè (AKA Triệu Mạt (in Vietnamese)), and I guess Mǐnyuè decided to take advantage of the new king's presumed inexperience by invading.
      -So, Emperor Wǔ sent an amphibious force by sea to attack Mǐnyuè, which (once again) ended up freaking out Mǐnyuè to the point where its elites/nobility (led by the king's younger brother, Zōu Yúshàn) had Mǐnyuè's king (unclear as to what his name actually was/is) arrested and executed, with his decapitated head sent to the Hàn army as a peace offering.  This worked, of course, but this time the Hàn dynasty decided to cripple Mǐnyuè by dividing it in half; its western half would still go by the name "Mǐnyuè" (and be controlled by the Hàn dynasty through a puppet king, Zōu Chǒu (grandson of the founder (I think) of the Mǐnyuè kingdom)), but its eastern half would be merged with Ōuyuè (I guess?).
         -Of course, nobody in Mǐnyuè recognized King Zōu Chǒu's authority since they knew he was a puppet king, so he was immediately toppled by Zōu Yúshàn who just crowned himself king of Mǐnyuè at that point (since he was probably so tired of initiating coups!).
   -Meanwhile, tensions were finally coming to a head between the Hàn dynasty and the Xiōngnú Empire, as it was obvious that the latter were still constantly invading the former's lands despite the héqīn policy.  Emperor Wǔ had finally had enough.
      -The emperor sent the court official Zhāng Qiān (along with Gānfù, a Xiōngnú POW who would serve as Zhāng Qiān's guide and translator) as an imperial envoy to find the mysterious Yuèzhī (AKA the Tocharians/Tokharians (although this is controversial so maybe they weren't the same) according to the Greeks) people, pastoral nomads whom up till that point had been living to the west of the Hàn Empire but had recently pushed out (around modern-day Tajikistan) by the Xiōngnú.
         -This region formerly occupied by the Yuèzhī was important to the Hàn dynasty because it was essential for trade, and it now being occupied by the Xiōngnú was a huge problem for the empire.  Emperor Wǔ's plan was for Zhāng Qiān to try and entice the Yuèzhī to help the Hàn dynasty fight off the Xiōngnú from the region so that the Yuèzhī could re-occupy it (I'm presuming that they would be living under the Hàn dynasty, however).
            -Of course, upon entering Xiōngnú territory it didn't take long for Zhāng Qiān and his entourage to get captured (haha what were they thinking??) and enslaved.
               -During his time as a slave Zhāng Qiān (among other things, I'm sure) befriended a local Xiōngnú leader, married a Xiōngnú woman, and even had a son with his wife, too, but after 10 years (!!) he was finally able to escape (along with Gānfù and his family) to territory occupied by the Yuèzhī (arriving in 129 BC).
                  -Fun fact- during their flight from the Xiōngnú, Zhāng Qiān and his crew passed through Dàyuān (AKA Tà-yuān; apparently it literally means "Great Ionians" (!)), an ancient kingdom located in modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan; Dàyuān's people were actually the descendants of Greek colonists whom had occupied the region during the conquests of Alexander the Great and were described by the Hàn as having "Caucasian" features and being of a similar culture to that of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (an ancient Hellenistic kingdom located in parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, northern Pakistan, and Kazakhstan (with whom the Chinese had made contact with as early as the Qín dynasty in 220 BC, if not earlier (who referred to this region (Bactria) as Dàxià))).
                  -Unfortunately for Zhāng Qiān, his quest was in vain- the Yuèzhī seemed to have already gotten used to their situation and acclimated to their new home, so they expressed zero interest in getting into a military alliance with the Hàn dynasty against the Xiōngnú (who were probably also the most dangerous dudes in the region whom you absolutely did not want to fuck with haha).  So, Zhāng Qiān just ended up staying with the Yuèzhī for about a year, during which he documented their culture and lifestyle.
         -Anyway, to return home Zhāng Qiān decided on taking a different route (presumably so that he wouldn't just end up getting captured again by the Xiōngnú), but of course he just ended up getting captured again by the Xiōngnú (doh!!) except this time he was only enslaved for like two years.
            -Zhāng Qiān managed to escape and finally return home to Cháng'ān in 126 BC, whereupon his journeys were recorded and documented by the emperor and various other Hàn scholars, and Zhāng Qiān himself was rewarded lavishly and promoted with a new position in the imperial court.
               -Besides Dàyuān and the Yuèzhī, Zhāng Qiān also documented his encounters with many other ancient cultures/kingdoms occupying modern-day Central Asia during that time, including Kāngjū (AKA Sogdia or Sogdiana (probably), an Iranian people) and Dàxià (Bactria (see above)).  In addition to the places he visited, he also recorded information about other cultures/kingdoms he learned about, including Shēndú (probably referring to the region of Sindh and most likely occupied by an Indo-Greek kingdom which had inherited the name), Anxī (the Parthians), Tiáozhī (the Seleucids), and the pastoral nomads of Yǎncài (nomads of "the Vast Steppe" (around the Túrkistan Region of Kazakhstan).
      -Zhāng Qiān would actually return to the West once again in 119 BC, this time to make contact with the Wūsūn people (presumably to establish a (relatively) safe trade route with the Parthian Empire), steppe nomads whom had clashed with with both the Yuèzhī and Xiōngnú (among others, I'm sure) in the past.
         -His journey seemed to go well, and he returned to Cháng'ān in 115 BC having successfully established diplomatic ties between the Hàn dynasty and the Wūsūn.
      -Zhāng Qiān finally died in 113 BC.  His routes to/from the Hàn Empire would roughly lay the blueprint for what would become the Silk Road soon after this time.

