Zhai Rang

Zhai Rang (Chinese: 翟讓; died December 14, 617) was a key agrarian rebel leader near the end of the Chinese dynasty Sui Dynasty. Believing prophecies that appeared to indicate that Li Mi would be emperor, he supported Li as leader and offered to serve under Li, but soon they began to have conflicts over distribution of spoils. In winter 617, Li ambushed him at a feast and killed him, seizing his troops.

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.

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