Lu Wan | |
---|---|
Official of the Western Han dynasty | |
Born | 256 BC |
Died | 194 BC (aged 62) |
Names | |
Traditional Chinese | 盧綰 |
Simplified Chinese | 卢绾 |
Pinyin | Lú Wǎn |
Wade–Giles | Lu Wan |
Lu Wan (256–194 BC) was an official and vassal king of the early Western Han dynasty. He served under Liu Bang (Emperor Gao), the founding emperor of the Han dynasty.
Lu Wan was from Feng Village (豐邑), which is in present-day Feng County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu. His father and Liu Bang's father were close friends, as were Liu Bang and him. He was born on the same day as Liu Bang and studied in the same school as him.
In around 209 BC, when Liu Bang rebelled against the Qin dynasty, Lu Wan supported him in the struggle against Qin forces. After the collapse of the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu, the de facto leader of the rebel forces that overthrew Qin, divided the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms, each ruled by a king who nominally paid allegiance to Emperor Yi of Chu, the puppet monarch controlled by him. Liu Bang became the "King of Han" (漢王) and was given Hanzhong and the Bashu territories (covering parts of present-day Sichuan and Chongqing) as his domain. He appointed Lu Wan as a General (將軍) and "Palace Attendant" (侍中). Later on, when Liu Bang engaged Xiang Yu in a power struggle – historically known as the Chu–Han Contention (206–202 BC) – for supremacy over China, Lu Wan accompanied him into battle as a "Grand Commandant" (太尉). Because of his close friendship with Liu Bang, he received many gifts from Liu and was allowed to enter Liu's living quarters freely. Even Liu Bang's other close aides, including Xiao He and Cao Shen, did not receive the same level of treatment from their lord as Lu Wan. Liu Bang also enfeoffed Lu Wan as the "Marquis of Chang'an" (長安侯).