Western Han - Part IV - The Rule of Wen and Jing

-180 BC- so, it seems like things had finally settled down for the most part following all of the violence during the Lǚ Clan Disturbance and the subsequent enthronement of Emperor Wén of Hàn.
  -Emperor Wén (born Liú Héng in 202 BC) had grown up as the son of Emperor Gāozǔ and Consort Báo (AKA Empress Dowager Báo (or Bo), Empress Dowager Xiàowén, Empress Gāo, etc.), one of Emperor Gāozǔ's concubines.
      -His father had named him the Prince of Dài in 196 BC (when he was like six years old haha), and because this region was considered a key strategic point of defense against the Xiōngnú Empire by the Hàn dynasty Liú Héng grew up with a strong military/national defense-related background (although it's unclear as to if he himself ever served in the army).
   -Upon being enthroned, Emperor Wén immediately seemed like a breath of fresh air for the position because a) an adult (as opposed to previous succession of child-emperors) and b) was a competent administrator and compassionate ruler.
      -His rule was heavily influenced by Taoism (in large part because of his ardent Taoist wife, Empress Dòu (AKA Empress Xiàowén (not to be confused with Emperor Wén's mother, Empress Dowager Xiàowén (see above))), which was a departure from the strictly Legalist "no-nonsense" rule of law imposed by the Qín dynasty (and, to a lesser extent, the previous Hàn rulers).  Emperor Wén just seemed like a chill bro.
         -Property taxes were greatly reduced and food surpluses were increased in order to prevent starvation and shit.
         -He outlawed the arrest and imprisonment of family members of criminals (except in cases of treason).
         -He started various government assistance programs for the poor (including quite possibly the world's first social security program!).
         -He introduced the very first imperial examination system (kējǔ), which was a huge development because before that there hadn't been any official standardization for who was qualified to serve as government officials (which obviously was a huge source of government corruption).
         -In 179 BC he also made peace with Nányuè (AKA Nam Việt), a kingdom (in modern-day north Vietnam and southeast China) to the south established by the Qín dynasty general Zhào Tuó (AKA Triệu Đà in Vietnamese) after the collapse of the Qín dynasty in 204 BC.
            -Although Nányuè had been considered an independent vassal kingdom of the Hàn dynasty things quickly turned sour between the two governments after the death of Emperor Gāozǔ (around 183 BC Zhào Tuó crowned himself emperor of Nányuè (obviously implying that he was no longer a subordinate of the Hàn dynasty) and began to raid the Hàn Empire's southern border with Nányuè), but Emperor Wén was able to improve relations once again between the two and soon Zhào Tuó had once again pledged fealty to the Hàn dynasty and renounced his imperial claim.
         -He even went so far as to take seriously a solar eclipse (which was an ill omen for the ancient Chinese (and probably many other cultures during this time)) by allowing for government officials to voice their honest criticisms and concerns regarding his rule and taking their recommendations seriously!
         -However, Emperor Wén's rule wasn't without its blemishes as well.
            -For example, for whatever reason he decided that it would be OK to allow anyone to mint their own coinage as long as they could provide the copper and tin required for it.  Of course, this immediately provided a huge benefit for those who happened to own copper and/or tin mines, which resulted in an imbalance of power because it allowed for a few individuals to become ludicrously wealthy really fast (and thus took some power away from the government) and would have disastrous consequences for the Hàn dynasty in the near future.
-174 BC- Mòdú Chányú dies and is replaced by his son, Jīzhōu (AKA Jiyu), who was enthroned as Lǎoshàng Chányú of the Xiōngnú Empire.
   -In order to renew the héqīn system with the the new chányú, Emperor Wén sent a princess (among other things, presumably) of the royal family to be Lǎoshàng Chányú's new empress/concubine.
      -Of course, this still didn't stop Xiōngnú raids into Hàn territory (for some reason; maybe the chányús either couldn't stop it or just didn't care because they'd receive tribute anyway), so in response to these raids a Hàn court official named Cháo Cuò convinced Emperor Wén to set up a system in which anyone who donated food or supplies to the war effort against the Xiōngnú would be granted new titles for their contributions as well as have any past crimes pardoned by the state.
         -Emperor Wén must have thought this was a genius idea because upon implementing this new system of resource gathering from the population Cháo Cuò was elevated in status to where he was allowed to become a personal servant of Crown Prince Liú Qǐ's house, which must have been quite the honor!
-167 BC- Emperor Wén bans the punishment of torture and mutilation (specifically face tattoos branding criminals as such for life as well as the cutting off of noses and feet and shit), decreeing that criminals were to be whipped for their crimes, instead, believing this to be more humane.
   -However, this actually backfired, unfortunately, and proved to actually be more fatal than the previous methods of punishment!
-165 BC- even though he wasn't that old, apparently Emperor Wén began to become increasingly concerned about his own mortality, and this caused him to become more superstitious which of course resulted in him inviting a mysterious self-proclaimed "sorcerer" named Xīnyuán Píng to the court in order to advise him on supernatural matters.
   -Because of Xīnyuán Píng's influence, Emperor Wén began building a bunch of temples to the gods and shit and becoming overly-preoccupied with stuff like this but by the following year eventually the emperor realized that the sorcerer was a fraud and had him executed (along with his family!).  After this, Emperor Wén went back to ruling as he had before (probably feeling most foolish, too).
-158 BC- the Xiōngnú launched a major invasion deep into Hàn territory, which eventually got serious enough that the Hàn armies began to prepare for a defense of Cháng'ān (Hàn dynasty capital).
   -It was during this time that Emperor Wén met Zhōu Yǎfū (son of General Zhōu Bó, one of Liú Bāng / Emperor Gāozǔ's best generals during the Chǔ-Hàn Contention), a young military commander.
      -As the emperor was taking a tour of the Hàn camps and fortifications he noticed that all the officers seemed to bend over backwards to accommodate his every need or request, but Zhōu Yǎfū was more focused on remaining alert and making sure everyone was still following protocol and stuff haha.
         -Emperor Wén was so impressed with Zhōu Yǎfū that he instructed the Crown Prince Liú Qǐ to get Commander Zhōu as his main general in the future if the Hàn dynasty ever faced an existential threat (foreshadowing!).
            -Anyway, I guess the Hàn armies ended up driving off the Xiōngnú because it doesn't look like this particular invasion really went anywhere after this.
-157 BC- Emperor Wén dies and is replaced by Crown Prince Liú Qǐ (enthroned as Emperor Jǐng of Hàn (AKA Emperor Xiàojǐng ("The Filial and Decisive Emperor"))), who was 32 years old at the time of his enthronement (his dad was like 14 when he was born haha).
   -In his will Emperor Wén made it explicitly clear that he didn't want some super-long drawn-out mourning period (before this, whenever an emperor died there was always a lengthy period of mourning in which weddings, sacrifices, drinking, and the consumption of meat were all disallowed, which I'm sure was really annoying for everyone else), and instead just limited it to three days instead.  He also allowed for all of his concubines to be relieved of duty (instead of the usual custom which was for the concubines who never produced any children (or sons maybe?) to be forced to "guard" their emperor husband in his tomb "for the rest of eternity" (which I'm assuming means they had to be buried alive with the emperor's corpse in his tomb)).
      -Definitely seems like he was probably a chill bro.
