Zhang Liang
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- This article is about the Han Dynasty strategist. For the Yellow Turban general, see Zhang Liang (Yellow Turban).
- This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhang
Zhang Liang (張良, d. 189 BC) (meaning Zhang who is of good conscience), courtesy name Zifang (子房), was a descendant from a noble family of State of Han during the Warring States Period. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all officials of the State of Han (韩). Zhang Liang had once planned an assassination against Qin Shi Huang but the employed assassin mistakenly destroyed the decoy vehicle. Zhang was then forced to flee. The attempt was the origin of a famous Chinese four-character idiom, 誤中副車. He later joined Liu Bang in 208 BC to rebel against the rule of Qin and helped him to establish Han Dynasty. He soon retired and became a practitioner of Taoism.
Legends recounted that Zhang Liang had once helped an old man to put on his shoes and was rewarded a book on military strategy and tactics known as The Grand Duke's Art of War, with which he advised Liu. The same legends indicated that the old man, when he departed, told Zhang that after 13 years, he would see a strange yellow boulder, and that he was the yellow boulder. After 13 years, Zhang did see the unusual yellow boulder; he took it home and built a shrine for it. When he died, he was buried along with the yellow boulder.
Note: to distinguish between the State of Han (pinyin: Hán) and Han Dynasty (pinyin: Hàn), for the rest of this article, the State of Han (and its princes, with the same family name as the state) would be referred to as Hán, while Han Dynasty and its predecessor state, the Principality of Han, would simply be referred to as Han.
[edit] The assassination attempt against Qin Shi Huang
As forementioned, Zhang once planned to assassinate Qin Shi Huang -- to avenge the emperor's destruction of Hán in 230 BC -- and in planning so, he spent his entire family fortune hiring assassins. In 217 BC, the plan was carried out, involving an assassin carrying heavy hammers, but it failed. The surprised emperor made orders that the persons responsible be captured, but Zhang eluded the dragnet. It was during this period of flight that Zhang, according to legend, met the old man who taught him military strategies.
[edit] Meeting Liu Bang and divided loyalties between serving him and reestablishing Hán
Zhang continued to have plans to reesstablish Hán. After Chen Sheng started a rebellion against Qin Dynasty in 209 BC, Zhang gathered about a hundred men and planned to join Chen's temporary successor as Prince of Chu, Jing Ju (景駒), when he met Liu Bang at Liu (劉, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu). He was impressed by Liu Bang, and chose to join him. When Zhang discussed military strategies with Liu, Liu often understood and accepted his suggestions, while those strategies were lost on other generals that Zhang talked with, which further impressed Zhang.
Despite Zhang's good impression of Liu, his priority remained the reestablishment of Hán, and after Xiang Liang overthrew Jing and replaced Jing with a member of the Chu royalty, Mi Xin (羋心) as Prince Huai of Chu in summer 208 BC, Zhang managed to persuade Xiang that it would be advantageous to do the same with Hán. Xiang and Zhang found Hán Cheng (韓成), a descendant of Hán royalty, who previously had the title the Lord of Hengyang, and Xiang created Hán the Prince of Hán. Xiang also named Zhang Hán's prime minister, and Hán, assisted by Zhang, set out to try to recapture former Hán territories, but without much success, so they engaged in guerrilla warfare against Qin forces for a while.
In summer 207 BC, after Xiang Liang's death, Liu, then commissioned by Prince Huai of Chu to command an expeditionary force against Qin proper (modern Shaanxi), temporarily joined forces against with Zhang and his prince, Hán Cheng. Together, they recaptured the old Hán capital Yangzhai (陽翟, in modern Xuchang, Henan) for Hán to stabilize his newly reestablished principality at. With Hán's blessing, Zhang rejoined Liu as his strategist on the expedition against Qin proper. Zhang would contribute many winning strategies on the way into Qin proper during the campaign of 207 BC. For example, when Liu's forces arrived on the heavily fortified Qin stronghold of Yao Gate (嶢關), close to the Qin capital of Xianyang, Zhang provided him the strategy of first promising a ceasefire, and then, as the Qin forces became unprepared, bypassing Yao Gate and attacking Qin forces from the rear, which led to the total collapse of Qin forces and the surrender of its last king Ziying in winter 207 BC.
When Xiang Yu also arrived and nearly destroyed Liu out of jealousy, Zhang was instrumental in preventing total disaster for Liu at the Feast at Hong Gate, by first saving Liu from military annihilation and then from assassination, by obtaining the assistance of Xiang's uncle Xiang Bo (項伯).
[edit] Death of Hán Cheng and Zhang's subsequent permanent allegiance to Liu
Xiang, however, denied Liu the Principality of Qin, which should have been his under the promise by Prince Huai of Chu that whoever entered Qin proper first would be made the Prince of Qin. Instead, Xiang Yu divided the former Qin empire into 19 principalities, giving Liu the then-remote Principality of Han. Zhang's prince, Hán Cheng, was supposed to retain his Principality of Hán under this arrangement. Zhang, as Hán's prime minister, bid goodbye to Liu and returned to the Principality of Hán. As a parting gift, Liu gave him 120 kilograms of gold and two urns of pearls, all of which he gave to Xiang Bo.
