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Introduction
The first chapter in the History of the
Former Han Dynasty contains an account of the
rise of Liu Chi, who became Emperor Kao-tsu and the founder of the Han dynasty,
and of the important events in his reign. In accordance with the canon of
Chinese historical writing that the most reliable account is to be obtained by
copying sources practically verbatim, this chapter is largely a copy of the
chapter devoted to Kao-tsu in Sze-ma Ch'ien's Historical
Records or Shih-chi, together with additions taken
from the SC chapter on Hsiang Yü. Those chapters were
probably themselves largely copied from the Ch'u-Han
Ch'un-ch'iu by Lu Chia, who presented his book to Kao-tsu in 197 B.C. His
book is now lost, but it was preserved in T'ang times, and notations of the
information it contained in addition to what is found in the HS
are found in the notes. Very little indeed is so noted.
Probably this book was allowed to disappear because practically everything in
it had been incorporated into the History.
We have thus in the first part of this
chapter an account of the conflict that arose after the death of the First
Emperor of the Ch'in dynasty, taken from documents contemporary with those
events. The second part of the chapter contains the chronicle of events in
Kao-tsu's reign after he assumed the title of Emperor. This part of the chapter
is also copied largely from the corresponding chapter in the SC,
but there are significant additions, especially among
the imperial edicts recorded for that period. Pan Ku seems to have had access
to a collection of imperial edicts preserved in the archives at the capital and
to a set of annals of important events kept by imperial officials. Since he
admired Szu-ma Ch'ien so greatly, he made Szu-ma Ch'ien's account the basis of
his own account, and added to it or corrected it at the few places where
changes seemed necessary.
The Imperial Annals, the first of which
constitutes this chapter, are merely the chronological summary of the
History of the Former Han Dynasty, a typical Chinese
encyclopedic history. In this History the twelve Annals
constitute only about one twentieth of the whole work. It is therefore not to
be expected that the Annals should give the whole story of any reign or even
any detailed account of the events in it. Pan Ku realized that history cannot
be broken off at the death of each emperor. He conceived of history as the
record of the deeds of individuals, so he put into his Memoirs and Treatises
many facts that are essential to a full understanding of historical movements.
While this chapter does contain many more details than usually appear in
annals, yet much additional material is to be found in the relevant Memoirs. We
have summarized in the Glossary the important Memoirs bearing on this and other
reigns; it is suggested that the reader consult the Glossary sub
the names of places and persons in each chapter. He will
find there many events not to be found in the Annals. Pan Ku limited himself to
one dynasty because the immense wealth of material at his command made a
limitation of scope imperative. He has indeed been criticized for the great
length to which his history grew, yet that great length was needed for an
adequate picture of this unusual period. Because his history was planned as an
encyclopedia rather than as a straightforward account, the extraordinarily
complete picture given by Pan Ku will not be available until the whole of this
long History has been translated.
The account of the rebellion against the
Ch'in dynasty and the rise of Kao-tsu, given in the first part of this chapter,
is quite logical and is told in detail. The China of that day was still largely
confined to the Yellow River valley. In 209 B.C., at the opening of revolt, the
imperial capital was at Hsien-yang, near the present city by the same name in
Shensi. Central Shensi, then called Kuan-chung, is a great natural fortress,
with mountains and the Yellow River making a formidable barrier to invasion. To
the east, Kuan-chung was entered chiefly by the Han-ku Pass, which is easily
defensible. Within this fortress is the Wei River valley, then very fertile and
well populated. This region had been the seat of the Ch'in state, which had
conquered China and whose king had taken the proud title of the First Emperor
in 221 B.C. He had extinguished all the feudal nobility and had divided China
into thirty-six commanderies, each governed by an official appointed by
himself.
Southwest of Kuan-chung in the mountainous
southwestern Shensi was the Han-chung Commandery, from which difficult roads
led to the commanderies of Pa and Shu in the present Szechuan. This region had
not yet been fully civilized; it was still a region of exile. Here was soon to
be established the kingdom of Han(s), to which Liu Chi was appointed.
Travel east of Kuan-chung went chiefly down
the Yellow River valley to the place where the great coastal plain begins to
broaden out. There was also a road across the mountains of eastern Shensi and
up the Fen River valley, which debouched through mountain passes onto the great
plain in the present central Hopei. Because of its difficulties, traffic
usually took the other road via the Yellow River valley. The northern road was
the one followed by Han Hsin in his conquest of Chao, Yen, and Ch'i in 205-3
B.C. In the narrow east and west corridor which is the Yellow River valley east
of Kuan-chung, lay the city of Jung-yang, which Kao-tsu long made his
headquarters when fighting Hsiang Yü, and where he was besieged by the latter
and almost captured. Here too was the immense granary of Ao, on a mountain by
the shore of the Yellow River. It contained so much grain that for three years
Kao-tsu's forces, numbering hundreds of thousands, continued to draw food from
this granary, and yet did not exhaust it. Its location made it easily
defensible; Hsiang Yü's failure to garrison adequately this stronghold left him
without an appropriate base of supplies to fight Kao-tsu and eventually brought
about his defeat. At the place where the plain starts to broaden out had been
the last capital of the ancient state of Han(h).
The Yellow River at that time turned north
from its present bed near the place where the Peiping-Hankow railroad now
crosses the River, and flowed northeast, following approximately the present
Grand Canal, until it emptied into the sea near the present Tientsin. Between
this channel of the Yellow River and the Gulf of Chihli (then called the P'o
Sea) had been the ancient state of Ch'i, one of the richest parts of China.
West of the Yellow River had been the ancient state of Chao, and north of Chao,
Yen. South of the Shantung promontory, in the present northern Kiangsu, was
P'eng-ch'eng, the last capital of the ancient state of Ch'u. Not far away was
the birthplace of Liu Chi. To the south in the seaboard plain, across the
Yangtze River, was the K'uai-chi Commandery, which had formerly been the state
of Wu, from which arose Hsiang Yü and his uncle.
The remainder of the present China, outside
the Yellow River valley and the seaboard plain, had not yet become important.
Even the Hsiang River valley, which later became the kingdom of Ch'ang-sha, was
still considered as "low, damp, and poverty-stricken," and was used as a place
of exile. Present Fukien was the seat of a semi-independent barbarian kingdom,
Min-üeh; present Kwangtung was the seat of another barbarian kingdom, Nan-üeh.
The First Emperor had conquered these regions and had sent convicts there as
colonists, but these regions were still sparsely settled, largely barbarous,
and played only a small part in the Chinese politics of the time. The
significant regions of China, in which most of the matters related in this
chapter occurred, were Kuan-chung, where was the capital, the narrow valley
where the Yellow River flows eastwards, and the seaboard plain, where had been
located the flourishing states that had been conquered by Ch'in. Among these
states there started the revolt which finally conquered Ch'in.
In the background of this revolt there lay
the exactions and cruelly overwhelming force wielded by the First Emperor.
After his death, his son, the Second Emperor, continued his harsh policy. The
people's resentment had gradually accumulated and a spark set it aflame.
Ch'en Shê was an ambitious farm boy who
became one of the chiefs in a levy of men made in the present southern Honan,
which had been part of the ancient kingdom of Ch'u. In the late summer of 209
B.C., a bad rain prevented this levy from reaching its destination on time.
