Qin - Part III - Web of Deception

-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)!

Qin - Part II - One Nation Under Qin

-221 BC- so, the Warring States Period had ended, and China (as we know it today) was now unified under Qin (which was now the Qin dynasty, as opposed to the state of Qín).
   -However, while many still argue this viewpoint, it could also be argued that the idea of an actual "Chinese" civilization did not begin when China was finally unified, but instead was ALREADY a civilization under the Xia and Shang dynasties and that the Warring States period was like a long period of civil war within this civilization; it was a renewal, not a beginning.
   -Anyway, to reflect this "renewal", King Zhèng went back into ancient Chinese history and selected the title "Huángdì" ("Emperor"), which was derived from the titles used by the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors when they had ruled China, as well as "Shǐ" ("First"), which implied that this was the start of a brand-new imperial dynasty; hence, he was transformed from "Qín Wáng Zhèng" ("King Zhèng of Qín") to "Qín Shǐ Huáng" ("First Emperor of Qín").  Pretty cool!
-As emperor, Qín Shǐ Huáng immediately began implementing a number of serious reforms and changes across his new empire.
   -The old feudalism model of the Zhou dynasty and the Warring States period was replaced by an imperial model that enforced unity, in part by reorganized the land into 36 jùn, or commanderies/prefectures (which would actually grow in number as the empire expanded), all of which were ruled directly by the emperor.
      -These prefectures were then further divided into xiàn (counties).
         -These counties were then divided even further into xiàng (townships).
            -These townships were then divided even further into li (communities/subdistricts (100 families per li)).
   -Property rights were also abolished under this new system.  Instead, positions of power were awarded based on merit, not family background.
   -All weapons not belonging to the imperial army were confiscated (and melted down, if possible).
      -So many metal-based weapons were melted down that among them Qín Shǐ Huáng was able to build these massive statues in the capital (Xiányáng) that would become known as the Twelve Metal Collosi.
   -Standardized a system of weight (around the unit jin, or catty (outside of mainland China), equal to like 0.5kg (at least in modern times)).
   -Road systems and transportation requirements (axle lengths/widths) were standardized as road and canal construction became a huge priority for the empire.
   -A new currency was also introduced to replace the "blade coins / knife money" (unclear as to what exactly the deal was with these) that had been used in the past- the bàn liǎng (which had been the form of currency in the state of Qín).
      -Bàn liǎng were round bronze coins with a square hole in the middle.  They doubled as both currency and a system of weight measurement, as one bàn liǎng weighed 1/16 of a jin/catty. 
   -Qín Shǐ Huáng also continued construction (which had started around 246 BC (before he was emperor)) on a massive mausoleum (The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (Qínshǐhuáng Líng), located in modern-day Xī'ān, Shǎnxī Province) which was to serve as his tomb.
      -It's been recorded that between 300,000-720,000 workers (!) toiled away on this project (for 38 years!), but the number of workers is most likely an insane exaggeration.
      -It was a huge undertaking (the circumference of the inner city is 2.5 km; the outer is 6.3 km!), and was actually finally finished two years after Qín Shǐ Huáng had already died!
      -Although an archaeological excavation was initiated in 1974, it's still being worked on today (as of 2019), although the process is slowed dramatically due to a bunch of complications and technical shit (high levels of mercury (dangerous), air exposure could damage the site, etc.).
         -For example, in 2012 archaeologists discovered what appears to be Qín Shǐ Huáng's imperial palace, which was also fucking massive!
      -This is also the site of the infamous Teracotta Army (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, of course).
-214 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng sends a huge army to the north in order to secure the border and an even bigger army to the south to conquer the Bǎiyuè (or "Hundred Yuè"), a loose collection of tribes/states/kingdoms occupying (at this time) a stretch of territory from (roughly) modern-day Southern China to Northern Vietnam.
      -The Qín forces had a really rough time trying to subjugate the Bǎiyuè, as the Qín troops weren't used to fighting in jungles.  The Bǎiyuè knew this, and were especially adept at guerrilla warfare.  However, this still wasn't enough to ultimately repel the Qín invaders.
      -In order to make travel to the south easier (presumably for military vessels, supply boats, etc.), Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the construction of the Líng Qú ("Magic Canal"), a long (36km!) canal, in order to connect the Xiāng River with the Lí River.
         -This was extremely significant because it essentially connected the Yangtze (or Yángzǐ) River with the Pearl River Delta (Zhūjiāng Sānjiǎozhōu)!  Thus, the Qín now had a superhighway in which they could use to pour their armies into Bǎiyuè land (as opposed to having the armies travel overland, which would be extremely expensive and an overall giant pain in the ass.
      -The lands in the south that the Qín dynasty did end up conquering they immediately started to colonize.
         -They did this by sending tens of thousands of criminals (with promises of freedom should they agree to live in these new regions), exiles, and other undesirables into these newly-acquired lands (in addition to military troops).
-One of the most important things Qín Shǐ Huáng did during this time was standardizing a system of writing that was to be used by his entire empire, as up till this point every region used a different script to write their dialect.
   -This script became known as zhuànshū ("seal script"), which was based off of the script used by the Zhou dynasty but was what had been used by the kingdom of Qín before all of this.
      -The "director" who oversaw all of this implemented was the Qín dynasty's chancellor/prime minister Lǐ Sī, who was also a calligrapher and Legalist philosopher/writer.
         -For what it's worth, he's also considered to be one of the most important figures in all of Chinese history because of his reforms (which included promoting a unified, standardized script to be used throughout the empire, as well as destroying/removing/erasing any other script that was being used at the same time that wasn't zhuànshū.  In many cases, he also suppressed intellectual dissent by cracking down on "free-thinking" scholars by destroying their works and historical records and then having the scholars themselves either imprisoned (and sent north to go work on border fortifications (NOT the Great Wall of China, although it was a precursor) that Qín Shǐ Huáng was having built in order to defend against the Xiōngnú) or executed; only books written by pro-Qín writers and intellectuals were spared.
            -Additionally, anyone caught discussing the classics of poetry or history would be executed.  Criticism of the government would also result in the execution of one's entire family!
               -Because of this, China's "Hundred Schools of Thought" intellectual golden age (which included Confucianism, Taoism, the works of Sūnzǐ (Sun Tzu), etc.) was finally coming to an end.
-213 BC- around the time that all these reforms were being passed, Qín Shǐ Huáng realized that he was starting to get a little old.  Because of this (and also having survived multiple assassination attempts), he became obsessed with achieving immortality, and used all of the resources at his disposal in order to do so.
   -He famously had over 460 scholars buried alive after he found out that he was being deceived by two alchemists who had promised that they could create a potion of immortality for him.
      -When Qín Shǐ Huáng's own son, Crown Prince Fúsū argued that this brutal oppression of Confucian scholars would result in widespread civil unrest across the land, Qín Shǐ Huáng had him sent to the northern frontier on "military duty" (but it was obvious that he had actually just been exiled)!
   -It's been argued that perhaps Qín Shǐ Huáng ordered the book burnings and executions in order for his scholars and alchemists to focus solely on finding out how to become immortal.
   -At one point he actually sent thousands on an expedition to try and find Mount Pénglái (located in the legendary, mystical land of Pénglái ("Pénglái Xiāndǎo")) where it was believed that a 1000 year-old immortal wizard named Ānqī Shēng lived.  Perhaps he could help Qín Shǐ Huáng?
      -Leading this expedition was Xú Fú, a (the?) sorcerer for the court of the Qín dynasty.
      -However, after years of exploration and adventures, Xú Fú and his expedition eventually just ended up disappearing.  Where did they go?
         -Assuming this is a true story, according to legend Xú Fú and his people landed in Japan and they just ended up staying there and colonizing it!
            -Additional theories have proposed that it wasn't Japan but was actually Jeju Island, Taiwan, etc., but of course who the fuck really knows.
            -Perhaps they didn't want to return empty-handed to Qín Shǐ Huáng because they knew that he would have them executed for their failure
-211 BC- according to legend, a meteor fell to earth near the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
   -On the meteor, someone wrote the words "Qín Shǐ Huáng will die and his land will be divided", which of course freaked out Qín Shǐ Huáng.
      -Qín Shǐ Huáng tried to figure out who wrote these words, but no one in the nearby town fessed up so he had all of the villagers executed and the meteor pulverized!
-210 BC- Qín Shǐ Huáng dies, quite possibly from mercury poisoning due to all the wacky potions and shit he was having his alchemists create in order to try and achieve immortality!
   -Upon hearing the news of the emperor's death, Lǐ Sī, fearing that the empire would break up to its old state of chaos, ordered for the death to be covered up; this was possible because Qín Shǐ Huáng had died in Shāqiū prefecture (Shāqiū Píngtái) at one of his palaces.
      -Because this particular palace was like a two month-journey outside of the capital at Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī ordered for the few witnesses of the emperor's death (which included the emperor's second-eldest son, Prince Húhài (who would soon take the imperial name Qín Èr Shì when he was finally enthroned as the second (and final) emperor of the Qín dynasty), Chief Eunuch Zhào Gāo, and a few other eunuchs) to keep quiet about it as they journeyed back to the capital with the emperor's entourage.  This seemed to work, as everyone just assumed that the emperor was chilling in his wagon, and routines went on as normal as they made the trip.
         -However, of course over time the body began to decompose, so Lǐ Sī ordered for wagons carrying rotting fish to travel next to the emperor's wagon in order to cover up the corpse's stench.
            -How no one caught on at this point what was going on is beyond me.
   -Anyway, when they finally reached Xiányáng, Lǐ Sī allowed the news of the emperor's death to be revealed.

