Dynasties of ChinaWarring States periodQin State
Reign 306–251 BCE
In the fifty-sixth year of his reign, he used Bai Qi and Fan Ju to make distant and close attacks. The Battle of Changping severely damaged the State of Zhao, and the unification of the Qin State was completed.
Ying Ji was the son of King Huiwen of Qin and the half-brother of King Wu. He was held hostage in Yan State. In the early days, his mother Xuantaihou Mibazi and Wei Ran were in power. Wei Ran recommended Bai Qi as a general many times and put down Ji Jun's rebellion. When Xuantaihou was in power, he trapped and killed the king of Yiqu and sent troops to destroy Yiqu. The northern border of Qin State was then stabilized.
After that, the Qin army went eastward in successive years: in 293 BC, the allied forces of Han and Wei were defeated in the Battle of Yique. In 278 BC, Bai Qi captured Ying, the capital of Chu, and established Nanjun; Sima Cuo and Bai Qi also captured Qianzhong and Wujun of Chu. In 288 BC, the King of Qin was once called the Western Emperor, but this was immediately revoked. In 266 BC, Fan Ju paid homage to the prime minister and proposed the strategy of "diplomacy far away and attack close by", and deposed powerful relatives such as Wei Ran, the Marquis of Rang, and the royal power became more centralized.
In 260 BC, the Qin army defeated the Zhao army in Changping. Bai Qi killed and surrendered the soldiers, and the vitality of the Zhao state was seriously damaged. In 257 BC, Bai Qi was sentenced to death because he refused to attack Handan again. In 256 BC, Qin destroyed Western Zhou and the Zhou Dynasty was destroyed. In his later years, Shu governor Li Bing built Dujiangyan, and the Chengdu Plain became the granary of Qin. King Zhaoxiang died in 251 BC and reigned for fifty-six years. He was the longest-reigning monarch in Qin, laying a decisive advantage for King Zheng of Qin to unify the world in the future.
During the fifty-sixth year of the reign of King Zhaoxiang, Qin developed from a powerful country that stood side by side with the princes to a hegemon capable of swallowing up the world. He appointed Wei Ran, Bai Qi, Fan Ju and others to defeat Han and Wei, severely inflicted heavy losses on Chu and Zhao, destroyed Yiqu, and annexed Bashu and Chu lands. His territory and national power expanded unprecedentedly; water conservancy projects such as Dujiangyan also consolidated the economic foundation. However, Changping pitted soldiers and suspected heroes, which also left a cruel side. He is one of the true founders of Qin's great cause of unification.
PoliticsReturn to China and ascend the throne
King Wu died raising the tripod, and Prince Ji, who was held as hostage in Yan State, was escorted back to the country by Zhao Wulingwang and ascended the throne. His mother Xuantaihou Mi Bazi and his uncle Wei Ran were in charge, and Wei Ran put down the rebellion of Prince Zhuang (Ji Jun).
PeopleMeng Changjun entered the Qin Dynasty
Meng Changjun of the State of Qi and Tian Wen entered the Qin Dynasty as prime minister, but were soon suspected and imprisoned. He relied on a retainer to pretend to be a dog and stole a fox-white fur coat to offer to the King of Qin's beloved concubine. He also relied on a retainer to imitate the rooster's crow to trick him into opening Hangu Pass, and escaped back overnight.
Lasting legacyThe idiom "cocks crow and dogs robber" comes from this incident.
MilitaryBattle of Yique
Bai Qi led the Qin army to defeat the combined forces of Han and Wei in Yique, beheading 240,000 people, capturing Wei general Gongsun happy, and captured five cities. Bai Qi was promoted to Daliang Zao.
Lasting legacyYique is now Longmen in Luoyang. The Longmen Grottoes, which were excavated on the cliffs on both sides of the Strait after the Northern Wei Dynasty, were listed as world cultural heritage in 2000.
DiplomacyWestern Emperor Eastern Emperor
The King Zhaoxiang of Qin was proclaimed the Western Emperor, and sent Wei Ran to the State of Qi to honor King Qi Min as the Eastern Emperor. The Su Dynasty persuaded King Min of Qi to give up his imperial title and unite the princes to fight against Qin. Soon both countries canceled their imperial titles.
MilitaryBai Qi Po Ying
Bai Qi conquered Ying, the capital of Chu State, burned Yiling, and Qin State established Nanjun. The Chu State was forced to move its capital to Chen, and its power declined greatly. The following year Sima Cuo took Chu and central Guizhou, and a large area of Chu land returned to Qin.
Lasting legacyQin established Nanjun in the Chu region, and its administrative seat was in the area of present-day Jingzhou, Hubei; the bamboo slips unearthed from the Qin tomb in Yunmengsuihudi, Hubei came from the tombs of officials in Nanjun.
PoliticsMie Yiqu
Xuantaihou trapped and killed King Yiqu, and the Qin army immediately sent troops to destroy Yiqu, established three counties of Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun, and built the Great Wall to defend the Huns. The northern and northwest areas of Qin were stabilized from then on.
Lasting legacyThe name Longxi is still used today, and it is now Longxi County, Gansu Province; the ruins of the Qin Great Wall still exist in Gansu, Ningxia and other places.
PeopleFan Ju entered Qin
Fan Ju from Wei changed his name to Zhang Lu and entered the Qin Dynasty. He proposed to the King Zhaoxiang the strategy of "making friends at a distance and attacking at the near side". He advocated making friends with distant countries such as Qi and Chu, and first attacked neighboring countries such as Han and Wei, and gradually encroached on them. This strategy became the basic policy of the Qin State from then on.