According to the Ch'in laws, the officers and men of the levy would have been
condemned to death; they accordingly conspired to rebel. As a slogan they
falsely called themselves partisans of Fu-su, the displaced heir of the First
Emperor, and fabricated miracles to legitimize themselves. The rebellion was
not thus at first openly directed against the dynasty, but was merely the act
of men driven to desperation by over-harsh laws.
Success in capturing important cities and
the favorable response of the people led Ch'en Shê to call himself the King of
Ch'u and appoint subordinate generals to overrun the surrounding country. These
generals found themselves welcomed by the people, and set themselves up as
kings of the regions which they controlled. Soon much of eastern China was
aflame.
The Ch'in forces were sent to put down the
rebellion, with Chang Han, a very capable general, at their head. He defeated
Ch'en Shê and relieved the siege of an important city. Ch'en Shê's important
generals were likewise defeated, and he fled eastwards into the present
northern Kiangsu, where he was assassinated by his own charioteer.
But neither the death of Ch'en Shê nor the
continued successes of Chang Han could stop the rebellion. Ambitious men all
over eastern China saw their opportunity, excited their neighbors to arise and
massacre the officials appointed by the Ch'in dynasty, and put themselves at
the head of a rebel force. Against such a wholesale uprising even the ablest
general could do little, for he could not be everywhere. Soon the less able
rebel generals subordinated themselves to the more successful ones.
In the present southern Kiangsu, an uncle
and nephew, Hsiang Liang and Hsiang Yü, murdered the Commandery Administrator,
took his army, and marched north. They were descendants of the famous generals
in Ch'u, and as they came north other generals came to them with their armies.
They set up a successor to Ch'en Shê in the person of a scion from the ancient
kings of Ch'u, thus legitimizing their rebellion and bringing further recruits.
Their capital was put at P'eng-ch'eng, in the present northern Kiangsu.
Among the generals who had previously come
to Hsiang Liang was Liu Chi, the future Kao-tsu. (There is no evidence that he
used the name Liu Pang until after his coronation, when that name was tabooed.)
He was a former village official who had become a bandit as the result of
official oppression and bad luck, and had been summoned with his followers when
the chief town of his commandery intended to rebel. He killed its vacillating
magistrate when the magistrate changed his mind and refused to rebel, then he
made himself master of P'ei, a city in the present northern Kiangsu, together
with surrounding cities. From that time he was known as the Lord of P'ei. A
subordinate who had been left in charge of Feng went over to another rebel
general who had a better pedigree than Liu Chi, and Liu Chi was unable to
retake Feng. He finally applied to Hsiang Liang, who gave him troops and
enabled him to recapture Feng. When Chang Han defeated and killed Hsiang Liang,
Liu Chi attached himself closely to Hsiang Yü and was made a marquis by the
King of Ch'u.
Meanwhile rebellion had flared throughout
the present Shantung and Hopei. The King of Chao was besieged by the Ch'in
forces at Chü-lu in central Hopei and sent to Ch'u for rescue. At that time two
projects required the urgent attention of Ch'u: the raising of the siege at
Chü-lu and the carrying of the war to the capital of the dynasty at Hsien-yang,
in Kuan-chung. The ablest generals, including Hsiang Yü, were sent north, and
Liu Chi was sent west.
The General-in-chief in charge of the army
sent to the relief of Chü-lu proved dilatory and incompetent, so Hsiang Yü
boldly killed him and took charge of the army. Hsiang Yü's prestige was so high
that generals from other parts of the country joined him in rescuing Chao. When
he crossed the Chang River he boldly burnt his boats and destroyed all but
three days' provisions, then advanced to the attack. In nine battles he
defeated the besiegers, captured their general, burnt their camp, and raised
the siege. The fame of this deed brought to Hsiang Yü's standard the
outstanding generals of the country. Then he turned his attention to Chang
Han.
Chang Han had been fighting rebels for
almost two full years; they had gained in strength in spite of his victories. A
defeated general could expect little but execution from the harsh authorities
at the capital. Chang Han was said to have lost over a hundred thousand men in
those two years. The imperial authority was then in the hands of a eunuch
Chancellor of State, who had slaughtered his enemies. Chang Han was now
defeated in battle by Hsiang Yü, and, when the latter promised him a kingdom,
Chang Han was ready to surrender, although his army was said still to contain
more than two hundred thousand soldiers. When the surrendered army showed signs
of discontent at this action of its generals, Hsiang Yü had it massacred at
night. Then he started for Hsien-yang with an army said to be of four hundred
thousand men.
Meanwhile Liu Chi had worked his way
westwards. He had been sent off with a totally inadequate force and with the
promise that the person who conquered the capital would be made the king of
that region. He spent a whole year going westwards, gathering recruits,
preaching rebellion, making friends, and fighting with the Ch'in armies,
usually, but not always, successfully. When he reached the borders of
Kuan-chung, he first sent a messenger into that region to preach rebellion,
then avoided the easily defensible Han-ku Pass, made a detour to the
southwards, and entered the lightly defended Wu Pass. After tricking and
crushing the Ch'in army sent against him, he arrived at the suburbs of the
capital, which was empty of troops. There, in Nov./Dec. 207 B.C., the last
ruler of the Ch'in dynasty came and surrendered to him. Kao-tsu later dated the
beginning of his reign with this event.
Liu Chi showed himself generous and kindly.
Instead of looting the city, he sealed up the imperial palaces and treasuries
and moved his troops out of the capital, for Hsiang Yü might ask for an
accounting of its treasures. Hsiao Ho, his future Chancellor, took the charts
and registers out of the imperial chancellor's office. Through their
possession, Liu Chi was later able to know the strategic points of the empire,
the size of the population, and the people's grievances. Liu Chi gathered the
leaders of the region and announced to them that he had been promised the
kingship of Kuan-chung and that he was going to agree with them on a code
consisting of only three articles: death for murder, proportionate punishment
for robbery and assault, and the repeal of all other penal laws. While this
drastic abrogation of the detailed and vexatious laws in effect in Ch'in could
not be entirely carried out, yet it actually meant a great lightening of the
people's burdens and secured for Liu Chi their good will. Then Liu Chi sent a
guard to the Han-ku Pass.
When Hsiang Yü reached that Pass and found
it barred, he forced it and marched on to the capital. Not only was he enraged
that Liu Chi should have dared to try to keep him out (an act of rebellion by a
subordinate against his Commander-in-chief), but he was jealous that another
person should have captured the capital. With an overwhelming force, he
hastened to crush Liu Chi. But the latter was forewarned and came to make
apologies. With lordly generosity, Hsiang Yü accepted them, especially since
the treasures of the capital had been left for him to loot. He marched into the
capital, massacred its people, killed the surrendered King, and burnt the
imperial palaces. That fire was the real "Burning of the Books," for in the
imperial palaces there had been preserved the proscribed literature for the use
of the imperial Frudits and officials. Those fires did not cease until the
third month.
Hsiang Yü proceeded to divide the conquered
empire. It was a military man's division. The King of Ch'u, who had done little
but reign, was nominally elevated to be Emperor, but really exiled to southern
Hunan, where an emissary of Hsiang Yü soon assassinated him. Hsiang Yü made
himself King of Ch'u and Lord Protector of the Empire, with Kiangsu, southern
Shantung, and parts of Honan and the Yangtze valley as his territory. The
agreement about making the conqueror of Kuan-chung its king was disregarded;
Liu Chi was made King of Han(s), a region located in southwestern Shensi and
Szechuan. Kuan-chung was divided into three kingdoms, with the three generals
of Chang Han's surrendered army as its kings. Chang Han was put in that kingdom
which bordered upon Han(s), to serve as a buffer against Liu Chi. Those
generals and nobles who had conquered parts of the country and had followed
Hsiang Yü to the capital were confirmed as kings of their territory. In so
doing, a few former kings had to be moved, and T'ien Jung, who had conquered
Ch'i (northern Shantung), but had refused to submit to Hsiang Yü, was left out.