   -In addition to the crown prince and his various other children, Emperor Wén was survived by Empress Dòu (mother of Crown Prince Liú Qǐ / Emperor Jǐng), who thus became Empress Dowager Dòu after her husband's death.
      -Empress Dowager Dòu would continue to have a strong influence on her son the emperor, but it definitely wasn't anything close to the insanity that was Empress Dowager Lǚ's psychopathic reign of terror.
   -Emperor Jǐng's wife was Empress Bò (most likely his like second cousin or something), although she quickly fell out of favor with her husband because she didn't produce a male heir (with the possible addition that she also either wasn't very attractive and/or not good at sex, unfortunately).
   -Upon being enthroned, Emperor Jǐng continued many of the same policies that had been put in place by his father (although he did reduce the severity of flogging as punishment seeing as it was actually resulting in deaths as opposed to "just" being mutilated (used as punishment before that)).
-Although things were going pretty well for Emperor Jǐng, there was trouble brewing on the horizon due to so many of his family members (who had become powerful princes or lords in their own regions of power) who slowly began to challenge his authority.
   -How had these family members gotten so powerful in the first place?
      -Emperor Gāozǔ had created too many titles for so many of his various family members and relatives (most likely in order to get them away from the capital so that they wouldn't constantly be challenging him in the imperial court, but also in order to consolidate all of the empire under the control of a relatively unified clan), and these various vassal princes and lords were able to mint their own coinage (thanks Emperor Wén!), raise their own armies (since they were largely responsible for defending their respective territories), as well as make their own laws and even ignore imperially-decreed laws (most likely due to the lax nature of Emperor Wén and Emperor Jǐng's rule).
         -Obviously, these various vassal princes and lords had gotten too powerful.
   -The worst offender in terms of challenging Emperor Jǐng's authority was Prince Liú Pì of Wú (nephew of Emperor Gāozǔ).
      -Wú had really thrived under Emperor Wén due to its abundance of copper, salt, and other natural resources, and its most likely that the vassal kingdom took full advantage of the emperor's lax attitude about them minting their own coinage and shit.
      -It seems like the drama between Emperor Jǐng and Prince Liú Pì started before Emperor Jǐng's imperial enthronement (when he was still Crown Prince Liú Qǐ).
         -Liú Qǐ was playing a board game (liùbó) with Liú Xián (Liú Pì's heir apparent) and eventually the two got in an argument and Liú Qǐ got so pissed off that he threw the board at Liú Xián's head, killing him.  Naturally, this resulted in Liú Pì hating Liú Qǐ for killing his son and heir apparent (justifiably so, I'd say!).
      -In order to try and force Wú to submit to imperial authority, the imperial advisor Cháo Cuò suggested that they should annex a portion of Wú's territory (along with portions of any other uppity vassal kingdom's) and bring it under imperial control directly.
         -Although Emperor Jǐng did initially express concern that this would spark a mass rebellion against the throne, he also realized that this was probably inevitable anyway given the increasing arrogance of these upstart vassal kingdoms (and that it was also probably better to spark a rebellion now rather than later when they could become more organized).
-154 BC- Emperor Jǐng decreed that he would be annexing portions of the vassal kingdoms of Chǔ, Zhào, Jiāoxī, and Wú.  These portions would then be ruled directly by the imperial throne.  Of course, this sparked a rebellion (haha) by all the vassal kingdoms being annexed (in addition to being joined by the vassal kingdoms of Jiāodōng, Jǐnán, and Zīchuān).
   -A couple other vassal kingdoms were planning on rebelling as well but it ended up not working out (for various reasons).
      -The rebels also reached out to the "independent" (or maybe they were also vassal states? idk) kingdoms of Dōng'ōu (AKA Ōuyuè) and Mǐnyuè (both of whom ended up sending troops to help the rebellion) as well as the Xiōngnú Empire (who ended up flaking out)!
         -Thus began the Rebellion of the Seven States ("Qī Guó Zhī Luàn", AKA the Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms).
            -Initially, the rebel states claimed that Cháo Cuò was just trying to pick a fight with them (for whatever reason); at the same time, other officials began putting it out there that perhaps all of this was Cháo Cuò's fault and that if the emperor had Cháo Cuò executed then maybe these rebel states would calm down and there wouldn't be a civil war after all.
               -Surprisingly, this actually seemed to convince Emperor Jǐng that maybe they were right, and soon he had Cháo Cuò imprisoned and executed!  Of course, this wasn't true at all and it wasn't long before the rebel states declared an open hostility towards the Hàn dynasty (so that was pretty shitty what happened to Cháo Cuò, then!).
            -After much debate, the rebel kingdoms decided to focus on invading the vassal kingdom of Liáng (ruled by the emperor's younger brother, Prince Liú Wǔ), and it didn't take long for them to successfully do so.
               -Heeding his father's advice, Emperor Jǐng entrusted General Zhōu Yǎfū to lead the imperial forces in quelling the rebellion.  However, when the emperor ordered General Zhōu to rush to Liáng's defense, the general refused.  Instead, he argued, the army should focus on breaking down the rebels' supply lines and retreat options; he also believed that Prince Liú would be able to survive long enough under siege (at Suīyáng (modern-day Shāngqiū, Hénán Province), Liáng's capital) that by the time the Hàn army took out out the rebels' supply lines they would have no choice but to try and fight off the Hàn as opposed to wasting their time laying siege to Suīyáng.
                  -General Zhōu's strategy ended up working out well, and when they rebel armies tried to drive off the imperial army and reestablish their supply lines they failed, and soon were crushed.  Eventually, the rebellion fell apart and the rebel princes were either imprisoned and executed (by their own people for getting them involved in such a dumb war) or they just ended up committing suicide since they believed they were fucked.  However, those that survived the ordeal found themselves pardoned by Emperor Jǐng (!) and allowed to just return to their normal lives! 
                     -Everything more or less then went back to the way it was before the war, and Zhōu Yǎfū was made prime minister.
                     -The Rebellion of the Seven States had come to an end, and the Hàn Empire was united once more!
-Although Emperor Jǐng was still in good health (I'm assuming), the focus of the court now turned to the question of succession.
   -Empress Bò had "failed" to produce any sons, so during this time it was still kind of up in the air as to who would succeed Emperor Jǐng after he croaked. 
      -The emperor eventually decided on Liú Róng (his son with his concubine Lady Lì), who was then officially named Crown Prince Lì.
         -However, this ended up not working out because Lady Lì fucked it all up by being shitty to the emperor's older sister, Princess Guǎntáo (AKA Liú Piáo), among other things, which caused a bunch of drama and resulted in the emperor demoting Crown Prince Lì to simply "the Prince of Línjiāng" (womp womp).
-151 BC, Emperor Jǐng decided that he was done with Empress Bò and so he had her title as empress removed and took his favorite concubine, Lady Wáng (AKA Wáng Zhì), as his new wife; she was thus given the title "Empress Wáng of Jǐng", and their son, Liú Chè, was then named crown prince.
-147 BC- although Zhōu Yǎfū was probably a wise and competent prime minister, he kept on stubbornly clashing with too many others (including the emperor himself) on important decisions, and eventually he was fired from the job. 
   -A few years later there was some more weird drama and Zhōu Yǎfū ended up getting arrested and imprisoned, whereupon he committed suicide.
-141 BC- Emperor Jǐng dies, replaced by Crown Prince Liú Chè who is then enthroned as Emperor Wǔ of Hàn ("The Martial Emperor of Hàn").

