臧荼 / Zang Tu
臧荼 / Zang Tu enters the wiki through Hanji 143 as the Yan-side general rewarded in 项羽’s post-Qin settlement. The episode says he followed the Chu army to rescue Zhao and then entered the pass, so Xiang Yu makes him Yan king while moving the earlier Yan king 韩广 to Liaodong.
Zang Tu’s placement shows the settlement’s preference for commanders who joined Xiang Yu’s victorious line over old kings who held titles before the final westward entry. It is a concrete case of military participation outranking prior royal status.
Hanji 148-2 gives the enforcement sequel. 韩广 refuses to accept the Liaodong relocation and stay out of Yan’s old center, so Zang Tu attacks and kills him. The source keeps this as part of the wider backlash from Xiang Yu’s settlement: reward promotion creates a direct fight between new and displaced Yan rulers.
Hanji 169 places Zang Tu among the rulers who urge 刘邦 to accept the imperial title after Xiang Yu’s death. The source does not narrate a full Yan transition, but his presence in the petition shows a former Xiang-settlement king participating in the public recognition of the Han founding.
Hanji 171 part 2 gives Zang Tu’s terminal early-Han branch. In the seventh Han year, the source says he rebels in July, is defeated and captured by Liu Bang in October, and is replaced in Yan by 卢绾. The host treats his rebellion as likely driven less by a realistic bid for empire than by pressure from the central court and fear that a former Xiang-side different-surname king could not remain trusted. His son Zang Yan’s later flight to 匈奴 keeps the Yan problem connected to the northern frontier.
Hanji 191 turns that exile note into an active political afterlife. 臧衍, referred to in the transcript as the former Yan king’s son, persuades 张胜 that Lu Wan’s Yan will be endangered if 陈豨 is suppressed quickly. Zang Tu’s failed kingship therefore continues to shape Han-Yan politics through a Xiongnu-based exile channel.
Connections
- Hanji 191, 臧衍, 张胜, 卢绾, and 陈豨之乱 - Zang Tu’s son as an exile interpreter of Yan’s danger.
- Hanji 171 part 2, 刘邦, 卢绾, 燕国, 匈奴, and 异姓诸侯王猜忌 - rebellion, suppression, and replacement by a trusted Han intimate.
- Hanji 169, 刘邦, 韩信, 英布, 吴芮, and 张敖 - accession-petition group.
- 燕国 and 韩广 - old Yan field and displaced ruler.
- 项羽, 怀王之约, and 周秦混合制 - settlement authority and institutional frame.
- 因功赏罚 - reward logic behind his elevation.
- 分配反噬 - mechanism visible when his reward produces armed conflict with Han Guang.