Qin - Part I - There Can Be Only One

-256 BC- Qín had taken the Eastern Zhōu capital of Wangcheng (or Chéngzhōu, see previous post!) and dethroned its king.  The Zhōu dynasty had finally come to its official end!
   -By doing this, King Zhāoxiāng of Qín was essentially declaring that he now possessed the Mandate of Heaven, which meant that he was the new king of the lands "belonging" to the Zhōu dynasty.
      -Of course, Qín's ultimate goal was to conquer all of the Warring States, but how to do this?
         -Qín's plan was to maintain strong relations with Qí and Yān, continue actively suppressing Wèi and Chǔ, and conquer Zhào and Hán.
-247 BC- King Zhèng is enthroned as the new ruler of Qín following the death of his father, King Zhuāngxiāng.  He was only 13 at this time!
   -Interestingly, Sīmǎ Qiān's Records of the Grand Historian claim that King Zhèng was an illegitimate ruler because he was actually the son of the merchant/politican Lǚ Bùwéi and his concubine Lady Zhào (who allegedly went on to marry King Zhuāngxiāng and become queen while she was already pregnant from Lǚ Bùwéi), but modern-day scholars have attempted to refute this possibility, arguing that it was a slander created for political reasons by Sīmǎ Qiān and the Hàn dynasty (who would end up toppling the Qín dynasty and replacing it in 206 BC) and maintain that he was indeed the legitimate son of King Zhuāngxiāng and Lady Zhào.
      -It's also worth noting that during this time in Chinese history, merchants were considered the lowest of the low in terms of the social hierarchy, so being the son of a merchant was considered a really shitty background.
-238 BC- King Zhèng's queen mother and her new lover, the Marquis of Chángxìn (AKA Lào Ǎi, who I guess was disguised as a eunuch in order to live with her?  Also, he apparently had a huge dick (according to the Records of the Grand Historian haha)!), came up with a conspiracy to have the king replaced by one of their children instead (!), and so they tried to start a rebellion and raise an army to do so! 
   -However, this conspiracy was soon uncovered by the authorities, and the conspirators were executed (although Lào Ǎi briefly escaped).
      -Because Lào Ǎi was the ringleader, his sentence was especially harsh, as it not only guaranteed his execution but also followed the Chinese traditional punishment of zhū lián jiǔ zú ("nine familial exterminations") for treason, which meant that nine of Lào Ǎi's family members were also executed!
      -As for Lady Zhào (who was now known as Queen Dowager Zhào after the death of King Zhuāngxiāng), she was simply placed under house arrest until she died in 228 BC.
      -After this, King Zhèng's rule of Qín went unchallenged (haha).
-236 BC- King Zhèng invades Zhào!
   -King Zhèng was only 13 when he was enthroned, so the court had set up a regency that ruled in his place until he turned 22 (238 BC); that's why it took so long for Qín to continue their plans for the domination of the other Warring States.
      -Even though it had been 14 years since their defeat at the Battle of Chángpíng, Zhào still hadn't had enough time to get its shit back together.  That being said, they weren't totally helpless, as they still had an army with a badass general- Lǐ Mù (one of the "Four Great Generals" of the Warring States period)!
         -Lǐ Mù had spent much of his career in northern Zhào, defending the border from the dreaded Xiōngnú hordes (centered around modern-day Mongolia).
            -Because of his experiences with the Xiōngnú, Lǐ Mù was a fan of defeating his opponents through defense, as offensive tactics against the Xiōngnú usually ended up being a catastrophic failure.
               -Of course, this also resulted in mockery from his peers and rivals (same shit that happened to Lían Pō.  Still, Lǐ Mù was successful in defending the northern border for more than 30 years, so his critics sound like they're just being assholes.
         -Unfortunately, even the famous Lǐ Mù was unable to thwart the Qín army, as Zhào just simply did not have the numbers to match the huge Qín force.
            -Still, Lǐ Mù refused to give up, and continued to agitate the Qín army as they advanced towards the capital (Hándān, which is still a city and is in modern-day Héběi Province). So, Qín did the same thing that they did to Lían Pō and manipulated the Zhào court into thinking that Lǐ Mù was actually planning to take the Zhào throne for himself, so they had him executed.  So dumb.
               -Zhào finally fell to Qín in 228 BC.
-230 BC- Qín invades Hán, who was too weak to defend itself and promptly surrendered.
-228 BC- With Zhào and Hán out of the way, Qín then eyes its "friend" Yān as its next target.
   -Seeing the writing on the wall, Yān scrambled to get together a coalition of allied forces from different states (and even the Xiōngnú!) to help them repel Qín, but of course it was too late.
      -However, Yān quickly realized that even IF they could somehow secure a bunch of alliances and other bullshit, they STILL wouldn't have enough men to properly defend themselves from Qín.
         -Desperate, Yān decided to go for a different tactic- the assassination of King Zhèng!  The mission was to be carried out by an assassin named Jīng Kē.
            -Jīng Kē was chosen for this job for a few reasons.
               -He was actually from the state of Wèi (which was eventually annexed by the larger state of the same name (Wèi)), which was currently occupied by Qín, so he wouldn't stand out as an outsider during his mission since this was his home region.
               -He was also a scholar and used to rubbing shoulders with elites.
               -He was a badass swordsman.
            -OK, so how was Jīng Kē going to get close enough to King Zhèng to kill him?
               -In order to do so, Jīng Kē knew that he would have to bring the king some expensive/valuable gifts.
                  -These gifts were to consist of a detailed map (of a region that Qín was interested in invading) rolled up in a scroll case (with a razor-sharp poisoned dagger hidden inside!) and the decapitated head of the ex-Qín general, Huán Yǐ (or Fan Wuji), who had defected to Yān.
                     -Surprisingly, Huán Yǐ agrees to help Yān by committing suicide so they can use his head for the assassination!  Huán Yǐ must have REALLY hated King Zhèng!!
            -So, Jīng Kē traveled to Xiányáng (capital city of Qín) with his companion, Qín Wǔyáng, another assassin.
               -Because of their gifts, they were able to quickly secure an audience with the king, but upon entering the royal palace Qín Wǔyáng began to freak out.  Attempting to cover for both of them, Jīng Kē tried to explain that his companion was a backwards country rube and not used to the grandeur of the palace and capital city.
