The move to pacify the king with a different surname in the early Han Dynasty was actually Liu Bang's extraordinary masterpiece.
In the process of pacifying the princes and kings with different surnames, Liu Bang successfully avoided the chaos of the country as a whole and limited it to local battles. At the same time, he eliminated these kings without arousing the resentment of the common people in the areas under the jurisdiction of these kings.
These two results seem simple, but if you compare them with similar events in other dynasties in history, you will find that Liu Bang's operation is simply miraculous. To understand more deeply Liu Bang's superiority and how he succeeded in eliminating these exotic kings, we must start with the end of the Chu-Han War.
In the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang's strategic goals were consistent, and he clearly realized that the biggest enemy was only Xiang Yu, because Xiang Yu was the most powerful existence at that time. Therefore, compared to other princes, Xiang Yu's strategic priority was obviously higher.
As a result, Liu Bang formulated a comprehensive strategic plan, that is, to win over and assist the princes and kings, and join forces with them to fight against Xiang Yu. For those princes and kings who resolutely stood in Xiang Yu's camp, Liu Bang took decisive action and used practical means to solve the problem.
During the Chu-Han War, Liu Bang's first task was to contain Xiang Yu's main force, while Zhang Liang was strategizing behind the scenes, co-opting the princes and kings who had originally supported Xiang Yu.
Han Xin was more direct, leading his troops to sweep through the north and eliminate the princes and kings who firmly supported Xiang Yu. More than two years later, Xiang Yu's supporters became fewer and fewer, and before the decisive battle, he had become a lone commander of the light pole, and none of the princes supported him.
Liu Bang summoned the major princes and completed the encirclement of Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu was besieged, his supplies were cut off, and he was finally defeated by Liu Bang. Xiang Yu's defeat caused the princes who had originally supported Liu Bang to change their positions and become Liu Bang's new enemy.
At that time, Liu Bang's own Han regime controlled only half of the world, and the other half was controlled by several major princes, kings and Xiang Yu.
When Liu Bang wanted to unify the world, he knew that he had to get rid of the king with a different surname, but this required an ingenious way. If he directly turns his face, it may cause these princes to unite against him, leading to the collapse of the newly pacified world.
Therefore, Liu Bang chose the strategy of "mixing sand and dividing the attack". After Xiang Yu's death, there were nine people in the entire Central Plains who could be called princes.
In 202 BC, under the election of several major princes, Liu Bang was officially proclaimed emperor.
These nine were Han Xin, King of Qi, Wu Rui, King of Hengshan, Peng Yue, King of Liang, Yingbu Wang, King Yingbu of Huainan, Zang Di, King of Yan, Zhang Ao, King of Zhao, Ji Xin, King of Han, Gongwei of Linjiang, and Zhao Tuo, King of Nanyue.
They each possessed a vast land, which together was larger than Liu Bang, so from the time of Xiang Yu's defeat, Liu Bang regarded these nine as his main target.
In response to these nine forces, Liu Bang had already prepared before Xiang Yu's defeat. The first one to be favored by Liu Bang was Han Xin, the king of Qi. Han Xin's importance to Liu Bang is self-evident, without him, there would be no world for Liu Bang.
In the confrontation with Xiang Yu, Han Xin swept through the north in two years, and captured Shanxi, Henan, Hebei and Shandong for Liu Bang, making great contributions to the unification of the world.
During Han Xin's journey, Liu Bang has been vigilant, fearing that Han Xin will betray him. During the Chu-Han War, if Han Xin really reversed, it would be a devastating blow to Liu Bang.
Therefore, every time Han Xin conquered a vassal state in the north, Liu Bang would find a new vassal in the region and ask this vassal to help him rule the area. Doing so would not only prevent Han Xin from becoming too powerful, but also ensure that these territories were not all under Liu Bang's control, so that he and Han Xin would fight against Xiang Yu together.
In this way, Han Xin continued to fight, while Liu Bang reaped the results in the back. Until the end, when Han Xin hit Shandong, almost all the territory he had beaten down was divided up by Liu Bang, and only Shandong was still under Han Xin's control for the time being.
Han Xin proposed to Liu Bang that he wanted to be crowned the fake king of Qi in order to better pacify the Shandong region. This proposal made Liu Bang furious, because in Liu Bang's opinion, Han Xin's request was taking advantage of the fire.
