Zhang Liang (Western Han)

Zhang Liang
Portrait of Zhang Liang in a 1921 Chinese publication
Statesman of the Western Han dynasty
Born	c. 3rd century BC
Died	186 BC
Names
Traditional Chinese	張良
Simplified Chinese	张良
Pinyin	Zhāng Liáng
Wade–Giles	Chang Liang
Courtesy name	Zifang (Chinese: 子房; pinyin: Zǐfáng)
Posthumous name	Marquis Wencheng of Liu (Chinese: 留文成侯; pinyin: Liú Wénchéng Hóu)

Zhang Liang (c. 3rd century BC – 186 BC), courtesy name Zifang, was a strategist and statesman in the early Western Han dynasty. He is also known as one of the "Three Heroes of the early Han dynasty" (漢初三傑), along with Han Xin and Xiao He. Zhang Liang contributed greatly to the establishment of the Han dynasty and was conferred the title "Marquis Wencheng of Liu" by Emperor Gaozu in recognition of his efforts.

Zhang Liang was born in Xinzheng (新鄭; present-day Zhengzhou, Henan), the capital of the Hán state, while his ancestral home was in Chengfu (城父; present-day Chengfu Town, Bozhou, Anhui). He descended from an aristocrat family in Hán. His grandfather served three generations of the Hán rulers as chancellors while his father served two generations. Zhang Liang missed the opportunity to inherit his family's legacy as the Hán state was annexed by the Qin state in 230 BC as part of Qin's wars of unification.

To avenge the fall of his native state, Zhang Liang dedicated his efforts to hire assassins to kill the Qin emperor Qin Shi Huang. He spent his entire family fortune and failed to give his deceased younger brother a proper funeral. He managed to find a man with great physical strength to help him, and had an iron hammer weighing 120 ancient catties (roughly 160 lbs. or 72 kg) forged for the strongman. In 218 BC, Zhang Liang heard that Qin Shi Huang was going to Yangwu County (east of present-day Yuanyang County, Henan) as part of his inspection tour, and was due to pass by Bolangsha during the journey.

Zhang Liang and the strongman lay in ambush at Bolangsha and waited for the emperor's convoy to approach. They saw that all the carriages that passed by were pulled by four horses and believed that the most decorated one in the middle was the emperor's carriage. The strongman hurled the hammer towards it and the heavy projectile crushed the carriage, killing its occupant. Zhang Liang fled from the scene during the ensuing chaos. Qin Shi Huang was actually not in that carriage and survived the assassination attempt, after which he ordered the arrest of Zhang Liang. Zhang Liang eluded the dragnet for ten days by using fake identities and became a fugitive.