                  -Apparently this worked, because King Zhèng then allowed for Jīng Kē to approach the throne in order to show him the map.  When Jīng Kē got close enough, he decided the moment had come, and decided to strike with the hidden dagger!
                     -However, King Zhèng was too quick, and Jīng Kē was only able to tear off a piece of the king's robe.  King Zhèng immediately began to flee!
                        -This was now an interesting situation because although Jīng Kē had missed, he was still the only one in the room with a weapon, as no weapons were allowed in the court of the king.  I guess the argument could be made that the King Zhèng was armed, but this was a ceremonial blade and not actually meant for combat.
                           -This resulted in a struggle between Jīng Kē and King Zhèng and his courtiers, but ultimately Jīng Kē was overpowered.  In a last-ditch effort to kill the king, Jīng Kē ended up throwing his dagger at him, but he missed.
                              -Immediately after this, Jīng Kē was subdued by the king's guards and Qín Wǔyáng was captured and executed.
                                 -Once they found out who was behind the assassination, Qín immediately declared war on Yān!
-226 BC- Qín and Yān clash at the Yi River (in modern-day Hénán Province, (I think)), and Qín was victorious.
   -Qín's army then marched on Yān's capital city, Jì (modern-day Běijīng).
      -At this point, Qín's army was seemingly unstoppable, and Jì soon fell.
         -Yān's royal family, including King Xǐ and his son (Crown Prince Dān) fled to the Liaodong Peninsula (which was still controlled by Yān).  However, King Xǐ knew that all was lost for him, so in a desperate attempt to save himself he had Prince Dān decapitated and the head sent to King Zhèng as an apology for the assassination attempt and as a peace offering.
            -King Zhèng accepted King Xǐ's offering, and decided to leave Yān as it was for the time being.
-After putting an end to the threat that Yān posed, King Zhèng decided the next step would be to conquer Wèi before finally conquering Chǔ.
   -However, King Zhèng assumed that if his armies invaded Wèi then it would be possible that Chǔ would assume that they would be invaded after Wèi.
      -Thus, King Zhèng decided to preemptively invade some cities in the north of Chǔ first in order to quickly set up a buffer territory between Chǔ and Qín.
         -According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Qín amassed a huge force of over 600,000 soldiers!!  To put this in perspective, it's estimated that Rome had an army of like 80,000 at the massive Battle of Cannae (against the Carthaginians) which took place around this time over in Europe.  So, if these numbers are correct, Qín must have had an absolutely fucking massive army at this time.
            -So, Qín sent out this massive army, quickly conquered their intended target settlements, and then immediately turned north to attack Wèi's capital at Dàliáng (modern-day Kāifēng, Henan Province), a city famous for its impenetrability.
               -However, it didn't prove to be THAT tough to crack, as Qín's general Wáng Bēn (son of Wáng Jiǎn, one of the Four Great Generals of the Warring States Period) decided to do the ol' "divert a river into the city you're besieging" trick and ended up redirecting the YELLOW RIVER into the city!!  This must have been a massive project to pull off.
                  -Of course, this worked really well, and not only was the city flooded but it's also recorded that over 100,000 citizens died!
                     -Soon after this, King Jiǎ of Wèi admitted defeat and surrendered his kingdom completely to Qín.
-Next, King Zhèng set his sites on finally conquering Chǔ once and for all.
   -However, while General Wáng Bēn stated that he would once again need the same numbers as before in order to pull off this mission, another general, Lǐ Xìn, claimed that he could do the same mission with only a fraction of that number!  This was an attractive proposition for King Zhèng, so he decided to accept General Lǐ Xìn's offer to see if he could really pull it off.
      -While initially successful, Lǐ Xìn had trouble keeping the conquered territory in Chǔ pacified as they penetrated further and further into the kingdom.  To complicate matters, the main Chǔ army continued to withdraw and retreat without fully engaging Qín directly.  Obviously, something was up.
         -Finally, when Qín least expected it, Chǔ's army surrounded the Qín army's encampment late at night and attacked!  Lǐ Xìn's army was completely slaughtered, apparently losing over 200,000 soldiers (again, probably an exaggeration, but who knows!).  This would prove to be Qín's worst defeat in history.
            -Undeterred, King Zhèng decided that General Wáng Bēn had been right all along, and so he was brought back to lead the Qín army in a proper invasion of Chǔ.
               -With a much smarter and more conservative, methodical strategy, Wáng Bēn slowly ventured into Chǔ and refused to be drawn into a battle on the enemy's turns.  Soon, Chǔ's main army was shattered, and Chǔ became a broken, shell of a kingdom like Yān, and lost much of its territory (including its capital, Shòuchūn) to Qín.
-222 BC- after conquering most of Chǔ, Qín then marched its army north into the Liaodong Peninsula and conquered what remained of Yān.
-221 BC- although it was obvious that Qín was unstoppable, they still had a bit of mopping up to do, as only Qí still remained (but probably didn't pose much of a threat at this point).
   -Using some lame excuse (apparently, Qí didn't meet with one of Qín's envoys around this time or something), Qín invaded Qí.
      -Qín was able to easily invade Qí because Qí had set up all their fortifications to defend from the west, but because Yān was now conquered by Qín, Qín just came down from the north, bypassing most of Qí's defenses.
         -Horrified at the speed in which Qín was able to arrive at the capital, King Jiàn of Qí immediately surrendered his kingdom in exchange for the lives of his family and people.
            -With King Jiàn's surrender, the Warring States Period had finally come to an end!  The kingdoms were now all unified under the brand-new Qín dynasty, with King Zhèng crowning himself Qín Shǐ Huáng (literally meaning "First Emperor of Qín" (or, China (in English)).
               -Qín Shǐ Huáng then chose the city of Xiányáng (in modern-day Shǎnxī Province) as his new capital.
               -This would also kick off China's "imperial" era, which would last all the way until the early 20th century!!

