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entity Updated 2026-08-23

章邯 / Zhang Han (Qin)

章邯 / Zhang Han enters this wiki through Qinji 128-5 as the Qin official who converts a near-capital emergency into usable force. The episode’s transcript writes his name as “张寒,” but the role matches the historical Qin general 章邯; this page keeps the canonical name while treating the transcript form as source-scoped.

The episode presents Zhang Han as 少府, not first as a field general. When 周文’s rebel force reaches the area near 咸阳, Zhang Han argues that ordinary nearby commandery and county recruitment will be too slow. His solution is 骊山刑徒应急动员: pardon the people laboring at 骊山, arm them, and let him lead them against the rebels.

That proposal matters because it makes Qin’s response partly administrative. 胡亥 / 秦二世 panics, but the state still has capital guards, previously trained brave soldiers, and a senior official able to turn punishment labor into battlefield manpower. Zhang Han’s victory over Zhou Wen’s Chu army therefore becomes the episode’s main evidence that Qin had not yet lost all coercive capacity.

Qinji 129-1 follows that victory into pursuit. Zhang Han defeats 周文 / 周章 again at Caoyang and then near Mianchi, pushing the Zhang Chu westward army from setback into collapse. Zhou Wen’s suicide and the dispersal or surrender of his troops make Zhang Han’s counterattack the pressure that intensifies the 荥阳 crisis around 吴广.

Qinji 129-2 extends Zhang Han’s recovery line after 田臧 replaces Wu Guang. Zhang Han defeats and kills Tian Zang at Ao granary, then turns back against the troops left near Yingyang and kills Li Gui. He also defeats Deng Shuang at Jia and Wu Feng at Xu, so the episode makes Zhang Han the battlefield force that turns Zhang Chu’s command fracture into a chain of losses.

Qinji 129-3 carries that pressure to 陈胜’s base. 胡亥 / 秦二世 sends 司马欣 and 董义 to assist Zhang Han, while Zhang Han’s force has already defeated Wu Feng and killed 蔡赐. When Zhang Han reaches the Chen County field, 张鹤’s remaining Zhang Chu defense is defeated, making Zhang Han the military pressure behind Chen Sheng’s final flight.

Qinji 130-1 shows Zhang Han’s pressure continuing through subordinates after Chen Sheng’s death. The transcript writes 张涵 in this passage, but the role remains Zhang Han’s Qin counteroffensive: a subordinate attacks through the Xiao-Dang line, forcing 刘邦 to delay his attempt to recover 丰邑 / 丰县 and fight before consolidating under 景居 / 景驹.

Qinji 130-2 keeps Zhang Han as the military pressure facing the newly enlarged 项梁 camp. Zhang Han reaches Li County, and Xiang Liang sends 朱鸡石 / 朱吉石 plus 余樊君 against him. Zhu Jishi is defeated and flees, Yu Fanjun dies, and Xiang Liang later executes Zhu Jishi, so Zhang Han’s campaign becomes the stress test immediately after Xiang Liang absorbs Qin Jia’s surrendered troops.

Qinji 130-3 shows Zhang Han still strong after Xiang Liang’s legitimacy rebuild. He attacks 魏咎 at Linji, defeats the Qi-Chu relief force by surprise, and kills 田儋 plus 周市. He then pursues 田荣 to Dong’e, loses there to Xiang Liang, withdraws west, and later fortifies Puyang by drawing water around the city after another defeat. The episode therefore keeps Zhang Han as the battlefield pressure that exposes restored-state coordination problems.

Qinji 132 gives Zhang Han his strongest rebound against the Chu camp. After 胡亥 / 秦二世 reinforces him and 宋义 warns that 项梁 has become overconfident, Zhang Han night-attacks Xiang Liang at 定陶 and kills him.