However, under Zhang Liang's reminder, Liu Bang realized that his reaction was inappropriate. If he refuses to make Han Shin king, it may lead to Han Shin's rebellion, and the whole battle will collapse.
Therefore, Liu Bang made a quick decision, named Han Xin as the king of Zhenqi, and handed over the whole of Shandong to him. After obtaining the position of King of Qi, Han Xin tried his best to appease the locals, and quickly led the main force south to help Liu Bang and fight against Xiang Yu together.
In the end, they won the battle together.
In the Battle of Qixia, in order to defeat Xiang Yu, Liu Bang placed his entire army under the command of Han Xin. This is undoubtedly a huge decision for Liu Bang, because although Xiang Yu is at a disadvantage, the elite combat power under his command is still there.
Only Han Xin had the ability to completely surround Xiang Yu. If Liu Bang was personally commanded, it would be absolutely impossible to completely defeat Xiang Yu in the Battle of Xiaxia. Under the command of Han Xin, Xiang Yu was surrounded by no way to go to the sky and no way to enter the ground, and finally lost to Liu Bang.
However, after Xiang Yu's death, the hundreds of thousands of elites in Han Xin's hands instantly became Liu Bang's biggest threat. Therefore, immediately after the end of the Battle of Qixia, Liu Bang went to Han Xin's tent and took his talisman, depriving him of the power to command the army.
From the perspective of later generations, Liu Bang's behavior seems to have a bit of a taste of unloading and killing donkeys, but from Liu Bang's point of view, this can only be understood as "prevention is better than prevention".
After Han Xin was stripped of his military power, Liu Bang skillfully renamed him the king of Chu. The reason behind this move is that Qi Guo was laid down by Han Xin himself, and many places in Shandong at that time were Han Xin's subordinates.
If Han Xin is allowed to return to the Qi State, he may easily control the entire Qi State, and rebel against Liu Bang because of the incident of seizing the military talisman, and the consequences are unimaginable. Therefore, Liu Bang could not let Han Xin return to Qi.
However, not accommodating Han Shin well could also attract hostility from the other princes, and even lead them to unite against him.
Liu Bang skillfully sealed Han Xin in the state of Chu, which not only gaged his mouth, but also made the other princes dare not object. The territory of Chu is larger than that of Qi, which is equivalent to upgrading Han Xin.
What's more, the state of Chu was Xiang Yu's territory before, so Han Xin did not have the ability to rebel in a short period of time. During this time, Liu Bang can do a lot of things. A year later, Liu Bang installed his own men in Shandong and appointed his eldest son, Liu Fei, to take control of the Qi state.
In this way, Hanshin, who posed the greatest threat, was temporarily resolved. Liu Bang, through a clever strategy, took over the whole of Shandong without blood.
After Han Xin, the second king to be concerned by Liu Bang was Zhang Ao, the king of Zhao. Their relationship is quite complicated, and Zhang Ao's father, Zhang Er, has been Liu Bang's friend for many years. In his early years, Liu Bang had great admiration for Xinlingjun, one of the four princes of the Warring States, so he embarked on the road of travel, hoping to see with his own eyes the Wei State where Xinlingjun was located.
However, by the time he arrived in Wei, Xinlingjun had already died. Luckily, he met Zhang Er, a former guest of Xinling Jun. Zhang Er learned the style of Xinlingjun and devoted himself to adopting guests.
Liu Bang became a member of Zhang Ermen. Although Liu Bang returned home after spending some time under Zhang Ermen, the experience made them old friends. Years later, in the last years of the Qin Dynasty, they participated in the anti-Qin uprising together.
Liu Bang revolted in Peixian, while Zhang Er organized a resistance force in Handan.
Zhang Er firmly stood on Liu Bang's side in the Chu-Han War, and even took the initiative to support Liu Bang as emperor after the Battle of Qixia, and the relationship between the two was deep. Therefore, when Liu Bang considered cutting off the king with a different surname, he did not put Zhang Ao in the first place, but wanted to deal with him last.
However, the dramatic thing is that shortly after Liu Bang ascended the throne, Zhang Ao died of a sudden illness, and the cause of death was not Liu Bang's**, but a natural death.
Liu Bang seized the opportunity, not only married his eldest daughter Princess Lu Yuan to Zhang Er, let him inherit the title of King Zhao and become his son-in-law, but also installed his own people in Zhao in the name of helping his son-in-law govern the country.
