Three Articles of Law

Panel 01: Tenth month, 206 BCE. The pass road out of the east climbed through mountains of black stone, and at the end of it lay the valley of Wei and the capital of the empire. An army from a village was coming down. — Tenth month, 206 BCE. The pass road out of the east climbed through mountains of black stone, and at the end of it lay the valley of Wei and the capital of the empire. An army from a village was coming down.

Panel 02: At Zhi Road, outside the city, a young man came out in a white horse and an unadorned cart. A cord went round his neck. In his hands he carried the seals and the tallies of the emperor — because the Qin had stopped calling him emperor forty-six days earlier. — At Zhi Road, outside the city, a young man came out in a white horse and an unadorned cart. A cord went round his neck. In his hands he carried the seals and the tallies of the emperor — because the Qin had stopped calling him emperor forty-six days earlier.

Panel 03: Several of the officers said the Qin king had to die. Liu Bang said no, and handed the man over to the officials of the palace with nothing done to him. — Several of the officers said the Qin king had to die. Liu Bang said no, and handed the man over to the officials of the palace with nothing done to him.

Panel 04: Forty-six days is all the last King of Qin was allowed. He had spent them planning the murder of the minister who had put him there: a feigned illness, a eunuch with a blade, a body in the ablutions palace, and three kin-groups exterminated behind it. — Forty-six days is all the last King of Qin was allowed. He had spent them planning the murder of the minister who had put him there: a feigned illness, a eunuch with a blade, a body in the ablutions palace, and three kin-groups exterminated behind it.

Panel 05: When the gates opened every general ran for the treasuries of gold and silk. One man went to the offices of the chancellor and the censors and took away the law codes, the documents, the registers of households — and had them put away. — When the gates opened every general ran for the treasuries of gold and silk. One man went to the offices of the chancellor and the censors and took away the law codes, the documents, the registers of households — and had them put away.

Panel 06: Then Liu Bang walked through the palaces of Xianyang — the curtains, the dogs and horses, the thousand and thousand of treasures, the women — and told his staff he meant to stay in them. Fan Kuai told him to go back out. He would not listen. — Then Liu Bang walked through the palaces of Xianyang — the curtains, the dogs and horses, the thousand and thousand of treasures, the women — and told his staff he meant to stay in them. Fan Kuai told him to go back out. He would not listen.

Panel 07: So the army went back out and camped at Bashang, above the city, and the elders and worthies of every county in the region were summoned. He gave them three articles: your Qin law slandered was a clan's death, and talking together in the street was a corpse in the market. — So the army went back out and camped at Bashang, above the city, and the elders and worthies of every county in the region were summoned. He gave them three articles: your Qin law slandered was a clan's death, and talking together in the street was a corpse in the market.

Panel 08: The people of Qin were delighted, and brought oxen, sheep, wine and food to the camp, competing with each other. He refused to take them: the granaries were full, he said, he did not want to cost anyone anything. — The people of Qin were delighted, and brought oxen, sheep, wine and food to the camp, competing with each other. He refused to take them: the granaries were full, he said, he did not want to cost anyone anything.

08 / 18 Debated

The annals add the line that ends the episode's argument: the people rejoiced all the more, and feared only that Liu Bang would not be made King of Qin. Whether the three articles were ever actually enforced is another question and a good one — the codes Xiao He compiled for the new dynasty follow the Qin classifications so closely that the excavated statutes found at Zhangjiashan in Hubei, copied out in 186 BCE, still carry Qin's punishments by name. On the most likely reading, “all the rest of the Qin law is void” described a moment of occupation, not a legal system; the statute book of early Han was Qin's, tidied.

Zhangjiashan Han tomb bamboo slips, Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year (tomb 247, Jiangling), dated 186 BCE; Hanshu, Treatise on Punishments and Laws

Panel 09: Word came west. Liu Bang meant to make himself king of the region, to keep the Qin king as his chancellor, and to hold all the treasures of the palace. Behind the message stood a man of his own staff. Then four hundred thousand came to Xiji. — Word came west. Liu Bang meant to make himself king of the region, to keep the Qin king as his chancellor, and to hold all the treasures of the palace. Behind the message stood a man of his own staff. Then four hundred thousand came to Xiji.

Panel 10: The old man beside Xiang Yu's chair had a different reading of the news. A man who had wanted money and women was now touching neither. That is not reform; that is appetite with a lid on it. — The old man beside Xiang Yu's chair had a different reading of the news. A man who had wanted money and women was now touching neither. That is not reform; that is appetite with a lid on it.

Panel 11: That night a knight of Chu rode to Bashang to beg an old friend to run away with him. The friend was Liu Bang's counselor. He said he could not be seen deserting a man in danger, and went to report the visit. — That night a knight of Chu rode to Bashang to beg an old friend to run away with him. The friend was Liu Bang's counselor. He said he could not be seen deserting a man in danger, and went to report the visit.

