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Videos about China's Resistance War:
The Battle of Shanghai & Nanking;
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(in English)
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Sinitic Civilization-Book 1 
Sinitic Civilization-Book 2 
Tribute of Yu 
Heavenly Questions 
Zhou King Muwang's Travels 
The Legends of Mountains & Seas 
The Bamboo Annals - Book 1 
The Scourge-of-God-Tetralogy: From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols: A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars and Quartet Conflicts (available at iUniverse; Google; Amazon; B&N) |
QIN DYNASTY
Qin's ancestors, together with the Shang people, belonged to the original group of people who lived in central and eastern China [but in the prehistory time period, could have previously relocated to eastern China from the western China]. At the turn of the Shang-Zhou dynastic substitution, the Qin people, who had acted as the imperial guards for the Shang Dynasty royal house the same as the Kunwu-shi people's acting as the imperial guards for the preceding Xia dynasty, were exiled to Northwest China after a defeat in the hands of the Zhou people. Similar to the Zhou Dynasty's founder, Qin's ancestors had emerged from the barbaric West to become the ruler of China. In both cases, they discarded the Rong & Di(2) customs and adopted the rituals of central China of the time. Qin's ancestor could be traced to Bo-Yi (aka Da-fei) under Lord Shun. Bo-Yi's father was called Da-ye. Da-ye was born by Nü-xiu after the mother swallowed the egg of a sparrow, while Nü-xiu, in turn, was a descendant of Lord Zhuan-xu. That is, the Qin ancestors could be traced to Bo-Yi[4] who was son of Da-ye, while Da-ye was in turn son of Nü-xiu, a granddaughter of Overlord Zhuan-xu. The designation of 'da' as a prefix, similar to Overlord Da-yu [or Yu the Great] could mean that this person was more than a minister but a lord as well, with Bo-yi's father Da-ye meaning Ye the Great, Bo-yi himself called Da-fei or Fei the Great, and elder son called by Da-lian or Lian the Great. Alternatively speaking, the Shaohao-shi clan might have their independent 'da'-prefixed lords within the greater Sinitic ruling cliques that ruled and encompassed both the Sinitic land and the non-Sinitic land. (Da-ye was often mixed up with justice minister Gao-yao or Gao-tao in Xia Shu as cited by Lu Lord Zhaogong's 14th year and Lu Lord Zhuanggong's 8th year of Zuo Zhuan. As expounded in Lu Lord Wen'gong's 5th year of Zuo Zhuan, Gao-yao's descendants were Yan3-surnamed, such as the Liu-guo [Lu-guo] and Liao-guo states that Lu minister Zang-wen-gong sighed about when the news came that Chu Viscount Xiong Xie had eliminated the two states.) The story of a sparrow totem, which was similar to the Shang Dynasty ancestors' sparrow story as well as the Jurchen founder-ancestor's sparrow story, led to the claim that the Qin people's ancestors belonged to the so-called Yi (misnomer Dong-yi) people. Bo-Yi (aka Dafei), as husbandry [or interior] minister, was in charge of the mountains and lakes. Bo-yi assisted Lord Yu (Da Yu or Yu the Great) in mastering the floods. Because of the contribution to mastering the floods, Bo-Yi was conferred the family name of 'Ying'. The Ying-surnamed fiefs were assigned the job as the river god for the Fen-he River ahead of the Ji-surnamed states. Per Zheng minister Zi-chan, Shao-hao or the Jin-tian-shi clan had a descendant who was the water irrigation minister in charge of managing the Fen-shui and Tao-shui River, and received the Fen-chuan fief from Lord Zhuanxu and [later] enjoyed the oblation from the four Ying-surnamed states of Shen3, Si4, Ru2 and Huang2. This means that the Ying-surnamed tribes had lived in the Sinitic heartland of Da-xia at the very beginning before dispersing to the Huai-shui River area. The 'Ying' name developed into fourteen surnames, among others: Xu's, Tan's, Ju's, Zhongli's, Yunyan's, Tuqiu's, Jiangliang's, Huang's, Jiang[1]'s, Xiuyu's, Baiming's, Feilian's, Qin's, and Zhao's. (The Xu, Tan [Dan] and Ju states had survived on the Shandong peninsula and in the Huai-shui River area for thousands of years. In the modern times, the surnames that shared the above 14-clan origin would be Lian, Xu, Jiang, Qin, Liang, Li, Zhao, Huang, Ma, Ge, Gu, Mou, Zhong, and Fei. Modern linguists claimed that the word 'Jiang[1]', i.e., the Yangtze River, was a southern Chu dialect. This could be wrong as prehistoric China often juxtaposed the Jiang1 River to be some river in today's southeastern Shandong peninsula, or with the Jiang1-guo state along the Huai-shui River as the [south]eastern boundary of Shang China.) In Zheng Yu of Guo Yu, as shown in a dialogue between Shi-bo and Zheng Lord Huan'gong, i) the Jiang-surnamed people [i.e., descendants of Bo-yi{-fu} who assisted overlord Yao as protocol minister], ii) the Ying-surnamed people [i.e., descendants of Bo-yi who assisted overlord Shun as interior minister], and iii) the [Jing-]Mi-surnamed Chu people, could in the future become possible contestants for the Zhou dynasty's rule -- a Sinitic theme of power rotation. Apparently, the context of Bo-Yi[4], i.e., the Qin people's ancestor, was in a larger Sino-Tibetan or pre-Sino-Tibetan Sinitic family.
