-210 BC- so, Qín Shǐ Huáng was dead. Next in line to replace him as emperor was his eldest son, Crown Prince Fúsū (who had up till then been forced into "military duty" (i.e. exile) in the north for criticizing his father).
-However, because Fúsū was far away, those in power who were present at Qín Shǐ Huáng's death (Imperial Chancellor Lǐ Sī, Prefect (of the Office for Imperial Carriages) Zhào Gāo, Prince Húhài (Prince Fúsū's younger brother), and maybe some eunuchs and shit) quickly realized that they had an excellent opportunity to just seize power for themselves!
-Zhào Gāo was basically Ancient China's version of Varys from Game of Thrones haha, although it's unclear as to if Zhào Gāo was actually a eunuch or not (there seems to be evidence supporting both sides).
-There's actually one theory that argues that Zhào Gāo was actually a member of the Zhào royal family (from the state/kingdom of Zhào (which had been conquered by Qín in 228 BC)) and thus was seeking revenge on the Qín dynasty for conquering his family's kingdom!
-Qín Shǐ Huáng seemed to have taken a liking to Zhào Gāo (who was also well-educated) because eventually he began serving as a tutor for Prince Húhài.
-Anyway, the plan was to forge Qín Shǐ Huáng's will so that Húhài was named heir to the throne, not Fúsū!
-Besides just wanting to hold onto power, it made sense for Zhào Gāo to want to do this. If Prince Fúsū was enthroned, then it was most likely that the commander of his armies would be General Méng Tián (fun fact: he's credited with inventing the ink brush!), someone whom Zhào Gāo had a serious political rivalry with. So, it's reasonable to assume that Prince Fúsū being enthroned as emperor could mean imprisonment or even death for Zhào Gāo.
-Apparently, it was also mentioned in the forged will that both Fúsū and Méng Tián were to be either executed or forced to commit suicide (that's not suspicious at all, right?).
-This resulted in Prince Fúsū following these orders and committing suicide, but Méng Tián immediately smelled a rat and immediately started to do some digging. However, unfortunately for him this resulted in his arrest and execution (in addition to the arrest and execution of his family as well, which made things work out even better for Zhào Gāo!).
-Thus, because of these treachery Prince Húhài was enthroned and took the imperial name Qín Èr Shì ("Second Generation of Qín")!
-Unfortunately, Qín Èr Shì would end up being a pretty shitty emperor, and even today his name is part of a negative phrase "describing spoiled children raised by wealthy parents, growing up with little or no moral values, or any forms of necessary daily life skills" (according to Wikipedia haha).
-Of course, a weak/incompetent emperor was exactly what Zhào Gāo and Lǐ Sī wanted because it would allow them to actually call the shots behind the scenes. Plus, Zhào Gāo especially was able to manipulate Qín Èr Shì because before he was emperor Zhào Gāo had served for years as his trusted teacher and mentor.
-As imperial chancellor, Zhào Gāo was able to convince Qín Èr Shì that it was best for the emperor to remain isolated deep within the imperial palace at the capital and only communicate with Zhào Gāo (ha!).
-It was only a matter of months before Chancellor Zhào had completely isolated the emperor, and soon Chancellor Zhào was essentially ruling as emperor himself (in all but name only).
-Because of Zhào Gāo's paranoia/pursuit of absolute power, soon members of the imperial family began to be spied upon, imprisoned, and sometimes even executed/forced to commit suicide!
-209 BC- because of the chaos in the imperial court (and presumably across the empire as a result), there were a series of uprisings against the throne, the first of which became known as the Dàzéxiāng Uprising (AKA the Chén Shèng and Wú Guǎng Uprising).
-The Dàzéxiāng Uprising began when the generals Chén Shèng and Wú Guǎng were heading north on a mission to defend a town against Xiōngnú invaders but were forced to delay due to a storm and subsequent flooding. This was extremely problematic because the Qín government had just passed a new law declaring that showing up late to a government job or assignment would result in immediate execution (stupid law), so the generals felt that they had no choice but to fight for their lives and rebel (even if they only had like 900 men with them!).
-In order to give their insurrection a little more legitimacy, the generals decided to rebel in the name of their former state/kingdom, Chǔ (which had been conquered by Qín, of course), with General Chén being enthroned as the new king of Rising Chǔ ("Zhāng Chǔ Wáng")!
-The generals then immediately began a propaganda campaign in attempt to spread the news about Qín Èr Shì not being the rightful heir to the throne and shit like that.
-It wasn't hard to get people to join their side, as the Qín dynasty had already pissed off everyone by raising taxes in order to pay for the wall in the north as well as their vanity projects, lavish lifestyle, etc.
-Because of this, the Dàzéxiāng Uprising soon went from 900 men to over 20,000!
-Unfortunately, this revolt wouldn't last long, as the rebel armies were really little more than armed peasants without real equipment or training, and they were soon crushed by the Qín dynasty's armies.
