Han Gaozu

First Emperor of the Han Dynasty Gaozu

256 BC - 1 Jun 195 BC

First Han Emperor

Liu Bang, the future first emperor of the Han Dynasty, was born a peasant in the city of Feng in the district of Pei, a rural area of the ancient state of Chu (now Jiangsu Province). Not particularly adept at farming, Liu Bang took the civil service examination and became the headman of Si River Village. He was not particularly adept at civil service either and was reportedly rude to the district's other officers and spent his time drinking wine and womanizing, mostly on credit at the local wine shops. But he was ambitious and quite aware of his innate leadership ability. So he boldy planned to gain the support of a powerful local nobleman so he could achieve what he believed to be his destiny.

"When a nobleman, Master Lu, was being hosted at the Magistrate of Pei's home, the officials of the region were invited to a banquet honoring him, but a gift of 1,000 in cash was required of the guests. Liu Bang showed up and sent in a card saying he had arrived with 10,000 in cash, while in truth he had none. Surprised at the amount, Master Lu himself greeted him at the door. Impressed by Liu Bang, the matter of the cash was never brought up, and Master Lu decided to give his daughter, who was highly sought after, to Liu Bang in marriage." - The Biography of Liu Bang, Emperor Han Gaozu

One day he was ordered to take a group of conscripted laborers up to the construction site of the mausoleum that was being prepared for Qin Shi Huang-di. On the way, so many of the laborers escaped that Liu Bang began to worry that he would be punished for the shortage of men. When he stopped for the night he began to drink heavily and decided to free the rest of laborers and abandon his duties as an officer of the Qin. He had so impressed ten of the freed men with his air of authority and, probably, outright bravado, that they professed they wish to follow him. So Liu Bang's first army was born.

He next launched a compaign to gain recognition for his leadership ability to secure a position more worthy of his talents. Using the influence he had gained with the nobility of Pei through his future father-in-law, Liu Bang sought out soothsayers and wise women that would dutifully proclaim signs and portents that Liu Bang was, indeed, a great man. This PR campaign in combination with the local unrest fomented by harsh Qin laws, attracted another 100 followers. Still, Liu Bang and his little band were considered little more than bandits.

As the Qin revolt spread, the magistrate of Pei sent for Liu Bang who was told the magistrate wanted to join the rebellion but needed Liu Bang and his men. Before Liu Bang arrived, however, the fickle magistrate changed his mind and closed the gates of the city against Liu Bang. But the magistrate's two chief officials, Cao Can and Xiao He escaped over the city's walls and joined Liu Bang's forces. Liu Bang then sent word to the men of the city that if they didn't surrender, he would massacre everyone. The men of the city executed the magistrate then offered the governorship of Pei to Liu Bang. Much like Julius Caesar who refused the kingship of Rome three times when it was offered by Marc Antony, Liu Bang made a great show of declining the honor several times. However, unlike Caesar, Liu Bang finally accepted the new title.

His army and reputation continued to grow and he seized the nearby cities of Huling and Fangyu. The Qin provincial overseer marched on Liu Bang's forces and surrounded him at the city of Feng. But Liu Bang rallied his troops and, after two days of preparation, they broke out of the city and slaughtered the Qin forces. Then, leaving a trusted officer behind to hold Feng, Liu Bang marched on the provincial capital of Xue and defeated the Qin forces there. But Liu Bang soon heard that a Qin army from the kingdom of Wei was marching on Fangyu so Liu Bang force marched to that city to await the new threat. But, instead of engaging Liu Bang at Fanyu, the commander from Wei offered a marquisate to the officer Liu Bang had left in charge at Feng, who promptly switched sides. When Liu Bang heard of the treachery he marched to Feng but his assault was repulsed and Liu Bang, bitter and physically ill, ordered a retreat.

