How Liu Bang Eliminated the Kings Who Were Not Liu

In the last episode, Han Xin died in the palace at Chang'an. For the remaining kings outside the Liu family, that death was more than one man's ending.

It was a message.

The emperor was no longer willing to tolerate powerful outsiders indefinitely. From here on, the non-Liu kings would either rebel first or wait to be taken down.

Once Han Xin Was Dead, Every Remaining King Knew the Blade Might Fall Next on Him

Liu Bang had distrusted these kings from the early years of his reign.

After Han Xin's death, that distrust no longer needed disguise. Anyone with land, troops, and a title outside the Liu house could see what the court was becoming.

The relationship between emperor and regional kings curdled fast. The more they feared him, the more suspicious he became. The more closely he watched them, the more they feared that loyalty itself would not save them.

At that point, rebellion did not always begin from ambition. Sometimes it grew from the belief that waiting quietly would end the same way.

Peng Yue Did Not Truly Rebel, but in Liu Bang's Eyes His Hesitation Was Enough

When Chen Xi rebelled, Liu Bang called on the regional kings for military support.

Peng Yue, king of Liang, sent a subordinate with troops but did not come himself. His explanation was plausible. He was older now and no longer the roving war leader who had once tormented Chu across Liang.

Liu Bang did not care for that explanation.

If the emperor himself was still campaigning, why should Peng Yue remain behind? Once the immediate fighting settled, Liu Bang sent a harsh rebuke.

Peng Yue panicked. He meant to go and apologize in person, but one of his own officers warned him bluntly that such a journey would likely end in death. Han Xin and the others had already shown the pattern. Better, the man said, to rebel than to walk into execution.

Peng Yue did not choose rebellion. He also did not choose full submission. He simply delayed under the excuse of illness.

By this stage, delay itself could be treated as guilt.

Liu Bang First Showed Mercy, Then Empress Lu Finished the Matter

Worse still, Peng Yue failed to punish the officer who had urged rebellion. Rumor leaked. Later, one of Peng Yue's own officials fled to Luoyang and accused the king of plotting treason.

Liu Bang moved swiftly, seized Peng Yue without warning, and had him brought to Luoyang.

Officials soon concluded that rebellion was proven. How strong the evidence really was mattered less than the fact that the emperor now needed a case.

Even so, Liu Bang initially softened. Peng Yue had been a great founding contributor, so instead of killing him at once, he stripped him of status and ordered exile to Shu.

Then Peng Yue met Empress Lu on the road.

He believed he had found a last chance for mercy and begged not to be abandoned in a remote land. Empress Lu outwardly agreed to help and brought him back toward Luoyang.

Then she told Liu Bang that this was not mercy at all. It was releasing a tiger back to the mountains.

If Peng Yue reached Shu alive, who could truly contain him there? Since the court had already acted, she argued, it should not leave danger behind.

That argument ended his remaining hope.

The Mincing of Peng Yue Was Meant as a Warning to All

Fresh accusations were produced saying Peng Yue still intended rebellion. The charge was absurd on its face. A disgraced commoner under escort had little means to rebel.

It did not matter.

Peng Yue was executed with clan extermination. His body was cut into mince and portions were sent to the regional states. His head was displayed at Luoyang. Anyone who mourned him or tried to recover the remains risked punishment as well.

This was not merely the killing of one king.

It was a demonstration.

Liu Bang wanted every non-Liu king to see exactly what defiance or even suspected disloyalty could bring.

Luan Bu Dared to Mourn Peng Yue and Say What Others Only Thought

Yet one man did dare.

That man was Luan Bu.

Returning from a mission to Qi, he publicly wept before Peng Yue's head and saluted it as though reporting to his lord in life. Luoyang was stunned. Guards arrested him at once and brought him before the emperor.

Liu Bang was furious. The whole point of killing Peng Yue so savagely had been to terrify others. Luan Bu was openly undoing the lesson.

Still, before execution, he spoke.

He reminded Liu Bang that during the Chu-Han struggle, Peng Yue's pressure in Liang had been crucial. Without it, Liu Bang might never have won. Now, after the world was settled, Peng Yue had been branded a rebel and killed even though there had been no true uprising. Such treatment, Luan Bu warned, would make all meritorious men fear for themselves.