Eastern Zhou - Part VIII - The End of Zhou

-So, at this point (c. 330 BC) it's obvious that Qín is the most powerful of (what would eventually be) the remaining seven states (Qín, Chǔ, Hán, Wèi, Zhào, Yān, and Qí) as it began to expand in all directions.

-328 BC- because the smaller states were rapidly getting swallowed up by larger states, the ruler of Sòng, a minor (but venerable! It had been there for like 800 years at this point!! However, while it was a powerful state, it was of course in rapid decline as its neighbors grew increasingly powerful) , Duke (Lord?) Yǎn decided that it was now or never for his state to try and "get with the times" in terms of officially declaring itself its own autonomous kingdom independent of the Zhou dynasty (which was clearly a joke at this point) since that's what all the other powerful states were doing, so he did just that and dubbed himself King Kāng (haha) of Sòng, a brand new kingdom.

   -While Sòng wasn't the strongest state in the region by any means, it still could defend itself well enough... although it was increasingly relying more and more on Qín to defend it from the others.

   -During this time, Qín persuades Qí to agree to an understanding- Qín will leave Qí alone and let them expand, if Qí will do the same for Qín.

      -Because of this, Qí then began to focus on taking out the minor (but venerable! It had been there for like 800 years at this point!! However, while it was a powerful state, it was of course in rapid decline as its neighbors grew increasingly powerful) state of Sòng to their south, which had just broken off its military alliance with Qín... bad move!

      -Qín also signed a peace treaty with Hán and Wèi before focusing on taking out Zhào to the northeast.

   -Anyway, so King Kāng had actually pretty successful too in terms of defending Sòng from its neighboring states, but that was because Qín had a huge military ally.  Once that alliance was broken (for whatever reason), Sòng must have quickly realized that they were suddenly all alone.

      -286 BC- Sòng is conquered (doh!!) by Qí (with additional military support from Qín, Chǔ, and Wèi).

-Meanwhile, in the north, the state of Yān had been quietly expanding its borders northeast into Old Joseon ("Gojoseon" in Korean).

   -Fun fact: In Yān's records the warriors (and/or people) of Gojoseon are described as being both "arrogant" and "cruel" (ha).

   -Because of Yān's invasions, Gojoseon was forced to relocate its capital from the Liaodong Peninsula to the Korean Peninsula (possibly near Pyongyang, or perhaps this was how Pyongyang was founded; it's unclear).

      -Although Gojoseon would survive Yān's assaults from the south, Yān itself would not survive Qí's assaults from the south!

         -314 BC- Yān had spread itself too thin by squandering all of its resources fighting and expanding into Gojoseon, so Qí realized that it was their moment to strike!  They invaded (and almost conquered it entirely over the course of a few months!), but after taking over they raped and pillaged a bit too much... the people of Yān eventually were able to rebel and drive off the Qí armies.

            -After doing so, Yān enthroned its new king, Zhāo (he was the rightful heir, as his father (King Kuài) had been killed during the war with Qí.

               -He immediately forged an alliance with Qín, Hán, and Wèi and all four of them began attacking Qí!!

                  -Of course, Qí was completely overwhelmed and was almost conquered by the invaders (only two cities remaining), but all of a sudden King Zhāo died (perhaps he was murdered?) mysteriously and because no heir had been named Yān quickly fell into a succession crisis (maybe civil war?).  Soon after this, the Qín-Hán-Wèi-Yān alliance fell apart and Qí was able to drive off the invading armies and take back the kingdom.

-Meanwhile, Qín had pretty much dominated the west of Eastern Zhou; both Hán and Wèi were essentially impotent states at this point. Additionally, Chǔ was also struggling as well, as their capital, Yǐng (near modern-day Jīngzhōu, Húběi Province) had been taken by Qín (by their infamous general Bái Qǐ) in 278 BC; because of this invasion, Chǔ was forced to relocate its capital to the city of Chen (not sure where this was, exactly).

   -So, Qín knew that the only neighboring state that still posed any real threat was Zhào.

      -However, there was a slight problem- the border between Zhào and Qín was apparently really rough and unsuitable for a big army to traverse easily.  So, Qín decided that the best plan of action was to send its army to Zhào through the Chángpíng mountain pass located in the state of Hán.