Bo-Yi[4], an ancient legendary [interior] minister who was accredited with authoring The Legends of Mountains & Seas while assisting Lord Yu with flood control across the nation, had two sons, Da-lian and Ruo-mu, bearing the clan names of Niao-su-shi and Fei-shi, respectively. The character 'niao' meant for bird, which further led to the claim that the Qin people were the bird-totem [misnomer Eastern] Yi people. Hou Han Shu expounded on the bird denotation to state that Bo-yi knew how to communicate with the birds using the bird language. Without the context of Sima Qian's tenuous five-overlord lineage, Han Shu separately claimed that Bo-yi was a descendant of Shao-hao, i.e., the bird-totem people of the ancient eastern China domain. (While this webmaster adopted the simplistic equivalency of the bird totem to the [eastern] Yi natives living along the eastern Chinese coast, the most scientific explanation of the nature of Shao-hao could still be the theory of a Sinitic Shao-hao clique ruling the [eastern] Yi natives of ancient China. Scholar Wu Limin, in rebutting Xu Xusheng's eastern Yi/southern Maan theory, cited Lu Lord Xigong's 21st year (i.e., 639 B.C.) in Zuo Zhuan to state that when the Viscount of the Xuqu {Xugou} state [which was eliminated by the Zhu-guo state] fled to Lu, Cheng-feng [i.e., dowager of Lu Lord Zhuanggong and mother of Lu Lord Xigong, carrying the wind surname of the Xuqu {Xugou} state] petitioned with the Lu lord for help in re-establishing the ancient Xuqu state: Cheng-feng made a claim that by doing so, the pilgrimage of Taihao and Youji [i.e., the river god of the ancient Ji-shui River, near today's Ji'nan, Shandong Province] could be continuing, which was in conformity with the Zhou dynasty's rituals. After Cheng-feng died in 618 B.C., the Qin state sent over the ritual clothes as condolence. What Wu Limin meant was that the Taihao reverence, or Shaohao, must be related to the Sinitic family; otherwise, why would Cheng-feng make the claim about the conformity with the Zhou rituals? Similarly, in the Zheng Yu dialogue between Shi-bo and Zheng Lord Huan'gong, a distinction was made in identifying the Sinitic cliques ruling the [southern] barbarians from the [southern] barbarians themselves. Shi-bo, in the passage on the 'Jing' or Chu barbarians [who were counted among the southern 'Maan' group], explicitly listed the lineage of the 'Jing' or Chu ancestors, stating that Chu lord Xiong Yan had born four sons Bo-shuang, Zhong-xue, Shu-xiong and Ji-xun, with names bearing the Sinitic brotherly order, among whom the 3rd son fled to be a ruler among the southern 'Pu' [i.e., the later Hundred Pu or Mon-Khmer] people and the 4th son took over the lordship in the spirits of ancient ancestors Chong-li -- also taken to be two brothers of Chong and Lih[2] -- with the Lih line tacking on the hereditary fire guardian [minister] post known as 'Zhu-rong' [i.e., virtues shining like fire]. Shi-bo's point was that in extrapolating on the achievements of descendants of Yu-mu [lord Shun's line], Xia-yu [lord Yu], Zhou-qi [Zhou ancestor Qi or Hou-ji], it was claimed that inevitably Zhu-rong's descendants, who had produced Count Kunwu[-shi] in the Xia dynasty and Count Da-peng and Count Shi-wei[2] in the Shang dynasty, should see the Mi-surnamed Chu people asserting themselves in the Zhou dynasty time period.) One of the Fei-shi (Bi4-shi) clan's descendants would be called Fei Chang (Bi4 Chang). Fei Chang defected from Xia and assisted the Shang Dynasty founder in defeating the last Xia lord, Jie, at a place called Mingtiao. Note that Qi3, i.e., Lord Yu's son, had killed Bo-yi to assume the throne [that was supposedly yielded to Bo-yi by the overlord in the same fashion as the Yao-Shun-Yu succession] and founded the Xia dynasty (21-16th c. BC; ? 2207 B.C.E. - 1766 B.C. per Lu Jinggui's obfuscatory chronicling; 1978-1559 from lord Qi to lord Jie per raw data from the forgery contemporary version [Jin Ben] of The Bamboo Annals or 1991-1559 B.C.E. per Zhu Yongtang). One of the Niaosu-shi clan descendants, 'xuan sun' or the son of a great grandson, would be called Zhong-yan who was said to have the bird-like mouth and hands. Zhong-yan's 'zeng sun' or the great grandson would be called Xu-xuan (aka 'Rong Xu-xuan' as called by Marquis Shen-hou). Xu-xuan's son would be called Zhong-yu. Zhong-yu's son would be Fei-lian, i.e., a military commander for the Shang king. Fei-lian had had two sons E-lai (E-lai-ge) and Ji-sheng, or three sons: E-lai, E-lai-ge and Ji-sheng if not following Sima Qian's order of recital of elder son and junior son lineages. By the end of the Shang Dynasty (1765 B.C.E. - 1122 BC per Shao Yong; or 1559 - 1050 per the forgery contemporary version [Jin Ben] of The Bamboo Annals), Fei-lian and his elder son E'lai, served as the military commanders for the last Shang King Zhouwang. E-Lai was executed by the founder of Zhou Dynasty (1106-771 B.C. per Zhang Wenyu; 1044-256 B.C. per Cao Dingyun; 1122-256 B.C. per Liu Xin; 1116-256 B.C. per Huangfu Mi; 1111-256 B.C. per Seng Yixing; 1050 - 256 per the forgery contemporary version [Jin Ben] of The Bamboo Annals) after the Zhou army sacked the Shang capital of Chao-ge (misnomer Zhaoge [morning song]). Feilian was guarding the northern post for the Shang Dynasty. Hearing of Shang King Zhouwang's death, he would come back towards the Shang capital to mourn the last Shang lord. East of the Yellow River, on the Huo-shan (i.e., Huo-tai-shan/Tai-yue-shan) Mountain - a sacred mountain of the ancient Ji-zhou prefecture - which was today's southern Mount Taiyueshan of Linfen, he obtained a stone coffin with characters inscribed by the heaven, which purportedly admonished him against avenging on his lord's death. What actually happened was that Feilian made an altar for the late Shang king and conducted an oath of war against Zhou. (Note the only book that carried the ancient name of the Huo-shan Mountain was the mountain component of the book Shan Hai Jing.) Feilian then bore another son, Ji-Sheng. The alternative records by Haan-fei-zi etc., claimed that the Zhou people, in quelling the rebellion of the Shang remnants, drove Fei-lian to the corner of the sea, along the eastern Chinese coast, and killed Fei-lian. More, Teng Wen Gong [Xia] of Mencius claimed that the Zhou duke, in the 3rd year of King Cheng, continued the campaign, driving Fei-lian [i.e., ancestor of the Qin people] to the sea coast and killed him, and eliminated 50 states. The Qin people could be part of the Xiong-ying-zu people as mentioned in Yi Zhou Shu. Per The Bamboo Annals, in Zhou King Chengwang's 2nd year, An-ren [i.e., Qufu, or the Shaohao-shi Ruins], Xu-ren and Huai-yi entered the former Shang outskirts for rebellion against Zhou. This would be what the Xu people claimed that their ancestor king had fought across the Yellow River to the north. Per Yi Zhou Shu, Zhougong went to the Wey land to campaign against the Shang remnants' rebellion. Zhougong defeated the rebellion, and the three uncles. Shang prince Lu-fu fled north. Altogether 17 Xiong-ying-zu people were campaigned against. ('Xiong' was the same name as the Chu's founding ancestors, while 'Ying[1]' was speculated to be the same as soundex 'Ying[2] which was the ancestral name of the Qin ancestors, known as defenders or imperial guards of the Shang dynasty, who shared a similar barbaric practice of human sacrifice. Though, this Xiong-ying-zu concept could be a fabrication. Similar to the terminology of Xiong-ying-zu, there was in Yi [extant] Zhou Shu [Zhou Dynasty's history], a possibly latter-day fable talk book, some ludicrous juxtaposition of numerous ancient human characters and place-namings, such as i) Yi-qu-shi for the Yiqu-rong barbarians and ii) Ban-quan-shi for the legendary Fiery Lord who were defeated at Banquan in the hands of the legendary Yellow Lord.) This webmaster, in the attempt at resolving the nature of Jiang-rong [i.e., the Jiang-surnamed Rong barbarians], checked into the relationship of the Qin ancestors and Marquis Shen-hou's people, and derived a conclusion that both the Qin ancestors and Marquis Shen-hou's people apparently were exiled to western China from eastern China after the demise of the Shang Dynasty. The great grandson of Ji-Sheng, Meng-Zhen, was hired by Zhou King Chengwang. Meng-Zhen was given the Gaolang fief and hence known as Gaolang (mount Lüliangshan area). Meng-Zhen's grandson, Zao-Fu, was assigned to the land of the later Zhao Principality by Zhou King Muwang (r. 1002-947 BC) for contribution to driving the Zhou king back to the nation's capital from the Kunlun-qiu Hill in the west when King Xu-yan-wang of the Xu-guo statelet purportedly rebelled against the Zhou rule in eastern China. The place of conferral was called the Zhao-cheng city. (Zao-Fu was responsible for driving Zhou King Muwang on his western tour of the Kunlun Mountains where Muwang met 'Xi Wang Mu', i.e., Queen Mother of the West. When there was a rebellion to the east, Zao-Fu would drive King Muwang back, one thousand Chinese mile within one single day -which was disputed as unrealistic. Zao-Fu's descendants would be the ancestors of the later Zhao Principality that was split from the Jinn Principality. Below, this webmaster deliberately spelled Jin(4) into Jinn for sake of distinction from Jurchen Jin(1) Dynasty. Jin(4) is spelled Tsin in Wade-Giles.) Among E-lai-ge's descendants would be someone called Nü-fang; Nü-fang bore Panggao; Panggao bore Taiji; and Taiji bore Da-luo. Da-luo's son would be Fei-zi. They were offered a residency in the same city as Zhao-cheng, and hence they carried the same last name as their kinsmen, 'Zhao', i.e., the true clan name of later Qin Emperor Shihuangdi. Fei Zi (Fei-zi) lived in a place called Quan-qiu (a place near Fufeng? of Shenxi Province or Tianshui? of Gansu Province), and he was good at raising horses around the Wei-shui River, namely, an area where Zhou King Muwang had previously relocated the 'Rong' barbarians and the Yun-surnamed Xianyun barbarians from the western corridor for better management. Marquis Shen-hou, whose daughter married Da-luo, somehow persuaded Zhou King Xiaowang into bestowing the last name of 'Ying' on Da-luo's descendants for sake of pacifying or controlling the Western Rong people. Marquis Shenhou traced his ancestor who married over their woman to Rong-xu-xuan who born son Zhong-yu. Marquis Shen-hou, who was of the Fiery Lord's Jiang surname lineage, was quoted to have mentioned to Zhou King Xiaowang that his ancestor had married their woman to 'Rong Xuxuan' where Rong meant for the barbarians and 'Xuxuan' was the great grandson of Zhongyan. In the eyes of Marquis Shen-hou, the Qin people might be equivalent to the 'rong' people. Or in another sense, there were two groups of barbarians, cooked [acquaintance] barbarians versus raw [stranger] barbarians, with the cooked group already intermarrying with the