Zhai Rang - Background

Background

Not much is known about Zhai Rang's personal background. In or prior to 616, he was serving as the sheriff of Dong Commandery (東郡, roughly modern Anyang, Henan), when he was accused of crimes and sentenced to death. The jailer Huang Junhan (黃君漢), who had been impressed with Zhai's bravery, secretly released him at night. Zhai then fled to nearby Wagang (瓦崗) and gathered a group of men to rise against Emperor Yang of Sui's rule. Two of his key followers were Shan Xiongxin (單雄信) and Xu Shiji, who suggested him that he could supply his men without pillaging the people of the locale, but that because the Bian River (汴水) flowed through nearby Yingyang (滎陽, roughly modern Zhengzhou, Henan) and Liang (梁郡, roughly modern Shangqiu, Henan) Commanderies and carried heavy river traffic, all they would need to do was to pillage the river traffic. Zhai did so, and his men began to gather wealth. More and more desperate men joined Zhai, and he gathered more than 10,000 men.

Meanwhile, Li Mi, who had been the rebel general Yang Xuangan's chief strategist in Yang's uprising in 613 and who had been fleeing from place to place since, was trying to find a rebel leader who would cooperate with him. Initially, the rebel leaders all took him lightly as being overly ambitious, but eventually they began to consider his ambitions justified. Li, seeing that Zhai was the strongest rebel leader of the region, met Zhai through another rebel leader, Wang Bodang (王伯當). Li proposed some strategies for Zhai and was able to persuade some other rebel leaders to follow Zhai. Li therefore suggested to Zhai that, with Emperor Yang away at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), he should gather his troops and attack Sui's two capitals -- Luoyang and Chang'an. Zhai, not having the stomach yet of that grandiose design, did not accept the idea, but became more impressed with Li and kept Li as an honored guest.

Meanwhile, because of prophecies that the next emperor would be named Li, the rebel leaders began to believe Li Mi might be the one prophesied. They thus began to submit to Li personally. When Zhai saw this, Zhai became even more impressed, and he considered accepting Li's plan. Li persuaded Zhai's strategist and astrologer Jia Xiong (賈雄) to persuade Jia to accept his plan. When Zhai asked Jia whether the signs indicated that Li's plan could succeed, Jia told him that it would, but that he might not be successful himself as the emperor, but should support Li. Zhai believed Jia and began to honor Li further. Under Li's advice, Zhai began to attack and capture the various cities within Yingyang Commandery. In response, Emperor Yang sent the general Zhang Xutuo (張須陀), who had previously been successful against rebel leaders, to attack Zhai. Zhai, who has previously lost some battles against Zhang, became fearful, but Li persuaded him that Zhang could be defeated. Under Li's suggestion, Zhai had Li take a thousand man and hide in a forest. As Zhang attacked Zhai, Li surprised Zhang, and Li, Zhai, Xu, and Wang surrounded Zhang. Zhang was initially able to fight his way out of the encirclement, but as he tried to rescue some of his officers, he was killed in battle, and Zhai's reputation was greatly enhanced, and he was able to gather much food supply. In light of the victory, Zhai let Li set up his own army, known as the Army of the Duke of Pushan. As Li's army grew, Zhai's soldiers began to have friction with Li's. Zhai thus separated his army from Li's and returned to Wagang, but soon regretted that decision and rejoined Li.