Western Han - Part III - The Bloody Empress

-195 BC- Emperor Gāozǔ was dead, so he was replaced by Crown Prince Liú Yíng as the next emperor (who would be enthroned as Emperor Hùi of Hàn).

   -However, it was obvious to everyone that it wasn't Emperor Hùi who was calling the shots at this point, but his mother, the cruel Empress Lǚ, who was really running the show (especially considering that Emperor Hùi was only like 15 when he was enthroned, so his mother had actually been officially granted the title “empress dowager” meaning that she could rule as regent until Emperor Hùi came of age to rule on his own). 

      -To make things more complicated, Emperor Gāozǔ had actually wanted Prince Liǘ Rúyì (his son with his favorite concubine, Consort Qī, to be his heir), but this didn’t actually work out and eventually the emperor took it back.  It’s unclear as to why really he wanted Liǘ Rúyì to be heir, but officially the reason was because Liú Yíng was seen as being too “kind”, “tolerant”, and “weak-willed” (aww). 

         -Emperor Gāozǔ knew that naming his son with Consort Qī would be met with fierce hostility from the empress, so he had actually gone to great lengths to give Liǘ Rúyì power so that after he (Emperor Gāozǔ) died then at least Liǘ Rúyì would have some ability to protect himself should he not be enthroned.

            -Emperor Gāozǔ did this by having Liǘ Rúyì enthroned as the vassal king (or prince) of Dài in 200 BC, and having his trusted official Zhōu Chāng (who was actually a close friend of the empress’) watch over him to try and keep him out of harm’s way.  He was then named vassal king/prince of Zhào in 198 BC (I’m not sure if this was in addition to being prince of Dài or he was just being moved around).  This allowed for Liǘ Rúyì to effectively remain out of the capital and away from the empress.

-Anyway, because of all of the drama with Consort Qī and her son potentially becoming heir to the throne instead of her own son, Empress Lǚ immediately set out seek retribution against Consort Qī for this (whether Consort Qī intended to rock the boat or not!).

   -With the death of Emperor Gāozǔ, Empress Dowager Lǚ immediately had Consort Qī arrested and imprisoned on fake charges (of course), forcing her to perform hard labor.

   -With Consort Qī dealt with, Empress Dowager Lǚ then set her sights on eliminating the “threat” posed by Prince Liǘ Rúyì.

      -The empress repeatedly sent for Liǘ Rúyì to come to Cháng'ān, but of course Zhōu Chāng, speaking for Liǘ Rúyì, politely refused these summons.

         -Knowing that summoning the prince himself to the capital wouldn’t work, so Empress Dowager Lǚ decided to switch tactics and sent for Zhōu Chāng himself instead.  Thinking that he was safe since he was such good friends with the empress, Zhōu Chāng acquiesced, but was promptly arrested when he finally arrived at the capital.

            -Liǘ Rúyì knew that Zhōu Chāng’s life was in danger if he didn’t come to the capital himself, so unfortunately the prince finally made the decision to obey his stepmother’s summons and come to the capital.

               -Although Emperor Hùi did his best to protect his half-brother, of course this wasn’t enough since he just didn’t have enough power at this time, and eventually Liǘ Rúyì was poisoned and died.

               -After Liǘ Rúyì’s murder, the empress then had Consort Qī’s arms and legs cut off, her eyes gouged out, her tongue cut out, and then had her imprisoned in either a pig sty or lavatory (depending on which version of the story I guess) and fed livestock slop.

                  -When Emperor Hùi finally found out what was going on and saw the tortured and mutilated Consort Qī with his own eyes he had a mental breakdown (understandably) for about a year, during which all of his power was relinquished to Empress Dowager Lǚ.

                     -The emperor then spent most of his time just living a debauched life, most likely trying to numb the insanity caused by his mother’s brutality.

                        - Consort Qī finally died in 194 BC after being tortured to death.

-Although Empress Dowager Lǚ had killed Consort Qī and Liǘ Rúyì, she still wasn’t quite finished in terms of her paranoid purge in order to consolidate absolute power for herself.

   -Liú Féi (AKA Prince Dàohuì of Qí), Emperor Gāozǔ’s eldest son (with another one of his concubines) was invited to the capital by the empress for a glorious feast.

      -Of course, Emperor Hùi was a nice guy and allowed for his older half-brother to be seated ahead of him at the dinner table, which was a breach of etiquette (although it made sense because the emperor was just being polite), but this caused Empress Dowager Lǚ to seemingly fly into a rage.  She then went into the kitchen and ordered the servants to poison Liú Féi’s wine.

         -Of course, when it was time to drink Emperor Hùi knew (somehow) that the empress had poisoned Liú Féi’s wine, so he took his half-brother’s cup and made a toast as if he was going to drink out of the cup himself, which naturally caused his mother to leap up and stop her son from drinking the poisoned wine.  She then was REALLY pissed off, and after apologizing to his mother (!) he then allowed for Liú Féi to leave the feast and travel safely back to his home.

            -Apparently, after this Liú Féi was safe from the evil empress’ machinations, and I guess lived happily ever after?