Lasting legacy"Distant diplomacy and close attack" were included in the "Thirty-Six Strategies" and are still commonly used diplomacy and competition strategies today.
MilitaryFight with him
The Qin army crossed the Korean border to attack Zhao Lanyu. Zhao General Zhao She first set up a strong wall in the west of Wu'an to lure the enemy to relax. Then he used elite troops to seize the high ground of Beishan and defeated the Qin army. This was an important setback for Qin's eastward advance.
PoliticsWaste Ranghou
Fan Ju paid homage to the prime minister and pointed out to the King Zhaoxiang the power of the four nobles including the Queen Mother and Ranghou Wei Ran. "I heard that there was a Queen Mother and Ranghou, but I didn't hear that there was a king." King Zhaoxiang deposed Wei Ran and expelled the Queen Mother, Huayang Jun and others.
MilitaryTake the wild king and surround the party
The Qin army captured Han Yewang and cut off the connection between Shangdang and Handu. Feng Ting, the governor of Shangdang County, surrendered to Zhao. The conflict between Qin and Zhao for Shangdang intensified, triggering the Battle of Changping.
MilitaryBattle of Changping
The Qin and Zhao armies faced each other in Changping. King Zhao believed that Qin was rebelling and replaced Lian Po with Zhao Kuo. Bai Qi lured the enemy deep and cut off Zhao's army's food routes. Zhao Kuo died in battle. According to "Historical Records", Bai Qi killed 400,000 soldiers in pits.
Lasting legacyA large number of corpse pits were unearthed at the Changping Ancient Battlefield Site in Gaoping, Shanxi, and relics such as the "Skeleton Temple" remain in the area to this day.
PeopleBai Qi gives death
After the Changping War, Bai Qi advocated taking advantage of the victory to attack Handan, the capital of Zhao, but Fan Ju and others blocked the opportunity and missed the opportunity. Later, he claimed to be ill and refused to go to war. He was demoted to a soldier by the King Zhaoxiang and expelled from Xianyang. When he went to Du You, he was given a sword and committed suicide.
PoliticsEliminate Western Zhou
The general of Qin attacked Western Zhou, and the king of Western Zhou went to Qin to kowtow and apologize, offering thirty-six cities with a population of thirty thousand. In the same year, King Nan of Zhou Dynasty passed away and the Zhou Dynasty was destroyed. It is said that Jiuding of Zhou Dynasty was moved to Qin State.
Science & technologyLi Bing repairs Dujiangyan
Li Bing, the governor of Shu County, presided over the construction of Dujiangyan, which used Yuzui to divert water, Feishayan to release floods and sand, and Baopingkou to divert water, which saved the Chengdu Plain from flooding and allowed irrigation, making it the granary of the Qin State.
Lasting legacyDujiangyan was listed as a World Cultural Heritage along with Qingcheng Mountain in 2000. It still irrigates the Chengdu Plain and is the oldest existing dam-less water diversion project.
PoliticsKing Zhaoxiang passed away
King Zhaoxiang passed away, reigning for fifty-six years. Crown Prince An Guojun came to the throne after a year of mourning, and was named King Xiaowen. At this time, the Qin State already owned Guanzhong, Bashu, Hanzhong, Nanjun, Shangdang and other vast territories, with strong troops and a vast territory.
A native of Chu State with the surname Mi, he was called Mi Bazi. After the King Zhaoxiang ascended the throne, she ruled for a long time as the Queen Mother, trapping and killing King Yiqu and sending troops to destroy Yiqu. She was the earliest Queen Mother in Chinese history.
Xuantaihou's half-brother and uncle of King Zhaoxiang. He served as prime minister four times, recommended Bai Qi, quelled the rebellion of Ji Jun, defeated Qi and captured Song Dynasty, but was later squeezed out by the rebels and died in the country.
A famous general of Qin. The Battle of Yique, the Battle of Yanying and the Battle of Changping are all his masterpieces. He captured more than 70 cities in his life. Later, he was ordered to die in Du You because he refused to attack Handan again.
A native of Wei, he was severely beaten by the Prime Minister of Wei State, Wei Qi, and changed his name to Zhang Lu and entered Qin. He proposed the strategy of "making friends far away and attacking close by", and was worshiped as prime minister and granted the title of Marquis of Ying. Later, because the recommended person was implicated in a crime, he was said to be ill and resigned.
He presided over the construction of Dujiangyan, excavated the mouth of Baoping, built Yuzui and Feishaweir, which helped reduce floods and droughts in the Chengdu Plain and turned it into the "Land of Abundance".
During the period of King Huiwen, Bashu was destroyed, and during the period of King Zhaoxiang, he sent troops from Shu to capture Qianzhong and Wujun of Chu State, which contributed greatly to Qin's expansion to the south.
He was a tax collector in Zhao State and was recommended as a general by Ping Yuanjun. Yan defeated the Qin army in a battle with him and was granted the title of Ma Fujun; his son Zhao Kuo was later defeated in the Battle of Changping.
Ming Tianwen, one of the four princes in the Warring States period, had thousands of diners. After entering the Qin Dynasty as prime minister in 298 BC, he was suspected. He escaped from Hangu Pass with the help of his retainers and was later reinstated as the prime minister of Qi.