Week 6: Why did Yuan Ang's plan to stop the rebellion without war fail?

During the revolt led by Liu Ping, (Han 1 on p. 413, Yuan Ang shares with the Han emperor Jing a plan that seems perfect (execute Chao Cuo, return the feudal lands, and pardon the rebelling kings). Yet, even after Chao Cuo’s death, Liu Pi continues his military campaign. Why did the plan fail? SQ brings together Chao Cuo and Yuan Ang in one chapter and at 465b-466 his end remarks about each one of them hint to a common feature: both were fixated on themselves and missed the perspectives of others. Along these lines, I want to understand if this trait made Yuan Ang’s plan fail. Although brilliant, Yuan Ang’s plan considered only the logistics and, just like Chao Cuo, thought like a clerk, yet ignored the feudal kings' values, who saw the world differently. They were warrior kings (Han 2 p.197m: ‘every one of them was a “lord of ten thousand chariots”) and as warrior lords they valued honor and were there to protect their lands and families-all of which were compromised for Liu Pi (In Han 1 p. 404, Liu Pi’s son was killed over a game of chess by the prince who is now emperor Jing. To add insult to injury, 404-405, his body was not buried in the capital, but sent to Wu, which Liu Pi found demeaning). On p. 407, SQ writes that Liu Pi choses Liu Ang, the king of Chiao-Hsi as a partner in starting the revolt because he “was a brave and spirited man who was fond of warfare.”-again, warrior values held high. Additionally, although 62, the king of Wu acts as a warrior and leads “his troops in person” (p. 410), and his son, only 14, will also be on the field. By contrast, emperor Jing stays at court and sends “an army of 36 generals” to fight for him (p. 410-11). To sum it all up, what we see here is that just as Chao Cuo before him made plans that ignored the feudal kings’ values and when opposed, “gave himself to personal vindictiveness” which brought his destruction, Yuan Ang ignored Liu Pi’s hurt honor and pride, and thus, designed with a clerk's views but blind to the warrior kings’ values, his plan was meant to fail to appeal to them and bring peace.

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