In 202 BCE, after defeating Xiang Yu, Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty and became known as Emperor Gaozu.
To establish a dynasty, a set of laws was needed. Liu Bang ordered his chancellor, Xiao He, to create a simple yet effective national code so the people would have laws to follow. Xiao He, already prepared with data from every county and commandery, quickly drafted the *Nine-Chapter Code*.
Han Xin, a brilliant military strategist under Liu Bang, earned great distinction during the Chu-Han War. Liu Bang then appointed him to reorganize military law and train soldiers, bringing the army to full standardization.
After Liu Bang founded the Han Dynasty and ascended the throne, many of his old friends who had fought alongside him were given official positions, yet they still behaved as informally as before, laughing and joking with the emperor without any sense of decorum. Finding this utterly improper, Liu Bang ordered the court scholar Shusun Tong to devise a set of court rituals to govern the conduct of officials. Shusun Tong then established a strict hierarchy of etiquette, complete with bows, prostrations, and formal addresses, which all civil and military officials were required to follow.
After securing the empire, Liu Bang believed that learning from the past was essential for lasting peace, so he ordered the eloquent scholar Lu Jia to analyze why the Qin Dynasty fell, why he himself had won, and the rise and fall of previous dynasties. Lu Jia completed the work, and a pleased Liu Bang named it *New Discourses*.
To honor his founding officials, Liu Bang had their deeds recorded in cinnabar on iron covenants, sealed in golden cabinets within stone chambers, and stored permanently in the ancestral temple.
Emperor Liu Bang was overwhelmed with a mountain of tasks each day, leaving him not a single moment of leisure (ri bu xia gei), yet the list of things he wished to accomplish stretched endlessly, far beyond what he could ever finish.
Later, people used the idiom "No Time to Spare" to describe being so busy that there is no free time each day.
Source: *Book of Han*, Chapter "Annals of Emperor Gao, Part Two"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "日不暇给" came to describe being so busy that there is no free time each day.