Zhou royals since the former Shang Dynasty era. As to the Zhou people, they were squeezed to the barbaric west by the Shang people after the demise of the Xia Dynasty. (The Qin people, who lived in the barbaric west’s land of today’s Lixian, Gansu, had manufactured numerous bronzewares, such as Qin-gong Zuo Bao Yong Ding (the Qin lord’s manufactured treasured for-usage cauldron), with inscription using the Sinitic characters. Another Qin ‘gui’ bronze vessel, Qin-gong Gui, showed that Qin Lord Xianggong talked about the Qin ancestral temple on the ‘Yu-ji’ (Lord Yu’s footsteps) land and by the side of Di-zhi-pi (high lord’s tile/hill), with sacrifice to twelve Qin’s ‘gong’ ancestors. The Sinitic exiles, fugitives, and runaways numbered by tens of thousands in history, with numerous Han dynasty vassals and generals defecting to the Huns in the number of over tens of thousands. For example, during the Tang dynasty, the Turks had at one time returned to Tang China over 80,000 Chinese refugees or captives. No matter refugees who voluntarily defected to the barbarian side or the captives taken by the barbarians, the patented monosyllable Sinitic oral and written speech was what distinguished the Chinese from the barbarians. Namely, the yardstick lied in the usage of the Sinitic written language or not --a monosyllable Sinitic language that was in one sense artificially crafted or invented since prehistory, something artificial in the sense that the ancient people’s natural way of speech was polysyllabic but when the speech, i.e., an oral language, was delimited by the strictly monosyllable written language, it then became a set standard that differentiated itself from the people of the polysyllabic speech.) Shi-ji was ambiguous about the Da-luo descendant in this section: Interpretation would be that Da-luo had another son born with Marquis Shenhou's daughter, called 'Cheng'; Fei-zi, not Cheng, was conferred the ancestral name of 'Ying'. Some scholar pointed out that Marquis Shenhou deliberately asked Zhou King Xiaowang to intervene in Da-luo's selection of a junior son as inheriting the 'Qin' family line while kicking out the senior son of Fei-zi as someone to adopt an ancient family name of 'Ying'. Later, the Da-luo lineage, i.e., the descendants of 'Cheng', were all killed by the Rong barbarians. After that, the 'Ying' lineage inherited the 'Qin' name with approval of the Zhou court. Note this webmaster's general designation of the 'Da-luo descendants' below in lieu of either Fei-zi or Cheng. (This shows the influence of Da-luo's descendants in this barbaric area.) Qin Lord 'Qin Ying' Zhou King Xiaowang concurred with Marquis Shen-hou in stating that Qin's ancestor, i.e., Bo-yi was good at husbandry for Lord Shun, and that he would confer the vassal status onto Cheng (i.e., the junior son of Fei-zi) the ancient name of 'Ying', with the title of 'Qing-ying'. Zhou King Xiaowang conferred Da-luo's descendants the land of Qin (today's Tianshui, eastern Gansu Province) as a vassal; hence Da-luo's son was known as 'Qin Ying'. Qin became the vassal which was situated to the western-most part of then China. History records that two more groups of people dwelled to the west of the Qin and Zhou Chinese, namely, the Western Rong nomads - who could include i) the Jiang-rong and ii) the Yun-surnamed Xianyun, namely, a group of people who were exiled to the west by Lord Yao in the later 3rd millennium B.C.E. Out of the Western Rong people would be the Yiqu-rong who warred with Qin for hundreds of years and could be actually the source of people for the later Yueh-chih people. Qin Ying bore Qin-hou [with a reign of ten years]; Qin-hou bore Gongbo [with a reign of three years]; Gongbo bore Qin-zhong (Qin Zhong, a name most likely meaning the ‘zhong’ ranking brother). The Qin people became the vassal that was situated to the western-most part of then China. The Qin ancestors’ tombs had been discovered in Li-xian county of Gansu Province, to the southwest of Tianshui. Qin Lord Zhuanggong’s Pi-ji Gui vessel, that was excavated in Tengzhou of Shandong in 1980, talked about Pi-qi (Pi-ji) dedicating the bronzeware to Ying Qi’s grandfather Gong-bo and ancestress (grandma) Meng-ji. Qin Ying bore Qin-hou; Qin-hou bore Gongbo; Gongbo bore Qin-zhong (Qin Zhong, r. 845-822 B.C.; 844-822 B.C. per Shi-ji; 845-823 B.C. per Zhang Wenyu/Gu Ben Bamboo). (Sima Qian could have some error in the early Qin lords’ years, including Qin Zhong and Qin Lord Zhuanggong; however, Qin Lord Xianggong’s 1st year was cross-referenced to Zhou King Youwang’s death in 771 B.C. and Qin Lord Ninggong’s 4th year was cross-referenced to Lu Lord Yin’gong’s year of death in 712 B.C. Tang dynasty monk Dao-xuan, in Guang Hongming Ji, stated that there were no bamboo annals’ records beyond Qin Zhong.) Qin Lord 'Qin Zhong' (r. B.C.E. 845-822 ?; r. 844-822 B.C. per Shi-ji –which had one year error in the pre-interregnum years; 845-823 B.C. per Zhang Wenyu/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals) Qin Zhong would be four generations from Qin Ying. When Zhou King Liwang was ruling despotically, the Xi Rong (Xi-rong or Western Rong) people rebelled in the west and killed most of the Da-luo lineage. Zhou King Xuanwang got enthroned when Qin Zhong was in his 18th year reign, and Xuanwang conferred Qin Zhong the title of 'Da Fu' and ordered him to quell the Xi-rong. In 822 B.C., Qin Zhong got killed by Xi-rong after being a ruler for 23 years.
