Warlords: History & Biographies

The Kingdom of Hann

The kingdom of Hann’s proper name is Han. In an imitation of the translation of the Grand Histories by Burton Watson, this website has referred to the kingdom as Hann so as not to confuse it with Liu Bang’s similarly named kingdom of Han.

Location
The Kingdom of Hann occupied the region directly south of the Yellow river and just east of the mountains that guarded the entrance to the kingdom of Qin. The holdings of Hann roughly equate to the center of the modern province of Henan.

Pre-Qin Empire
Hann was a populous and ancient Kingdom, and at the founding of the Pre-Qin Zhou Dynasty, was considered to be one of the most prestigious kingdoms of the age. But as the Warring States period passed, Hann proved unable to gather any further lands and powers and became just a minor statelet caught between the emerging powers of Chu, Qi and Qin. In 242, the King of Qin began his conquest of Hann, seizing thirteen of its cities in a war. Over the next ten years, the King of Hann attempted to appease the Qin Kings by sending hostages to Qin, but in 232 BC Qin attacked the Hann again, seizing more of their territory. In 230 BC, the King of Hann, Hann An officially surrendered to the Qin.

Post-Qin Empire
Although the kingdom lacked the resources of Chu, the Kingdom of Hann continued to be a hotbed of revolt. An assassination attempt was made against the First Emperor during one of his processions through the kingdom, one of the few aimed at the First Emperor after the founding of his Empire. In 209 BC, when Chu rose in rebellion, many men of Hann flocked to Chen She’s banner, though their own Kingdom, which served as the gateway of the Qin Armies being sent east to pacify the rebellion, remained under Qin domination until Liu Bang liberated it a short six months before the Qin Empire was destroyed.

Upon its liberation, Zhang Liang, Liu Bang chief advisor and a native of Hann had Liu Bang set up a descendent of the Hann royal house, Hann Cheng as the new King. But when Xiang Yu rose to power and Liu Bang was sent west to Han, Yu chose to dismiss Hann Cheng from his position and executed him a short time later. When Liu Bang began his march east to attack Xiang Yu, Yu named his General Zheng Chang as the new King of Hann, and sent him to stop Liu Bang from coming through the Hanggu Pass. Liu Bang swiftly overran and killed Zheng Chang and placed Xin as the new King of Hann.

Hann Xin remained as King of Hann until several years after Liu Bang had made himself Emperor. After three successive rebellions in other parts of the Empire, Liu Bang decided to remove Hann Xin as King of Hann and split up the kingdom into provinces to stop it from supporting its own revolt. Hann Xin was made King of the far northern region of Taiyuan, where the disgruntled former general rose in revolt against Liu Bang, contributing to the general chaos of that region.

Kings Hann Cheng Zheng Chang Hann Xin	Major Officers Zhang Liang
Minor Officers Manqiu Chen Wang Huang

All information derived from the Burton Watson translation of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian

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The Warlords Group and SSPub