 When his other commanders protested at the unfairness of this action to men who had served him loyally for years without any such reward, he complained again of the fickleness of his vassals—all of whom had been his comrades in the wars against Qin or Chu—and admonished them that he would need to depend on the local people of the north to defeat Chen's insurrection.In January 196, a commoner came before Empress Lü at the Han capital Chang'an to plead for the life of his brother, a servant of Han Xin, a general and former king of Qi and Chu who had remained behind during the call to arms because of a grave illness.The servant had offended his master in some way that caused Han to imprison him and threaten him with execution.