         -Hán probably wasn't going to be cool with this, so Qín made the decision to just straight-up invade Hán in 265 BC! It took them four years to do so, however, as the core of Hán's forces were extremely well-fortified, so Qín spent these years slowly conquering and pacifying the less-fortified regions until Hán's defenses were completely isolated and surrounded by Qín's armies.

            -Of course, Hán knew that it was slowly dying.  However, instead of kneeling to their invaders and accepting defeat, Hán offered its territory to Zhào in exchange for Zhào to rescue them from Qín!

               -This must have been embarrassing for Hán to do, but what other choice did they have?  By doing this, the king knew that he would be saving potentially hundreds of thousands of lives, including his own! 

               -Anyway, so Hán then retreated while handing over everything (supply lines, fortifications, etc.) to Zhào, and soon Zhào was set up and ready for whatever Qín was going to throw at them. 

                  -Leading the Zhào forces was a dude named Lian Po, considered to be one of the "Four Great Generals" of the Warring States period (which also includes Bái Qǐ (of Qín), Wang Jian (of Qín) and Li Mu (of Zhào).

                     -General Lian Po's strategy was to simply keep the ChángpíngPass well-fortified and supplied and wait! 

                        -Lian Po knew that the ChángpíngPass defenses would be an incredibly tough nut to crack, so it would be foolish to try and take the battle to .  By 260 BC, an elaborate network of forts and supply routes feeding into the Changping Pass was completed!  Bring it on, Qín!

                        -Turns out, Lian Po was right!  Qín's forces tried to break through the defenses for over three years with no success except for ONCE (haha), and presumably they were later just pushed back out.  What was Qín to do?

                           -Unfortunately for Lian Po, he wouldn't be general for long, as  Qín was able to infiltrate the Zhào court (at Hándan) with corrupt officials and spies who trolled their way into convincing Zhào's ruler, King Xiaocheng, to get rid of old Lian Po and his cowardly strategy and instead replace him a younger general with BALLS!

                              -His choice?  The reckless and arrogant General Zhào Kuo (son of the respected General Zhào She)! Big mistake!

                                 -When Zhào Kuo arrived at the ChángpíngPass, he decided to ditch Lian Po's strategy and instead take the fight to Qín, which is, of course, exactly what Qín wanted them to do!

                           -July, 260 BC- Zhào Kuo takes a huge force out from the ChángpíngPass to attack Bái Qǐ 's forces directly.  Of course, Bái Qǐ  was waiting for this kind of thing to happen, so upon being attacked he ordered his forces to pull back further and further, drawing the Zhào army deeper and deeper in.  

                              -When the timing was right, Bái Qǐ  ordered his cavalry to fan out and make it so that the Zhào army was completely encircled.  Then, Qín attacked, completely slaughtering any Zhào forces who refused to surrender!

                                 -Knowing that they were in trouble, Zhào tried to send out messages begging for help from other states, but one big problem was that Zhào had a reputation for being fickle and/or untrustworthy allies, so nobody came to their rescue.

                                    -Many of Zhào's soldiers surrendered, but Bái Qǐ  actually ended up deciding that it was too risky to allow his prisoners to live, so he had all of them (possibly up to 450,000 Zhào soldiers!) buried alive in a mass grave (hence Bái Qǐ 's nickname, "The Human Butcher") except for 240, who were spared and sent back to Zhào to spread fear among the population!

                                       -We are STILL finding artifacts at the archaeological site (outside of Gāopíng, Shānxī Province) of the battle!

                                    -Taking note of this reaction, Qín then decided to raise another massive army and combine it with Bái Qǐ 's (which resulted in a force of up to 650,000 soldiers!) to invade Zhào.  They immediately headed straight for Zhào's capital, Hándan! 

                                       -However, it's worth noting that this wasn't going to be a complete walk in the park for Bái Qǐ .  His army had still suffered many casualties during the Battle of Chángpíng(as many as 250,000!).  Additionally, Hándan was proving to be a massive headache to besiege, even for Bái Qǐ !  It probably felt like the situation at Chángpíngall over again!  

                                          -So, the siege went on for two more years; Bái Qǐ  couldn't get Hándan to crack, and Hándan couldn't find anyone to rescue them by breaking the siege!  At this point, Bái Qǐ  had had enough, so he peaced out back to Qín!

               -257 BC- Wèi and Chǔ finally decide to help Zhào, so they show up to drive off Qín's forces.  Sick of fighting, Qín relented and headed back home. 

                  -It's also worth-noting that by doing this, Wèi and Chǔ got some of their old territory back as well, so perhaps it wasn't a completely altruistic action to help out Zhào.  

                  -Additionally, although it looks like Qín had ultimately lost the war by retreating back home, the campaign against Hán and Zhào had actually been a huge success for them, as they had still conquered massive amounts of territory and were now the dominant force in the middle of the Zhou dynasty's kingdom. Of course, no one considered the Zhou dynasty a legitimate political entity anymore since it didn't have any real power to go along with its joke of a territory, so Qín decided to finally call them out once and for all of not having the Mandate of Heaven by invading the Zhou dynasty capital at Wangcheng (Wangcheng may have just been another name for Chéngzhōu, the old capital city of Eastern Zhou, or if it was actually a different city entirely; it's unclear) and imprisoning King Nǎn, proving that King Zhāoxiāng of Qín was clearly the true possessor of the MoH.    

                     -Of course, King Nǎn's son would organize a resistance and try and drive off the Qín armies from their occupation of the capital, but it was obviously way too late.  After a few years, he was finally captured and executed.  The Zhou dynasty had finally, officially, come to an end. 

                        -That being said, the other states of course were not immediately willing to accept Qín's actions!  These usurpers must be brought to justice!  