-Perhaps she was frustrated from her inability to have Liú Féi murdered, so Empress Dowager Lǚ then decided that her next target was yet another one of Emperor Gāozǔ’s sons, Liú Yǒu (the prince of Zhào).

   -Although Liú Yǒu had married  the empress’ niece, he had recently been busted for having an affair.   

      -Seeking revenge for her husband’s infidelity, Liú Yǒu’s wife went to her aunt and told her that Liú Yǒu was planning a rebellion against the throne.

         -Upon hearing the news, Empress Dowager Lǚ summoned Liú Yǒu to the capital (which actually worked!).  When he arrived, of course, he was arrested and imprisoned, where he eventually starved to death.

-192 BC- Mòdú Chányú (emperor of the fledgling Xiōngnú Empire) sent word to the Hàn dynasty that he was terribly lonely and, seeing as how the empress was single, wanted to see if the empress was interested in marrying him (haha).

   -Of course, this really pissed off Empress Dowager Lǚ due to its insolence (a barbarian king asking for an EMPRESS’ hand in marriage?), and so the court began to plan for an invasion of the Xiōngnú Empire as a response.  However, the courtier Jì Bù pointed out that the Xiōngnú were much more powerful than whatever invasion force the Hàn dynasty could raise and that attacking them would obviously be insane.

      -Although this was followed by an awkward silence, everyone knew that he Jì Bù was right, and so instead the Hàn court sent back a humble letter turning down Mòdú Chányú and instead they just continued the héqīn tributary system (marriages between Hàn princesses and Xiōngnú lords along with gifts of wine, silk, and liquor from the Hàn dynasty) with the Xiōngnú.

-191 BC- at this point, Emperor Hùi was 19 years old, so Empress Dowager Lǚ decided that it was finally time for him to get married.

   -Bizarrely, the empress chose for her son Zhāng Yān, her own granddaughter and the emperor’s niece! 

      -I guess he had no real say in the matter, and upon being wed Zhāng Yān officially became Empress Xiàohuì of Hàn.

         -Although Emperor Hùi and Empress Xiàohuì never produced any children of their own, Empress Dowager Lǚ apparently tried to convince Empress Xiàohuì to officially adopt the sons born from Emperor Hùi’s other concubines as her own sons and then have those concubines subsequently executed afterwards (!!), and although it looks like the empress actually went through with the mass adoptions it’s unclear as to if these sons were actually the offspring of these concubines and the emperor himself (the fate of Emperor Hùi’s concubines is also kind of unclear as well, although it seems as if they were indeed killed).

   -During this time also Empress Dowager Lǚ began to elevate members of her own family (the Lǚ clan, as opposed to the imperial Liú clan) to positions of power.

      -This was ironic because it was actually Empress Dowager Lǚ’s idea originally that only those of imperial blood could become princes of the various regions of the Hàn Empire, but at this point she was using her autocratic grip on power to ensure that members of her side of the family were elevated to become princes and other offices otherwise reserved for those of imperial blood.

-188 BC- Emperor Hùi dies of a mysterious illness at the age of 22 (!).  He was replaced by his eldest (adopted) son, Liú Gōng, who was enthroned as Emperor Qiánshǎo of Hàn (and must have been about 10 years old around the time of his enthronement).

   -Unfortunately, we know so little about about Emperor Qiánshǎo that he’s not even included in a lot of the histories of the Hàn emperors.

      -The only real thing we know about him (that was recorded, at least) was that at one point (either in or before 184 BC) when he found out that he was adopted by Empress Xiàohuì he claimed that he would kill whoever was responsible for his biological mother’s death.  Of course, when Empress Dowager Lǚ found out about this she had the young emperor secretly imprisoned with the excuse that he was “ill” and then had him executed.

-184 BC- So, Empress Xiàohuì was dead, so Empress Dowager Lǚ had him replaced by his (adopted, like him) six-year-old little brother, Liú Yì (AKA Liú Hóng), who was enthroned as Emperor Hòushǎo of Hàn (although of course Empress Dowager Lǚ would still be calling all the shots, of course).

-180 BC- Empress Dowager Lǚ finally dies and is buried in Emperor Gāozǔ’s tomb.

   -Her reign of terror had lasted for about 15 years.

   -Did this mean that Emperor Hòushǎo was able to take control of the throne for himself?

      -This was because during her rule Empress Dowager Lǚ had re-stocked the government with members from her own clan, so they weren’t about to give up their power just so authority could be rightly restored to the emperor (who was still a boy, of course).

         -Empress Dowager Lǚ had even gone so far as to write in her will that Emperor Hòushǎo was to marry her grandniece as well as installing other various family members into important government offices and positions.

            -However, even though it was a “rumor” it was obvious that the Lǚ clan was trying to take power from the imperial Liú clan, so in a last ditch attempt to save the government these usurpers a bunch of officials led by the imperial chancellors Chén Píng, Zhōu Bó, and others formed an alliance.

               -The plan was for Liú Xiāng (AKA King Āī of Qí and grandson of Emperor Gāozǔ)to raise an army and invade the capital, while the imperial guard commanders Liú Zhāng (AKA Prince Jǐng of Chéngyáng) and his younger brother Liú Xīngjū would try and get the imperial guard to rebel against the Lǚ officials.  After invading the city Emperor Hòushǎo would be dethroned and Liú Xiāng would crown himself the new emperor.

                   -When Liú Xiāng raised his army and started marching he soon was met with the Hàn imperial army, led by Chancellor Guàn Yīng (AKA Marquess Yì of Yǐngyīn).  However, Guàn Yīng actually sympathized with the rebel army, and even ended up joining them in their rebellion!

                     -Meanwhile, back in the capital, the Liú clan tried to persuade the Lǚ clan to give up power in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.  This didn’t really work, though, so the Liú clan instead used military officers sympathetic to Liú Xiāng’s rebellion to order their troops to hunt down any Lǚ family members they could in order to completely exterminate them.

                        -Once the massacre was complete, the Liú clan held a meeting in which they officially decided that NONE of Emperor Hùi’s sons from his various concubines were legitimate (even if they had been officially adopted, since that was all the doing of Empress Dowager Lǚ) were legitimate and instead decided on Emperor Gāozǔ’s last surviving son, Prince Liú Héng of Dài, who, after some convincing, finally accepted to be enthroned as Emperor Wén of Hàn.

