Emperor Gaozu of Han

Liu Bang was born into a peasant family, rare among dynastic founders, and worked as a low-level law enforcement officer in Pei County under the Qin. When Qin Shi Huang died and the empire fractured, Liu Bang abandoned his post, took up arms, and forced the surrender of the Qin ruler Ziying in 206 BC. His rival Xiang Yu parceled out the fallen Qin's lands and shunted Liu Bang to Bashu, a poor backwater, as "King of Han." Within a year Liu Bang broke out, conquered the Three Qins, and fought a brutal civil war that ended at the Battle of Gaixia in 202 BC. He declared the Han dynasty, cut taxes, promoted Confucianism, crushed vassal revolts, and arranged marriages with the Xiongnu after a defeat at Baideng. In his final years he tried to replace his heir Liu Ying with Lady Qi's son Liu Ruyi, whom he thought stronger, but Empress Lü blocked him. He died in 195 BC; Empress Lü had Lady Qi and her son executed.