Qin Lord Zhuanggong (r. B.C.E. 821-778 ?; 822-778 B.C. per Zhang Wenyu/Shi-ji/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals) Qin Zhong's five sons, under the elder son (Qin Lord Zhuanggong), would defeat Xi-rong with a 7000-men relief army from the Zhou king. Qin Lord Zhuanggong hence recovered the territories called Quanqiu (i.e., Feiqiu, the land of Da-luo; today's Lixian, Tianshui, Gansu) and enjoyed the Zhou court's conferral of the title of 'Xi Chui Da Fu', i.e., the 'Da Fu' on the western border. Qin Lord Zhuanggong had a reign of 44 years. Siman Qian commented that Qin Lord Zhuanggong began to revere Lord Highness, a sign of usurpation, since only Zhou Kingdom was allowed to revere Lord Highness while the vassals could only worship their ancestors. Qin Lord Xianggong (r. B.C.E. 777-766) & Relocation Of the Zhou Court Qin Lord Zhuanggong's senior son, Shi-fu, would swear that he would kill the king of the Rong people to avenge the death of Qin Zhong before returning to the Qin capital. Zhuanggong's junior son would be Qin Lord Xianggong (Ying Kai) who assisted Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720) in cracking down on both the Western Rong and the Doggy Rong. Shi-fu was taken prisoner of war by Xi Rong during the 2nd year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong and did not get released till one year later. During the 7th year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong, i.e., 771 BC, the Doggy Rong barbarians sacked the Zhou capital and killed the Zhou king at the invitation of Marquis Shen (i.e., Shenhou). Ying Kai came to the aid of Marquis Shen after Marquis Shen wrote four letters, i) to Ying Kai, 2) to Marquis Jinn (Ji Chou), iii) to Marquis Wey (Ji He, Wey Lord Wugong, over 80 years old at the time), and iv) to the son of Count Zheng, requesting for help in driving the Doggy Rong barbarians out of the Zhou capital, Hao-jing. Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720) upgraded the rank of the son of Count Zheng to that of a marquis. Zhou King Pingwang conferred Ying Kai the title of Count and the old Zhou land to the west of Qishan and Feng (near today's Baoji and Xi'an areas) for the help in relocating the Zhou capital to Luoyang. Ying Kai began to exchange embassy with other Zhou vassals. With the exchange of embassies, the Qin people were said to have officially become part of the Sinitic "all land and all lords under one king" system[, albeit excluding the barbarian or non-Hua/non-Xia clans and tribes {which freely chose their own lords and kings}]. Within three years, Ying Kai drove off the Doggy Rongs and retook the lands of Qishan and Feng. Ying Kai died during the 12th year of his reign (766 BC) when he campaigned against the Rong at Qishan. (Scholar Fu Sinian studied the bronze inscriptions, i.e., jin wen, from the Zhou times and concluded that the ancient five rankings of duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron did not conform with bronze inscriptions or classics such as Shang Shu or Shi Jing. Fu Sinian stated that duke-gong, count-bo, viscount-zi, and baron-nan were originally used within a royal family as rankings; governmentally, 'bo' or count was the leader of a conferred fief while 'hou' or marquis was for denoting the vassal guarding border posts.) Qin Lord Wen'gong (r. B.C.E. 765-716) After Xianggong would be Qin Lord Wen'gong. Wen'gong, during his 3rd year reign, had a hunting in the east, and the next year, he selected the Qishan area for building a city as the capital. During his 13th year reign, Wen'gong began the chronicle recording, and during his 16th year reign, Wen'gong defeated the Rong at Qishan. Wen'gong would give the land east of Qishan back to the Zhou court. During his 20th year reign, the three lineage (father's line, mother's line and wife's line) extermination law came into existence. Wen'gong passed away during the 50th year reign, i.e., 716 BC. (This webmaster validated this year of Qin Wen'gong 44th year reign to be equivalent to Lu Lord Yin'gong first year, i.e., 722 BC) During Wen'gong's reign, there were legends of the lord obtaining some divine stony chicken (peacock), and the cutting down of a divine tree to yield a green ox. In 756 B.C., the Qin lord ordered to build a white god monastery on a terrace in Fu-yi and started the heaven reverence, which was reserved as a Zhou king's privilege. As traced by the historians while discussing 'feng shan', i.e., oblation for heaven and earth, the Qin lords more than revered the white god, with Qin Lord Xuan'gong adding the green god reverence down the road. The white god was taken to be Qin's ancestor Shao-hao-shi. Sima Qian commented that Qin began to converge with the Zhou Chinese culture beginning with Qin Lord Wen'gong. Shihuangdi appropriated the white-god-worship 'Yong[zhou] prefecture' practice to Mt. Taishan. Soong Dynasty scholar Shao Bo, in Shao-shi Wen-jian Hou-lu, stated that a Sui Dynasty erudite, by the name of Wang Tong [who was a descendant of Wang Xuanmo of the Liu-Soong Dynasty] concluded that 'feng shan' was an "extravagant heart" product of the Qin-Han dynasties. Qin Lord Ninggong (r. B.C.E. 715-704) After Wen'gong would be Qin Lord Ninggong, i.e., the grandson of Wen'gong. Ninggong relocated to Pingyang, to the west of Qishan, during his 2nd year reign. There would