                               -Emperor Hòushǎo was stripped of his titles and evicted from the palace, and not too much longer after that was executed along with his wife, Empress Lǚ (unclear as to why, unfortunately).

Western Han - Part II - Xiongnu to the Left of Me, Rebels to the Right...

-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.

Western Han - Part I - The Chu-Han Contention

-206 BC- so, the Qín dynasty ended up collapsing after only being around for like 15 years haha.
   -Because of the empire's collapse, the land was now split into 18 (!) different warring kingdoms (hence the name "Eighteen Kingdoms period" for this time in Chinese history).
   -Although the rebels' main army was led by General Xiàng Yǔ, the Qín capital, Xiányáng (in modern-day Shǎnxī Province), and the royal family had been captured by another allied rebel general, Liú Bāng.
      -Liú Bāng was born to a peasant family in 256 BC (approximately) in the state/kingdom of Chǔ (in a village near the city of Péngchéng (modern-day Xúzhōu, Jiāngsū Province)).
         -According to legend, his upbringing was full of ominous portents (usually associated with dragons, a theme that was constant throughout his life).
            -For example, when he would drink a silhouette of a dragon would appear around him; as he got older he "resembled" a dragon more and more; etc.
         -When he got older he was eventually appointed as a minor patrol officer in the military and village executioner.
            -However, after the land was unified by the Qín dynasty everything changed for him one day when some of his prisoners escaped as he was escorting them to Mount Lí (where they were to be forced to work on Qín Shǐ Huáng's necropolis).
               -The punishment for military officers who had prisoners escape under their watch was death, so naturally Liú Bāng knew that he was screwed.  However, instead of turning himself in to be executed, he decided to escape along with the prisoners and form a band of outlaws.
                  -During this time it's said that Liú Bāng encountered a dangerous white dragon (with a poison breath weapon!) and slew it (drunkenly haha).  However, early the next morning he encountered an old woman on the side of the road who was crying; she told him that her "child had been slain by the son of the Red Emperor (AKA Emperor Yán, the Flame Emperor, the Yán Emperor, etc. (also possibly the same dude as Shénnóng, considered by some sources to be one of the mythical Three Sovereigns of prehistoric China))" before vanishing into the morning mists.  Could this mean that Liú Bāng was a descendant of the Red Emperor and thus destined for greatness??
         -Eventually, Liú Bāng and his band built a stronghold at Mount Mángdàng (near modern-day Shāngqiū, Hénán Province) and there they just kept on growing in number.
            -Finally, in 208 BC King Huái II of Chǔ called upon Liú Bāng and his outlaw army to join in the rebellion against the Qín dynasty!
      -During this time, King Huái II of Chǔ (AKA Emperor Yì of Chŭ), essentially a puppet ruler installed by Xiàng Yǔ as the new ruler of the resurrected kingdom of Chŭ, had issued a competition among all the rebel generals that whoever would "subdue the (Qín) heartland" (which essentially means take the capital, I guess?) would be rewarded with a rulership over Guānzhōng (the capital region of the Qín dynasty; basically the former territory of the state/kingdom of Qín?).
         -So, although Xiàng Yǔ was really calling the shots behind the scenes, it was awkward because King Huái II of Chǔ HAD said that rulership of the Qín heartland would go to whoever took the capital first.  It seems like maybe it was assumed that Xiàng Yǔ would do this, but of course it actually didn't work out this way.
            -Xiàng Yǔ attempted to solve this problem by splitting up Guānzhōng into three different kingdoms (known collectively as "The Three Qíns"):
               -Yōng (ruled by former Qín general Zhāng Hán)
               -Sāi (ruled by former Qín general Sīmǎ Xīn)
               -Zhái (ruled by former Qín general Dǒng Yì)
            -For Liú Bāng, instead of being named king of Guānzhōng as was promised to him, he instead was given the new kingdom of Hàn, a territory to the southwest (land formerly belonging to the "barbarian" states of Bā and Shǔ (known collectively sometimes as the Bā-Shǔ culture) largely separated from the rest of the kingdoms by mountains.
               -Obviously, this was kind of meant to snub Liú Bāng, as Xiàng Yǔ was probably pissed off at him for having the audacity to capture Xiányáng before he got there.
                  -Hàn was so difficult to get to that you would have to travel through all these dangerous tiny roads that curved along the mountains (which had initially been created by the Qín armies as a temporary solution to pass through).  Occasionally there wouldn't even be a road at all and you'd have to walk over wooden planks built into the side of the mountain just to continue on!  No thanks!!
                     -In order to properly settle (and truly pacify?) the region, Liú Bāng was given 30,000 soldiers and a few thousand civilians.
                        -For the time being, he would lay low...
-Of course, the peace of the Eighteen Kingdoms period almost immediately fell into chaos as the different kingdoms started fighting with one another.
   -Qí (one of the three kingdoms (which included Jiāodōng and Jìběi) that the former state/kingdom of Qí had been divided into) immediately declared war on both Jiāodōng and Jìběi in order to reunify the former lands of the state/kingdom of Qí, quickly conquering them.
   -Western Chǔ ("Xī Chǔ"), ruled by Xiàng Yǔ (who had crowned himself "Hegemon-King of Western Chǔ" ("Xī Chǔ Bà Wáng"), invaded and conquered Hán (not to be confused with Hàn (ruled by Liú Bāng), of course).
   -Elsewhere there a bunch of rebellions and insurrections and shit, too.
   -Because of the chaos, Liú Bāng decided to take advantage of the situation and expand his power by invading Yōng.
      -Liú Bāng was able mask his intentions of invasion by claiming that he was just fortifying the defenses of the mountain passes.
      -After two main battles, Yōng's armies were defeated and Zhāng Hán was forced to retreat to a fortress at Fèi Qiū (modern-day Xīngpíng, Shǎnxī Province).
-At this point, it was obvious that Liú Bāng was most likely planning on taking the region of Guānzhōng for himself (and thus conquering the rest of the Three Qíns), and apparently his army was so badass that Sīmǎ Xīn and Dǒng Yì decided to form an alliance (which also included King Shēn Yáng of Hénán for some reason) with Liú Bāng!
-205 BC- although Xiàng Yǔ must have known what was going on in the west, he was bogged down in a war with Qí so I guess there wasn't really much he could do to counter Liú Bāng's rapidly increasing power.