The betrayal was a painful lesson to Liu Bang. As a bold and resourceful leader, Liu Bang had not considered the possibility that he could have misjudged one of his lieutenants or that men bound by his personal charisma could be purchased so easily. Worse, he knew he had little wealth of his own or power to award fiefs and noble titles to avoid future defections. So, he decided to seek out nobles who were engaged in the revolt and join their forces with hopes that he could demonstrate his worth and advance in that way toward the prize of a fiefdom of his own.

First, he joined the ranks of General Qin Jia who had set up a puppet king in the state of Chu. But Qin Jia was defeated by Xiang Liang, a general from a powerful family in Chu. So, Liu Bang and his men were absorbed into Xiang Liang's army where Liu Bang was promoted to second-in-command under Xiang Liang's nephew Xiang Yu. But, when Xiang Liang's army captured the city of Dingtao and destroyed the strong Qin garrison there, the Supreme Qin Commander Zhang Han withdrew from attacks on cities of Wei and counterattacked, defeating Xiang Liang's army and killing the general on the field. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, who had been dispatched north on another mission at the time so were not involved in the defeat of Dingtao, were now the ranking surviving officers of the army of Chu.

The King of Chu then promoted Liu Bang to Governor of Dang Province, making him the Marquis of Wuan. Liu Bang had become a nobleman at last. But the King of Chu would dangle an even bigger prize before the newly enfeoffed marquis.

"...he [the king of Chu] ordered Liu Bang to take the army holding Dang and march west to seize the fertile lands around Yangcheng from the Qin. Afterwards, he was to pass through the mountainous Wu Pass and attack the Qin homeland. The King of Chu further promised that the first general to conquer the Qin homeland, known as the "Area within the Pass", would become King of Qin." - The Biography of Liu Bang, Emperor Han Gaozu

Liu Bang struggled through battle after battle, until he captured the pass and eventually the capital of the Qin empire. During his march, he had ordered his men to refrain from plundering the land and seizing prisoners,so by the time he arrived at the Capital, the common people greeted him with gifts and cheers.

He told them, "Gentlemen, for a long time you have suffered beneath the harsh laws of Qin. Those who criticized the government were wiped out along with their families; those who gathered to talk in private were executed in the public market. I and the other nobles have made an agreement that he who first enters the Pass shall rule over the area within. Accordingly I am now king of this territory within the Pass. I hereby promise you a code of laws consisting of three articles only: He who kills anyone shall suffer death; he who wounds another or steals shall be punished according to the gravity of the offence, for the rest I hereby abolish all the laws of Qin. Let the officials and people remain undisturbed as before. I have come only to save you from further harm, not to exploit or tyrannize over you. Therefore do not be afraid!"

But in the meantime, his rival, Xiang Yu had defeated the Qin Supreme Commander Zhang Han in Zhao, who surrendered all of his armies to him. Not to be deprived of the ultimate prize, Xiang Yu marched toward the Qin capital where Liu Bang had restored order and awaited his appointment as the King of Qin pursuant to the original agreement made with the King of Chu. With Zhang Han's armies marching with his own, Xiang Yu's forces outnumbered Liu Bang's by four to one.

Liu Bang sent his armies to the Hanggu Pass to block Xiang Yu's entrance into Qin lands. But Zang Liang, a nobleman from the Kingdom of Han who had been a valued ally to Liu Bang in the battle for the Wu Pass, convinced Liu Bang that it would be suicide to try to stop Xiang Yu's advance. The nobleman sent a message to Xiang Yu that Liu Bang did not intend to claim the kingdom of Qin and its riches for himself and Liu Bang took a small escort to Xiang Yu's camp and reaffirmed his loyalty to Chu and Xiang Yu as its Supreme Commander. He even accompanied Xiang Yu to the Qin capital. Unfortunately, Xiang Yu was not a forgiving conqueror like Liu Bang had been. Xiang Yu's army looted and burned the surrounding countryside and the capital city and massacred many of its inhabitants. Then Xiang Yu divided the kingdom of Qin into three parts and distributed it to three former Qin officers who had surrendered to him. Instead of naming Liu Bang King of Qin, with its rich river valleys as originally agreed, he designated Liu Bang King of Han, giving him the mountainous far western provinces of Han, Shu and Ba.