be one Xi-rong lord by the title of King Bo in a place called 'Dang She', a mutation of the Shang Dynasty founder, 'Tang'(1). (Ancient classics claimed that this group of people claimed heritage from Shang Tang and used the ancient Shang capital name 'Bo' for the title of their Xi-rong king. Ancient scholar Xu Guang claimed that 'Dang' should be pronounced as 'Tang' for the Shang founder, while 'She' was meant for later Du-xian county. Huangfu Mi of the Jinn dynasty treated King Bo as a branch of 'Xi-yi' or the Western Yi barbarians.) Qin Lord Ninggong would defeat King Bo and drove King Bo towards the Rong people during the 3rd year reign, i.e., 713 BC. Ninggong conquered King Bo's Dang-shi clan during the 12th year reign, i.e., 704 BC. Ninggong died this year and was buried on Mount Xishan, i.e., Qinlingshan of Chencang. Qin Lord Chu-zi (r. B.C.E. 703-698) & Qin Lord Wugong (r. B.C.E. 697-677) Ninggong's elder son (Wugong) was deposed, and Chu-zi, the son of Ninggong's junior son, was enthroned by three ministers at the age of 5. Chu-zi was killed 6 years later and Wugong was selected. About this time, Wugong campaigned against 'Pengxian-shi Rong' and reached the foot of Huashan Mountain. Qin Lord Wugong, during the 3rd year reign, i.e., 695 BC, exterminated the three ministers and their three lineage families for killing Chu-zi. (Note: This year is validated against the 17th year reign of Lu Lord Huan'gong, r 711-694 BC.) In the Zheng Principality, a minister by the name of Gaoqumi killed his lord Zheng Zhaogong. Qin Lord Wugong, during the 10th year reign, exterminated Gui-rong (Shanggui of Longxi) and Ji-rong (Tianshui Commandary), and the next year, exterminated Du-bo Fief (southeast of Xi'an), Zheng-guo Fief (Zhengxian County) and Xiao-guo Fief (an alternative Guo Fief, different from the Guo domain conferred by Zhou King Wenwang onto his brother Guo-shu). Xiao-guo Fief was said to be a branch of the Qiang people. During the 13th year reign, i.e., 685 B.C.E. approx, in conflict with 686 B.C.E. under Zhou, Lu & Jinn records in Zuo Zhuan, Qi Lord Xianggong (r. 698-686 BC) was assassinated by his ministers; Jinn exterminated the fief statelets of Geng, Huo and Wei; another assassination in Qi would see Qi Lord Huan'gong (r. 685-643 BC) selected. Note that the Qin people at the turn of the 8th century B.C.E. and the 7th century B.C.E. around, forcefully relocated the Yun-surnamed Xianyun barbarians to central China. Per Zuo Zhuan, the Yun-surnamed mixture barbarians dwelled at Guazhou. Du Yu commented that the Yun surname was the ancestor of the Yin-rong, and they were exiled to the San-wei-shan Mountain together with the San-miao people during the 3rd millennium B.C.E. In the line of Du Yu's reasoning, the San-miao barbarians, after exile, began to push back towards the east to become ancestors of all the future Rong and Di barbarians who played the role of capsizing the Western Zhou dynasty rule and continued to harass the Eastern Zhou dynasty rule, till Qi Lord Huan'gong's campaign to save Sinitic China from the fate of survival by hanging on a thread. Guazhou was wrongly taken to be some place on the Western Corridor and in the Dunhuang-Jiuquan area but could be right inside of the Yellow River Sheath, with the character 'gua' in Guazhou being possibly a corruption from the character 'Hu' for fox. When Qin intended to get rid of Luhun-rong & Jiang-rong around capital Yong in 638 B.C., Jinn Principality adopted a policy of allowing the remotely-related barbarian clan to stay closer to the land between Qin, Jinn and Zhou Dynasty capitals: Jinn Lord Huigong, for his mother's tie with the Luhun-rong clan, relocated the Luhun-rong to Yi-chuan and the Jiang-rong to southern Shanxi Pro, i.e., namely, the southward migration to the Mt Songshan area of the Yun-surnamed Xianyun [Huns] clan whose Qiangic nature was validated about 80 years later by the dialogue between Fan Xuan-zi of the Jinn Principality and Rong-zi Ju-zi, the descendant of Jiang-rong. Fan Xuan-zi said that you, the Jiang-rong-shi people, were pressured by the Qin people to leave Guazhou [the Dunhuang-Jiuquan area on the Western Corridor]; and that when your ancestor, Wu-li, trekked across the land of thorns to seek shelter with the Jinn lord Huigong, we had yielded the land to you and shared food with you. For those Rong who dwelled on the southern bank of the Yellow River, they were alternatively called the 'Yin [sun shade] Rong' or the 'Jiu-zhou [nine greater prefectures] Rong', who were to develop into a threat to the extent that the Chu Army campaigned against the Luhun-rong in 606 B.C.E. (The above dialogue also ascertained the fact that there were no Yuezhi living at the Western Corridor in the 7th century B.C.E., with the whole territory under the influence and control of the Qin people, after the relocation of the Yun-surnamed Xianyun people. More, the Qin statelet would expand northward to take over the land of the Yiqu-rong in today's central and northern Shenxi Province, again encountering no Yuezhi but some varieties of the Yiqu-rong people.) Jinn Prince Quwo vs Jinn Marquisdom In 679 BC, Jinn Prince Quwo became lord. Zhou King Xiwang (Ji Huqi, reign 681-677 B.C.) conferred Marquisdom onto Quwo Wugong after Jinn internal power struggles settled down. Quwo (today's Wenxi County, Shanxi