Zhou Zao

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

The historical sources do not record Zhou Zao's family background. His earliest known experience appears in the Records of the Grand Historian, which says that he “followed the uprising at Dang as a soldier.” Dang County was a county of Qin Sishui Commandery, north of present-day Yongcheng, Henan. After Liu Bang rose at Pei County in the ninth month of 209 BCE, he campaigned through the surrounding region and captured Dang the following year, incorporating some five thousand local troops. Zhou Zao joined Liu Bang's army as an ordinary soldier around this time.

Sima Zhen's commentary on the Records of the Grand Historian, citing the Han tables, and the Book of Han both preserve the phrase that he “followed the uprising at Dang as a soldier.” The phrase indicates that Zhou Zao entered Liu Bang's movement at the lowest military level, unlike founding officials such as Xiao He and Cao Shen, who had begun as county clerks. Zhou Zao rose entirely through battlefield service.

Entry into Han and the Chu–Han Contention

In 206 BCE, when Liu Bang was made King of Han and established his capital at Nanzheng, Zhou Zao followed him into Hanzhong as a lian'ao. The exact duties of this Chu-Han-era office are unclear; it was probably a relatively low-ranking military or administrative post concerned with supplies or reception.

After Liu Bang regrouped in Hanzhong, he moved to reconquer the Three Qins in the eighth month of the same year and then advanced east against Xiang Yu. During this period Zhou Zao was appointed Commandant of the Long Pike, apparently commanding troops armed with long-shafted pikes. He fought Xiang Yu in this capacity and earned sufficient merit for a future marquisate. The Records of the Grand Historian summarizes his service as having “attacked Xiang Yu as Commandant of the Long Pike and earned merit.”

The Chinese source states that the Chu–Han Contention lasted from 206 BCE. Zhou Zao served as a mid-ranking officer in multiple engagements, though the surviving histories do not preserve their details. After Xiang Yu's defeat in 202 BCE, Liu Bang became emperor and began large-scale enfeoffment of meritorious followers.

Enfeoffment and Status among the Founding Officials

On the dingwei day of the first month of Emperor Gaozu's sixth year (7 March 201 BCE), Zhou Zao was made Marquis of Longlu. Longlu was a county of Henei Commandery, in present-day Linzhou, Henan. The number of households in his fief is not preserved. The Records of the Grand Historian ranks him thirty-fourth among the founding marquises, placing him in the upper-middle portion of the list.

Military merit was the principal basis of early Han enfeoffment. Zhou Zao's rise from common soldier to marquis therefore represents a typical path of advancement through battlefield service. He was enfeoffed in the same first-month distribution as such figures as Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu, and Chen Ping, Marquis of Huyou.

The Nanyue Campaign under Empress Lü

In the ninth month of 181 BCE, Zhao Tuo, king of Nanyue, styled himself Martial Emperor of Nanyue and attacked frontier districts of the Changsha kingdom, taking several counties. Earlier, Empress Lü had accepted a proposal to prohibit the export of iron implements to Nanyue, and relations deteriorated. Zhao Tuo suspected that the policy originated with Wu You, king of Changsha (called Wu Hui in the Records of the Grand Historian), and therefore attacked Changsha.

Empress Lü sent Zhou Zao as general to campaign against Nanyue. His army moved south into Changsha, but intense summer heat and humidity caused widespread epidemic disease, and the troops could not cross Yangshan Ridge, in the Nanling mountains between northern Guangdong and Hunan. The Records of the Grand Historian states that because of the heat and damp, disease spread through the soldiers and “the army could not cross the ridge.” The Han force therefore remained north of the mountains facing Nanyue.

