Eastern Zhou - Part V - The Partition of Jin

-We now enter, more or less, into the Warring States Period (c. 475-221 BC).  How did we get here?
   -The Zhou kings were completely powerless and couldn't control their vassal states from fighting each other or declaring independence.
      -This was exacerbated by the breakdown in family ties which was supposed to unify the various duchies.
   -Barbarian tribes were also being incorporated into the outer states in order to expand states' lands and army sizes!  Smart!
   -Transition from the Spring and Autumn Period was a slow decline into chaos that took about 80 years or so to truly manifest.
-However, the major catalyst for truly ushering in the Warring States Period was an event known as "The Partition of Jin".
   -Due to infighting among rival dukes from different clans, the kingdom of Jin was split into three different states:
      -Han (south Jin)
      -Wei (middle Jin)
      -Zhao (north Jin)
   -How did this happen?
      -Up to this point, Jin had been a powerful kingdom alongside the states/kingdoms of Qin (in the west), Chu (in the south), Qi (in the northeast), and Yan (north-northwest).
         -Jin had even beaten Chu pretty badly in the 6th century, which was a big deal because up till then Chu had been the most powerful state.
         -Unfortunately, Jin succumbed to the same bullshit that has brought down so many other kingdoms and empires and history- problems with successions.
            -This resulted in constant inter-clan fighting, violence, and civil wars.
            -Oddly enough, it was Jin's transition into a meritocracy (in terms of government administration (not including the king or royal family, of course)).  Unfortunately, the way they did it was to appoint non-clan members (political allies) into positions of power, which essentially turned what was supposed to be a meritocracy into an oligarchy.
               -This caused the state to split into feudal sub-powers and stripped the duke of his overall power over the state, which resulted in a gridlock that caused stagnation while the surrounding states/kingdoms continued to develop.
   -c. 550 BC- there were six clans (known as "The Six Retainers") that dominated Jin:
      -Zhao, Wei, Han, Fan, Zhi, and Zhonghang
   -497 BC- civil war broke out among all six retainers AND the duke!
      -The Fan and Zhonghang clans were quickly wiped out.
    -450 BC- the Zhi clan came to be the most dominant, but the civil war wasn't finished yet.
      -Because of this, the Han and Wei clans began to cave in, but the Zhao refused to give up!
        -Pissed off, the Zhi clan forged a secret alliance with the Han and Wei clans to crush the Zhao clan. 
            -The Zhao clan knew what was going on, however, so the Zhao leader Zhao Xiangzi fled to the fortified city of Jinyang (modern-day Taiyuan, Shanxi Province).  Jinyang was chosen by Zhao Xiangzi because it had a good defensive position, access to flowing water (via the Fen River), a loyal populace, etc.
               -The Battle of Jinyang took place later on in 450 BC with the arrival of the allied forces of the Zhi, Wei, and Han clans.  The siege lasted for six months, but because of the lack of siege warfare technology the allied forces had a tough time getting Jinyang to crack.  Finally, they hatched a plan to divert the Fen River so that it no longer flowed alongside the city, but INTO it.  This plan worked, and by using dams and shit they were able to completely flood the city, and while this severely fucked up Jinyang, it still didn't surrender!  Finally, after three years (!), the Zhao clan's allied forces started to crack.
                  -However, Zhao Xiangzi's advisers proposed that they try to reach out to the other clans (Han and Wei) to try and get them to flip on the Zhi clan.  The deal would be that if they helped the Zhao clan out, then they all would divide up the Zhi clan's territory among themselves.
                      -This plan surprisingly worked!  The Wei and Han clans agreed to mutiny against the Zhi clan.
                          -Zhi Yao, the viscount of the Zhi clan, even heard about the plot beforehand, but I guess he refused to believe it.  Whoops!
                    -The Zhao clan then worked with their new friends to use the Fen River to flood the Zhi clan's camp!  Once they did this, the three clans then attacked the Zhi camp as they were distracted with managing the flood, and the Zhi clan's army was then wiped out.
                       -Zhi Yao was captured, executed, and had his skull made into a wine cup :/
              -So, the Battle of Jinyang was finally over and the Zhi clan was eliminated, but where to go from here?
                 -453 BC- The Zhao, Wei, and Han clans divided up the lands of Jin for themselves in an uneasy truce (the duke, whom no one gave a shit about, got to keep a tiny sliver of territory for himself).
                    -The state of Jin was at this point essentially ruled by three different clans- a period known as The Three Jins, starting c. 403 BC when King Weilie (Zhou dynasty king #39) recognized these territories as equal sovereign states.
-The Partition of Jin is important because it was the catalyst for the ultimate breakdown of Eastern Zhou (which is known today as the Warring States Period).
   -Up till this point, Jin had been the last pillar of stability in the kingdom, but now it was essentially just a free-for-all with no real unity besides superficial loyalty to the Zhou royalty.
    -Chu began to prepare once again for wars of expansion.
   -Qi and Qin began to cautiously expand as well, but also built up their defenses and prepare for invasion.
   -The Three Jins then changed their respective state/kingdom names to Han, Wei, and Zhao (after their ruling clan names), which was much less confusing then all of them going by the name "Jin".