P'eng Yüeh, a bandit chieftain in eastern Honan, was likewise neglected.
Liu Chi saw that any opposition to this
unjust division was useless, so went to his capital, burning the bridges behind
him; Hsiang Yü and the other generals went to their kingdoms. A month later Liu
Chi returned, surprised and defeated Chang Han, and besieged him in his
capital. Then Liu Chi overran Kuang-chung. In Ch'i, T'ien Jung likewise
attacked the kings that Hsiang Yü had appointed to that region, and made
himself king.
Hsiang Yü attacked Ch'i first, for it was
nearer his own kingdom and he was told that Liu Chi had no designs on the east.
He defeated T'ien Jung, who was then assassinated. But Hsiang Yü's excesses in
the conquest of Ch'i so roused the people that the dead King's brother was
able to raise an army to continue the struggle. Meanwhile Liu Chi had
established himself firmly in Kuan-chung and invaded Honan as far as Lo-yang.
When the assassination of the new Emperor by an emissary of Hsiang Yü became
known, Liu Chi preached a crusade against the murderer, persuaded and compelled
five kings to follow him, and marched east with a coalition army said to
comprise five hundred and sixty thousand men. He captured and entered Hsiang
Yü's capital, P'eng-ch'eng. Hsiang Yü was in Ch'i; with thirty thousand picked
troops, he reached P'eng-ch'eng by forced marches, and surprised the coalition
army at the city where it had been feasting, crushing it utterly. A hundred
thousand men were forced into the rivers and drowned.
Liu Chi escaped and fortified himself in
Jung-yang (near the present Cheng-hsien, Honan). There he was reinforced by new
troops from Kuan-chung and elsewhere. Then he sent emissaries to stir up
rebellion against Hsiang Yü in Anhui, and sent Han Hsin, who was his titular
General-in-chief, to conquer Shansi and Hopei, and thence to press into
Shantung.
When Hsiang Yü proceeded to besiege Liu Chi
in Jung-yang, Liu Chi was now able to offer peace, dividing China in half, with
only that part west of Jung-yang for his own. Hsiang Yü refused and pressed the
siege. Liu Chi had to escape and permit the city to be captured; he returned to
his impregnable fortress of Kuan-chung, and drew Hsiang Yü into northern Hupeh
by going out of the southern part of Kuan-chung. Meanwhile P'eng Yüeh was
looting near P'eng-ch'eng, so Hsiang Yü had to return to his capital. Then Liu
Chi recaptured the cities he had lost in Honan. When Hsiang Yü returned to
Honan, Liu Chi fled, but sent assistance to P'eng Yüeh, who burnt Hsiang Yü's
stores. When Hsiang Yü pursued P'eng Yüeh, Liu Chi crushed the army Hsiang Yü
had left behind and took possession of his treasures. Meanwhile Han Hsin, in a
brilliant campaign, had conquered the region into which he had been sent, and
had established himself in Ch'i.
Liu Chi entrenched himself in the hills
northwest of Cheng-hsien, where he could draw food from the immense granary at
Ao. There he was besieged by Hsiang Yü. But Anhui and Shantung revolted against
Hsiang Yü; P'eng Yüeh cut off his supplies, and finally Hsiang Yü had to make
peace and agree to the same division of the country as that previously proposed
by Liu Chi.
When Hsiang Yü returned east, Liu Chi,
disregarding the treaty, pursued him with fresh troops. By promises of
territory, he induced Han Hsin, P'eng Yüeh, and others to unite with his
forces. Together they besieged Hsiang Yü in his camp near his capital. By a
trick they got him to flee from his camp with a body of cavalry, pursued, and
killed him in Dec./Jan. 203/2 B.C.
Liu Chi now feared Han Hsin most, so he rode
into Han Hsin's entrenchments, took away his army, and appointed him King of
Ch'u. Ch'i was too valuable a territory to be left to anyone who might rebel.
Liu Chi also sent his generals to overrun Ch'u and extinguish rebellion
there.
Liu Chi's nobles and adherents now proposed
to make him Emperor. He declined the requisite number of times, and was
enthroned on Feb. 28, 202 B.C. He proceeded to organize his empire and appoint
his followers as marquises or kings. At a great banquet, he tactfully declared
that his success had been due to Chang Liang, his chief advisor, Hsiao Ho, his
Chancellor, and Han Hsin, his best general. The organization of the empire was
largely the work of Hsiao Ho, who had done no fighting, but whom Kao-tsu
esteemed most highly among all his nobles. Because of its natural strength,
Kao-tsu moved his capital from Lo-yang to Ch'ang-an in Kuan-chung (Shensi).
During the remainder of his reign, Kao-tsu
was chiefly occupied in putting down a series of revolts, and in appointing his
sons and relatives to the kingdoms thus vacated. When Kao-tsu took the throne,
there were seven kings in the empire who were not members of the imperial
family, and no members of the imperial family who were kings. Gradually the
kings who were not members of the imperial family revolted or were disposed of.
The first to revolt was Tsang Tu, who had been a follower of Hsiang Yü and had
been appointed by him as King of Yen, with his capital at the present
Pei-p'ing. Kao-tsu marched against him, captured and executed him, and made his
own boyhood companion and best friend, Lu Wan, the King of Yen. Then Li Chi,
who was a marquis and had previously been a general of Hsiang Yü, but had
submitted to Kao-tsu, became afraid of treachery, and rebelled. He was routed.
Han Hsin, now King of Ch'u, failed to deliver up promptly a friend who had
taken refuge with him and who had been proscribed by Kao-tsu; Kao-tsu marched
to Ch'u with an army, caught Han Hsin unprepared, and arrested him. He was
imprisoned, then pardoned and made a marquis, but kept at court where he could
be watched.
Han(w) Hsin had been made King of Han(h) in
Honan. But Kao-tsu wanted that territory free from possible rebels, so in the
spring of 201, he moved Han(w) Hsin to be King of a new Han(h), located in the
present Shansi. That autumn, the Huns besieged Han(w) Hsin in his capital.
Kao-tsu suspected his loyalty and made the mistake of sending him a letter
reproving him; whereupon Han(w) Hsin became suspicious of Kao-tsu's intentions
and went over to the Huns. Kao-tsu himself took the field and routed Han(w)
Hsin, but Han(w) Hsin's generals and the Huns continued to make incursions and
to stir up trouble. At Lou-fan, Kao-tsu's soldiers were almost frozen to death;
at P'ing-ch'eng, Kao-tsu was almost captured by the Huns. The invaders were
finally driven out.
At the court of his son-in-law, Chang Ao,
King of Chao, Kao-tsu did not bother to be polite; the scrupulous Chancellor of
the kingdom was enraged, and ambushed Kao-tsu the next time he traveled through
the kingdom. A premonition saved Kao-tsu's life. When the conspiracy was
discovered, its members committed suicide and Chang Ao was degraded to be a
marquis.
