沛县 / Pei County
沛县 / Pei County enters the wiki in Qinji 128-6 as 刘邦’s local political base. The source places Liu Bang’s uprising in Pei County after the 大泽乡起义 opens the broader anti-秦国 crisis.
Before open rebellion, Pei County matters as a relationship field. Liu Bang’s Sishui亭长 period lets him move from marginal companions into contact with lower-level government officials such as 萧何. The episode argues that this network later becomes part of the first Western Han founding-merit circle.
Pei County is also the setting of 吕公’s banquet. Lu Gong relocates there through the county magistrate’s friendship, local notables gather, Xiao He manages the seating, and Liu Bang turns an uninvited visit into a public performance that leads to the 吕雉 marriage.
Qinji 128-7 turns Pei County from relationship setting into rebellion setting. Liu Bang leaves the county after releasing corvee laborers he was escorting, hides around 芒砀山, and returns only after the magistrate tries to recall him in response to the 大泽乡起义. The county then flips when the magistrate closes the gates, targets 萧何 and 曹参, and Liu Bang’s letter persuades local elders to kill him and admit Liu Bang.
The episode’s Pei County story is a case of 沛县起义动员. Local self-preservation, county-office relationships, and Liu Bang’s fugitive following together produce a three-thousand-person anti-Qin force and the title Pei Gong.
Connections
- 刘邦, 萧何, 吕公, and 吕雉 - main source actors in the Pei County branch.
- 基层官吏网络政治资本 - concept built from the county-office network.
- 造势型政治表演 - banquet performance staged in Pei County.
- 大泽乡起义 and 秦国 - wider crisis that makes local networks politically consequential.
- 樊哙, 曹参, 芒砀山, and 沛县起义动员 - Qinji 128-7 local uprising branch.