Zhang Han then reads Chu as broken and shifts north across the Yellow River against restored 赵国. He breaks 邯郸, helps drive 赵歇 and 张耳 into 巨鹿, and camps south of Julu while 王离 surrounds the city. The source therefore turns Zhang Han from a southern anti-Chu pressure force into the reason Mi Xin must organize the Julu relief mission under 怀王之约.

Qinji 134 adds the logistics layer behind that siege. Zhang Han has a protected fast corridor built from the 漳水 crossing area toward Julu so grain from 敖仓 can keep Wang Li’s army supplied. That makes Qin’s advantage at Julu a matter of food movement as well as troops.

The same source then records the vulnerability in Zhang Han’s arrangement. 英布 and 蒲将军 break the yongdao in multiple places, cutting food flow and separating Zhang Han from Wang Li. Zhang Han remains an important Qin field commander, but his supply architecture becomes the object Xiang Yu attacks before the direct battle.

Qinji 136 moves Zhang Han into the post-Julu pressure field. The transcript again writes “张涵,” but the role continues Zhang Han: after 王离’s army is destroyed, Zhang Han holds his remaining position while 项羽 camps across the river. 胡亥 / 秦二世 then sends someone to the front to rebuke him for the defeats, leaving Zhang Han between military danger and court distrust.

Qinji 137 completes that pressure into surrender. 司马欣 returns from a failed court mission convinced that 赵高 controls the government and that Zhang Han faces death whether he wins or loses. 陈馀’s letter reinforces the point through 白起 and 蒙恬 as examples of Qin destroying its own high-merit servants. After further defeats near the Zhang River and Wushui line, Zhang Han secretly approaches 项羽, surrenders, and is made 雍王, turning a Qin field commander into a post-Qin settlement problem.

Hanji 139 gives the grim sequel to that surrender. Xiang Yu removes Zhang Han from direct command and keeps him near the Chu camp while 司马欣 commands the surrendered Qin troops. When Xiang Yu later decides to kill those troops at 新安坑降, Zhang Han is spared along with Sima Xin and 董翳, deepening the split between saved senior commanders and destroyed common soldiers.

Hanji 143 gives Zhang Han the formal settlement payoff. 项羽 makes him Yong king with territory west of Xianyang, making him the most prominent member of the 三秦压制 layer around 刘邦. The appointment rewards surrender and uses Zhang Han’s Qin-core position to block Liu Bang’s path back toward 关中, while preserving the earlier contradiction with the 怀王之约.

Hanji 147 shows the political liability inside that title. In 韩信’s 汉中对, Zhang Han is not just a former Qin commander with territory; he is one of the saved senior leaders whose Qin troops had suffered for years and whose surrendered common soldiers were killed at 新安坑降. Han Xin therefore treats Zhang Han’s Yong kingship as vulnerable to 刘邦’s Guanzhong reputation and the broken 怀王之约.

Hanji 148-1 gives Zhang Han’s containment role its battlefield endpoint. The episode insists he is not an ignorant opponent: he has experience, resilience, and enough tactical literacy to look for Han Xin’s feints. His failure is second-order misreading. He thinks the real threat lies behind 灌婴 and 樊哙’s side pressure, while Han Xin’s main force breaks through at 陈仓 and defeats him before he falls back toward Feiqiu.

Hanji 152 part 1 uses Zhang Han as the reason 韩信 is absent from 彭城之战 command. Han Xin remains in 关中 continuing the pressure against Zhang Han, while 刘邦 personally leads the much larger eastern coalition. Zhang Han’s remaining position therefore indirectly shapes Pengcheng by tying down the commander the episode says Liu Bang most needed.

Hanji 155-1 closes Zhang Han’s line. After roughly a year of holding 废丘, Han forces flood the city with river water; the defenders surrender, and Zhang Han commits suicide. His endpoint now completes the arc from Qin emergency mobilizer to surrendered Yong king to isolated holdout whose fall lets Liu Bang’s side organize the region as commanderies.

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