Eastern Zhou - Part VII - Shifting Loyalties, Uneasy Alliances

-So Qin was quite powerful right now, dominating Wei and Han after they unsuccessfully tried to invade Qin.  However, Qin did not go so far as to counter-invade these two states, as they were under the protection of their powerful brother state (all three used to make up the state of Jin before its partition into three separate states in 403 BC) of Zhao to the north.
   -Interestingly enough, Zhao was only recently powerful, as not too long before this time it was the weakest of these former Jin states and had been pushed around quite a bit by Wei.  Zhao had been the weakest for a long time because it was kind of a backwater and was under constant attack by the northern barbarians (the most infamous of which were the dreaded Xiongnu horde) of modern-day Mongolia.
   -However, in a bizarre twist of fate, Wei decided to invade Zhao in 354 BC!  Dick move!
      -Zhao was in serious trouble, as they had been unable to adequately resist Wei's invasion and ultimately found their capital Handan (in modern-day Heibei Province) surrounded by Wei forces.  Desperate, the ruler of Zhao, Marquess Cheng (he still hadn't declared Zhao an independent kingdom yet, so he wasn't a king), sent for help from the state of Qi (to the southeast).
         -Surprisingly, this actually worked, and the forces of Qi arrived to drive off Wei's army.  However, this actually made sense for Qi to do this, as Qi knew that once Wei finished off Zhao it would probably go for Qi next, so it was best to crack down on Wei now before they got too powerful.  Also, Qi most certainly did not want Jin to reunify, as that would be bad for all of the other states/kingdoms since Jin had been the most powerful of the Zhou states.
         -The generals in charge of the Qi forces were Sun Bin (an alleged descendant of Sun Tzu, but honestly who the fuck knows) and Tian Ji, both top-notch commanders.  They knew that the Wei army was way too powerful to take on in a straight-up battle, so they came up with a plan.
            -Sun Bin led an army to distract Wei by attacking the Wei capital of Daliang (modern-day Kaifeng, Henan Province).  Although Sun Bin's force was too weak to capture the city, Sun Bin's plan was to attack and then be driven off, luring the Wei forces into a false sense of security against the forces of Qi.  This actually worked, and believing Qi to be weak, Wei sent the majority of its forces to join the invading force in its siege of Handan.  Once Wei did this, Tian Ji used this opportunity to lead a Qi force to strike at a (less-fortified) Daliang and this time with a much bigger army!  Brilliant!
               -Thus, Pang Juan, the commander of Wei's forces, knew that he had no choice but to divide his big army in order to send a force to save Daliang.  However, the infantry and artillery were too slow, so he was only able to bring him his elite cavalry for this mission.
                  -Of course, this is what Sun Bin had expected Pang Juan to do, and so on his way back to defend the capital, Pang Juan was ambushed by Sun Bin's forces!  Naturally, the Wei cavalry was slaughtered by the Qi army.  Pang Juan was able to escape, however, so this wasn't the last of him.
      -Wei knew that it had really fucked itself in trying to invade Zhao, so King Hui of Wei decided to try and sue for peace.  This resulted in Wei giving up the invasion and giving some territory to Qi.
   -Back in Qi, both Tian Ji and Sun Bin were hailed as heroes!  Their strategy of deception and attacking where an army is weak to divide their forces (known in Chinese history as "the Battle of Guiling") was later on referenced in "The 36 Strategems" ("Sānshíliù Jì"), an anonymously-written essay on politics, war, etc. and is almost as legendary as "The Art of War".
      -The quote is actually "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao", which doesn't actually make any sense unless you've studied Chinese history.
-Of course, King Hui was not finished with his wars of expansion, and instead began to raise an army to attack the state of Han to the south!
   -Han was confident that, like Zhao, Qi would come to their rescue, and the Qi emissaries essentially stated as much to the Han court.  Thus, Han began to confidently raise an army to defend themselves to fight just as long as they could in order for Qi to come in and save the day.  However, Qi's real plan was to only come in AFTER both sides were severely weakened.
      -This actually worked out exactly as planned for Qi- right when Han was on the brink of defeat, Qi showed up to save the day.
         -Pretty much plays out like what happened above (with all the same characters as last time, too!).  Once again, Sun Bin came up with a plan to strike at Daliang in order to have the same effect as last time.  So, King Hui, when hearing about the attack from Qi, ordered for Wei forces to retreat in order to defend the capital.  However, Pang Juan was determined to not fall for the same trick again, so they moved quickly and did not travel along the main road in order to avoid a Qi ambush.
            -Once the two armies got close to each other, Sun Bin ordered for his troops to reduce the number of cookfires every night so that it would appear to the Wei army that the Qi army was getting smaller over time.  Overconfident from all the ass-kicking they had done against Han, they started to attack the Qi army, and, feigning weakness, the Qi army then retreated  (towards Maling (near modern-day Liaocheng, Shandong Province).  On their retreat, the Wei forces passed through a narrow, wooded pass, and as they traveled through it Sun Bin ordered his men to cut down a tree and carve into it "Pang Juan shall die in Maling under this tree."  When the Wei forces later that night traveled through the area and noticed the message, Pang Juan called for torchlight in order to read what was written.  Sure enough, when the torch was lit, that was the signal for the Qi archers to shoot, and thus the Wei troops were completely slaughtered in the ambush (including Pang Juan).
               -At this point, Wei was crushed, so Qi demanded huge territorial concessions in return for an end to hostilities.
-Unfortunately for Wei, because they were so weakened from fighting with Qi, they were now quite vulnerable to attacks from Qin!  Of course, Qin immediately began to invade and gobble up territory, including Wei's ancient capital of Anyi (modern-day Nanchang, Jiangxi Province) in 361 BC.
   -Because of this, King Hui moved the capital of Wei to Daliang.
   -At this point, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Qin was becoming too powerful if the other states didn't band together to stop it from conquering all of them.  Thus, they all decided to combine their forces against Qin.
      -This strategy, known as the Vertical Alliance ("Hé Zòng"), came out of the School of Diplomacy (AKA the School of Vertical and Horizontal Alliances; "Zōng héng Jiā"), a group of thinkers who argued and debated constantly about strategy and shit, and was advocated by thinkers such as Sū Qín. 
