Chapter 10 Section 2 Dilemma in the Early Western Han Dynasty

The world of the Qin Dynasty did not maintain as Qin Shihuang expected, "The second generation and the third generation will be passed on forever." In the second year after his death (the first year of Qin II, 209 BC), Chen Sheng, Wu Guang In Daze Township (southeast of today's Suzhou City, Anhui Province), the uprising of peasants, like a prairie fire, sounded the death knell of the Qin Dynasty.In 206 BC, the armies of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu successively entered Xianyang, and the Qin Dynasty fell.Xiang Yu became the overlord of the world, enfeoffing the land of the Qin Dynasty to various princes, Liu Bang was named King of Han, and his jurisdiction was in the present-day Hanzhong Basin and Sichuan Basin.Soon Liu Bang raised his troops to capture Guanzhong and competed with Xiang Yu for the world.After more than three years of bitter fighting, Liu Bang launched the Battle of Gai (gai Gai) (now southeast of Lingbi County, Anhui) in early 202 BC (the fifth year of the Han Dynasty).Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, was faced with the desperate situation of being besieged on all sides, and broke through to Wujiang (now northeast of Hexian County, Anhui Province) to commit suicide.Liu Bang was the emperor on the north bank of Sishui (south of today's Dingtao County, Shandong).Since Xianyang was in ruins, a new capital could only be built in the area of ​​a settlement called Chang'an in the northwest of today's Xi'an.The imperial court was temporarily stationed in Liyang, the former capital of the Qin State (now northeast of Lintong County, Shaanxi Province), and moved in after the completion of Chang'an.

Although Liu Bang won in the end, he faced many threats at home and abroad. The territory of the early Western Han Dynasty was greatly reduced compared with that of the Qin Dynasty: Under the leadership of Moduchan, the Huns in the north annexed Donghu to the east and occupied the area west of the Yellow River to the west, and then drove away Yuezhi and Wusun, forcing most countries in the Western Regions to obey It rules.Xiangnan not only regained the "Henan land" (Hetao and the area south of it), but also advanced to the northern part of today's Shaanxi and Shanxi.In 200 BC, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty Liu Bang personally led an army to attack. As a result, Baideng Mountain, east of Pingcheng (northeast of Datong City, Shanxi today), was besieged by Maodun for seven days.The Han Dynasty lacked the military strength to deal with the Xiongnu, so they had to adopt the policy of "peace marriage", marrying royal women or chosen women as princesses to Shan Yu.But the Xiongnu's invasion did not stop. Some of its tribes were stationed only 700 miles away from Chang'an, the capital of the Han Dynasty, and light cavalry could reach them in a day and night.

The ruler of the Yue people in the former Minzhong County in the southeast regained his independence at the end of the Qin Dynasty and raised troops to help the Han Dynasty.In the fifth year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (202 BC), Wu Zhu, the leader of Minyue, was established as the king of Minyue. In today's Fujian, the Minyue Kingdom was established centering on the lower reaches of the Minjiang River, and its capital was Dongye (now Fuzhou City).In the third year of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty (192 BC), the descendants of Goujian were granted the title of King of the East China Sea, and Dongou (now Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province) was the capital of the country, so it was also called the King of Dongou.On the surface, these two regimes obeyed the Han Dynasty, but in fact they were not restrained.Facing internal and external hostile forces, the Han court had no time to look aside and could only tolerate it.

In Lingnan, Zhao Tuo, a native of the Central Plains who originally served as the magistrate of Longchuan County (where the government is located in the east of Longchuan County, Guangdong Province) in the Qin Dynasty, acted as the Wei (military chief) of Nanhai County at the end of the Qin Dynasty.After the death of Qin Dynasty, Zhao Tuo raised his troops and annexed Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiangjun, and declared himself king of Nanyue in 206 BC.Around 181 BC, King Anyang was annihilated in South Vietnam, and then expanded to the northern and central parts of Vietnam, until 13° north latitude, today's Bajiang area.In the eleventh year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (196 BC), Lu Jia was sent as an envoy to South Vietnam, and Zhao Tuo was named King of South Vietnam.Although Zhao Tuo accepted the title of the Han Dynasty and no longer claimed to be emperor, he still maintained his independent status.In the southwest, with the disintegration of the Qin Dynasty, the administrative agencies that had been established on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau were also withdrawn to the Sichuan Basin, and they were not restored in the early Western Han Dynasty.