6. 500 to 221 BC

6.1. Keywords

  • han fell

  • wei fell

  • state period

  • yan fell

  • zhao fell

  • alliance qin

  • queen

  • wei

  • chu

  • han

6.2. Events

  • (500–221) Waring States Period

  • The Chu government had become very corrupt and inefficient with much of the state’s treasury to pay for a large official retinue. Many officials had no meaningful task to the state except taking money. Thus, Chu’s large army was of low quality due to poor funding [20007p].

  • King Dao of Chu (楚悼王) made Wu Qi his prime minister. Wu Qi’s reforms began in 389 BCE to transform Chu into an efficient and powerful state, lowering the salaries of officials and removing useless ones. He also enacted building codes to make the capital, Ying seem less barbaric. Despite Wu Qi’s massive unpopularity with the Chu government (except the King), his reforms made Chu very powerful until the early 300’s BCE, when Zhao and Qin were ascendant. Chu’s powerful army annexed Chen and Cai states, defeating the states of Wei and Yue [20007p].

  • Wu Qi was assassinated by the Chu officials at the funeral of King Dao [20007p].

  • Chu and Qi partitioned and annexed the coastal state of Yue [20007p].

  • Qi and Chu formed alliance against Qin [20007r].

  • When King of Wei died, he asked Qin to vacate from Wei. Qi, Chu, Han, Zhao, and Yan attacked Qin on Wei’s behalf [20007r].

  • Qi and Chu disagreement over military command ended joint campaign against Qin [20007r].

  • Hua Bazi, an imperial concubine of King Hui Wen of Qin, aided by her stepbrother, Wei Ran, politically manipulated for her son, Ce, to become king of Qin after the heir appearant, Dang, died in a weight lifting accident. Hua Bazi would become known as Queen Dowager Xuan, and her son would become known as King Zhao Xiang [Pet00]. Hua Bazi was born in Chu, and would maintain a friendly relationship with Chu [Pet00]. Queen Dowager Xuan would effectively rule and administer Qin with the help of Wei Ran and prime minister Chu Liji for 41 years [Pet00].

  • Chu invaded Han [Pet00]. Queen Dowager Xuan of Qin refused to send troops to the aid of Han [Pet00].

  • Queen Dowager Xuan forced her son, Ce, to marry a princess of Chu, as his queen [Pet00].

  • Qi, Qin, and Chu made agreement to recognize the hegemony of the 3 states. The tripartite agreement ended when a Chu prince living in Qin killed a patrician and fled [20007r].

  • King Huai of Chu was allured to visit the court of Qin. He was taken prisoner and died. He was succeeded by King Qingziang. The Chu capital was sacked, forcing King Qingziang to move eastward. The death of King Huai marked the beggining of the end of the Chu Kingdom [20007a].

  • Queen Dowager Xuan was cut from power by her son, King Zhao Xiang [Pet00].

  • Queen Dowager Xuan died and was titled, outsanding stateswoman [Pet00].

  • Han fell to Qin [20007r].

  • Zhao fell to Qin [20007r].

  • Yan fell to Qin [20007r].

  • Wei fell to Qin [20007r].

  • First invasion by Qin troops were defeated by 500,000 Chu troops in the unfamiliar territory of Huaiyang, modern-day northern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. The Qin general was Li Xing, who was inexperienced [20007p].

  • Wang Jian, was called by Qin King to lead a second invasion with 600,000 men. Chu’s morale was greatly increased after their success in defeating the seemingly invincible army of Qin the year before. The Chu forces were content to sit back and defend and believed it was Qin’s intention to besiege Chu. However, Wang Jian tricked the Chu army by appearing to play around in his fortifications but secretly training his troops to fight in Chu territory. After a year, Chu decided to disband due to inaction. Wang Jian invaded at the best moment with full force to overrun Huaiyang and the remaining Chu forces. Chu lost the initiative and could only sustain local guerrilla-style resistance until fully conquered in 223 BCE. During their peak sizes, both armies of Chu and Qin combined numbered over 1,000,000 troops [20007p].

  • Chu fell to Qin [20007r]. Since Chu was the last state to fall, only 11 years before the death of Qin Shihuang and did not suffer great massacres or destruction, it was the leading state in the anti-Qin rebellion. Chu people were resentful of the forced labor under Qin and folk poems record the sadness of the Chu families of men who worked in the frigid north to construct the Great Wall of China. Eventually, two men from the Chu land, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu led the anti-Qin revolution and fought each other in the Chu-Han Contention to rule China. Liu Bang prevailed and created the Han Dynasty that lasted for 400 years [20007p].