汉中王刘嘉 / Liu Jia, Hanzhong King (Eastern Han)

Overview

汉中王刘嘉 / Liu Jia, Hanzhong King is a source-scoped Eastern Han actor in Hanji 686. The page is deliberately disambiguated from 刘贾, the Chu-Han and early Western Han figure, because this Liu Jia belongs to the Guangwu-era Hanzhong/Wudu conflict around 延岑 and 公孙述.

Current Profile

Hanji 686 presents Liu Jia in a compressed military sequence. After Yan Cen rebels and surrounds 南郑, Liu Jia is defeated and flees, while Yan Cen occupies 汉中 and attacks 武都.

The source then gives Liu Jia a recovery but not a stable victory. He gathers tens of thousands of scattered troops, appoints Li Bao as chancellor, and moves from Wudu toward Nanzheng after Gongsun Shu’s commander Hou Dan has taken the city. That attack fails, forcing Liu Jia back toward the Hechi area.

The final branch restores limited initiative. Liu Jia later fights Yan Cen again and defeats him after Yan Cen enters the Sanguan route. The current evidence therefore makes Liu Jia a regional survivor and counterattacker, not a fully developed founding minister or independent ruler profile.

Key Characteristics

• Source-scoped Hanzhong king in the Jianwu 2 / 26 CE Guangwu-era conflict.
• Initial loser to Yan Cen around Nanzheng and Hanzhong.
• Recovery actor who regathers scattered troops and tries to retake Nanzheng from Hou Dan.
• Regional military figure whose comeback remains limited by failed operations and retreat.
• Later counterattacker who defeats Yan Cen near the Sanguan route.
• Disambiguated from the unrelated 刘贾 of the Chu-Han and early Western Han corpus.

Evidence

• Initial defeat: Hanji 686 says Yan Cen surrounds Nanzheng, Liu Jia loses, and Yan Cen takes Hanzhong.
• Regathered force: Hanji 686 says Liu Jia gathers tens of thousands of scattered soldiers and appoints Li Bao as chancellor.
• Failed counterattack: Hanji 686 says Liu Jia attacks Hou Dan at Nanzheng but fails and retreats toward Hechi.
• Later victory: Hanji 686 says Liu Jia later pursues and defeats Yan Cen after Yan Cen enters the Sanguan route.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to one source note. It does not reconstruct Liu Jia’s lineage, title basis, later career, or exact territorial authority beyond the Hanzhong/Wudu/Nanzheng sequence in Hanji 686. Li Bao, Hou Dan, Hechi, and Sanguan remain source-scoped until additional evidence makes separate canonical pages useful.

What Changed

• Created the disambiguated Eastern Han Hanzhong-king page from Hanji 686.
• Kept this Liu Jia separate from 刘贾 to avoid a case-insensitive and public-route identity collision.

Relationships

• 延岑 - opponent who first defeats Liu Jia and is later defeated by him.
• 公孙述 - rival ruler whose commander Hou Dan takes Nanzheng during Liu Jia’s recovery sequence.
• 汉中 - regional base and disputed territory around Liu Jia’s title.
• 南郑 - city Yan Cen surrounds and Hou Dan later holds against Liu Jia’s attack.
• 武都 - regional refuge and counterattack setting after Liu Jia regathers troops.
• 光武帝刘秀 - broader imperial center whose early consolidation forms the surrounding political field.