Then in Sept./Oct. 197, Ch'en Hsi, whom
Kao-tsu sincerely trusted, and who had been made Chancellor in Tai
(southwestern Chahar), was induced by Han(w) Hsin to revolt. Kao-tsu was
unprepared for another revolt; he rushed to Han-tan (in Hopei), but found
himself without an army. Even an urgent call for troops was slow in bringing
results. Kao-tsu spent the winter in Han-tan waiting. Not until spring was
Ch'en Hsi's power broken and Han(w) Hsin killed as he came to Ch'en Hsi's aid.
Ch'en Hsi was pursued and killed the next winter.
Meanwhile, in the capital, the Empress née
Lü had become so alarmed and suspicious that she lured Han Hsin into the palace
and executed him. P'eng Yüeh had sent troops to the assistance of Kao-tsu at
Han-tan, but had failed to come himself; whereupon Kao-tsu impatiently and
angrily sent a rebuke to P'eng Yüeh. Then P'eng Yüeh himself wanted to go to
Kao-tsu. He was however warned that the Emperor would probably execute him in
anger. So he feigned illness. Then a disgruntled official went to Kao-tsu and
informed him that P'eng Yüeh was planning rebellion. Kao-tsu thereupon had
P'eng Yüeh arrested, dismissed him from his kingdom, and sent him into exile.
On the way he met the Empress; she promised to plead for him, but instead she
had Kao-tsu informed that P'eng Yüeh was again planning to revolt, whereupon he
was executed. The remaining loyal kings who were not members of the imperial
family were now very suspicious, wondering when their turn would come.
Ch'ing Pu had been Hsiang Yü's
Commander-in-chief, and had been made King of Chiu-chiang. An emissary of
Kao-tsu had induced him to rebel against Hsiang Yü; he had been compelled to
flee to Kao-tsu in Jan./Feb. 204 with a very few men. Kao-tsu then used him to
stir up trouble for Hsiang Yü in the lower Yangtze region, and gave him a
kingdom in southern Anhui and northern Kiangsi. After the execution of Han Hsin
and P'eng Yüeh, Ch'ing Pu became very nervous, and started to collect troops so
as not to be caught defenseless. Word of this move was brought to Ch'ang-an,
and an envoy was sent to investigate; Ch'ing Pu feared what was coming, and put
his army into the field in open rebellion. He was an able general and fighter;
he routed two neighboring kings belonging to the imperial house, killing one of
them. But Kao-tsu had kept a large standing army ready for emergencies; he was
himself ill, nevertheless he took the field against Ch'ing Pu, routed him in
northern Anhui, drove him south, and finally compelled him to flee. Ch'ing Pu
was killed by the people at a stopping-place.
After the death of Ch'ing Pu, no one else
dared to rebel; indeed it is very doubtful that even he would have rebelled had
he not felt that there was no other way to escape execution. It was discovered
however that Lu Wan, the King of Yen, had had secret communication with the
Huns and with Ch'en Hsi. Lu Wan had been afraid that he would be the next king
to be dispossessed and killed, so had dallied with the thought of rebellion.
Kao-tsu sent an emissary to investigate the matter. Some evidence was unearthed
and Kao-tsu summoned Lu Wan to court. He claimed illness, so the Emperor sent
two generals to attack him. Lu Wan did not think of resisting the imperial
forces; he took his family and several thousand troops and moved just outside
the Great Wall, hoping for a chance to come to court and beg his old friend for
pardon. The Emperor's death deprived him of that chance, and he fled to the
Huns, who gave him a kingdom.
There was left now only one king not of the
imperial house---the King of Ch'ang-sha. His kingdom was so small and
unimportant that it was not worth while to disturb him. Kao-tsu's suspicions
had eliminated almost all those not of his own family and had put his clan and
the men from his prefecture into practically all the important positions. At
his death, nine of Kao-tsu's sons and relatives occupied kingdoms.
Kao-tsu was ill before he started out
against Ch'ing Pu; a wound from a stray arrow became infected and killed him
seven months later. While he was suffering from this wound, the problem of the
succession to the throne became acute. As a political move in 205, ten years
previously, Kao-tsu had appointed Ying, the son of the Empress née Lü, as his
Heir-apparent. The boy was now fifteen. He had been domineered over by his
mother, and had turned out to be a weakling. Kao-tsu was not pleased with him,
saying openly that Ying was not like himself. Kao-tsu's favorite concubine was
the Lady née Ch'i, whose son, Ju-yi, was only nine. Kao-tsu liked the boy
greatly and said, "He is like me." The Empress hated the Lady née Ch'i
bitterly, and Kao-tsu realized that after his death the Empress would probably
try to injure the Lady née Ch'i and Ju-yi. For Kao-tsu it was a choice between
a weak heir with a strong and capable but cruel mother, and a mere child with a
beloved mother. The Lady née Ch'i's pleadings finally brought Kao-tsu to the
point of ordering the feast at which he would announce the change. But during
that feast he found that Ying had secured the following of certain learned men
whom Kao-tsu had been unable to attract, and so refused to change the
succession.
When Kao-tsu died, on June 1, 195 B.C., the
Empress née Lü was at first uncertain whether her party would be able to
enthrone her son. She concealed the death for four days and toyed with the
notion of assassinating the prominent generals who might stand in the way of
her son. But she soon saw that this policy was not really feasible, so
distributed rewards to them liberally, and succeeded in enthroning her son on
the day of Kao-tsu's burial, twenty-two days after his death.
Kao-tsu was probably forty when rebellion
first broke out against the Second Emperor. His early life had been spent in
farming, holding a village office, and finally, as a bandit chieftain. His
ability to make decisions rapidly and surely and his willingness to consult
with and take advice of others were powerful assets. He was ambitious, yet he
recognized the abilities of others, and realized that he must depend on others
for his own greatness. He had the ability to choose the right man for the
place. Han Hsin was utterly undistinguished, a common soldier who had been a
mere peasant and a beggar, when Hsiao Ho recommended him to Kao-tsu; he was
immediately made General-in-chief. Kao-tsu's personality attracted to him able
men and kept them loyal. Hsiao Ho, his Chancellor, was his former official
superior. He had been Chief Official in the prefecture where Liu Chi was a
village official; when the Prefect showed himself incapable, Hsiao Ho assisted
in summoning Liu Chi, helped to make him Prefect, and became his loyal
follower. Li Yi-chi, a garrulous Confucian, was so attracted by the sight of
Liu Chi that he voluntarily came to him.
As a general, Kao-tsu showed great but not
superlative capacity. He won most of his battles, but lost a respectable number
of them. His tactics in the campaign against Hsiang Yü were admirable. Liu Chi
refused to fight a pitched battle and kept Hsiang Yü running from one part of
the country to another, then defeated Hsiang Yü's generals when Hsiang Yü had
gone. Hsiang Yü never lost a battle in which he commanded, yet Liu Chi
succeeded in eliminating him. It was as a politician that Kao-tsu showed
himself most capable; he drew away from Hsiang Yü his capable subordinates,
inducing them to revolt or stirring up Hsiang Yü to suspect and dismiss them.
Kao-tsu was himself suspicious of even his greatest intimates and was quite
careless about good manners. But he was just and not opinionated, so that he
was quite ready to make changes. He was favored by circumstances in many ways,
but he also created his circumstances. His achievements mark him as one of the
world's great men.