In the seventh month of the following year, 180 BCE, Empress Lü died. The Han halted the offensive and withdrew. During the political transition, Zhao Tuo sent a letter to Zhou Zao asking the Han to remove forces stationed in Changsha and to locate his brothers in Zhending, in present-day Zhengding, Hebei. Zhou Zao forwarded the letter to the court. After Emperor Wen's accession, the Han withdrew as requested, treated Zhao Tuo's relatives in Zhending favorably, and repaired his ancestral graves. Han-Nanyue relations thereby eased.

Campaign against the Xiongnu under Emperor Wen

In the winter of 166 BCE, Laoshang Chanyu Jiyu led 140,000 Xiongnu cavalry into Han territory, breached the Chaona barrier and Xiaoguan, killed Sun Ang, commandant of Beidi, seized people and livestock, reached Pengyang, burned the Huizhong palace, and sent scouts as far as the Ganquan palace in Yong, threatening Chang'an.

Emperor Wen organized an emergency defense. Zhou She, Commandant of the Capital, was made General of the Guards, and Zhang Wu, Chamberlain for Attendants, General of Chariots and Cavalry; they deployed a thousand chariots and 100,000 cavalry near Chang'an. Lu Qing, Marquis of Chang, was made General of Shangjun; Wei Su, Marquis of Ning, General of Beidi; and Zhou Zao General of Longxi, each guarding one commandery. Emperor Wen wished to campaign personally but was dissuaded by Empress Dowager Bo. He therefore appointed Zhang Xiangru, Marquis of Dongyang, Grand General, Dong Chi, Marquis of Cheng, Vanguard General, and Luan Bu as another general, and launched a large counteroffensive. After remaining within the frontier for more than a month, the Xiongnu withdrew, and the Han army pursued beyond the passes before returning.

Zhou Zao thus commanded the Han forces in Longxi as part of the general defense and counterattack. He retained his title Marquis of Longlu after the campaign.

Later Years and Death

Zhou Zao had held his marquisate since 201 BCE and, according to the source's count, passed through seven years of Emperor Gaozu's reign, eight of Emperor Hui, eight under Empress Lü, and seventeen under Emperor Wen, for a total of thirty-nine years as marquis. He died in 163 BCE, the first year of Emperor Wen's Later Yuan period, with the posthumous title Ai; the Book of Han table gives Ke.

His son Zhou Tong succeeded to the title in 162 BCE. In 149 BCE, the first year of Emperor Jing's Middle Yuan period, Zhou Tong was sentenced to the wan punishment, involving shaving of the side hair, and to labor as a wall-builder; the marquisate of Longlu was abolished. According to the Book of Han, in 62 BCE, the fourth year of Emperor Xuan's Yuankang era, an unnamed great-great-grandson of Zhou Zao, then a gongcheng of Yangling, was ordered to have the family household restored.

Major Activities

Joining Liu Bang and Service in the Chu–Han Contention

Zhou Zao joined Liu Bang's army at Dang County as an ordinary soldier in 208 BCE and was one of Liu Bang's early followers. He followed the conquest of Qin, entered Hanzhong as a lian'ao, and later became Commandant of the Long Pike. His fighting against Xiang Yu brought enough merit to earn a marquisate. Although detailed records of his individual engagements are lacking, his progression from common soldier to commandant and then marquis demonstrates substantial military service.

Campaign against Nanyue

In 181 BCE, Zhao Tuo of Nanyue attacked frontier districts of Changsha. Empress Lü sent Zhou Zao with an army to campaign against him. The force reached the Nanling region but could not cross the mountains because of heat, humidity, and epidemic disease, and remained in confrontation with Nanyue for more than a year. After Empress Lü's death the campaign ended. Zhao Tuo's letter to Zhou Zao requesting withdrawal and help locating relatives in Zhending was forwarded by Zhou Zao to the court and indirectly contributed to the easing of Han-Nanyue relations under Emperor Wen.

Resistance to the Xiongnu

In 166 BCE, Laoshang Chanyu invaded with 140,000 cavalry. Zhou Zao was appointed General of Longxi and, alongside Lu Qing in Shangjun and Wei Su in Beidi, guarded the three frontier commanderies before joining the wider counteroffensive under Grand General Zhang Xiangru that drove the Xiongnu back beyond the frontier.

