what would you do if you know that you are going to turn up late for work think of an excuse prepare an apology or start a revolution overthrow the oppressive system establish your own dynasty and build an empire that will be remembered as one of the golden ages of china well if you are lyupang the founder of the han dynasty then there could only be one answer run the heck away but unfortunately luck and destiny conspired to keep this peasant-born small-town sheriff away from an idyllic life and this is the story of how he locked and called his way upwards into becoming an emperor here is the background of the political situation of the time period before china was unified in the year 221 before common era it was made up of a collection of disparate states when qin si huang the first emperor of china conquered them he exterminated their royal families and incorporated those states into his empire under his central control he standardized writing currency and measurement improving the economy and undertook great projects that left lasting marks in history however it all came at the cost of countless innocent lives he was a totalitarian despot but a highly functional one he kept a tight leash over his conquered land by frequently visiting them on his grand inspection tours cheer that's how a great man should be that's what leopon exclaimed when he saw the imperial convoy while serving as a coffee laborer wow back to work laborer okay okay okay meanwhile on the other side of the empire a completely different sentiment emanated from a young man with an impressive build one day i will replace him shush be quiet you will get us all killed that young man was xiangyu the man who will one day be the arch nemesis of lyobang heroic impulsive and proud xiangyu is the dimetric opposite of lyobang in every way possible his aristocratic clan had served as generals for the state of two for many generations and the destruction of the two royal family and his clan fueled his obsessive hatred for everything chin yet to his uncle hyung liang's dismay his drive for vengeance did not carry over to his study of reading writing and swordplay i can write my own name that's enough with swordplay i can only fight one man but what he said next lit his uncle up i want to learn how to fight ten thousand so his elated uncle taught him the art of war lyophang on the other hand was a peasant-born small town scoundrel from pay county who had boundless charisma and a gift for making friends one time he came across an exclusive party with a thousand coin entry fee he was able to bluff his way in by saying i'll pledge 10 000 coins and once he is in he not only charmed his way out of paying the pledge he even impressed the host so much the host married his daughter off to him so it is not a surprise that a street rat like him could somehow become the town sheriff yet he knew that he was destined for something greater how did he know well that was an omen one day when his mother was sleeping suddenly the sky turned dark thunder crashed lightning flash and the next thing they saw was a dragon that appeared next to her not long after that incident she was found to be pregnant with him if that wasn't a sign then i don't know what it is well it could be ball even if it is true then it means that you're an illegitimate child shut up young sir i haven't got time for you i need to deliver these conflict laborers to work on ginseng's mausoleum well sometimes even his godly charms doesn't work especially on village a-holes like yongsan on 209 bce one year after the death of qin su-huang his successor huhai decreed that all counties must send their criminals to work on the mausoleum but under the harsh rule of qin's legalist ideology almost anything can be considered a crime and the punishment is always excessive for example if liubang was even late on his delivery he would be put to death along with the other convicts and imagine what would happen to him if most of his prisoners escaped if he reported that his prisoners escaped he would be executed and if he was late because he had to recapture them the result would be the same anyway so in the end he just gave up he started drinking and let the other prisoners go 10 of them were so grateful to him they decided to stay to evade the authorities they decided to hide in the wilderness of mount montang but along the way the scout reported that there was a huge white snake before their path what what the heck is a white snake doing in the middle of nowhere let me at it not be at it fueled by alcoholic rage lubang charged at the snake and cleaved it into two the next morning a passerby saw a crazy old woman crying next to the snake uttering complete gibberish she claims that the snake was her son and is the son of the white emperor who was killed by the son of the red emperor when the passerby chanced upon leopon's group and told them what he encountered liubang immediately chimed in i know what it means the son of the white emperor means the qin empire but the official color of the qin empire is black white black what's the difference they're all colors and the son of the red emperor must be me oh my favorite color is red it's an omen guys we have to start a rebellion and overthrow the empire we're gonna win yeah and on that year 209 bce a rebellion against chin was started because a group of people were going to be late for work by tension and what they stole my idea and they are even more successful than me tan sun and wang were in a similar predicament to liubang but their uprising was far more successful than his they revived the former five states and tanzan claimed the throne of two for himself soon other uprisings started to spring all across china and local governors installed by the qin central government was overthrown one by one to the east xiangdiang and his nephew changhu took the opportunity to secure the wu region of two and he personally killed over a hundred of the governor's men during the coup then they raised an army of eight thousand warriors and these men became his closest comrades until the end of their lives with the help of his best friend shakur yopang also succeeded to overthrow the local governor but now seeing the chaos everywhere he is starting to get cold feet and refused to became the new governor it was too much responsibility not even shakir and his friends could get him to change his mind so they settled this by definition and when his name came up he realized that he couldn't escape his destiny to be honest this kind of faint refusal is a very popular charade used by leaders to bolster their followers loyalty throughout chinese history so this event could just be one of leobang's tricks again anyway after this event he raised the red flag and banners of the red emperor and gathered an army of three thousand he also recruited choker his best buddy fangue his brother-in-law and all his other buddies to his cause he even extended an olive branch to that a-hole yongsu by inviting him it was an act he quickly regretted because he was backstabbed in record time as the ungrateful snake locked him out of a city they conquered not long after the start of his campaign you will pay for that so liubang requested help from the new king of two to teach his old enemy yongsu a lesson tanzan's ragtag band of rebels were too disorganized and was no match for the professionally led chin army tingson's campaign to the capital of qin zhenyang was quickly