Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu)

When Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised the banner of revolt, chaos engulfed the land. Liu Bang was ordered to escort conscripts to build the First Emperor's tomb, but by the time they reached the marsh west of Feng, more than half had fled. He simply untied their bonds and set them free: 'Go your ways, all of you; I too shall depart forever from this day!' Dozens of heroes chose to follow him into hiding at Mount Mangdang. Drunk one night, he found a giant white serpent blocking the path and cut it in two. The myth of the Red Emperor slaying the White Emperor spread, and he gathered followers, declaring himself the Duke of Pei.

The spark of the serpent-slaying uprising soon blazed into a prairie fire. Liu Bang led the young men of Pei westward, conquering city after city. Amid a generation of heroes, his gaze already crossed the mountain passes toward the towering palaces of the Qin capital, Xianyang.

In 206 BCE, Liu Bang's light cavalry was first through the Wu Pass, and the last Qin ruler surrendered his imperial seal. Refusing to plunder, Liu Bang sealed the vaults and withdrew to Bashang. He summoned the elders of Guanzhong and proclaimed: 'I contract with you elders three laws only: murderers shall die, those who injure or steal shall be punished. All other harsh Qin laws are wiped away.' The brutal Qin statutes vanished overnight, and the people rejoiced, desperately hoping he would rule them. With mercy and restraint, he won the hearts of the realm and laid the foundation of the Han.

Yet his popularity roused the jealousy of the Hegemon King. Enraged that Liu Bang had taken Guanzhong first, Xiang Yu camped 400,000 troops at Hongmen. A feast dripping with deadly intent awaited Liu Bang as he stepped through its gates.

At the Hongmen Banquet, Xiang Yu's 400,000-strong army bristled with menace while Liu Bang arrived with only a hundred guards. He offered humble apologies in measured words, yet the danger was unmistakable. Fan Zeng raised his jade ring as a signal; Xiang Zhuang danced with his sword, its blade aimed at the Duke of Pei. At the critical moment, Fan Kuai stormed the tent, roaring in defense of his lord. Seizing an excuse to visit the latrine, Liu Bang slipped away through a back path. 'Great enterprises do not quibble over minor courtesies'—he understood that between cleaver and meat, survival was the greatest victory.

Escaping Hongmen alive, Liu Bang was nonetheless outmatched and was enfeoffed to the remote, mountainous region of Hanzhong. His troops longed for home and morale crumbled. Just then, Xiao He chased down the deserter Han Xin through the moonlight, bringing Liu Bang a turning point.

Relegated to Hanzhong, Liu Bang's army grew restless. Chancellor Xiao He pursued the fleeing general Han Xin through the night and urged him: 'If you wish to contest the empire, no one but Han Xin can achieve it.' Liu Bang chose an auspicious day, built a high altar, and after fasting and bathing, solemnly appointed Han Xin Supreme Commander. Han Xin openly repaired the broken trestle roads while secretly marching through Chencang, seizing Guanzhong within weeks. From Hanzhong to Chang'an, from despair to revival, Liu Bang's gift for recognizing talent had reclaimed the throat of the empire.

With Guanzhong secured, the Chu-Han contention reached its climax. Unyielding through repeated defeats, Liu Bang finally marshaled the allied armies of Han Xin and Peng Yue, encircling Xiang Yu at Gaixia for the decisive final battle.

In the winter of 202 BCE, Han Xin's 300,000 troops sealed Xiang Yu's 100,000 Chu soldiers in a concentric trap at Gaixia. Deep in the night, Han soldiers sang native Chu folk ballads across the trenches—songs of Chu on every side. Xiang Yu was struck with dismay: 'Has Han already taken all of Chu? Why are there so many Chu people here?' The Hegemon King parted from his beloved, wept through the long night, broke out with eight hundred riders, and died by his own sword at the Wujiang River. After four years of bloody war, Liu Bang's openness and mercy had finally won the realm.

With the victory at Gaixia, all hearts turned to Liu Bang. He ascended the throne and founded the Han Dynasty. Yet the work was unfinished and the realm unsettled. In his later years, returning from putting down a rebellion, he came home to Pei County, where a grand banquet awaited the peasant-born emperor.

After pacifying a rebellion, the aging Emperor paused at his ancestral home of Pei. He gathered 120 childhood friends and elders for a grand feast and exempted the town from taxes forever. Deep in his cups, this founding emperor who had risen from a humble pavilion master struck the zither himself, rose to dance, and sang with fierce melancholy: 'A great wind rises, clouds fly high! My majesty sweeps across the seas as I return to my hometown; where shall I find brave warriors to guard the four corners of the realm?' Tears streamed down his face. That same year he passed away in Chang'an's Changle Palace, yet he had founded four hundred years of Han glory, giving the Han people their eternal name.