The accession of Kao-tsu marks, in at least
two important circumstances, an epoch in Chinese history. In the first place,
it marks the final breakdown of the ancient aristocracy.
The Ch'in dynasty had disestablished all
noble titles. But the noble families remained, and retained much of their
prestige. A large number of the early leaders against the Ch'in dynasty were
aristocrats. Hsiang Liang and Hsiang Yü, who became the dominant leaders, were
members of the family which had given generals to the state of Ch'u, and owed
much of their success to their family's prestige. When they killed the
Administrator of K'uai-chi, the people came to them because of their family's
reputation. That reputation likewise brought them important recruits when they
started north. When Hsiang Yü killed Sung Yi, his family's prestige enabled the
former to secure the following of the army. The first leaders in Ch'i, T'ien
Tan, T'ien Fu, T'ien Tu, T'ien An, T'ien Jung, T'ien Kuang, and T'ien Heng were
all of the princely family in Ch'i. Wei Chiu, who became King of Wei(h), was a
scion of the ancient princes of Wei(h). Chao Hsieh, the first King of Chao
after the rebellion began, was a descendant of the kings of Chao. Han Ch'eng,
the first King of Han(h), was likewise a descendant of its kings. King Huai,
the third King of Ch'u, was a grandson of the older King Huai of Ch'u. Indeed,
there was a distinct tendency in all the states to make the descendant of some
noble family the titular ruler of the state, although that state might have
been conquered by a commoner. The commoner took a subordinate position, such as
Chancellor or General-in-chief. Ch'en Ying was offered the kingship in Ch'u by
the people, but he refused, for he did not come from a noble family.
On the other hand, some of the early
leaders, especially the earliest ones, were commoners. Few aristocrats would
risk themselves until the people had taken the lead. Ch'en Shê, who inaugurated
the revolt and became the first King of Ch'u, was a commoner. So were Ching
Chü, the second King of Ch'u, whose reign lasted only three months, Wu Ch'en,
the first King of Chao, Chang Erh, the Lieutenant Chancellor and finally the
King of Chao, Ch'en Yu, the General-in-chief of Chao who made himself King of
Tai, Han Kuang, the first King of Yen, and others, including Liu Chi.
But the aristocrats did not do so well in
the test of severe competition. Indeed they did so poorly that in the
apportionment of kingdoms after the downfall of the Ch'in dynasty, Hsiang Yü
contemptuously disregarded birth. Thirteen kingdoms were given to commoners and
only six to scions of noble families. Three of these nobles were given their
kingly assignments merely because they had followed along in the train of
Hsiang Yü, so that he could not very well dismiss them; they were degraded by
being removed to kingdoms smaller than those they had previously occupied. Two
more were appointed to Ch'i, which seems to have had stronger aristocratic
prejudices than other parts of the country. The only aristocrat who really
distinguished himself was Hsiang Yü. One king, Han Ch'eng, had shown himself so
weak that Hsiang Yü killed him and put a commoner in his place. When King Huai
dared to oppose Hsiang Yü, the latter had him exiled and assassinated. The
T'ien family in Ch'i showed some vigor, but it was crushed. Thus the drastic
testing of war eliminated most of the noblemen very soon after the revolt
began.
The result of this debacle among the
aristocracy was a turning of popular opinion away from the aristocrats and a
strengthening of its attitude to those commoners who had dared to set
themselves up as leaders. Liu Chi's followers were practically all commoners,
and came, especially at first, mostly from his own district, P'ei. Only one
aristocrat achieved any distinction in his group---Chang Liang, whose family
had given the Chancellors to Han(h). He acted as Liu Chi's advisor; in physique
he was sickly and weak, and as a general he was a failure, although as a
strategist he was excellent. Practically all of Kao-tsu's nobles were self-made
men who had achieved distinction in the hurly-burly of war. His Empress had an
aristocratic surname, Lü, but her family had no aristocratic connections.
The accession of Kao-tsu thus represents a
popular movement. He seems to have caught the popular imagination; he
maintained personally the bearing and habits of a peasant rather than those of
an aristocrat. He was continually squatting down---something that, in those
days before the introduction of chairs, no cultivated person would do and all
peasants did. The language he used so vituperatively was that of a peasant, so
that many cultivated persons avoided him. Yet his very evident desire to help
the common people attracted to him such people as Li Yi-chi (cf. 43:1b). The
common people turned to Liu Chi and helped him. The old gentleman Tung (1A:
31a) advised Liu Chi to use the assassination of Emperor Yi as a pretext for a
league against Hsiang Yü. Thus the accession of Kao-tsu marks the definite
ending of the ancient aristocratic tradition. He showed that even the highest
position does not require aristocratic descent.
Yet the aristocratic prejudice was not thus
easily exorcised. For Kao-tsu himself there was fabricated a long pedigree,
tracing his descent to the nobility of Chin and the early emperors; this
pedigree served to convert many followers. The families he ennobled became as
aristocratic as the old nobility had been. But there was a great difference,
for the Han nobility was under the thumb of the emperor. The commonest
punishment for crime was deprivation of noble rank. One after another family
was deprived of its rank, so that very few noble families lasted more than a
century. With kingdoms and marquisates thus enduring only for a time and
revokable for cause, hereditary nobility counted for much less than before.
Under such circumstances the aristocratic prejudice was greatly weakened, until
at last it disappeared.
In the second place, the accession of
Kao-tsu marks the victory of the Confucian conception that the imperial
authority is limited, should be exercised for the benefit of the people, and
should be founded upon justice, over the legalistic conception of arbitrary and
absolute sovereignty. While Kao-tsu and his successors technically remained
absolute sovereigns, in practise their powers were much limited by custom.
The theory and practise of government in the
Ch'in state and empire was that of centralized absolutism. The Ch'in ideal of
government was that "none will dare not to do what the ruler likes, but all
will avoid what he dislikes" (The Book of Lord Shang,
Duyvendak, p. 292). The primary concern of Lord Shang's theorizing, like that
of Macchiavelli, was to make the ruler all powerful. In this respect, the First
Emperor of the Ch'in dynasty was a thorough-going exemplar of the legalist
theory.
While Kao-tsu adopted many of the Ch'in
practises, he nevertheless realized that what the people most condemned in the
Ch'in rule was precisely this unreasoning absolutism, and he carefully avoided
any semblance of such absolutism. He realized that he was handicapped by his
peasant birth, and knew that he must gain the good-will of the people in order
to maintain his rule. Hence he consciously adopted the policy of always
considering the interests of the people and the requirements of justice and
righteousness. Before he entered Kuan-chung, he sent an emissary to its people
in order to acquaint them with his virtuous intentions. At the surrender of
the Ch'in king, he was careful to be generous and indulgent and to avoid
plundering the people. One of his first official acts in Ch'in was to summon
the people and inform them that he was doing away with the severe and cruel
laws of Ch'in---an act which helped him greatly when he had later to reconquer
the region. He refused to exact food from the people for his army, preferring
to use that stored up in the government granaries. When Hsiang Yü gave him a
kingdom in Han(s), he asserted that injustice had been done because a covenant
had been broken. He exempted from taxes those people who had been too heavily
burdened in furnishing the armies with supplies, and granted his soldiers
various and increasing exemptions. He continued the practise of giving the
representatives of the people the position of San-lao,
and had them advise with the officials so that the people would have a direct
voice in government. He granted general amnesties on all appropriate occasions.