crushed by the professional chin general zhang han and tenceng himself was killed in action so lyobang was on his way to meet the replacement but this detour proved to be a godsend to liubang because along the way he met zhang yang a brilliant strategist who was also famous for his failed assassination attempt on qinsu-huang they quickly hit it off and impressed with leopon as a person he joined his cause but only until he could revive the former state of han because he belonged to an aristocratic family of the state in 208 bce while lyopong was working for the new king of two fanning off the qin army xiangdiang's force moved west now that it had grown to tens of thousands they easily defeated the king of two and installed their own puppet king king hwai returning from his assignment liupang was surprised to find that he had a new master but seeing that they are eager to incorporate his force it took the opportunity to make a teensy tiny request so there is this a-hole called yongsu yeah let me tell you what he did following the power of xiangdang's army ryokan smashed yongsu's force and retook the city but unfortunately his old nemesis escaped away well at least ryopan got some semblance of revenge but this episode demonstrated to them that lyopong was a petty man with small ambition so they felt safe to have him around during this period zhang yang left lyubang to help the new king of han recover his kingdom but he had grown attached to lyobang who he now considered to be his true master and promised to return as soon as possible with zhang jiang gone lyopang continued to work under xiangdiang along with xiangyu and once again his godly charms worked its magic on the impressionable young man xiangyu grew to like yoban so much they became sworn brothers lyopong being the older one became the elder brother together they brought the fight to the qin general zhang han who had besieged the city of dong-eu and defeated him as tanghan's remaining force retreated westward xiangdiang who carelessly broke away to pursue him was caught in an ambush and killed the main two force under him was also annihilated after receiving the news of the death of his uncle xiangyu was overcome with grief and he swore bloody vengeance on zhang han and this was the prelude to the decisive battle of julu the battle that marked the collapse of chin after regrouping the two rebel coalition agreed that it was imperative to strike chin right in its heart the capital shenyang otherwise they will keep returning with more and more troops led by professional generals like zhang han if they don't do anything it is a matter of time that qin will eventually win so they asked for volunteers for this critical mission as a reward king hwy of two promised that the first general to enter the capital would be made the king of the quantum region which included the capital of chin even with the promise of such tantalizing reward among the many gathered rebel generals only two were brave enough to step forward and you guessed it they were lyupang and xiangyu but before a quarrel could start a messenger brought in an urgent news zhang han had returned this time with a colossal army of 200 000 men and he had besieged the city of julu the king of tsao urgently needed help consumed by burning hatred for zhang han xiangyu immediately turned his attention to his sworn enemy but feeling that xiangyu was going to act impulsively he was made second in command under another general and so ryopan and xiangyu went their separate ways when the rebel army from various states approached chile they were struck by the sheer size of the qin army besieging the city and nobody dared to cross the yellow river and enter the fray even with the combined power of other rebel groups from other states their number was nowhere near zhang hans so all they did was watch from the distance xiangyu disgusted by their cowardice became increasingly exasperated meanwhile lyopong and his smaller army was taking detours along the way to shenyang on the road he discovered the scattered army of xiang yang and collaborators who were willing to assist him he also scored quite an impressive victory against wang lee's army and sent him northwards to changhan bolstering his number and exacerbating the rebel forces situation he was even reunited with zhang yang who came to his rescue in a skirmish by 207 bce back at xiang yu's side after enduring 46 frustrating days of non-action he finally snapped he killed his commander and assumed direct control the puppet king huay was unable to object so without the support from other rebel groups xiangyu decided to launch an assault with his own army he ordered his two generals to cross the river with their army of 20 000 first before doing the same himself once he had crossed the river he ordered his soldiers to smash their cooking pots and sink their boats and his men were only allowed to carry three days worth of rations so they were left with no other choice but to win this event was later turned into a chinese idiom breaking the pots and sinking the boats which meant reaching a point of no return which also had similar meaning to crossing the rubicon so with his men pushed to desperation xiangyu and his army fought like demons it was said that each of them could take on 10 qin soldiers and defying all odds they obliterated a good portion of the much larger chin army by the end of the battle julu was liberated and zanghan and the remainder of his men was forced to hole up in a nearby city after witnessing this miraculous victory the rebel leaders who were too scared to join the fight quickly rushed to shangyou's camp and as soon as they saw him the awestruck rebels fell to their knees and made him the supreme commander of their combined army meanwhile a series of intrigues and coup had thrown the chin core into chaos sao called the corrupt eunuch who held the real power refused to provide reinforcement for zhang han because he suspected that he was planning his own rebellion so in the end zhang han had no choice but to surrender to xiangyu's force and his remaining 200 000 soldiers became prisoners of war fearing blame for his mistake xiaogao killed the current emperor before he could be punished in turn he was murdered by the puppet ruler he installed so when lyobang entered the gate of zhenyang he was presented with a kingdom on a silver platter as the new ruler of chin decided to surrender without a fight lucky as according to king huai's promise it is only a matter of time that he is announced the king of guan zhong as for his first display of magnanimity he forbade his soldiers from looting and upheld the law and order of the city think about it if he let people loot he is practically letting them steal his stuff since this is his city now but while he passed in the opulence of the imperial capital of chin and enjoyed its luxury a few hundred miles away xiangyu caught wind of liubank's entry into xi'an as he battled down the road to the capital he couldn't help but feel betrayed because he was the one who made the most sacrifice in this war and shed the most blood now these two sworn brothers are set on a devastating collision course that will change the history of china forever so if you want to know what happens next then you should subscribe to the channel and press the bell button so that you won't miss the second part of the leopard and shangyu story 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