Chen Xi (rebel)

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Chen Xi
Hanyu Pinyin
Chén Xī
Wade–GilesCh‘ên Hsi
In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.

Chen Xi (died November or December 196 BC

Liu Bang (posthumously
the "Emperor Gaozu" or "High Ancestor").

Life

Yan
lie to the north and northeast.

Chen Xi came from

Han Dynasty
.

Some of the other kings of the

a former kingdom of that name, which lay to his west in what is now northern Hebei and Shanxi.[5] Chen Xi resisted Zang in Dai and helped the emperor's push into Yan,[4] where Zang Tu was captured, executed, and replaced with the emperor's long-time comrade Lu Wan.[5]

The next year in 201 BC, the

Mayi (present-day Shuozhou in northern Shanxi) instead of at Jinying (present-day Taiyuan). Despite his long support of Liu Bang, Han came under suspicion of revolt and concluded an alliance with the Xiongnu chanyu Modu to protect himself. Learning of this arrangement, the emperor marched north in 200 BC and defeated Han Xin in battle; Han was able, however, to escape into exile among the nomads; and the Xiongnu were able to defeat Liu Bang's invasion of their lands at Baideng near present-day Datong. Chen again served with distinction during this campaign,[2] though the details are not noted in his biographies.[4]

For his service in either the Yan or Dai campaigns (the attribution varies in different chapters of the

marquis (列侯, lièhóu) rather than the usual grade.[2]

In 198 BC,

chancellor for the young boy's realm.[2] He was given control of most of the Han army defending what is now Shanxi and Hebei against the Xiongnu nomads to their north.[2]

Imperial envoys sent to monitor the new chancellor apparently implicated him and his officials in a range of illegal activities, which Chen discovered.

king of Dai"[6] at Julu (within present-day Pingxiang County, Xingtai, Hebei). Chen Xi's descent into treason prompted Sima Qian to exclaim in an aside from his historical narrative, "Alas, how tragic!"[7]

The next month,

king of Yan and the emperor's childhood friend, led his army against Chen from the northeast.[8] Liu Bang was satisfied when he reached Zhao's natural and traditional stronghold at Handan, which was well protected against armies from the south by the course of the Zhang River;[2] as Chen's forces had not rushed to secure and fortify it ahead of the invasion, neither he nor his advisors could be expected to do well in the coming campaign.[2] Chen's men had occupied four-fifths of the 25 cities of Changshan, but the emperor declined Zhou Chang's suggestion that he punish the towns' governors for failure to withstand the northern army under Chen's command; instead, he accepted that their garrisons had been insufficient to offer meaningful resistance.[6] When the emperor discovered that some of Chen's supporters were former merchants, he encamped at Handan and was able to persuade many to surrender or change sides by offering large bribes.[9]

Chen sent

Qin or Chu—and admonished them that he would need to depend on the local people of the north to defeat Chen's insurrection.[6]

In January 196 BC, a commoner came before

imperial chancellor Xiao He, who feigned a message of his own that the emperor had defeated and killed Chen Xi, ending the rebellion.[10] Such good news required that nobles in the capital, no matter how ill, should visit the palace to offer congratulations; when Xiao He persuaded Han Xin to do so, he was arrested and executed,[10] along with his family
.

In the field, the year began with Chen Xi's general

s 刘泽, Liú Zé) also participated in these battles,[11] for which he was created Marquis of Yingling. The emperor led a siege of Dingyuan (now Zhengding, Hebei). Its governor Zhao Li held out more than a month, with some of his defenders lampooning the emperor from the battlements; upon the town's surrender, Liu Bang—still incensed—offered amnesty for all the rebels provided that they bring him the comics in their midst for execution.[11][b] Following this victory, he named his son Liu Heng (later posthumously known as the "Wen" or "Literary Emperor") as the legitimate King or Prince of Dai.[11]

His eastern forces fully defeated,

steppe. When it did not submit to his authority as an agent of the Han Empire, he assaulted and sacked the town.[11]
At one of these battles or sometime before the end of the year, Han Xin was finally killed.

In late 196 BC, the emperor led his army against Ying Bu while sending Fan Kuai to attack Chen Xi.[8] One captive taken by Fan Kuai told him of Fan Qi's presence at Chen's court; other Xiongnu captives reported Zhang's continued residence with Modu. The emperor then directed Fan Kuai to lead his army against Yan, and Lu fled in exile to the Xiongnu, dying in 194 BC.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ The precise dating of the revolt varies in different volumes of the Records of the Grand Historian.[2] It probably occurred in the 9th lunar month of the 10th year of Liu Bang's reign (25 Sept.–23 Oct. 197 BC).[2]
  2. ^ One of the accounts of this even in the Records of the Grand Historian avers that the survivors were not fully pardoned but were still required to be tattooed as criminals.[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Vol.12 of Zizhi Tongjian placed Chen Xi's death in the 10th month of the 12th year of Liu Bang's reign (including his tenure as King of Han). The month corresponds to 12 Nov to 10 Dec 196 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar. In the modified Zhuanxu calendar used during the era, the 12th year of Liu Bang's reign starts from 12 Nov 196 BCE and ends on 01 Nov 195 BCE in the proleptic Julian calendar.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nienhauser et al. (2002), p. 78.
  3. ^ Ding (2014).
  4. ^ a b c d e f Loewe (2000), s.v. "Chen Xi".
  5. ^ a b c Loewe (2000), s.v. "Zang Tu".
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Hung (2011), p. 201.
  7. ^ Durrant (2001), pp. 505–6.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Sima Qian & al., Vol. 93.
  9. ^ Nienhauser et al. (2002), pp. 78–9.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Hung (2011), p. 202.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nienhauser et al. (2002), p. 79.

Bibliography

  • Ding Huiying (30 Dec 2014), "关于冤句故城在山东省菏泽市牡丹区境内的考证 [Guānyú Yuānqú Gùchéng zài Shāndōng Shěng Hézé Shì Mǔdan Qū Jìngnèi de Kǎozhèng, About the Research on the Ancient City of Yuanqu in Mudan District, Heze, Shandong Province]", Official site, Heze: Heze Municipal People's Government. (in Chinese)
  • ISBN 9780231528511
    .
  • Hung Hing-ming (2011), The Road to the Throne: How Liu Bang Founded China's Han Dynasty, New York: Algora Publishing,
    ISBN 9780875868387
    .
  • Loewe, Michael (2000), A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods (221 BC – AD 24), Handbook of Oriental Studies, Sect. IV: China, Vol. 16, Leiden: Brill, archived from the original on 2018-02-05, retrieved 2018-02-04.
  • Sima Qian; et al., 《史記》 [Shǐjì, Records of the Grand Historian]. (in Chinese)
  • ISBN 0253340217
    .

External links
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