The point struck too close to the truth. Liu Bang did not answer it. In the end, he spared Luan Bu and even rewarded him.

After Peng Yue, Ying Bu Understood That He Might Be Next

In the eleventh year of Gaozu, Ying Bu of Huainan rebelled.

The connection to Han Xin and Peng Yue was direct. Ying Bu was a hardened military man. Once he saw Han Xin killed and Peng Yue reduced to a warning in flesh, how could he not fear his own turn?

So he secretly gathered troops and watched his borders.

Then a smaller incident tore the paper completely.

One of Ying Bu's favorite women often visited a physician while ill. That physician happened to live opposite another household tied to Zhongli Mo. Gifts and drinking visits followed, probably as ordinary attempts at favor. Ying Bu, however, grew jealous and suspicious.

When the doctor sensed danger, he fled to Chang'an and accused Ying Bu of plotting rebellion.

Xiao He advised caution and verification. But by the time news of the accusation and the imperial envoy reached Ying Bu, he believed the matter already exposed. He killed the doctor's family and rose in open revolt.

Xue Gong Saw at Once That Ying Bu Could Rebel, but Not Rebuild the World

Once the revolt reached Chang'an, Liu Bang summoned advisers. One recommendation brought forward was Xue Gong, a former man of Chu.

Liu Bang asked what sort of course Ying Bu would take.

Xue Gong laid out three possibilities. The highest strategy would be to seize Wu and Chu, then tie together Qi, Zhao, and Yan and break the east away from Han. A middling strategy would be to absorb Han and Wei and choke the passes. The lowest would be mere raiding and eventual flight south.

Which would Ying Bu choose?

The lowest, Xue Gong said.

Why? Because Ying Bu could fight, but he was not a statesman capable of reordering the realm as Xiang Yu once tried to do. He feared losing too much and would take the safest, smallest path.

That prediction proved right.

Ying Bu Looked Like Xiang Yu in Battle, but Not in Fate

Ying Bu first struck east, seized troops, crossed the Huai, attacked Chu, and moved west until he faced Liu Bang directly.

When Liu Bang saw the enemy formation, he reportedly felt as though the old Chu war had returned.

He called across the lines and asked why Ying Bu had rebelled after being treated well. Ying Bu answered bluntly: because he wanted to be emperor.

There was no point in polite language after that.

The war ended with Ying Bu defeated. He fled south with only a handful of followers.

The Song of the Great Wind Was Not Pure Triumph

On the return from this campaign, Liu Bang visited his old home in Pei and held a great banquet with the local elders.

In the midst of drinking, he sang:

The great wind rises, clouds fly high. My power covers the seas, and I return home. Where can I find fierce men to guard the four directions?

Later generations often read the song as imperial grandeur. But in its own moment, it carried something colder. Liu Bang had won. The realm was more Han than ever. Yet he still did not feel secure.

That final line was not about what he had gained. It was about who could still keep it safe.

In the End, Almost No Non-Liu King Remained

Afterward, Han forces kept chasing Ying Bu's remnants. He fled toward Changsha, hoping kinship might save him. But kinship bends under power. The king of Changsha chose survival and arranged for Ying Bu's death.

With that, one of the last great non-Liu kings was gone. Only the Changsha line itself escaped and continued.

Meanwhile Zhou Bo crushed Chen Xi in Dai. By this stage, the major non-Liu kings Liu Bang had once relied on had largely been cleared away.

The world was becoming more completely Liu.

Even After the Non-Liu Kings Were Gone, Liu Bang's Suspicion Did Not End

In theory, the emperor should have been able to relax now.

He did not.

After the kings outside his clan were nearly finished, he still distrusted men close to him, including old companions like Xiao He and Fan Kuai. But before that suspicion could be pushed much further, his own body failed first.

Years of campaigning, and wounds from the war against Ying Bu, drove him toward death.

With Liu Bang's passing, the Western Han court did not become gentler. It entered a darker and deeper struggle for power.

In the next episode, we turn to Emperor Hui's accession and the long shadow of Empress Lu.