Rebellion of the Seven States

In the early Western Han, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang, while using commanderies and counties, also enfeoffed a number of kings of his own surname, hoping they would guard the center. As the economy recovered and grew, the kings' power swelled: they held large lands and populations, appointed officials and levied taxes themselves, even minted coins and boiled salt and smelted iron, gradually becoming a regional power threatening the center. Liu Bi, King of Wu, grew rich from minting coins at the copper mountains in his state and boiling seawater for salt and did not come to court for over twenty years. Under Emperor Wen, Jia Yi proposed to “enfeoff many lords and reduce their strength.” After Emperor Jing took the throne he adopted the Plan for Reducing the Domains of Imperial Secretary Chao Cuo and began cutting the kings' lands. In 154 BC Liu Bi, King of Wu, joined the kings of Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zichuan and Jinan in a revolt under the slogan “execute Chao Cuo and purge the court,” known as the “Rebellion of the Seven States.” Emperor Jing took Yuan Ang's advice and executed Chao Cuo, but the rebels did not withdraw. He then sent Grand Commandant Zhou Yafu to put down the revolt. Zhou Yafu avoided the rebels' main force, held Changyi and sent light cavalry to cut the Wu–Chu supply line; the rebels, out of food, collapsed, Liu Bi fled to Eastern Yue and was killed, the other kings killed themselves or were executed, and the revolt was put down in about three months. Afterwards Emperor Jing took the opportunity to recover the kings' powers to appoint officials and levy taxes, forbidding the kings to govern their states and leaving them only to live off taxes, reducing the status of the kingdoms to that of commanderies.