   -Knowing he had to move fast before Xiàng Yǔ could properly organize, Liú Bāng and his allied forces decided to invade Western Chǔ, heading straight for Péngchéng!
      -This kicked off what would become known as the Chǔ-Hàn Contention (which would determine who would replace the Qín dynasty as the next imperial line, essentially).
      -They must have arrived moved really quickly because they were able to immediately capture and sack the capital city.
         -Of course, when he received word of the news that his capital had been taken by Liú Bāng's massive allied forces, Xiàng Yǔ raced back to the city to try and drive off the invaders.
            -Surprisingly, Xiàng Yǔ's army was able to catch the invaders off-guard because they had just been partying, raping, and pillaging the whole time and I guess hadn't prepared for Xiàng Yǔ's obvious return to try and save the city.  So, Liú Bāng's army was driven out of the city and forced to retreat to the nearby Gǔ and Sì rivers, but they were being chased by Xiàng Yǔ's army.
               -When the two armies finally clashed (the Battle of Péngchéng), Liú Bāng's army got its ass kicked and they suffered heavy casualties.
                  -In fact, the casualties were so bad at one point that the sheer amount of bodies dammed up the Sì River!
               -Fearing for his life (obviously), Liú Bāng and his bodyguards fled to his home village (he was born and raised in this area after all, and his family even still lived here!) where he hoped to secure his family from a possible reprisal by Xiàng Yǔ.
                  -However, Liú Bāng was too late (although he did encounter some of his family members randomly along the road on the way there; more on that later), as Xiàng Yǔ had already captured some of Liú Bāng's family.
                     -It probably didn't happen, but according to the historical records Liú Bāng discarded these family members to the side of the road so that his chariot would go faster!
                     -Xiàng Yǔ now had a choice- he could help rebuild his capital city and refortify/regroup, OR he could go after Liú Bāng in order to vanquish the Hàn threat once and for all.
                        -Surprisingly, Xiàng Yǔ decided to rebuild/regroup; after all, he still had much of Liú Bāng's family as hostages.
-Liú Bāng had been soundly defeated, so he headed back to Hàn to try and figure out what to do.
   -Realizing the shift in momentum, Sīmǎ Xīn and Dǒng Yì then decided to break their alliance with Liú Bāng and instead ally with Xiàng Yǔ!
      -To further strengthen Xiàng Yǔ's prospects for domination, Qí sued for peace (which allowed for Xiàng Yǔ to not have to be distracted by fighting them instead of Hàn).
   -Upon returning to the city of Yú (in modern-day Shāngqiū, Hénán Province (and capital of Hàn (I think))), Liú Bāng settled down in order to decide on what to do next.
      -His initial plan was to get King Yīng Bù (who had actually been a former criminal (with a tattooed face as a punishment!), escaped slave, and outlaw warlord in the past!) of Jiǔjiāng to declare war on Xiàng Yǔ and invade Western Chǔ (which actually worked, somehow!), but Xiàng Yǔ's forces were too strong and Yīng Bù's army was defeated.
         -Xiàng Yǔ then decided to launch a counterattack invasion (led by General Lóng Jū) against Jiǔjiāng.
            -Lóng Jū's army was successful in quickly crushing any opposition, and Yīng Bù was actually forced to flee to the court of Liú Bāng!  Doh!!
         -At this point, however, Liú Bāng had had enough time to raise another army, and he immediately used it to start attacking Western Chǔ again!
            -During this time Liú Bāng also named his son, Prince Liú Yíng, as heir to the Hàn throne.
               -It's also worth noting that Zhāng Hán's remaining army was finally defeated by Hàn's forces, which resulted in Zhāng Hán committing suicide before he could be captured.
-Also during this time King Wèi Bào of Western Wèi ("Xī Wèi" in order to make it not confused with its original incarnation as the state/kingdom of Wèi) decided that it was time for Western Wèi to enter the war for domination, and he kicked things off by breaking his alliance with Hàn, allying himself with Xiàng Yǔ, and then declaring war on Liú Bāng!  Rude!
   -Because of this sudden reversal, Liú Bāng knew he had to act quickly in order crush Wèi Bào ASAP, so he sent Hán Xìn, his best general, to lead Hàn's forces.
      -By being tricky, Hán Xìn was able to convince Wèi Bào that the Hàn army was going to attack the Wèi city of Línjìn, but actually Hán Xìn was planning on attacking Wèi's capital at Ānyì!
         -Not really sure what exactly went down, but by the time the armies finally did clash, Wèi Bào's army was crushed and Wèi was completely surrendered to (and promptly annexed by) Hàn!
            -Surprisingly, Wèi Bào actually survived all of this, and after his defeat was actually accepted into Liú Bāng's army and even promoted to general!
-Hán Xìn then continued the drive north and invaded the kingdom of Dài (not sure what their excuse was, exactly)!
   -I could be mistaken, but it seems as if during this time the kingdoms of Dài, Hénán, Chángshān, and Yīn (all ruled by former Zhào royalty or government officials) had all banded together to form a sort-of resurrected Zhào state/kingdom, so that would explain why the sources are saying that Hán Xìn "attacked the kingdom of Zhào" even though really Zhào had fallen to Qín 17 years earlier.
   -Hàn's army clashed with the forces of Dài near the Jǐngxíng Pass (the Battle of Jǐngxíng (AKA the Battle of the Táo River)) in the Tàiháng Mountains.
   -Surprisingly, although Hán Xìn had a much smaller force than Dài's, the Hàn army was able to defeat Dài (which also cemented Hán Xìn's reputation as a badass general!) by feigning a retreat (but being unable to retreat due to the mountains which made them fight more ferociously), ambushes, counterattacks, etc.!
-Once Hán Xìn's army made it through the Jǐngxíng Pass and defeated the Zhào alliance, he set his sights on both Western Chǔ and Qí.
   -Both were powerful states, but Hán Xìn knew that they had been distracted from containing Hàn's wars of expansion due to fighting with each other.
-204 BC- at this point, the three most powerful states in the Eighteen Kingdoms (or whatever China was being called at this time) were of course Western Chǔ, Hàn, and Qí.
   -During a diplomatic meeting there was some sort of an agreement reached in order to calm hostilities where Western Chǔ and Qí agreed to a ceasefire and Qí recognized Hàn as the rightful "leader" of the region (whatever that meant).
      -However, by the time Liú Bāng received word that Qí was on their side it was too late to get the message to Hán Xìn, who was quickly moving to invade Qí!