         -Sū Qín's arch-enemy was Zhāng Yí, who was the main thinker behind the Horizontal Alliance ("Lían Héng").
         -The vertical alliance included the states of Wei, Zhao, Han, Yan, and Chu.  Conspicuously absent was the state of Qi...
         -The alliance was led by King Huì of Chǔ, arguably the most powerful of the five.
         -Unfortunately, the allied forces were quickly defeated when they tried to invade Qí, and the vertical alliance quickly fell apart (as they probably didn't like each other anyway due to their decades of fighting each other).
-At this point, Qín knew that their most powerful opposition was Chǔ.
   -It's thought that Chǔ had a standing army of like 1 million (!).  Qín's forces were way smaller by comparison, but Qín knew that Chǔ was having problems internally due to corruption and political gridlock and shit.
-Because Chǔ's vertical alliance had fallen through, Chǔ then looked to the state of Qí to form an alliance (since Qí hadn't been involved in the vertical alliance). 
   -This idea actually worked, and both Chǔ and Qí became official allies in 314 BC.
      -Qín knew that this new alliance posed an existential threat to the state, so Zhāng Yí (now a high-ranking official of Qín) stepped in to try and manipulate the situation.
         -Zhāng Yí quickly traveled to Chǔ to seek an audience with its ruler, King Huái.  During their meeting, Zhāng Yí proposed that Qín would give back some territory to Chǔ if Chǔ dissolved its alliance with Qí.
            -Although it seems obvious that this is a dumb trade, surprisingly, King Huái accepted!
               -Of course, Qí was really pissed off because of this.
               -Then, after the alliance between Qí and Chǔ was nullified, King Huái tried to take back the land that was promised to Chǔ by Qín.  However, Zhāng Yí then backtracked and said that King Huái had misunderstood, and that the area of land that had been offered was actually much smaller than King Huái thought (haha what an asshole)!
                   -Because of this, King Huái immediately declared war on Qín, but what the king didn't realize was that during this time Zhāng Yí had also been secretly working on an alliance between Qín and Qí! 
                      -Thus, Chǔ was unable to successfully fight a war against both Qín AND Qí, and King Huái was forced to admit defeat and sue for peace in 313 BC.
-At this point, shit seemed to be going pretty well for Qín, but its ruler, Huì Wén, died in 311 BC, he was replaced by his son, Wǔ. 
   -Things were going OK under King Wǔ, but he ended up dying prematurely (at age 23!) as a result of injuries sustained from lifting a super-heavy bronze cauldron (!).  Because of this, the kingdom was thrown into chaos due to their not being a clear successor that had been named by the king.
      -Qín was thrown into chaos for about a year before things finally calmed down and King Wǔ's younger half-brother was enthroned as King Zhāoxiāng in 306 BC.
-299 BC- Qín was back to its old tricks again, and this time its target was Chǔ.
   -King Zhāoxiāng invited King Huái to a "friendly" meeting of neighboring powers in Qín. 
      -Surprisingly, King Huái agreed to this (I don't think this dude was very smart...), and traveled to Qín, whereupon he was immediately arrested and imprisoned (where he would eventually die).
         -Because King Huái had been imprisoned in Qín, he was replaced as king by his son, King Qǐngxiāng. 
            -Of course, Chǔ immediately declared war on Qín.
-294 BC- While fighting Chǔ, Qín decided to start a war with another state during this time- Hán (one of the weakest of the warring states, but also of key strategic importance military because of its central location).
   -This was also a great time to attack Hán because its military alliance with the state of Wèi had fallen apart and the two former allies were now at war. 
       -Qín's forces during this time were led by a general named Bái Qǐ, an infamous character in the Warring States Period.
         -Bái Qǐ was born in the town of Méi (outside of modern-day Baoji, Shaanxi Province) in the state of Qín.
            -Is remembered in history as being a brilliant, yet brutal, commander (his nickname was "The Human Butcher" ("Rén Tú")!!)
               -It's also estimated that he was responsible for between 900,000-2,000,000 enemy soldiers and the conquest of over 70 cities, and apparently never lost a battle.
                  -Because of this, he is considered to be one of the four great generals of the Warring States period.
      -So, Qín sent Bái Qǐ to attack Hán.
         -Hán and Wèi immediately realized that divided they'd get wiped out pretty fast, so they combined their forces into a mighty army (more than double the number of soldiers Bái Qǐ had to work with).
            -However, Qín had two advantages- newer, better equipment, and a great number of battle-hardened veterans led by one of the greatest generals during this time!
               -The two armies met at the massive Battle of Yique (near modern-day Luoyang, Henan Province). 
                  -Bái Qǐ knew that there was no real love between Hán and Wèi, and that while they would obviously defend themselves, they wouldn't necessarily defend each other...
                     -After drawing out Hán's forces with small-scale attacks, Bái Qǐ then sent his main force to attack Wèi's camp while Hán's forces were distracted.
                        -Wèi ended up getting crushed and forced to retreat, whereupon they immediately began accusing their Hán allies of shenanigans and not holding up their end of the alliance.  Of course, these accusations just pissed off Hán, so their alliance dissolved while they were still in the middle of battling Qín! 
                           -Because of this, Hán's forces retreated. Wèi's army was now all alone in their battle against Qín!  Of course, after Qín crushed Wèi, Hán then realized that IT was all alone against Qín!
                              -Of course, Hán's army didn't last long, and they were soon crushed by Qín.
                                 -Overall, approximately 150,000 Wèi and Hán soldiers were killed (estimated to be about 2/3 of their entire armies!).  In contrast, it's estimated that Bái Qǐ lost only like 8,500 (!).
                                    -As a result of these great losses, Wèi and Hán were forced to cede vast tracts of land to Qín as a peace offering.  Of course, both states must have known that it was only a matter of time before Qín moved into the region and conquered both of them, as their armies were shattered and their grasp on power tenuous at best.
-The war between Chǔ and Qín, however, lasted until 278 BC, when the forces of Qín finally were able to crush Chǔ's defenses and take its capital city, Yǐng (modern-day Jingzhou, Hubei Province).  Because of this, Chǔ was forced to relocate its capital to Chen (near Yǐng).