-Within six months, Chén Shèng's armies were broken, and Chén Shèng himself was ultimately assassinated by his own guard, Zhuāng Jiǎ, in 208 BC.
-However, it's important to note that although the Dàzéxiāng Uprising had been quelled, the seeds of discord has been sewn; soon, lawlessness and civil unrest were popping up all over the empire.
-208 BC- Zhào Gāo further consolidates his grip on imperial power by convincing Qín Èr Shì that Lǐ Sī and other high-ranking officials were conspiring against the emperor, so Qín Èr Shì gave the orders to have Lǐ Sī (and his family!) imprisoned, brutally tortured (via the Wǔ Xíng ("Five Punishments") method, which included having his nose cut off, followed by a hand and a foot, then castration, before finally being executed (by way of yāo zhǎn ("waist chop")), which was actually part of an ancient series of torture and execution methods that had been revived by Lǐ Sī himself!)!
-One example of Zhào Gāo's cunning involved an incident in 207 BC in which he brought a deer into the court of the emperor and claimed it was a horse. The courtiers who happened to be with Zhào Gāo were divided; some agreed with him and said it was a horse, while others didn't go along with it. Of course, Zhào Gāo took note of who agreed it was a horse and who didn't so he could recall who to have executed later that day.
-That pretty much removed all doubt among the officials as to who was really ruling the empire.
-Meanwhile in the south, the idea of a revival of the kingdom of Chǔ still hadn't died out among the local population.
-In fact, after the news of Chén Shèng's defeat, one dude had named himself Jǐng Jū decided that he would crown himself "Chǔ Wáng" ("the King of Chǔ") and that the Kingdom of Chǔ was back!
-However, he was soon defeated by another rebel army, led by a dude named Xiàng Liáng (his father was the famous Chǔ general Xiàng Yàn, who had fought against the armies of Qín and was killed in battle in 223 BC). Xiàng Liáng then had the shepherd Xíong Xīn (actually the grandson of King Huái of Chǔ, the last king of the state/kingdom of Chǔ before its fall to Qín but was now a commoner) enthroned as King Huái of Chǔ ("Chǔ Huái Wáng"), although for simplicity we refer to him as King Huái II of Chǔ so as to not confuse him with Chén Shèng.
-However, although King Huái II was technically the ruler, the real source of his power was obviously Xiàng Liáng (and his family).
-It didn't take long before Xiàng Liáng's army to clash with the Qín army (led by General Zhāng Hán) at the Battle of Dìngtáo (modern-day Hézé, Shāndōng Province); Xiàng Liáng was killed in battle.
-Meanwhile, an army representing another former kingdom, Zhào, also declared independence from the Qín dynasty, and soon Hándān (former capital of the state of Zhào, located now in modern-day Héběi Province), where the rebel army was gathering, was besieged Zhāng Hán's army.
-Eager to avenge his uncle's death, Xiàng Liáng's nephew Xiàng Yǔ quickly tried to raise an army to help drive off the Qín forces at Hándān.
-However, Xiàng Yǔ quickly experienced problems because King Huái II for some reason chose General Sòng Yì to lead the army and for Xiàng Yǔ to be second-in-command. Both generals had completely different ideas on how to lead the army, and their rivalry got so bad that eventually Xiàng Yǔ just straight-up murdered Sòng Yì in his own tent (with the excuse that Sòng Yì was planning on betraying Chǔ and that the assassination had been authorized by King Huái II himself).
-Of course, King Huái II found out about this pretty quickly, but surprisingly Xiàng Yǔ was able to convince the king that he would just have to accept what Xiàng Yǔ did if they had any hope of surviving against Qín's forces. When it was all said and done, Xiàng Yǔ was named the new commander of Chǔ's army.
-Xiàng Yǔ then traveled with his army to Jùlù (modern-day Xíngtái, Héběi Province), where the Qín forces were camped beyond the Yellow River.
-Once they crossed the river, Xiàng Yǔ ordered his army to destroy the boats that they came over on, their cooking pots and utensils, and all of their rations except for three-days worth. His message, of course, was that his army was to only survive by defeating the enemy forces and stealing their food.
-It's worth nothing that while Xiàng Yǔ had about 50,000-60,000 soldiers, Zhāng Hán's army had like 200,000-500,000 (I'm sure these numbers are insane exaggerations).
-However, Xiàng Yǔ was apparently a genius commander and was able to defeat the Qín army in multiple skirmishes. Panicked, Zhāng Hán immediately sent his sub-commander Sīmǎ Xīn to request reinforcements from Xiányáng (capital of the Qín dynasty).
-Surprisingly, Zhào Gāo convinced the emperor that Zhāng Hán was secretly working in cahoots with the rebels and to not to send reinforcements (!), so Zhāng Hán's request was rejected! In fact, Zhào Gāo even tried to have Sīmǎ Xīn killed on his return to Zhāng Hán! However, Sīmǎ Xīn was able to survive the assassination attempt and escape, and upon returning to Zhāng Hán told the rebel general everything that had happened.
