Liu Bang gradually gains the hearts of the people

Liu Bang and Xiahou Ying were not only close friends, but they were also known as brothers.

Liu Bang's best friend Xiahou Ying was a native of Pei (now Pei County, Jiangsu Province). At first he kept horses and drove them in the stables of Pei. Whenever he returned from driving messengers or guests, if he passed by the Pei County Sishui Pavilion, he would go and chat with Liu Bang, the chief of the Pei County Sishui Pavilion, and the two of them were close friends who could talk for most of the day. Later, Xiahou Ying became a probationary county official and became even closer to Liu Bang. They often got together to talk about state affairs and political issues.

One day, when Xiahou Ying was passing by the Si Shui Pavilion in Pei County after transporting his guests in his carriage, he came to chat with Liu Bang again. Knowing that Liu Bang liked to drink, he brought a bottle of good wine over to give to Liu Bang. "Brother Liu Bang, how have you been?" Xiahou Ying handed over the bottle of good wine.

Liu Bang took the good wine and then opened it straight away to share the wine with Xiahou Ying. "Same as always, the position of a small pavilion chief is not a good one. The Qin dynasty has unified the six kingdoms and should have become a great and powerful country, but the heavy taxation and duties of the Qin dynasty have aroused the discontent of the peasants, and I, as a small pavilion commander, sympathise with the people who are discontented because they cannot afford to pay taxes. The poor people who worked so hard all day but were overwhelmed by heavy military service, corvée and taxes!"

Xiahou Ying said, "Yes! Think about the rules of the Qin Dynasty: adult men were required to serve one month of corvée every year, one year of military service in their own county and one year of garrisoning the frontier during their lifetime. A few good years of a man's life had passed because of military service! Secondly, the Qin dynasty had harsh criminal laws and brutal officials. When Qin Shi Huang conquered the six kingdoms, the brutal conquests had already cost many people their good lives! And now, the Qin Dynasty's harsh laws were getting more brutal by the day. If you're not careful, you'll lose your head."

"I do envy Qin Shi Huang whenever I see him in all his might! But as an emperor, I don't admire him at all for his inability to show compassion to the people! Qin Shi Huang hoped to consolidate and strengthen his rule over the people and maintain his centralised power through criminal law. Listen to the horrific tortures: the execution of the clan, the guilt by association, the death penalty of beheading by the waist, cleaving by the chariot, burying alive, etc.! These were the penalties in hell on earth!" Liu Bang thought of those penalties and was somewhat indignant. "I also heard from others that in the thirty-fourth year of Qin Shi Huang (213 BC), Qin Shi Huang adopted Li Si's advice and ordered the burning of the historical records of the powers other than the Qin Records, and the private collections of Poems and Books that did not belong to the Doctor's Library were also to be handed over and burned by a deadline; anyone who dared to talk about Poems and Books was to be executed, and the clan was to be exterminated if the ancient was not the modern; private learning was forbidden, and those who wanted to learn the decrees had to take an official as their teacher. In addition, in the 35th year of Qin Shi Huang's reign (212 B.C.), Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, who had failed in their quest for immortality on behalf of Qin Shi Huang, spoke privately about his character, his administration and various aspects of his quest for immortality, before fleeing with the huge sums of money used for his quest. When Qin Shi Huang found out about this, he became furious and ordered a search and interrogation of all 460 people in the capital, and buried them alive. The burning of books and Confucianism not only lost Confucian morality and etiquette, but also left the culture of classical books hidden in history!"

"That's right! He did not use ordinary criminal law, but cruel capital punishment! Also, the annexation of land has left a large number of peasants without land, and many of them are crying out in misery. I heard some people talking about an uprising, a war! Trying to overthrow the Qin rule!" Xiahou Ying lowered his voice and whispered in Liu Bang's ear.

"Ai! The world is getting worse by the day! Those who win the hearts of the people will win the world, but those who lose the hearts of the people will lose the world! In my opinion: what Qin Shi Huang is doing is clearly digging his own grave for the Qin dynasty." Liu Bang frowned and sighed with some concern.

"Do you have any arrangements lately? If not we can find time to discuss it carefully and see if there is any solution!" Xiahou Ying said.

"I've got a lot on my plate as a minor pavilion commander! Tomorrow I have to depart to escort prisoners to Mount Li for service." Liu Bang said.

"All right then! When you have finished your task, we will get together once more to discuss plans for the long term!" After Xiahou Ying finished speaking, he got up and bid farewell to Liu Bang, "Brother Liu Bang, I will go back first then, if I stay with you for too long, my top boss will probably ask me again where I went to have fun after delivering the guests today? Take care of yourself on the way, escorting prisoners is not a good job."

"Okay, Xia, take care of yourself too, we'll meet again later." After sending Xiahou Ying away, Liu Bang went home for dinner and a romantic evening with his wife, Lu Pang.

Early the next morning, Liu Bang, the small pavilion commander of Pei County, escorted the prisoners to Mount Li for service as arranged by his superiors, and halfway through the journey, the prisoners had already sneaked out quite a few, and those who had not run away had made plans in their minds to escape. Liu Bang took stock of the number of prisoners and knew that with so many escaping, he would not be able to successfully complete his task of escorting the prisoners anyway. Even if he continued to escort the prisoners to Mount Li, he would not be able to get away with the crime because there were not enough prisoners. Liu Bang thought that he would die under torture, so with a flash of light, Liu Bang said to the prisoners, "You were all arrested because you had made mistakes or sins, big or small, and now on the way to escort the prisoners, many of them have escaped. Some of you are even thinking of going home to support your parents, to visit your wives, children and friends! I, too, am a flesh and blood man with an old man and a young woman, and my parents, wife and children are waiting for me at home! Therefore, because of the goodness of your hearts, I have decided to set you all free, and when you return home, you must be filial to your parents and kind to your wives, children and friends! As long as you have good intentions, renounce evil and live well, then it will be worth risking my life to set you free today! Go away!" With that, Liu Bang simply let the remaining prisoners go! He himself planned to go into hiding.

The prisoners were all moved by Liu Bang's words, some of them thanked him and went home, while some single prisoners with no family saw Liu Bang's righteousness and stayed by his side. Thus, gradually, Liu Bang was surrounded by hundreds of people who had faithfully followed him to the death ...