Long Ju (; died 204 BC) was a Chinese military general who served under the warlord

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (), born Xiang Ji, was a Chinese warlord who founded and led the short-lived ancient Chinese states, kingdom-state of Western Chu during the interregnum period between the Qin dynasty, Qin and Han dynasty, Han dynasties of China, d ...

during the

Chu–Han Contention The Chu–Han Contention (), also known as the Chu–Han War (), was an interregnum in Imperial China between the fall of the Qin dynasty and the establishment of the Han dynasty. After the Qin dynasty was overthrown in 206 BCE, the empir ...

(206–202 BC), an

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

between the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

and

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Life

Long Ju was a childhood friend of Xiang Yu; they were as close as brothers. When Xiang Yu's uncle

Xiang Liang Xiang Liang (; died 208 BC) was a Chinese military leader who led a rebellion against the Qin dynasty between 209 and 208 BC. He is best known as an uncle of Xiang Yu, the rival of the Han dynasty's founding emperor Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Ban ...

started a rebellion against the

in 208 BC, Long Ju accompanied the Xiangs on battles against Qin forces and became a trusted lieutenant of Xiang Yu. Following the fall of the Qin dynasty in 206 BC, Xiang Yu, who had declared himself "Hegemon-King of

Western Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted during the Spring a ...

", appointed Long Ju as a general in his army. Long Ju fought for Xiang Yu during the

against Xiang Yu's rival,

Liu Bang Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one o ...

(King of Han. After Xiang Yu defeated Liu Bang at the Battle of Pengcheng in 205 BC, he put Long Ju in command of his elite cavalry forces composed of hired

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

warriors. In late 205 BC, after

Ying Bu Ying Bu (died November or December 196 BC) was a Chinese military general, monarch, politician, and warlord who lived during the early Han dynasty. He was a native of Lu County (六縣; present-day Lu'an, Anhui). In his early life under the Qin ...

betrayed Xiang Yu and defected to Liu Bang's side, Xiang Yu sent Long Ju to attack Ying Bu. Long Ju defeated Ying Bu in

Jiujiang Jiujiang, formerly transliterated Kiukiang and Kew-Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level ...

and destroyed most of his forces; Ying Bu had no choice but to flee under his bodyguards' protection and take shelter under Liu Bang. In 204 BC, Liu Bang sent his general Han Xin to lead a separate force to attack Qi. Sensing that Han Xin posed a threat on the northern front, Xiang Yu ordered Long Ju to lead reinforcements to help the Qi forces fend off Han Xin's attacks. The combined strength of the Chu and Qi forces, under Long Ju's command, was around 200,000 when they engaged Han Xin and his troops at the Battle of Wei River in present-day

Weifang Weifang ( zh, s=潍坊, t=濰坊, p=Wéifāng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. During the battle, Han Xin feigned defeat to put Long Ju off guard and lure him into a trap. When Long Ju led only dozens of his men in pursuit of Han Xin, the latter ordered his troops to open a dam and release the waters of the Wei River to flood the battlefield, separating Long Ju and his group from the rest of the Chu and Qi forces. Without their commander, the Chu and Qi forces were thrown into confusion and Long Ju found himself surrounded by Han Xin's forces. Despite fighting for his life, Long Ju was eventually overwhelmed and killed in battle.

References

Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...

. ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'', Volume 95. {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Ju 204 BC deaths Chu–Han contention people Year of birth unknown