Province) was previously assigned to Marquis Jinn Wenhou's brother by Marquis Jinn Zhaohou. For dozens of years, the descendants of Quwo Jinn royal family and the Jinn Marquisdom were entangled in a power struggle and assassinations of several Jinn marquis occurred. Historians commented that the Jinn turmoil derived from Quwo. Zhou King Pingwang (Ji Yijiu, reign 770-720 B.C.) had dispatched Guo-gong against Quwo when Zhuang-bo, head of Quwo, attacked Jinn capital after Marquis Jinn Er'hou (r 723-718 BC) died. Years later, the son of Quwo Zhuang-bo, who claimed to be proxy Zhuang-bo (aka Quwo Wugong), would attack, capture and kill Marquis Jinn Aihou (r 717-710 BC). When Quwo Wugong called Jinn Xiao-zi (r 709-706 BC), the son of Marquis Jinn Aihou, to Quwo and killed him, Zhou King Huanwang (Ji Lin, reign 719-697 B.C.) dispatched Guo-zhong of Guo-guo statelet against Quwo Wugong. A brother of Marquis Jinn Er'hou, Min-hou (r 706-679 BC), was made into the new Jinn lord. In 703 B.C.E. approx, Song captured the Zheng lord and erected a new Zheng lord. In 686 B.C.E. approx, a Qi minister (Guan Zhifu) killed Qi Xianggong. In 679 BC, Qi Huan'gong became a hegemony lord. During the 28th year reign of Jinn Min-hou (r 706-679), i.e., in 679 BC, Marquis Jinn Min-hou was killed by Quwo Wugong. Zhou King Xiwang (Ji Huqi, reign 681-677 B.C.) conferred Marquisdom onto Quwo Wugong. Quwo Wugong called himself Jinn Wugong and died two years later. Jinn Quwo Wugong enthroned in 678 BC. This would be during the 20th year reign of Qin Lord Wugong (r. B.C.E. 697-677), i.e., 678 BC, in conflict with 679 B.C.E. under Zhou-Jinn-Lu-Qi records. (In another sense, Quwo Wugong killed Jinn Minhou in 679 B.C.E. and did not count his first year reign till 678 BC) Qin Lord Wugong passed away during the 21th year reign, i.e., 677 BC, and 66 persons followed to his tomb as live burial. Qin Lord Degong (r. B.C.E. 677-676) & His Three Sons: Xuan'gong, Chenggong & Mugong Qin Lord Degong got enthroned at the age of 33 and died after a reign of 2 years. Two fief lords, Rui-bo and Liang-bo, had come to pay respect during the 2nd year reign of Degong. Degong's elder son, Xuan'gong (r. B.C.E. 675-664), enthroned next. In this year, i.e., 675 BC, Wey and South-Yan (Huazhou Prefecture or Huatai) attacked the Zhou court; Zhou King Huiwang went into exile; Prince Tui was enthroned as Zhou king. During the 3rd year reign, in 673 BC, Zheng-bo (Count of Zheng) and Guo-shu (lord of East Guo-guo Fief) killed Tui and restored King Huiwang's throne. Jinn Wugong's successor, Jinn Xian'gong (r. 676-651 BC), attacked Li-rong (Xi Rong) barbarians during his 5th year reign, i.e., 672 B.C.E. approx, and captured a Li-rong woman called Li-ji. Jinn Xian'gong took the advice of a minister (Shiwei) and killed most of the princes from the deposed Jinn Marquisdom lineage, and one such prince fled to Guo-guo statelet. Wars erupted between Jinn and Guo-guo. Twelve years later, during Jinn Xian'gong 12th year reign, i.e., in 665 B.C.E. approx, Li-ji born Xiqi and then conspired to have Jinn Xian'gong's elder princes deposed or killed, pushing Jinn into another round of turmoil. Three Jinn princes, Shensheng, Chong'er, and Yiwu, were dispatched to border cities, respectively. (Scholar Xu Zhuoyun analyzed Zhou's fief system to have derived a conclusion that cities at Zhou times could be differentiated into 'guo' for capital, 'yi' for 'fief', and 'tian' for countryside. The capital would be 'yi' with ancestral oblation. Jinn border cities like Quwo is considered a normal 'yi'.)
The next year, Qin Xuan'gong (r. B.C.E. 675-664) defeated Jinn at Heyang. Qin Xuan'gong died during the 12th year reign, i.e., 664 BC. In 664 BC, Qi Lord Huangong destroyed the statelets of Shan-rong and Guzhu. (Guzhu was formerly Zhu-guo Statelet, a vassal of ex-Shang dynasty.) A brother of Qin Xuan'gong was enthroned as Qin Chenggong (r. B.C.E. 663-660). Rui-bo and Liang-bo came to Qin court again. (Liang-guo fief was destroyed during 22nd year reign of Qin Lord Mugong, r. B.C.E. 659-621.) During 16th year reign of Jinn Xian'gong (r. 676-651 BC), i.e., in 661 B.C.E. approx, the Jin (Jinn) Principality eliminated Huo (Huozhou, Shanxi Province), Wei and Geng fiefdoms. Jinn Lord Xian'gong built the city of Quwo for Prince Shensheng, conferred General Bi-wan the domain of Wei and General Zhao Su the domain of Geng. Shiwei advised Prince Shensheng to flee as Zhou King Wenwang's uncles did. Jinn minister Po-yan advised against the conferral of Wei land onto Bi-wan. The next year, in 660 BC, Prince Shensheng was ordered on a new campaign against Dongshan-Chidi barbarians. Shensheng sought advice with Li'ke as to his crown prince status. Qin Chengong died during the 4th year reign, i.e., 660 B.C.E. approx, and another brother was enthroned as Mugong, reign B.C.E. 659-621. Zigzag With the Rong & Di Barbarians At the times of Zhou Dynasty, pockets of the barbarian tribes and statelets still existed in the heartlands of the Yellow River area and on the Shandong Peninsula, as in the case of the Di Statelet, the Chi Di Statelet & Sou-man3's Chang-di Statelet etc. Aside from the Rong-di Rong, Xi-rong, Jiang-rong & Quan-rong in northwestern China, there were the Mountain Rongs and Chang-Di barbarian in today's Shanxi-Shandong area. The Jinn Principality, from Jinn Lord Xian'gong