And Yan Wang Zang Di, as one of the many heroes in the late Qin Dynasty, although he had helped Liu Bang fight against Xiang Yu, he also needed to be solved in Liu Bang's plan.
Although Zang Di took refuge in Liu Bang, he did not really belong to him, but only as an expedient measure. However, after Liu Bang ascended the throne, he purged Xiang Yu's old ministry, showing his determination to unify the world.
At this time, Zang Di understood that as a member of the non-Liu Bang camp, he would not be tolerated. Therefore, he decided to rebel and declare the independence of Yan. For Liu Bang, Zang Di's rebellion provided him with an excuse to clean him up.
So, Liu Bang personally led the army and eliminated Zang Di. And Zang Di originally expected that other kings with different surnames would support him, but in fact, they were all controlled by Liu Bang.
The fall of Yan King Zang Di was a doomed result, and after him, Liu Bang did not abolish the country name of Yan State, but chose his old friend Lu Juan as the King of Yan. So, why did Liu Bang choose Lu Juan?
In fact, the reason is very simple, he needs to replace the major princes and kings with people who can really be trusted. However, for Liu Bang, there are not many people who can really be trusted, and among his sons, only the eldest Liu Fei is slightly older, so he was sealed to the Qi State.
The other children are younger, and among his brothers, only the second eldest Liu Ying is the crown prince, but he is only nine years old, and the other brothers are not alive. Therefore, Liu Bang trusted Lu Xuan, who grew up with him, more than his cousins.
After the Yan Kingdom was pacified, Lu Juan was named the King of Yan. Immediately afterwards, Liu Bang solved the Linjiang Wang Gongwei. Unlike several other vassal kings, most of the other vassal kings that existed after the end of the Chu-Han War were allies of Liu Bang, and they helped Liu Bang against Xiang Yu in the previous wars.
However, the common lieutenant of Linjiang Wang is an exception. His father, Gongao, was one of the leaders of the great peasant uprising in the late Qin Dynasty, and was named King of Linjiang by Xiang Yu, ruling the region of present-day Hubei.
Gongwei took a neutral position in the Chu-Han War and did not send a single soldier to help Xiang Yu fight Liu Bang, but was destroyed by Liu Bang's distant cousins Liu Jia and Fa Xiao Lu Xuan. This is also one of the reasons why Lu Juan can be named the king of Yan.
Liu Bang chose to send people like Lu Juan and Liu Jia who were not strong but were his confidants in terms of personnel arrangements, which showed that he did not rely on the particularly famous generals of the early Han Dynasty.
Wu Rui, a peculiar figure, is rumored to have been the overlord of the late Spring and Autumn period, Wu Wangfucha. After the destruction of the state of Wu, their family went to serve in the state of Chu. After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty, Wu Rui became a county magistrate by studying the laws of the Qin Dynasty.
In the last years of the Qin Dynasty, he took advantage of the situation and established his own territory in the Poyang Lake area. Interestingly, he is said to have been the first Qin Dynasty ** in the last years of the Qin Dynasty. After that, Xiang Yu was named the prince of the Eighteen Roads, and Wu Rui was named the king of Hengshan.
After the Chu-Han War began, because of his good relationship with Zhang Liang, Wu Rui was persuaded by Zhang Liang to switch to Liu Bang's camp. After switching to Liu Bang, Liu Bang changed his title from the king of Hengshan to the king of Changsha and directly managed the Hunan region.
After Liu Bang became emperor, he also began to pay attention to Wu Rui. Although Wu Rui was lower on Liu Bang's blacklist, he was not immediately attacked by Liu Bang. On the one hand, Wu Rui's territory was too remote and bordered almost no territory with Liu Bang until he defeated the Linjiang Wang Gongwei.
On the other hand, Liu Bang's order of purging was mainly from north to south, rather than directly attacking Wu Rui. In addition, Wu Rui's interest made Liu Bang wary of him, but Liu Bang still set a trap for Wu Rui.
He assigned Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang counties to Wu Rui, even though these places were actually in the hands of Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue. The purpose of this is to frame Wu Rui so that he can control the largest territory while also facing a huge challenge.