He had his soldiers who had died in battle enshrouded and encoffined and sent
home to be buried at official expense. He appointed caretakers for the graves
of the great kings, in order that their hungry manes might not disturb the
country. He waited to assume the title of Emperor until it was formally offered
him by his followers, and then accepted it because "the vassal kings would be
favored by it and they considered it to be an advantage to all the people in
the world." At his accession he freed all slaves and restored to civil rights
all refugees and exiles. He granted aristocratic ranks to all his soldiers. He
fixed the amount of the military tax so that the people would not be oppressed
by exactions.
More important still, soon after his
accession he adopted the practise of not taking the initiative in appointing
any of his relatives or sons to any kingdoms or nobilities, but acting only at
the suggestion of his followers. Of course it was always possible to give hints
to others about what the Emperor wanted to be done. Yet this practise that the
Emperor acts only at the suggestion of others became a real check upon
absolutism. At first it seems to have been confined to the enfeoffment of the
emperor's sons, but later it was extended to other important matters, so that
the standard practise in enacting an administrative measure, even the
appointment of an Empress, came to be that some official or group would
memorialize the Emperor concerning what they thought should be done, and the
Emperor approved the suggestion.
This custom, that the ruler acts at the
suggestion of his important subordinates, was a real and often effective
limitation upon the imperial power. When the Emperor Hsiao-hui died, the
Empress Dowager nén Lü was unable to obtain any effective power until one of
the great officials suggested to her that she appoint her two nephews to the
highest positions in the government and members of her own family as kings.
Until that suggestion was made, she could only spend her time weeping
helplessly. After it had been made, she rewarded very highly the person who
first suggested it (cf. Glossary, sub Liu Tse). When
this custom was disregarded by the ruler, the results were disastrous. After
the Empress Dowager née Lü had dismissed the son of Emperor Hui from the
throne, she asked the high officials to suggest his successor. The Emperor had
had only this one son, although the Empress Dowager had enfeoffed six other
babes on the pretense that they were his sons. The officials refused to suggest
any of them for the throne, and the Empress Dowager, on her own motion,
appointed one of these babes as Emperor. But the officials, by refusing to
suggest him, had disclaimed responsibility for him, and, when the Empress
Dowager died, they selected a son of Kao-tsu as the new emperor and killed this
boy whom the Empress had put upon the throne.
This Han custom was expressed most forcibly
after the death of the Empress Dowager née Lü. The high officials sent someone
to tell her nephew, Lü Lu, who was then in control of the army, that "the
establishing of the kings . . . was a matter all done after discussion with the
great officials, announcement, and information to the vassal kings. The vassal
kings considered it suitable." Lü Lu was warned that if he tried to do anything
contrary to the will of the great officials, the greatest disaster would come
upon him. So strongly did he realize the truth of the assumption behind those
words, namely that the rule of the emperor is not absolute, but is vested in
him in consultation with the great officials, that he finally (though too late)
resigned his powers. After the extermination of the Lü family, the next emperor
was chosen by the high officials and the heads of the Liu family.
The Han rulers also recognized the principle
that the empire belonged, not to Kao-tsu alone, but also to his followers and
associates, for they had helped him to conquer it. As long as any of Kao-tsu's
companions were alive, they and no others were given the important positions in
the government. Perhaps this was the reason that the high officials tolerated
the Empress Dowager née Lü as long as she was alive. She had taken an active
part in the conquest of the country. In 179, Emperor Wen gave additional
rewards to those of Kao-tsu's followers who were still alive, and sought out
some thirty of his followers who had not been previously rewarded. For this
reason, until 176, the imperial chancellors were all military men. Not until
150 was there an imperial chancellor who had not been a follower of Kao-tsu,
and then it was Chou Ya-fu, the son of Kao-tsu's General, Chou P'o, who had
also been Chancellor under Emperor Wen. The first chancellor who was not even a
son of Kao-tsu's followers was Wei Wan, appointed in 143 B.C. Thus Kao-tsu's
followers controlled the government for sixty years after his accession. Even
after that time, the government made an effort to continue the marquisates of
Kao-tsu's outstanding followers, in spite of the lack and derelicitions of
their heirs. As Kao-tsu said in an edict of 196 B.C., "I, by the spiritual
power of Heaven and by my capable gentlemen and high officials, have subjugated
and possess the empire. . . . Capable men have already shared with me in its
pacification. Should it be that any capable persons are not to share with me in
its comfort and its profit?" The emperor was thus limited by the necessity of
giving high office to those who did outstanding services to the state.
Since the government cultivated popular
support and the Emperor recognized that he depended upon his officials, it was
quite natural that Kao-tsu should have initiated the procedure which finally
brought about the Chinese imperial civil service examination system. In an
edict of 196 B.C., possibly at the instigation of Hsiao Ho, Kao-tsu ordered the
officials to send to the Chancellor of State all people of excellent reputation
and manifest virtue, so that their accomplishments and appearance could be
recorded and they could be given positions. Emperors Wen and Wu continued this
practise, and the examination system gradually grew out of it.
We have said that this conception of
imperial rule as limited by consultation with the high ministers and by moral
considerations was specifically Confucian. This doctrine is to be found in the
Book of History, where the great rulers consult their
ministers on all important matters. It is the outgrowth of the attitude
represented in that Book (II, iii, iv, 7), that Heaven
sees as the people see, in Mencius (VII, ii, xiv, 1), when he says that the
sovereign is inferior to the people and the spirits, and in Hsün-tzu (IX, 4),
"The prince is the boat; the common people are the water. The water can support
the boat, or the water can capsize the boat." The Han dynasty became the first
great patrons of Confucianism and under Emperor Wu that philosophy became an
important influence in the theory of government and in the training of
government servants. It has not always been realized that this Confucian
influence began with Kao-tsu.
Kao-tsu was not himself a Confucian. He
seems indeed to have had, especially in his earlier days, a deep dislike for
the learned pedants of the time. It is said, in the biography of Li Yi-chi,
that before 207 B.C., probably when Kao-tsu had just started out as a general,
some literati came to him in full costume, with their literati's bonnets on,
and that Kao-tsu, in order to show his contempt for them, suddenly snatched off
a bonnet and urinated into it. It is also told that when, in May 205, Shu-sun
T'ung came to Kao-tsu and wore his literatus's robes, Kao-tsu hated it, so that
Shu-sun T'ung changed and wore short clothes like those worn in Ch'u. Thus
Kao-tsu had an aversion to the sight of the Confucian literatus.
That fact does not however warrant us in
holding that Kao-tsu disliked Confucianism and was not influenced by it. Quite
the contrary seems to have been the case. In Kao-tsu's father's home, four sons
grew to maturity. The two oldest sons seem to have been farmers; Liu Chi, the
third to grow up, studied military matters and became the Chief of a
T'ing; Liu Chiao, the youngest, was sent to the state of
Lu, which was not far from the homestead, and studied with three Confucian
teachers. Later he studied the Book of Odes with
Fou-ch'iu Po, a disciple of Hsün-tzu, who became the most outstanding member of
the Confucian school. After Liu Chiao had been made the King of Ch'u, he
summoned the three Confucian teachers with whom he had studied in his youth,
and honored them as his Palace Grandees. In the time of the Empress Dowager née
Lü, he sent his own son to study under Foueh'iu Po. Liu Chiao is furthermore
said to have been very fond of the Book of Odes and to
have himself written a commentary on it. Thus Liu Chiao, the younger brother of
Kao-tsu, was himself a devoted and life-long Confucian, who secured an
excellent Confucian classical education at the center of Confucian culture.