Panel 12: At dawn Liu Bang came with a hundred and odd horsemen to the gate at Hong Gate, raised a cup of long life, and swore himself of the family of Xiang Bo. They had broken Qin together, he said; he had not expected to be the one who got in first — and now a petty man had put a gap between them. — At dawn Liu Bang came with a hundred and odd horsemen to the gate at Hong Gate, raised a cup of long life, and swore himself of the family of Xiang Bo. They had broken Qin together, he said; he had not expected to be the one who got in first — and now a petty man had put a gap between them.

Panel 13: They drank. Fan Zeng kept looking at Xiang Yu, and three times lifted the jade ring-slice from his belt. The word for the ring-slice sounds like the word for cutting a thing through; the histories do not say that aloud, but everyone at the table heard the gesture. — They drank. Fan Zeng kept looking at Xiang Yu, and three times lifted the jade ring-slice from his belt. The word for the ring-slice sounds like the word for cutting a thing through; the histories do not say that aloud, but everyone at the table heard the gesture.

Panel 14: For a while the banquet was only two swordsmanship displays going on at once, in the middle of a room of seated guests who were all watching the man being cut at. — For a while the banquet was only two swordsmanship displays going on at once, in the middle of a room of seated guests who were all watching the man being cut at.

14 / 18 In the sources

“Xiang Zhuang came up with his sword drawn and danced, and kept pressing at Liu Bang; Xiang Bo also drew and danced, and often spread his body like a wing over him.” Then Zhang Liang went out at the gate of the camp to fetch Fan Kuai, and the annals give the exchange in three lines: how is it going today? — desperate: Xiang Zhuang has come up with his sword and dances, and his intent is always on your lord. It is Fan Kuai who answers with the sentence that sends him in: “this is close — let me go in and share his fate.” The idiom “Xiang Zhuang dances with his sword, his intent always on Liu Bang” comes out of this paragraph and nowhere else in early writing.

Shiji, Basic Annals of Xiang Yu

Panel 15: Fan Kuai came in with his shield slung on his shoulder, knocked the halberdiers down at the gate, parted the tent curtain, and stood facing east with his hair bristling up and his eyes about to split. Xiang Yu's hand went to his sword and he sat up on his knees. — Fan Kuai came in with his shield slung on his shoulder, knocked the halberdiers down at the gate, parted the tent curtain, and stood facing east with his hair bristling up and his eyes about to split. Xiang Yu's hand went to his sword and he sat up on his knees.

Panel 16: He put his shield face down on the ground, laid the raw shoulder on it, drew his sword, cut, and ate. Then he raised the bowl, drained it, and answered his host's question with a speech. — He put his shield face down on the ground, laid the raw shoulder on it, drew his sword, cut, and ate. Then he raised the bowl, drained it, and answered his host's question with a speech.

Panel 17: The argument was not an appeal for mercy. The King of Chu had bound every general with one oath — whoever broke the Qin first and entered Xianyang should rule it — and the man now sitting at Xiang Yu's table had done exactly that, and had taken nothing, and had come to explain himself with a hundred horsemen. — The argument was not an appeal for mercy. The King of Chu had bound every general with one oath — whoever broke the Qin first and entered Xianyang should rule it — and the man now sitting at Xiang Yu's table had done exactly that, and had taken nothing, and had come to explain himself with a hundred horsemen.

Panel 18: Liu Bang got out at a moment in the drinking, by a mountain road, with four men and no retinue; Zhang Liang stayed to present a pair of jade cups. Xiang Yu took his and set it on the mat. The old man of Juchao threw his on the ground, broke it with his sword, and spoke the sentence the next four years belonged to. — Liu Bang got out at a moment in the drinking, by a mountain road, with four men and no retinue; Zhang Liang stayed to present a pair of jade cups. Xiang Yu took his and set it on the mat. The old man of Juchao threw his on the ground, broke it with his sword, and spoke the sentence the next four years belonged to.

18 / 18 In the sources

The escape and the broken cup close the scene in the annals of Xiang Yu, and the murder of Cao Wushang follows in the same pages. Xiang Yu then entered the capital, put the surrendered King of Qin to death, burned the palaces — the histories say the fire lasted three months — and divided the realm into eighteen kingdoms, calling himself overlord of Western Chu. The man he had spared at the feast was sent off to Ba, Shu and the valley of the Han with three Qin kings planted in front of him to keep the pass shut; on the way there the army burned the plank roads behind it, says Zhang Liang's hereditary house — the standard way of looking like a man who intended to stay where he had been put. The valley gave him his title, and the title gave the empire its name for four centuries.

Shiji, Basic Annals of Xiang Yu; Basic Annals of Emperor Gaozu; Hereditary House of Marquis Liu

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