After the fall of the Qin dynasty, China was divided into the Eighteen Kingdoms and Liu Bang was made the King of Hàn (漢王), with his domain in the remote Bashu region (present-day Chongqing and Sichuan).
This marked the beginning of the Chu–Han Contention – a four-year power struggle for supremacy over China between Liu Bang and his rival Xiang Yu.
Hán Xin was granted the lands around Yingchuan as his vassal kingdom, with the capital at Yangzhai (陽翟; present-day Yuzhou, Henan).
Hán Xin knew that the emperor doubted his loyalty and feared that he and his family might be exterminated, so he betrayed the Hàn Empire and sided with the Xiongnu.
In 197 BC, Hán Xin sent Wang Huang (王黃) to convince Chen Xi to rebel against the Hàn Empire, which the latter did.
However, Hán Xin refused, claiming he had already committed high treason three times by allying with the Xiongnu on three occasions to attack the Hàn Empire.