         -Believing that they had been deceived by Hàn, Tián Guǎng (the new king of Qí (not Tián Du; it's complicated)) fled to Péngchéng and immediately swore fealty to Xiàng Yǔ.
            -Agreeing to protect his new vassal state, Xiàng Yǔ quickly raised an army (led by General Lóng Jū (who had a reputation for being a brave but also arrogant and reckless commander) and sent it to drive out the Hàn forces from Qí.
               -Hán Xìn was able to exploit Lóng Jū's recklessness by causing the Qí/Western Chǔ army to be caught in a genius trap involving the opening of a dam and getting flooded (which also resulted in Lóng Jū's death as well).
                  -Apparently Tián Guǎng was there as well because he was also killed during the battle's aftermath.
                     -Qí was then immediately annexed by Hàn!
                        -At this point, things were really looking grim for Xiàng Yǔ, as the region had obviously been dominated by Hàn and Western Chǔ's armies had suffered too many casualties to resist for much longer.
-Although Hán Xìn had been on a roll up till now, it seems as if he finally overplayed his hand when he requested that he be made the new king of Qí.
   -This actually put Liú Bāng in a tough situation; Hán Xìn possessed a relatively large force compared to what was at Liú Bāng's immediate disposal (an army which was actually busy defending the captured city of Xíngyáng from Western Chǔ forces), and Liú Bāng had expected Hán Xìn to return to Hàn and help drive off the Western Chǔ army from Xíngyáng, not ask to be named king of Qí!
      -However, Liú Bāng knew that he was in no place to challenge Hán Xìn's power grab, so he reluctantly acquiesced to Hán Xìn's request.
         -This was also because Xiàng Yǔ had attempted to exploit this shift in relations between Liú Bāng and Hán Xìn by inviting the latter to join in a military alliance with Western Chǔ against Hàn.  Also, if Hán Xìn agreed to this alliance, Western Chǔ would then recognize Hán Xìn's legitimacy as the new king of Qí.
-203 BC- At this point, Liú Bāng knew that his forces were too weak to continue fighting with Western Chǔ at Xíngyáng and that Hán Xìn was now not to be trusted, so he decided to try and sue for peace with Western Chǔ.  In addition, Xiàng Yǔ had captured Liú Bāng's father, so that might have had something to do with it, too.
   -The deal (known as the Treaty of the Hóng Canal) was that everything west of Xíngyáng (including the city itself) would belong to Hàn, and everything to its east would belong to Western Chǔ.
      -In addition, all of the hostages taken by Western Chǔ would be returned to Hàn.
      -Apparently, Xiàng Yǔ himself even traveled to the city for the peace talks.
      -However, Liú Bāng must have realized that this was not a sustainable solution at all to the Chǔ-Hàn Contention, and that actually it would probably be much easier to just nip this whole thing in the bud by attacking Xiàng Yǔ as he was traveling back east!
         -Liú Bāng then raised an army to go after Xiàng Yǔ and attempted to get both Hán Xìn and the Hàn general Péng Yuè (AKA Zhòng) to do a three-pronged attack, but this didn't really pan out and Liú Bāng's army fought alone and ended up getting defeated (although Liú Bāng was able to survive by retreating).
            -While normally Liú Bāng would have reprimanded his subordinates in some way for not following orders from their king, because of the situation he was in Liú Bāng was obviously in no position to actually follow through with any punishments or disciplinary actions, so he just ended up apologizing for asking so much from his men haha.
               -In fact, in order to rely on them for the next campaign, Liú Bāng even went so far as to grant the two generals land and titles in order to "thank them" for their continued support.
-202 BC- the armies of Hàn invade Western Chǔ!  This is it!
   -The invasion was a three-pronged assault (with each prong led by Liú Bāng, Péng Yuè, and Hán Xìn, respectively).
      -It's unclear how exactly this happened, but it wasn't long before Xiàng Yǔ and his army found themselves trapped in a canyon near the town of Gāixià (outside of modern-day Sùzhōu, Ānhuī Province).
         -To make matters worse, one of Xiàng Yǔ's favorite wives, Consort Yú (AKA Yú Miàoyì or "Yú the Beauty" ("Yú Měirén")), had been captured by Hàn forces (at this point it looks like the armies led by both Liú Bāng and Hán Xìn had joined up).
            -The Battle of Gāixià- the Hàn generals knew that Xiàng Yǔ would do anything to rescue Consort Yú, and they were right- it wasn't long before Xiàng Yǔ's army was ambushed and completely surrounded by the forces of Hàn.
               -It was at this moment that Hán Xìn had told his men to start singing traditional folk songs from Chǔ (meant to make Xiàng Yǔ's men homesick so they'd stop fighting, I guess?  Either way, it worked!) which resulted in the Western Chǔ army drop in numbers due to surrender and desertion.  The final nail in the coffin, however, was the suicide of Consort Yú (who apparently either blamed herself for Xiàng Yǔ's defeat OR just didn't want to distract him from the battle).
                -Although he succeeded in breaking through the Hàn's line in order to escape with a small number of loyalists, Xiàng Yǔ was soon tracked down by Hàn cavalry and was able to commit suicide before he could be captured.
                   -Although Western Chǔ would continue to try and hold out against the Hàn forces and its allies, it was obvious that the Chǔ-Hàn Contention was quickly coming to an end as much of Western Chǔ's territory was easily being conquered by the invading Hàn armies.
-Once Western Chǔ had finally fallen, Liú Bāng declared himself emperor (becoming Emperor Gāozǔ of Hàn ("Hàn Gāozǔ" ("High Ancestor of Hàn"))) of his brand-new Hàn dynasty, although he still ensured that he held up his end of the many deals that he had made with all of the generals, nobles, and members of the royal family who had supported him up to that point (which also included many enemy generals, too, as a sign of respect) and awarded many kingships (who were to rule semi-autonomously, answering only to the emperor, himself) and other titles to them within the empire of Hàn.
   -This was definitely a departure of how the Qín dynasty had done things (an attempt to have complete control of its empire by dividing it up into commanderies governed by non-hereditary official positions (an extremely radical departure from how it had always been in China)) and a return to the traditional Chinese style up till that point (a bunch of different kingdoms all subordinate (in theory) to an imperial overlord of semi-divine ancestry, as seen with the previous dynasties).
      -Would a return to this style of rule be as problematic as it had been for the previous dynasties (not including the Qín)?