Still determined not to be denied his promised prize, Liu Bang regrouped and raised a new army, eventually attacking Xiang Yu's new capital at Pengchang. Xiang Yu counterattacked, drove Liu Bang and his forces out of the city and captured Liu Bang's parents, wife and children. Again, Liu Bang rebuilt his army and, allied with the Kings of Yan and Qi, finally inflicted a devastating defeat on Xiang Yu at the Battle of Gaixia. Xiang Yu fled the battlefield but was hunted down by the cavalry general Guan Ying and either killed or committed suicide (the sources conflict on this point). After observing the ritual of declining the honor three times, Liu Bang took up the title of Supreme Emperor of the Han on Feb 28th, 202 BC.

"In keeping with his hunble origins, he [Liu Bang] was known to squat in the manner of fieldhands and use colorful, rough speech. He is reported to have shown his disdain for men of letters by removing the ceremonial cap of one Confucian literati and urinating in it. And when Lu Jia, another esteemed Confucian pedant, cited the Book of Odes, Gao Zu (Liu Bang's formal name bestowed after his death) remarked sarcastically, "I got the empire on horseback, why should I bother with the Book of Odes." - Law and Morality in Ancient China, The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao (from the Mawangdui tombs) by R.P. Peerenboom.

Although disdainful of intellectuals, Liu Bang was adept at recognizing talent. As a military and political leader, he was able to take advantage of the strengths of others to further his own ends. He rewarded those who performed well, regardless of background or intellectual affililiation. As a result, among his advisers were proponents not only of Huang-Lao but of various schools, including Confucianism. - Law and Morality in Ancient China, The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao (from the Mawangdui tombs) by R.P. Peerenboom.

Huang-Lo was a politically practical philosophy that emphasized justice and a strong military which appealed to the rugged young emperor. He repealed the harsh laws and severe punishments of the Qin administration, reduced taxes and rebuilt the economy and beefed up his military strength. He spent much of the rest of his reign putting down regional rebellions while his empress ruled in his stead in his new capital at Chang'an. Although she proved to be an able administrator, Empress Lü acquired a taste for power. The empress had given Liu Bang both a son and a daughter. But one of his favorite concubines had also given him a son. Liu Bang had noticed that his new son seemed to bear much more resemblence to him than his son by his empress. As a prisoner of Xiang Yu, his wife had been detained along with one of Liu Bang's officers and rumors swirled around the imperial court that the son she bore was not the emperor's.

Determined to eliminate his increasingly-powerful empress and the designated crown prince, Liu Bang ordered the crown prince to assume command of a contingent of the army that was being sent east to qwell a rebellion by one of Liu Bang's former generals, Qing Bu. Qing Bu was a formidable adversary and the crown prince, viewed as rather weak and retiring, was expected to have little chance of survival. Hearing of the order, Empress Lü stopped her son from joining the army. Liu Bang, by then in his sixties, had no choice but to lead the army himself. Once again, the emperor's generals defeated and killed the old rebel general Qing Bu, but Liu Bang was badly wounded in the fighting. On the return to his capital, the wound festered and within a few days after his arrival, he died on June 1, 195 BC without issuing orders for the disposal of his empress and son. Empress Lü immediately imprisoned the concubine who had born Lu Bang a rival son and within a few months had the 12-year-old boy poisoned and his mother, Lady Qi "the benign", so hideously mutilated Liu Bang's one-time consort died soon after. Empress Lüs son, now Emperor Hui, sickened by his mother's cruelty, withdrew from court life and spent his time drinking and indulging in carnal pleasures. So, Empress Lü became the defacto ruler of the Han Empire until her death in 180 BC.