Wei Bao, originally a prince of the Wei Kingdom, had a brother, Wei Jiu, who was granted the title of Lord of Ningling during the Wei Kingdom. After the Qin Kingdom destroyed the Wei Kingdom, Wei Jiu was demoted to a commoner. When Chen Sheng rose in rebellion and declared himself king, Wei Jiu joined him. Chen Sheng sent a Wei native, Zhou Shi, to reclaim the land of Wei, and after the land was reclaimed, everyone wanted to make Zhou Shi the King of Wei. Zhou Shi said, "With the whole country in chaos, now's the time for loyal subjects to step up. With everyone rebelling against Qin, making a Wei king is the right thing to do." Qi and Zhao each sent fifty chariots to support him as the King of Wei. Zhou Shi declined and went to meet Wei Jiu in Chen territory. After much back and forth, Chen Sheng finally sent someone to make Wei Jiu King of Wei.
Zhang Han defeated Chen Sheng and then attacked Wei Jiu, the King of Wei, at Linji. Wei Jiu sent Zhou Shi to seek help from the Qi and Chu kingdoms. The Qi and Chu kingdoms sent Xiang Ta and Tian Ba to follow Zhou Shi to rescue Wei. Zhang Han ultimately defeated Zhou Shi's army, surrounding Linji. For his people, Wei Jiu decided to surrender, agreeing to kill himself after surrendering.
Wei Bao escaped to the Chu Kingdom. King Huai of Chu gave Wei Bao a few thousand men, allowing him to reclaim the land of Wei. Xiang Yu defeated the Qin Kingdom and subjugated Zhang Han. Wei Bao reclaimed over twenty cities of the Wei Kingdom. Xiang Yu then made Wei Bao King of Wei. Wei Bao led his best troops to follow Xiang Yu into the pass. In the first year of the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu assigned lands to his princes and wanted to take the Liang lands for himself, so he moved Wei Bao to Hedong and made him King of Western Wei.
After Liu Bang conquered the three Qin states, he crossed a Yellow River ford. Wei Bao (or King Wei Bao) offered his kingdom to Liu Bang and followed him to attack Pengcheng in the Chu Kingdom. The Han army was defeated and retreated to Xingyang, prompting Wei Bao to request to return home to visit his sick family. After returning to the Wei Kingdom, he betrayed Liu Bang near the Yellow River ford. Liu Bang, therefore, sent Han Xin to capture Wei Bao in Hedong and bring him to Xingyang, transforming Wei Bao's kingdom into counties. Liu Bang had Wei Bao guard Xingyang. With the Chu army laying siege to Xingyang, Zhou Ke killed Wei Bao.
Peng Yue, from Changyi, was known as Zhong. He was a fisherman in the Juye Marsh before becoming a bandit leader. During the uprising of Chen Sheng and Xiang Liang, some young people said to Peng Yue, "A lot of heroes are fighting the Qin. You should join them!" Peng Yue replied, "It's a war between two giants. Let's see how it plays out."
More than a year later, over a hundred young lads gathered by the riverbank and went to see Peng Yue, saying, "Be our boss!" Peng Yue declined, saying, "I ain't your boss." After repeated requests from the young people, he finally agreed. He told everyone to meet at sunrise the next day, or else they'd get the chop. The next day, more than ten of 'em were late, the last bloke not showing until noon. At this point, Peng Yue said, "Look, I'm getting on a bit, and you lot *really* want me in charge. Too many of you were late to kill 'em all, so let's just off the last one." So he had the last guy bumped off, then put up a shrine and *that* was that. He was officially in charge. His lads were proper scared stiff, none of 'em daring to look him in the eye. Peng Yue started fighting and picking up stragglers, and soon had a thousand-strong army.
When Liu Bang attacked Changyi from the north of Dang, Peng Yue gave him a hand. Before they took Changyi, Liu Bang scarpered west. Peng Yue left his army in Juye, picking up Wei stragglers. Xiang Yu went back to the capital, handed out titles, then buggered off. Peng Yue had ten thousand men, but hadn't picked a side. In the autumn of the first year of the Han, Prince Tian Rong of Qi rebelled against Xiang Yu and sent Peng Yue a general's seal, telling him to attack the Chu army at Jiyin. Xiang Yu sent Xiao Gong Jiao to attack Peng Yue, but Peng Yue wiped the floor with him. In the spring of the second year of the Han, Liu Bang teamed up with King Wei Bao and other princes to attack the Chu army from the east. Peng Yue and his thirty thousand strong army joined Liu Bang at Waihuang. Liu Bang said, "Peng's taken back more than ten Wei cities, so let's make him King of Wei. King Wei Bao's King Wei Jiu's brother, so he's the right man for the job." So Liu Bang made Peng Yue Prime Minister of Wei, letting him run the army and sort out Liang.
After Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang in Pengcheng, Liu Bang hightailed it west. Peng Yue, on the other hand, gave up all the cities he'd taken and scarpered to the Yellow River with only his army. Three years later, in Liu Bang's third year as king, Peng Yue was constantly on the move, helping Liu Bang hit the Chu army hard and cutting off their supplies in Liangdi (now Shangqiu area in Henan Province). In the winter of Liu Bang's fourth year as king, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang were locked in a standoff in Xingyang, and Peng Yue took advantage of the situation to capture seventeen cities like Suiyang and Waihuang. When Xiang Yu heard about this, he freaked out and quickly dispatched Cao Jiu to guard Chenggao while he personally led his troops to recapture the cities Peng Yue had taken, recapturing them all. Peng Yue had to hightail it north to Gucheng (now Queshan County in Henan Province). In the autumn of Liu Bang's fifth year as king, Xiang Yu went south to attack Yangxia, and Peng Yue grabbed twenty-plus cities around Changyi and over 100,000 bushels of grain to support Liu Bang's army.
After Liu Bang was defeated, he quickly sent someone to invite Peng Yue to join forces in attacking the Chu army. Peng Yue said, "Things are just settling down in Wei, everyone's still scared of Chu. Now ain't the time to jump ship." Later, Liu Bang pursued the Chu army, but was defeated by Xiang Yu at Guling. Liu Bang, looking all glum, said to Zhang Liang, "None of those other princes' armies are taking my orders. What should I do?" Zhang Liang analyzed, "You didn't really *want* Tian Xin to be king of Qi, and he knows it. Peng Yue was the big cheese in Liang (southern Shandong and northern Henan), and he'd done you a bunch of favors. You only made him Wei's prime minister because of Wei Bao. Now that Wei Bao is dead, no one has inherited his position, and Peng Yue himself wants to be a king, but you never gave him a straight answer. You gotta make a deal with Peng Yue and Tian Xin: if the Chu army is defeated, offer Peng Yue the land from Suiyang north to Gucheng – make him King of Liang. Give Tian Xin everything east of Chendi to the coast. Tian Xin's family's from Chu; he's itching to get his old land back. Be generous, and they'll help. Otherwise, you're sunk." Upon hearing this, Liu Bang liked the sound of that, and sent someone to see Peng Yue. He followed Zhang's plan. Peng Yue showed up at Gaixia with his troops, and together they smashed the Chu army. Xiang Yu was done for. Spring came, and Peng Yue became King of Liang, with his capital at Dingtao. Later, Peng Yue paid Liu Bang a visit in Chendi in year six, and again in Chang'an in years nine and ten.
Ten years ago, in the autumn, Chen Xi rebelled in Dai Di, and Emperor Gaozu personally led the troops to deal with it. When he arrived in Handan, he summoned Prince Liang, Liu Bi, to lead the troops to support him. Prince Liang, Liu Bi, feigned illness and sent a general to lead the troops to Handan. Emperor Gaozu hit the roof when he heard this and sent someone to chew out Prince Liang. Prince Liang was afraid and wanted to go and apologize in person. His subordinate Hu Ze said, "Your Highness, if you didn't go at the beginning and only go now after being rebuked, you'll be walking right into a trap! You might as well rebel!" Prince Liang didn't listen to him and continued to pretend to be sick. Because of this, Prince Liang was angry and wanted to kill the steward. As a result, the steward fled, sought refuge in the Han, and exposed the plot of Prince Liang and Hu Ze to rebel.
So the emperor secretly sent people to arrest Prince Liang. Prince Liang was unaware and was taken away and imprisoned in Luoyang. The officials found evidence of Prince Liang's rebellion and requested punishment. In the end, the emperor was merciful, pardoned him, demoted him, and exiled him to Qingyi County in Shu. Prince Liang traveled west to Zhengdi and met Empress Lü, who was on her way from Chang'an to Luoyang. On the way, Empress Lü met Prince Peng Yue. Peng Yue saw Empress Lü and cried, claiming he was wronged and requested to stay in his original Changyi. Empress Lü agreed and took Peng Yue with her to the east to Luoyang. Empress Lü told the emperor, "Although Prince Peng is a big shot, exiling him to Shu is a threat for us. It's better to just kill him. That's why I brought him here."
So Empress Lü had her subordinates frame Peng Yue for another rebellion. The Justice Minister, Wang Tian, reported and requested the wiping out of Peng Yue's entire family. The emperor approved, and Peng Yue's whole family was killed, and Peng Yue's kingdom was abolished.
Sima Qian said: Although Wei Bao and Peng Yue came from humble backgrounds, they once swept through thousands of miles of land, proclaimed themselves lonely and widowed, ruled the south as kings, and fought countless bloody battles, winning again and again. They both harbored thoughts of rebellion in their hearts, and if they didn't die, they ended up imprisoned and tortured. Why is this so? Anyone of average ability or more would feel ashamed of their actions, let alone emperors and generals! They were no different from others, just smarter and more strategic, but had no real foundation. Once they gained a bit of power, like a cloud bursting forth and a dragon taking flight, they wanted to fulfill their ambitions and assess their abilities, so they fought to the bitter end, even in prison.