-While all this was happening, Xiàng Yǔ's rebel army had continued to grow in size, and soon it had completely surrounded Zhāng Hán's remaining forces. Seeing the writing on the wall, Zhāng Hán decided to surrender to Xiàng Yǔ.
-Xiàng Yǔ decided to spare Zhāng Hán, Sīmǎ Xīn, and Dǒng Yì (another Qín general), but had the remaining 200,000 (approximately and probably an exaggeration, of course) executed (by being buried alive) outside the city of Xīnān (modern-day Yìmǎ, Hénán Province).
-After this, Xiàng Yǔ began making plans to head straight for Xiányáng!
-207 BC- Back at the capital, word quickly spread that the massive rebel army was heading straight for them, but no one could do anything really because Qín Èr Shì was being kept in the dark by Zhào Gāo!
-When the emperor was finally told the truth about what was really going on, Qín Èr Shì tried to have Zhào Gāo arrested, but Zhào Gāo had already planned for this.
-Because of his control of the entire court at this point, Zhào Gāo forced Qín Èr Shì to commit suicide (or face imprisonment, torture, and execution, I'm assuming).
-Zhào Gāo then had a dude named Zǐyīng enthroned as emperor of the Qín dynasty.
-It's unclear as to who exactly Zǐyīng is; in some records he's listed as the eldest son of Prince Fúsū, but it's also been argued that it's more likely that he was actually one of Qín Shǐ Huáng's brothers or some other relative.
-Anyway, it seems as if Zhào Gāo picked Zǐyīng to be emperor because the chancellor thought Zǐyīng easy to manipulate like Qín Èr Shì, but this was incorrect and Zǐyīng made it clear that he wasn't going to put up with Zhào Gāo's bullshit.
-Suspecting that Zhào Gāo was already plotting to his demise, Zǐyīng decided to beat Zhào Gāo to the punch.
-On the day of his official coronation, Zǐyīng decided to pretend to be sick so that when Zhào Gāo came over to check on him, Zǐyīng had an ambush ready! Zhào Gāo was then killed by one of Zǐyīng's eunuchs.
-After his coronation, Emperor Zǐyīng quicly realized that the Qín dynasty was just about to croak; everything had been fucked up so badly by Zhào Gāo.
-When a rebel army led by a former Qín military officer named Liú Bāng finally arrived at Xiányáng, the emperor immediately surrendered.
-Eventually Xiàng Yǔ and his army arrived at the city, but didn't Xiàng Yǔ didn't give a fuck about the surrender and ordered the immediate execution of the emperor and his family (as well as the destruction of one of their partially-completed palaces)!
-Surprisingly, once Xiàng Yǔ had control of the capital, he didn't try and take power for himself by starting his own dynasty or anything like that. Instead, he just wanted to go back home to Chǔ!
-Fun fact: apparently, when one his men made a joke about the people of Chǔ, Xiàng Yǔ had him boiled alive!!
-206 BC- the Qín dynasty was no more!
-Instead of starting a new dynasty, Xiàng Yǔ declared that the empire was to be divided up into 18 kingdoms (!):
-Xī Chǔ ("Western Chǔ")- ruled by Xiàng Yǔ (who still allowed for King Huái II to rule (and even had his title changed to "Chŭ Yì Dì" ("Emperor Yì of Chŭ"), but it was obvious that Xiàng Yǔ was really calling the shots; he even changed his title to "Xī Chǔ Bà Wáng" ("Hegemon-King of Western Chǔ") to reflect this.
-Hàn- ruled by Liú Bāng (enthroned as "Hàn Wáng" ("King of Hàn")).
-Yōng- ruled by Zhāng Hán.
-Sāi- ruled by Sīmǎ Xīn.
-Zhái
-Héngshān
-Hán- ruled by Hán Chéng (enthroned as "Hán Wáng Chéng" ("King Chéng of Hán")), a descendant of the Hán royal family but had been living as a commoner in the Qín dynasty before joining Xiàng Liáng's rebel army.
-Dài
-Hénán
-Chángshān
-Yīn
-Xī Wèi ("Western Wèi")
-Jiǔjiāng
-Línjiāng
-Yàn
-Liáodōng
-Qí
-Jiāodōng
-Jìběi
-Of course, this "18 Kingdoms" period ("Shí Bā Guó") wouldn't last long; they almost immediately started fighting with each other.
-Qí immediately took over Jiāodōng and Jìběi, which restored Qí's territory to the Warring States period-borders.
-Xiàng Yǔ realized that this peace wasn't going to last at all, so even he began to engage in wars of expansion against neighboring kingdoms.
-He even went so far as to order the assassination of both King Huái II/Emperor Yì (in order to replace him as the undisputed ruler of Western Chǔ) and Hán Chéng/King Chéng (in order to annex Hán)!
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