Xiang would continue to bear a grudge against Zhang and Prince Hán Cheng, however, for having assisted Liu. Although Xiang's division of the empire involved Hán retaining his principality, Xiang did not actually permit Hán to govern it, but forced him to accompany Xiang back to the capital of Xiang's Principality of Western Chu, Pengcheng (彭城, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu). Not long after that, Xiang demoted Hán to Marquess of Rang, but soon, for an unknown reason, had Hán executed. He made one of his associates, Zheng Chang (鄭昌), not related to Hán royalty, the new Prince of Hán. Zhang remained titular prime minister of Hán under this arrangement, but aware of his own precarious position and cognizant how Xiang had effectively destroyed his hopes of a restored Principality of Hán, escaped and joined Liu in his Principality of Han in winter 206 BC. Liu created him the Marquess of Chengxin.
[edit] Contributions to Liu Bang during Chu Han Contention
During the subsequent four-year war between Liu and Xiang, known as Chu Han Contention, Zhang continued to offer Liu many strategies that contributed to the eventual Han victory. One of the most immediate ones involved a (temporary) restoration of the Principality of Hán. Probably advised by Zhang in this, Liu created Hán Xin, also a member of Hán royalty (not to be confused with Liu Bang's general of the exact same name), the new Prince of Hán and sent him to attack Zheng Chang. Hán easily prevailed, and for the rest of the war old Hán territory was in Liu Bang's camp.
Other key strategic moves that Liu Bang made at Zhang's suggestion during the war include:
- The persuasion of Ying Bu (英布), the Prince of Jiujiang to join his side, to Xiang Yu's detriment (winter 205 BC)
- Immediate halt from implementing Li Yiji (酈食其)'s strategy of recreating other former Warring States principalities (spring 204 BC)
- Forcing himself to, despite injuries, visit soldier camps to show that, in fact, his injuries were not that severe (winter 204 BC)
- (Along with Chen Ping (陳平)) Agreement to create Han Xin the Prince of Qi, to prevent any possibility of Han declaring independence (spring 203 BC)
- (Along with Chen Ping) Decision to make final assault against Xiang Yu despite a negotiated peace treaty, leading to Western Chu's destruction (autumn 203 BC)
- Promise to create Han Xin the Prince of Chu and Peng Yue the Prince of Liang, to persuade them to join the final campaign against Xiang Yu (winter 203 BC)
- Taught Liu Bang many times how to win supporters' hearts. It was Zhang's advice not to take up the palace residence during the Xianyang campaign, and suggested that Liu Bang leave the citizens in peace.
[edit] Contributions after the establishment of Han Dynasty
Liu was finally victorious in winter 203 BC, and he declared himself emperor (later known as Emperor Gao) in 202 BC, establishing Han Dynasty. After Han Dynasty's establishment, Zhang did not take on formal responsibility, but continued to be a key advisor to Emperor Gao. In summer 202 BC, he concurred with Lou Jing (婁敬)'s suggestion for Han to set its capital at Chang'an rather than Luoyang. He also began to follow Taoist disciplines, choosing to disengage himself from most governmental affairs. In winter 201 BC, when Emperor Gao created many contributors to his victory marquesses, Zhang was created the Marquess of Liu -- initially, Emperor Gao wanted to give him a larger march, but Zhang chose Liu to commemorate the fact that the two first met there. At Zhang's suggestion, Emperor Gao finished the creation of the marquesses in an expeditous manner, to prevent generals who were not initially given marches from conspiring against him out of resentment and fear.
Zhang had no involvement in the subsequent deaths of Han Xin and Peng Yue, but when Emperor Gao set out to combat Ying Bu, who rebelled out of fear of suffering the same fate as Han and Peng, at Emperor Gao's request, in winter 196 BC, Zhang temporarily came out of retirement to assist Emperor Gao's son, Crown Prince Ying, in governing home territories. After Emperor Gao's victory over Ying Bu, during which he suffered an injury that would eventually lead to his death, he wanted to replace Crown Prince Ying with his youngest son, Liu Ruyi, the Prince of Zhao. Zhang tried to persuade him otherwise, but was not listened to, so Zhang claimed an illness and re-retired. (Eventually, however, other officials would be able to convince Emperor Gao to keep Prince Ying crown prince, and after Emperor Gao's death in summer 195 BC, Prince Ying ascended the throne as Emperor Hui.) Zhang appeared to have no involvement with the administration of Emperor Hui, and he died in the summer of 189 BC.
[edit] Impact on Chinese history
Zhang was regarded as one of the greatest strategists in Chinese history, and the legends regarding how he received his strategies, as well as his later employment of Taoist disciplines, added mysterious and supernatural elements to later views of him. In traditional Chinese historians' view, he is usually applauded for how he managed to disassociate himself with political intrigue after the Han victory that he contributed much to. It should also be noted that Zhang always had the good of the state, not personal agenda, as his highest priority. He was not jealous of Emperor Gao's other strategists, Li Yiji, Chen Ping, and Lou Jing; rather, he evaluated their strategies in an even-handed manner, supported them when their strategies were correct, and was not afraid to oppose them when their strategies were not. In this way, modern managers may also have much to learn from Zhang.