Liu Chiao was an intimate follower and
companion of Kao-tsu from the time that Kao-tsu started out as a general.
Kao-tsu left his older brother, Liu Chung (the oldest, Liu Po, had died
previously), and Shen Yi-chi at the homestead to care for his father and wife,
and took his other friends and followers with him to swell his army. It is said
specifically that when Kao-tsu became Emperor, Liu Chiao waited upon him. He
and Lu Wan, a boyhood friend, were the two persons closest to the Emperor. They
had access to his private chambers, served as intermediaries, carried messages,
and helped him to decide matters and make secret plans. Through his brother,
much Confucian influence undoubtedly reached Kao-tsu. No one else of any
education had as close relations with him; while Kao-tsu disliked the pedant
and the pedant's appearance, yet he probably welcomed the Confucian teaching
when it came to him divorced from the pedant.
There were several others who undoubtedly
influenced Kao-tsu towards Confucianism. The earliest was Chang Liang, who came
to Kao-tsu in February 208. He was not a literatus, but a politician, the
descendant of the chancellors in Han(h). He was a well-educated man, and on
occasion is represented as using classical allusions to back up advice on
politics in a thoroughly Confucian manner. Kao-tsu respected him very highly,
and publicly recognized him as his best advisor.
Li Yi-chi was a well-read Confucian who came
to Kao-tsu in March/ April 207. He was known to the people of his town as a
Master or teacher, sheng, and came voluntarily to call
upon and advise Kao-tsu. The latter contemptuously squatted upon the
k'ang with two maids washing his feet, as he received
him. But Li Yi-chi was more than a pedant, even though he probably wore his
literatus's robes on that occasion. He was over sixty years old, six feet tall
(English measure), and fearless. He reproved Kao-tsu for his discourtesy; the
latter, who seems to have been trained to respect his elders, was impressed by
the old man, arose, dismissed the maids, begged Li Yi-chi's pardon, and
escorted him to the seat of honor. At that time Kao-tsu could not afford to
lose any worthwhile advice; Li Yi-chi delighted him with stories of earlier
times, then gave him direction and assistance in capturing a neighboring city.
For that Kao-tsu rewarded him; the old man was quite garrulous; he had earned
the nickname of "the Mad Master," and Kao-tsu liked him. At the time, Kao-tsu
was giving honorary titles to those of his followers who distinguished
themselves; to Li Yi-chi he gave the title of Baronet Enlarging Our Territory.
Kao-tsu respected the old man, consulted with him about important matters, and
sent him as a confidential envoy on important commissions.
In April 205, when Kao-tsu came to Lo-yang,
the old gentleman Tung, who was a San-lao or leader of
the people, stopped him and advised him, in thoroughly Confucian terms, to
declare a crusade against Hsiang Yü because the latter had caused the
assassination of his superior, the Emperor Yi. This practise, that of leading a
military force to chastize a wicked ruler, is typically Confucian; in the
Book of History Kings T'ang and Wu are both said to have
led such a crusade and to have founded their dynasties in so doing. The notion
was welcomed by Kao-tsu; he found it worked, for it enabled him to lead a
coalition army of 560,000 men with five kings against Hsiang Yü, and to capture
his capital. After this experience, Kao-tsu would not have looked with disfavor
upon a teaching that so helped him against his enemy. Confucianism now became
to him a most useful and helpful philosophy.
Shu-sun T'ung had been made an Erudit by the
Second Emperor, and had served Hsiang Yü as an Erudit. When, in May 205,
Kao-tsu captured P'eng-ch`eng, Hsiang Yü's capital, Shu-sun T'ung, who followed
the policy of making himself useful to whoever was in power, surrendered to
Kao-tsu. He pleased Kao-tsu with stories of fighting and war, avoiding any
typically Confucian teaching. Kao-tsu made him an Erudit and gave him a title.
When Kao-tsu ascended the throne, Shu-sun T'ung arranged the ceremony.
After the court had been established,
Kao-tsu found himself at a loss without any court ceremonial. He himself
believed in simple direct intercourse without bothering about ceremonial.
Possibly what he most disliked in Confucianism was its excessive ceremonialism.
Now Kao-tsu's courtiers, who were his old camp-companions, were behaving in the
court just as they did in camp. Especially when under the influence of liquor,
they quarrelled, shouted, acted mannerlessly, and even pulled out their swords
and hacked at the columns of the palace. Kao-tsu was very much worried, for he
saw that this sort of conduct must somehow be stopped. Shu-sun T'ung offered to
remedy the matter by arranging a court ceremonial. Kao-tsu saw that something
of that sort was necessary, so told him to go ahead, with the admonition, "Make
it easy." Shu-sun T'ung called some thirty odd literati from Lu, and with them
created a court ceremonial by mixing the Confucian ceremonial with that of the
Ch'in court. After more than a month of preparation, the ceremonial was
performed out in the country before Kao-tsu, who approved it, and had it put
into practise at the court of November 201. After the ceremony Kao-tsu was so
impressed that he said, "Now, I have today known what is the greatness of being
an Emperor." Thus Kao-tsu even accepted a semi-Confucian ceremonial for his
court.
Lu Chia came to Kao-tsu possibly at the same
time as Li Yi-chi, for we find them associated together only a few months
later. He was also a highly educated man and was sent as an envoy to Ch'ao T'o,
King of Nan-Yüeh, whose capital was at the present Canton. After his return in
196 or 195 B.C., he is said to have quoted the Book of
Odes and the Book of History to Kao-tsu, whereat
the latter scolded him and said, "I got the empire on horseback; why should I
bother with the Book of Odes or the
Book of History?" Lu Chia replied, "You got it on horseback,
but can you rule it from horseback?" Then he proceeded to quote cases, from
ancient history, of kings who had lost their thrones through their wickedness,
concluding with the Ch'in dynasty, which Kao-tsu had himself overthrown.
Kao-tsu blushed for shame and asked Lu Chia to write a book explaining why
these rulers had lost their kingdoms. That book has come down to us. It is a
piece of thoroughly Confucian exhortation, which argues that the rise and fall
of dynasties depends on their virtue. It is said that when each chapter was
completed, Lu Chia read it to Kao-tsu, who praised it and gave the book its
title, the Hsin-Yü, "New Discourses." This event
undoubtedly deepened Kao-tsu's gradual conversion to Confucianism.
As his experience of statecraft increased
and as he saw deeper into the necessities of an empire, Confucianism thus
looked more and more attractive. It is recorded that when in December/January
195/4 Kao-tsu passed through Lu, he sacrificed a suovetaurilia to Confucius,
but this record is very likely unhistorical.
The climax of Kao-tsu's allegiance to
Confucianism came when he proposed to change the succession to the throne.
Chang Liang, Shu-sun T'ung, and others remonstrated with Kao-tsu against this
change, but without effect. Because of Kao-tsu's lack of manners, some
Confucians had refused to come to his court. Kao-tsu had by this time realized
how deep was the influence of the Confucians with the people. He knew that just
as he had won the throne, so his successors could only keep it by securing the
respect of the people. When, in the first part of 195 B.C., Kao-tsu came
actually to change the succession, and found that his Empress had succeeded in
bringing to follow her son, Ying, four outstanding Confucians who had
previously refused to come to Kao-tsu, he refused to change the succession, for
he knew how powerful was their influence. Thus Kao-tsu finally bowed to the
influence of Confucianism.