Liu Bang's yang plan is to use the land ** Wu Rui and Zhao Tuo to start a war, and then reap the benefits of the fisherman. However, Ngo Rui was not affected by the **, and chose to lie down and not fight, but actively established friendly relations with South Vietnam, and promoted peaceful coexistence and high-yield rice cultivation technology in the south.
In order to show his loyalty, Wu Rui took the initiative to hand over all his territory and army to Liu Bang, which made Liu Bang feel embarrassed. Although Liu Bang once suspected that Wu Rui was testing himself, he finally found that Wu Rui had no ambition and just wanted to "lie down" completely.
What is amazing is that just two years after Liu Bang became emperor, Wu Rui and his wife suddenly died of illness, making people suspect that they may have escaped from the world and become a fairy couple.
Wu Rui's interest made him the only one among the princes and kings of the Han Dynasty with different surnames to die a good death. The Changsha Kingdom continued until the period of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, passed down for five generations, until the fifth generation, the King of Changsha had no descendants, and the feudal kingdom was recovered.
However, despite the extinction of the king of Changsha, Wu Rui's descendants still exist, even to this day. Wu Rui's good death was not accidental, but because there was a person behind him, that is, Zhang Liang, who sought sainthood.
Zhang Liang had a good personal relationship with Wu Rui, and after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the first thing he did when he retired was to visit Wu Rui in Changsha, and later Wu Rui was able to die a good death because of Zhang Liang's help.
Therefore, Wu Rui's good end can be said to be brought about by Zhang Liang's blessings.
The truth is unknown, but what is certain is that Wu Rui's actions made Liu Bang not have to bother much in Changsha State. The fifth prince with a different surname has been resolved, and the sixth has been resolved, which is King Ji Xin of Han.
This Han King Ji Xin is not related to the soldier immortal Han Xin, but the name is the same. He is indeed a descendant of the Korean royal family, which is a descendant of King Wu of Zhou, surnamed Ji.
For the sake of distinction, we will refer to him here as "Han Wang Ji Xin".
Ji Xin, a descendant of the Korean royal family, rose up against Qin during the Great Uprising at the end of Qin. Because he did not participate in the Battle of Julu and entered Guanzhong, he was not canonized in the feast of the princes of the Eighteenth Route of Dafeng.
Therefore, he chose to side with Liu Bang and help Liu Bang rule his Korean homeland. After Han Xin swept the north, Liu Bang urgently needed the assistance of the old Korean nobles, so he named Ji Xin as the king of Han.
Due to the weakness of Korea, Ji Xin was ranked low on Liu Bang's elimination list, and it was not his turn until Liu Bang successively cleaned up several vassal states. At that time, Liu Bang's strategy against Ji Xin was very simple, that is, to borrow a knife to kill people, and to use the Xiongnu in the north as this knife.
In 201 BC, when the Xiongnu moved south, Korea, where Ji Xin was located, bore the brunt of the attack. Faced with a powerful enemy, Ji Xin could only plead with Liu Bang. Although Liu Bang sent troops to help, he walked unusually slowly, as if intent on putting Ji Xin in danger.
Ji Xin gradually realized this, and eventually led his army to the Xiongnu. When Liu Bang learned of this, he quickly sent troops to defeat Ji Xin's army, and then directly engaged the Xiongnu in the north.
At that time, the Xiongnu were under the rule of Mao Dun Shan Yu and were in their heyday. As a result, Liu Bang was besieged by Mao Dunshan on Baishan Mountain outside Datong City, Shanxi.
The famous siege of Baideng in history resulted in Liu Bang successfully prompting the Xiongnu to withdraw his troops by making peace with the Xiongnu and giving a lot of benefits. In this war, Liu Bang was besieged for seven days and seven nights, which eventually led to the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu beginning to make peace for hundreds of years, which had a far-reaching impact on history.
And the cause of the war was because Liu Bang wanted to eradicate Korea. With the extermination of Korea, Liu Bang canonized only three princes with different surnames: Han Xin, Yingbu and Peng Yue. For these three princes and kings, Liu Bang was obviously more cautious in dealing with them.
These three kings with different surnames were respected as the three famous generals of the early Han Dynasty, and their military achievements were impressive, and they made great contributions to the victory of the Chu-Han War with their outstanding military talents and outstanding strategic vision.
Without their strong support, Liu Bang would have been unable to confront Xiang Yu head-on. Therefore, in the face of these three super-first-class famous generals, Liu Bang has always been vigilant, deeply afraid that they will unite and bring a serious threat to the Han Dynasty.