Eastern Zhou - Part VI - Qin's Reformation and Ascension

-Of the "Three Jins", it was the state of Wei that was the most powerful.
   -Wei took it upon itself to kind of act as an "older brother" to the other two.
      -Surprisingly, this worked out well in terms of having a balance of power in the former territory of Jin (for once).
   -The first ruler of Wei was Marquess Wen (AKA Wei Si).
      -Born in 475 BC, Wei Si unofficially became Marquess Wen in 424 BC, and then was finally granted the title officially (c. 405 BC) by King Weilie of the Zhou dynasty when the Partition of Jin was officially recognized by the crown.
         -Marquess Wen was officially granted this title alongside Marquess Jing of Han and Marquess Xian of Zhao).
      -Marquess Wen was alleged to have been an eager learner and intellectual, consulting in various Confucian scholars, including Li Kui, a scholar and adviser who would go on to greatly influence the development of the philosophy of Legalism (AKA "Fajia").
         -This is surprising because Confucianism and Legalism are both wildly different from each other.
         -Famously decreed that in order to receive food one must work, and to get paid you have to work well; if you don't work you must suffer the consequences!
      -Marquess Wen transformed the state into the dominant power of the Three Jins.
      -By 408 BC the state began to expand, starting with the successful invasion of the small state of Zhongshan (located to the northeast of Wei and east of Zhao), although they needed Zhao's permision to move their troops through the territory to get to Zhongshan.
      -During this time Wei became increasingly hostile towards the state of Qin to the west.  They even annexed some of their eastern territory.
      -Unfortunately for Wei, the state would only decline after the death of Marquess Wen in 396 BC.
   -So, after Marquess Wen died he was replaced by his son, Marquess Wu.
      -Marquess Wu wasn't a bad ruler, but shit happened during his reign that wasn't good.
         -First of all, Zhongshan declared itself independent of Wei in 377 BC, stating that it was its own sovereign kingdom.
   -Marquess Wu died in 370 BC, replaced by his son Marquess Hui (although in 344 BC he would declare that he was no longer a marquess, but was in fact a sovereign king!).
      -c. 364 BC- forged an alliance with Han to invade parts of eastern Qin and divide up the lands for themselves.
         -One problem with this invasion plan, however, was that Qin was no longer some backwater- it had actually grown quite powerful!
            -This had been achieved in large part by reforms issued by Qin's ruler, Duke Xian, who revolutionized the military, government, and society, essentially "modernizing" the state in order to make it a legit player in the region.
            -So, Qin clashes with the forces of Han and Wei at the Battle of Shimen, and Qin kicks their ass!
-c. 362 BC- Duke Xian dies, replaced by his son, Duke Xiao.
   -Duke Xiao wanted to continue his father's legacy of improving the state, so he requested intellectuals, politicians, and philosophers from across the region to visit him.  If they could convince him that their ideas had merit, then they would be given an office in his administration (in addition to land).
      -Many of these thinkers espoused Confucian, Taoist, and other philosophies, but Duke Xiao wasn't impressed until a dude named Shang Yang convinced the duke to follow his Legalist-esque doctrine (after an intense three day-long discussion).  Shang Yang (AKA Gongsun Yang; Kung-sun Yang; Wei Yang; etc.) was a statesman who had a vision of unwavering rule of law, strict social order, and enforced absolute authority of the state over everything else- this would eventually be the precursor to Legalism.
-356 BC- Shang Yang convinces Duke Xiao to pass two reforms (heavily influenced by Li Kiu's "Book of Law" ("Fa Jing") that proved to be revolutionary:
   -A new law code which informed the public about the laws of the state and the punishment for disobeying these laws.  What was revolutionary was that these punishments could be given out to ANYONE, regardless of their status, if they broke the law (even Duke Xiao's own son wasn't exempt when he committed a minor crime!).
      -Laws were divided into four categories: theft/robbery, treason, possession, and "miscellaneous".  Also contained two chapters on arrest procedures and the treatment of prisoners.
      -Punishments were incredibly harsh.
      -Also stripped the nobility of their lands.  These lands were then redistributed so that common soldiers received titles and their own properties and shit, and were promoted based on their performances and successes on the battlefield.
         -Farmers who were given land were also given quotas to fill- those who met or exceeded their quotas were rewarded with additional land and slaves; those who failed were themselves enslaved!!
         -Lands were able to be given because Qin was quite big and had a bunch of unused land. 
            -However, to adequately populate this land they needed a lot more people, so the law forced everyone to get married young.  The government also created tax incentives to encourage people to have large families. 
               -Immigration was also highly encouraged as long as the people came from other states within the Zhou dynasty.  This was smart because it caused Qin's population to swell, while the other states/kingdoms experienced a reduction in their population numbers.
-Of course, the nobility absolutely hated Shang Yang and his reforms, which took away their lands and power, but Duke Xiao gave zero fucks because he saw that the state was doing quite well with these changes!
   -In 350 BC- Shang Yang drafted new reforms that expanded the power of the state and passed some other shit, such as allowing for prisoners to be released if they agreed to settle in remote areas (where they would receive land).  Other changes included forcing clans to be split into nuclear units so that if a clan had a lot of people, they would be taxed extra (by taxing per nuclear unit instead of by "family").
      -In general, primogeniture was also abolished.
      -The capital was also moved in order to break the concentration of power that the old-school nobility had over the city.
-By 344 BC (when Duke Xiao died), Qin had come from a backwater domain that no one cared about to a badass, powerful state!  Duke Xiao was replaced by his son, Hui Wen (when he came into power he declared that Qin was now a sovereign kingdom, and that he was its new king!).
   -With the death of Duke Xiao, the nobility immediately began to plot feverishly to kill Shang Yang and abolish all of his reforms.
      -This was bad for Shang Yang because (besides the obvious reasons) because the new king (Hui Wen) was the same son of Duke Xiao that had been punished because of Shang Yang's reforms, so of course he was no ally of Shang Yang.
         -Thus, Shang Yang was arrested on charges of treason (most-likely trump-up), and Shang Yang, along with his entire family (the "nine familiar exterminations" rule ("Zhu Lian Jiu Zu"), which basically meant that you were also guilty if you were related to the criminal), were executed.
            -Shang Yang himself was executed via "julie" (death by being fastened to five chariots (or horses) and being pulled apart)!
               -According to legend, before his execution Shang Yang escaped and tried to hide out in a countryside inn, but the innkeeper figured out who he was and refused him entry.  This was because the innkeeper had denied him entry due to recent law (that Shang Yang himself had passed) that made it illegal for for people without proper identification to stay in inns!  Doh!!  Of course, after this he was quickly caught and executed.
-Anyway, so King Hui Wen was now ruler of Qin!
   -He ruled for 27 years, and even though Shang Yang had been executed, his reforms had proven to really work well in getting the state to become more efficient and powerful!  Poor Shang Yang!
   -King Hui Wen spent much of his rule working tirelessly to expand his kingdom, especially against the neighboring Zhou states.
      -Of particular note are Qin's invasions of the states of Shu and Ba to the southwest in 316 BC.
         -Oddly enough, these two states were comprised of a people (the Ba-Shu culture) that we didn't know about until we found legit archaeological evidence of their existence in 1987! 
            -This evidence (based on their art, crafts, etc.) also suggests that this culture, which had been deemed "barbaric" by the Xia/Shang/Zhou dynasties, were actually quite developed and sophisticated (if not at the same level as the "civilized" dynasties themselves!) in terms of technology and stuff.
         -Qin invaded these states because they occupied the strategically-located Sichuan Basin (and also because they could- these states were quite weak). 
            -They had gone unconquered in the past just because they were so far away and there was no reason for any state/kingdom to spend the time or resources to invade.  However, as Qin grew in power, the kingdom realized that in the future this area could be important in terms of national security and interstate warfare.  After all, "Sichuan" literally means "Four Rivers" in Mandarin (presumably in reference to the Jialing, Jinsha, Min, and Tuo rivers)!
            -After Qin conquered these states, all of the records and buildings and shit of this culture were completely destroyed.  Essentially, their existence was all but erased from history.
-Meanwhile, the other Zhou states began to notice Qin's growing power, and began to talk of taking this upstart state down by banding together in an "anti-Qin" alliance...

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".