The gradual turning of Kao-tsu to
Confucianism does not mean that other philosophies had no influence. Chang
Liang was much more a Taoist than a Confucian. The imperial administration was
taken over from the Ch'in court, and brought with it much Legalist influence.
Ts'ao Ts'an was a devotee of Lao-tsu. It was only gradually that Confucianism
came to have nominally exclusive sway as a philosophy in the Han court. Under
Emperor Wen, there were Erudits who specialized in the non-Confucian
philosophers; the only Confucian erudit at his court was Chia Yi. It was not
until 141 that Emperor Wu forbade the promotion of scholars who were learned in
the non-Confucian teachings. Even after that, many Legalist practises
persisted. Thus the victory of Confucianism was only a gradual growth, yet it
was a natural continuation of the development in Kao-tsu's own thought.
The tremendous achievement of Kao-tsu in
rising from the status of a farmer boy to Emperor against the keenest
competition, early attracted the attention of thoughtful persons and led them
to state reasons for his victory. At a grand feast after Kao-tsu's accession,
he is said to have asked his courtiers to name the reasons for his victory. Kao
Ch'i and Wang Ling declared that although Kao-tsu was unmannerly and rude to
people, while Hsiang Yü was kind and respectful, yet Kao-tsu rewarded his
associates adequately, sharing his conquests with them, whereas Hsiang Yü was
suspicious of capable people, did not give them any recognition for their
victories, and kept the fruits of victory for himself and his family. Kao-tsu
replied that there was an additional factor: Hsiang Yü
did not trust his most capable advisor, whereas Kao-tsu succeeded
because he could make use of his followers---a most tactful speech.
Kao Ch'i and Wang Ling undoubtedly hit upon
a most unfortunate defect in Hsiang Yü. He seems to have been jealous of anyone
else who achieved any military glory. He probably minimized other people's
achievements. He had several uncles and cousins who had to be taken care of, so
that he was not free to give the best territory to others. He also seems to
have been suspicious of those who were not of his own clan. (Kao-tsu was also
suspicious, but he trusted the men of P'ei, who were his early followers, and
gave them high positions.) As a consequence, the best of Hsiang Yü's followers
left him or rebelled. Han Hsin came to Kao-tsu because Hsiang Yü had rebuffed
him. Ch'ing Pu, Hsiang Yü's Commander-in-chief, rebelled and came to Kao-tsu
because of the treatment he had received from Hsiang Yü. At the division of the
territory, the kings complained that Hsiang Yü had given himself too much of
the best territory. Hsiang Yü's unfortunate temperament thus more than undid
all he accomplished by his wonderful military ability.
About 22 A.D. Pan Piao, Pan Ku's father,
wrote his Discussion on the Destiny of Kings (cf. ch.
100), in which he argues that Kao-tsu's rise was not due to chance, as many
were saying, and enumerates five reasons for that victory: (1) his descent from
Yao, (2) his unusual body and features, (3) his military success, (4) his
liberality, perspicacity, benevolence, and consideration for others, and (5)
his keenness in judging others and in selecting his subordinates. He adds that
Kao-tsu was faithful and sincere; he made far-reaching plans and was willing to
accept the advice of others; he did not hesitate, but acted promptly; and he
was favored by the supernatural powers with marvellous events. Pan Piao
concludes that Kao-tsu's success was due to supernatural influence. His list of
reasons undoubtedly contains much insight. There have been very many other such
lists, from early Han times down.
We mention here three further factors.
First, Kao-tsu made the people feel that he was governing in their interests.
This factor appeared in his conception of rule as ethical, not an arbitrary
absolutism.
Secondly, there was probably a general
fellow-feeling among the common people for this commoner who was aspiring to
the supreme position. The oppression of the aristocrats, which culminated in
the cruelties of the Ch'in dynasty, brought about a reaction in popular
feeling, so that many common people came to prefer for their ruler a commoner
to an aristocrat. Especially when the aristocrats showed their weakness as
generals in competition with others, this feeling was bound to have been
intensified. The actions of Hsiang Yü, the outstanding aristocrat, did not help
matters. His carelessness for the people's lives became notorious. At the
storming of Hsiang-ch'eng, in June 208, he massacred every living thing in the
city. In July/August 207, when the surrendered army of Chang Han threatened
trouble, he had the whole army massacred, said to be more than twenty thousand
men. Such acts were sure to set the common people against the aristocrats. By
contrast, Kao-tsu took care to be generous and mild. When, in October 208, the
older generals of King Huai had to select someone to go west and attempt to
capture the Ch'in capital, they chose Kao-tsu rather than Hsiang Yü, because of
the reputation for destructiveness that Hsiang Yü had acquired at
Hsiang-ch'eng, and because of Kao-tsu's reputation for generosity. They were
afraid that the news of Hsiang Yü's approach would nerve the people of
Kuan-chung to defend their country vigorously, in which case it would be
impregnable. Kao-tsu acquainted these people with his mild purposes, and they
made no move to support their rulers, so that the capital fell. After Kao-tsu
had acquired their confidence and got them to mount their natural barriers,
Hsiang Yü did not even attempt to invade Kuan-chung.
Kao-tsu's generous and kindly treatment of
the people thus brought to him the fellow-feeling of the people. They realized
that he was one of them. More than once the leaders of the people came to him
with important advice. His lack of manners and use of churlish language towards
even his most distinguished followers probably accentuated the kindly feeling
of the people to him. He won because he manipulated public opinion in his
favor; that feeling was so strong two centuries later that, at the downfall of
his dynasty, only another Han dynasty with the same surname could gain the
throne.
In the third place, Kao-tsu introduced not
only new ideas, but also new blood into the government. His nobles were
self-made men who fought their way to distinction. His government was organized
by Hsiao Ho. The latter was a personal friend and fellow-villager of Kao-tsu,
who had been promoted to be Chief Official in P'ei because of his skill in the
law. He was a trained administrator, and was put in charge of Kuan-chung as
Chancellor while Kao-tsu went out fighting. Hsiao Ho thus administered
Kao-tsu's base and organized Kao-tsu's supplies. He furthermore enacted the
fundamental laws of the Han empire and gave to the government its organization.
He performed this task so well that for half a century afterwards, his
successors merely followed in his footsteps. He built the imperial palaces in a
grander style than Kao-tsu had conceived of, because he knew that this
magnificence was necessary to impress the people. When the campaign against
Hsiang Yü was over, Kao-tsu awarded to Hsiao Ho the first place in the court
and gave him the title of Chancellor of State, even though he had done no
fighting, for Kao-tsu realized the importance of Hsiao Ho's work. To the frugal
and simple administration of government by Hsiao Ho and his assistants must be
credited much of Kao-tsu's success. After Hsiao Ho, except for his immediate
successor and the Empress née Lü's uncle, both of whom were not important
historically, the high title of Chancellor of State was not used again, so
great was the respect of the dynasty for Hsiao Ho.
Whether we shall ever be able to state all
of the reasons for the success of Kao-tsu is doubtful. His own personality, the
mistakes of his opponents, especially of the Ch'in dynasty and Hsiang Yü,
Kao-tsu's cultivation of the people's good will, the fellow-feeling of the
people for this commoner, and the ability of the new blood he introduced into
the government, especially Hsiao Ho, are undoubtedly important factors.
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