In the Han Dynasty， there was a man named Guan Fu. He and his father Guan Meng were close friends to an marquis named Guan Ying and served as his advisors. During the ruling period of Emperor Jing， seven vassal states staged a revolt against the central government. Guan Fu and his father joined the army and fought in the war under Du Yijng’s command. In a battle， Guan Meng got killed and Guan Fu， who marched deeply into the enemy’s battle line， was severely injured. After this battle， Guan Fu was widely known for his courage and Dou Ying， the commanding general in the court， thought very highly of him.
　　Dou Ying was the niece of Empress Dowager Dou， who was the mother of Emperor Jing. He made great contributions to the pacification of the Revolt of Seven Vassal States and thus was given the title as a marquis. However， Emperor Jing did not like his cousin because of his arrogance. When Emperor Wu succeeded the crown from Emperor Jing， he completely ignored Dou Ying and refused to promote him. After the death of Empress Dowager Dou， the power of the Do family fell down further.
　　At that time， Tian Fen’s family was the most powerful and influential among all imperial relatives. As Emperor Wu’s uncle， he was much younger and less experienced than Dou Ying. However， his close relation to the young Emperor Wu made him the Prime Minister. Holding such a high position， Tian Fen looked down upon Dou Ying and other ministers in the court. Even Emperor Wu had to endure his arrogance without proper punishment. Those timeserving people all threw themselves to Tian Fen. In comparison， Dou Ying was poorly treated as quite a few people befriended this relative to former Emperor Dowager Dou.
　　At that time， Guan Fu was dismissed for some incidents after serving the court in different places. He lived in Chang’an idly but remained irritated over his encounter. He and Dou Ying， who were both ignored by the court， got along well with each other.
　　When Tian Fen married a new wife， he held a great banquet to which all nobles and ministers went to offer their congratulations. Dou Ying invited Guan Fu to go there together for the courtesy’s sake. Guan Fu， who looked down upon Tian Fen， was reluctant to go but was persuaded by Dou Ying. In the banquet， all guests needed to propose a toast to the hose as requested by the traditions and customs. When it was Guan Fu’s turn， Tian Fen refused to accept his proposal of toast. When he proposed a toast to Guan Xian， the grandson of Guan Ying and a close friend to Tian Fen， Guan Xian purposely ignored him by talking to others. 　　Their ignorance angered Guan Fu. He pointed at Guan Xian and shouted： “I am older and senior to you. How dared you not even stand up when I proposed the toast to you？ How could you even whisper to others like a girl？”
　　Seeing Guan Fu’s rage and losing temper， Tian Fen immediately ordered his men to arrest him. Someone tried to talk Guan Fu into pleading guilty to Tian Fen， but Guan Fu rejected and spoke of something harsh. Tian Fen threw him into the prison and detained all of his family members， attempting to kill them all.
　　Dou Ying regretted very much， blaming his inviting Guan Fu to Tian’s banquet for Guan’s doom. He spared no money buying time and sympathy for Guan Fu. Finally he got a chance to meet Emperor Wu. There he talked to the emperor that “Guan Fu was known for his bravery and stockpiling contributions. It is too much to behead him and his family just for a quarrel at the Prime Minister’s banquet.”
　　Emperor Wu summoned Tian Fen and other ministers present in the banquet to find more information about the incident. Tian Fen said that Guan Fu was a tyranny in his hometown by treating local people badly and took a lot of money from them by force. Dou Ying was angered and revealed Tian Fen’s malpractices of embezzlement. In retaliation， Tian Fen said that Dou Ying was busy recruiting capable men with the intention of rebellion.
　　Emperor Wu found it hard to make a decision. He asked the ministers to speak their own opinions. However， most of them were not willing to offend these two imperial relatives， so they just spoke ambiguously， leaving the emperor at a dilemma. The emperor had no way but to solace Tian Fen and Dou Ying respectively and set Guan Fu free. Tian Fen was very unpleased. He said to one of the ministers after leaving the palace. “Why don’t you work with me against Dou Ying but act cowardly like a mouse that looks after both its head and tail nervously？”