Marquisate and Succession

Zhou Zao was made Marquis of Longlu in 201 BCE and ranked thirty-fourth among the founding marquises. He held the title for thirty-nine years across the reigns of Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Hui, Empress Lü, and Emperor Wen. His son Zhou Tong inherited the title after his death, but the marquisate was abolished after Zhou Tong's conviction in 149 BCE. In 62 BCE a great-great-grandson was ordered to have the family estate restored.

Personal Relations

Rulers

• Liu Bang: Zhou Zao's ruler; Zhou Zao joined his army at Dang and received his marquisate from him
• Lü Zhi: sent Zhou Zao against Nanyue in 181 BCE
• Liu Heng (Emperor Wen): appointed Zhou Zao General of Longxi in 166 BCE to resist the Xiongnu

Colleagues

• Zhang Xiangru: Grand General in the 166 BCE campaign against the Xiongnu, under whose overall command Zhou Zao served
• Lu Qing: General of Shangjun in the same campaign, one of the three commandery generals
• Wei Su: General of Beidi in the same campaign, one of the three commandery generals
• Dong Chi: Vanguard General in the same campaign
• Luan Bu: general in the same campaign

Family

• Zhou Tong: Zhou Zao's son, who inherited the marquisate in 162 BCE and lost it after conviction in 149 BCE

Opponents

• Zhao Tuo: king of Nanyue and target of Zhou Zao's 181 BCE expedition
• Laoshang Chanyu (Jiyu): Xiongnu ruler who invaded in 166 BCE and against whom Zhou Zao was deployed

Historical Assessment

Han Period

• The Records of the Grand Historian summarizes Zhou Zao's record as beginning as an ordinary soldier at Dang, entering Han as a lian'ao, and earning a marquisate by fighting Xiang Yu as Commandant of the Long Pike.
• The Book of Han follows the same basic account, lists him as Marquis Ke of Longlu, and ranks him thirty-fourth among the marquises.
• In its account of the Nanyue campaign, the Records of the Grand Historian records that his army was unable to cross the ridge because of epidemic disease but offers no separate personal judgment.

Wei-Jin through Sui-Tang Periods

• Annotations to Sima Biao's Continuation of the Book of Han and related texts discuss the early Han enfeoffment system, within which Zhou Zao's thirty-fourth-place marquisate was representative.
• Tang scholar Sima Zhen, commenting on the Nanyue account, specifically identified the ridge that blocked Zhou Zao's army as Yangshan Ridge.
• Tang scholar Zhang Shoujie, in the Shiji zhengyi, examined Zhou Zao's rank and the location of Longlu, identifying it with Linlü County of Xiang Prefecture in Tang times.

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods

• Liu Shu's Tongjian waiji retained the Records of the Grand Historian and Book of Han account of the Nanyue expedition and treated Zhou Zao as the principal Han commander.
• Qing scholar Liang Yusheng examined Zhou Zao's recorded merit, marquisate ranking, and posthumous title in detail, arguing that both the Book of Han title Ke and the Records of the Grand Historian title Ai were permissible within posthumous-name practice.
• Qian Daxin's Nian'ershi kaoyi collated differences between the Book of Han and Records of the Grand Historian concerning Zhou Zao and noted graphic variants in the term “long pike.”

Modern Period

• Chen Zhi, in New Evidence for the Records of the Grand Historian, used a bronze inscription referring to the “Longlu household” and suggested that the “Zhou army” marked on a map from Mawangdui Tomb No. 3 may have been Zhou Zao's force during the Nanyue expedition.
• Modern studies of the early Han meritorious elite often cite Zhou Zao as an example of a common soldier rising to marquis through military merit, illustrating the operation of the early Han military-merit system.