This assessment is not an exaggeration, because none of the generals under Liu Bang at that time could be compared to the three of them. Therefore, Liu Bang put them in the last place.
Dealing with these three kings with different surnames, Liu Bang understood that he couldn't be tough, he could only outwit. He can't fight hard because if he really fights, he is not sure of winning. Among the three kings with different surnames, Liu Bang chose Han Xin first.
Han Xin has been working hard in the state of Chu since he was renamed to the state of Chu by Liu Bang, and now he thinks that the time has come. So, Liu Bang played a trick, he came to Chen County on the border of Chu in the name of traveling, and asked Han Xin to come to meet him.
After Han Xin came, he directly labeled Han Xin as a "suspected rebel", deprived him of the title of King of Chu, confiscated the entire Chu State, and renamed Han Xin the Marquis of Huaiyin.
After Han Xin was brought to the capital by Liu Bang, he was eventually executed by Empress Lü. Although he was an outstanding master of war, he was ultimately defeated at the hands of Liu Bang. Liu Bang relied on his own resourcefulness and means to easily solve Han Xin's problem.
As for the state of Chu, Liu Bang sent his fourth brother to take over the entire country. This Liu Laosi was one of Liu Bang's most trusted people, and his excellent ability and noble qualities enabled him to successfully govern the state of Chu.
Despite Han Xin**, the state of Chu was not in chaos because of this. Many years later, Liu Laosi's descendants rose up again, but failed to truly unify the world, but instead created the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
Liu Yu, the founder of the Liu Song regime during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and top generals like Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Yingbu, was aware of the danger, but there was nothing he could do. Because for these generals, Liu Bang has long been prepared.
Although Liu Bang has not touched them for the past few years, in private, Liu Bang has been planting his own men in their fiefdoms, making it impossible for them to succeed in resisting Liu Bang.
After dealing with Han Xin, Liu Bang set up a bureau for Peng Yue's people to sue him for rebellion, and then captured him and exiled him. On the way to exile Peng Yue, Empress Lu set up a bureau again, directly killed him on the charge of rebellion, and chopped him into meat sauce.
After Peng Yue was killed, Liu Bang took a tougher stance against Yingbu. He even asked people to give Peng Yue's meat sauce to Yingbu, this special gift made Yingbu feel helpless, and finally had to rebel.
However, the power of Yingbu could no longer be compared with the powerful Han Dynasty and was eventually easily suppressed. After that, Liu Bang was also merciless to his son-in-law Zhang Ao, although he had become a relative of the old Liu family, but because of an unspecified rebellion, he was abolished from the throne of King Zhao and renamed Xuan Pinghou.
This struggle finally ended with Liu Bang's annihilation of the king with a different surname.
Liu Bang's childhood sweetheart Lu Juan, if he only has one bosom friend in his life, that person must be Lu Juan. But, even so, their camaraderie did not withstand the onslaught of power.
After a series of accidents, Liu Bang mistakenly thought that Lu Juan was going to rebel, and when Lu Juan learned of this, he immediately led the whole family to the Great Wall, hoping to get Liu Bang's understanding and explanation.
However, unfortunately, Liu Bang's health at this time is no longer optimistic. Soon after, Liu Bang died of illness. After learning this news, Lu Juan knew that Empress Lu, who was in power, would definitely not let him go easily, and even if he believed that he had not rebelled, he would use this as an excuse to kill him.
So, in the end, Lu Juan fled to the Xiongnu with his whole family, and finally ended his life on the grassland.
With the death of Lu Xuan, the power of the king with a different surname gradually disappeared in the Han Dynasty. Despite this, Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue, still retained his position in the southernmost part. Zhao Tuo was originally the ** of the Qin Dynasty and was ordered to conquer Lingnan.
However, after the collapse of the Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo was forced to stay in Lingnan and established the Nanyue Kingdom. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang wanted to recover Nanyue, but due to the distance, it was difficult to forcibly conquer it, so he had to temporarily accept Nanyue as an independent state, as long as it was nominally a vassal to the Han Dynasty.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, he succeeded in recovering the Nanyue Kingdom by defeating the Xiongnu, but this was already a hundred years ago. This is the whole process of Liu Bang's pacification of the king with a different surname in the early Han Dynasty.