King of Han on the frontier, and not the marquis with the same name. Besieged at Mayi, scolded by his own court for treating for peace, he handed the town to the Xiongnu and gave the emperor the war he was caught in. He died leading Xiongnu cavalry five years later.
A withered man does not stop meaning to stand; a blind man does not stop wanting to see. But it cannot be done.Han Xin, King of Han, in the letter he sent back to the Han general who offered him his pardon and his old rank; Shiji, juan 93, Memoir of Han Xin and Lu Wan
Appears in
Relations
- Liu Bang enemies — Moved north onto a frontier he could not hold and then reproached for treating for peace, he gave Mayi to the steppe and handed the emperor the worst week of his reign.
- Modu allies — He made his pact with the Chanyu out of fear of execution at his own court, rode at the head of Xiongnu horse on the frontier for five years, and died at Canhe against a Han army.
Myth vs record
This is the Han Xin of the famous triumphs — the plank road mended in the open and crossed in secret, the battle drawn up with the river at his back, the songs of Chu all around the enemy camp.
All three belong to another man of the same name: Han Xin, Marquis of Huaiyin, whose memoir is Shiji, juan 92, and who was killed in 196 BCE in a palace bell chamber. This Han Xin was an illegitimate grandson of the old royal house of Han, stood — the record gives the number — eight chi five cun, was made king of Han and then transplanted to Taiyuan in 201 because the land he held lay against the empire's toughest recruiting districts (juan 93). Besieged at Mayi he sent intermediaries to the Xiongnu more than once; the Han court read that as two hearts and blamed him, and fearing execution he made a pact with Modu, gave the town up and fell on Taiyuan. He drew up his own ledger in the letter the same book keeps: three crimes he could not be forgiven — not dying at Xingyang, not holding Mayi, and now leading the Hu's cavalry against Han.