onward, began the process of expansion that would merge and conquer dozens of the barbarian statelets to the east of east Yellow River Bend, with Jinn Lord Xian'gong merging 17 statelets and subjugating 38 others [per "Haan Fei-zi"]. After the defeat in the hands of Jinn Lord Wen'gong, the Di barbarians, who lived in the land of Xi-he (today's east segment of the Yellow River loop or bend), between the Yin (Yan'an/Yenan, Shenxi) and the [northern-]Luo River, where they were called by the White Di and Red Di barbarians. Bai-di (White Di) dwelled in ancient Yanzhou (today's Yan'an), Suizhou (today's Suide) and Yinzhou. Zuo-shi Chun-qiu stated Jinn defeated the Bai-di and the remnants were known as Bai-bu-hu later. Chi-di (Red Di) dwelled in a place called Lu(4), near today's Shangdang, Shanxi Province. Zuo-shi Chun-qiu stated that the Jinn Principality destroyed the Lu(4) tribe of the Chi-di, and the remnants were known as Chi-she-hu later. Shi Ben, a remnant Zhao Principality book, claimed that the White Di people carried the Jiu4 surname which the later historians claimed to be a mutated writing of the Yellow Lord's Ji1 surname. (Han Dynasty scholar Wang Fu, in Qian Fu (hermit gentleman] Lun [discourse], claimed that among the antiquity surnames, the Red Di were Kui-surnamed and the White Di were Heng-surnamed. The later scholars pointed out that 'Heng', like Jiu4, was a mutated writing of Ji1.) The Shan-rong barbarians, i.e., the Mountain Rong barbarians, who were customarily taken to be of the Tungusic stock [per historian Fu Qian], were said by Sima Qian to have gone across the Yan Principality of today's Hebei Province to attack the Qi Principality in today's Shandong Province. Sima Qian, in Shi-ji, stated that this happened sixty-five years after the relocation of Zhou King Pingwang's capital city to Luoyi and Qin Lord Xianggong's campaign against the [western] Rong barbarians at the Qishan Mountain, namely, about 705 B.C. Sima Qian stated that the Mountain Rongs, who attacked the Yan Principality, had intruded to the outskirts of Qi's capital city and fought against Qi Lord Ligong (i.e., Xigong). Sima Qian's Shi-ji stated that another forty-four years later, which would be 661 B.C. [after deduction from 705 B.C.], the Mountain Rongs attacked Yan again. Yan Lord Zhuanggong requested aid with Qi, which culminating in the Yan-Qi joint armies destroying the Mountain Rong Statelet as well as the Guzhu Statelet around 664 B.C. The story of 'old horses knew the way home' would be about the joint army being lost after they penetrated deep into the Shanrong land. Hence, Yan Statelet extended by 500 li to the northwest, in addition to the eastward 50 li which was given to Count Yan for his escorting Marquis Qi all the way into the Qi Statelet. --Sima Qian, who wrote about the [northern] Yan lords' lineage on basis of the Shi Ben book, mentioned the above sensational stories which did not conform with Zuo Zhuan, a book that recorded the Ji2-surnamed South Yan state from 718 B.C. to a Zheng lord's Yan-ji2 wife bearing a son called by orchid around 649 B.C. but did not specifically name the North Yan state matter till 545 B.C. on which occasion the North Yan count visited the Jinn state. Shi Ben, with the only scraps from the post-book-burning times, incidentally talked about North Yan Marquis Huanhou (?-691 B.C.)'s southward relocation of the North Yan's capital city to Linyi[4] (Xiongxian, Baoding, Hebei). This webmaster, checking the Qi marquis' itineraries in year 664 B.C., only found an entry about a diplomatic summit, in the winter of 644 B.C., between the Lu lord and the Qi marquis at Lu-ji, in regards to the campaigns against the Shan-rong or the Shanrong (Mountain Rong) barbarians who attacked the [most likely southern] Yan state. If it was the year 661 B.C., the Qi marquis would be busy dealing with the Chang-di barbarians' invasion of the Xing-guo and Wey states, with no time to take care of the other hot spots. During the 16th year of Zhou King Huiwang (reign 676-652), namely, 661 BC, the Chang Di barbarians who were located near today's Jinan City of Shandong Province, under Sou Man, attacked the Wey and Xing principalities. The Di barbarians, hearing of Qi army's counter-attacks, embarked on a pillage in central China by attacking Wey and Xing statelets. The Di barbarians killed Wey Lord Yigong (r. B.C.E. 668-660 ?) who was notorious for indulging in raising numerous birds called 'he' (cranes), and the barbarians cut him into pieces. A Wey minister would later find Yigong's liver to be intact, and hence he committed suicide by cutting apart his chest and saving Yigong's liver inside of his body. In 649 BC, a half brother, by the name of Shu-dai, colluded with Rong and Di barbarians in attacking Zhou King Xiangwang. (Rong-di barbarians had come to aid Shu-dai as a conspiracy of Shu-dai's mother, dowager queen Huihou.) Over 20 years later, in 636 B.C.E. approx, the Rong-di barbarians attacked Zhou King Xiangwang (reign 651-619) at the encouragement of the Zhou Queen who was a daughter of the Rong-di ruler. The Jinn Principality helped Zhou King by attacking the Rongs and then escorted the king back to his throne 4 years after the king went into exile. After the defeat in the hands of Jinn, the Rongs moved to the land between the west segment of the Yellow River loop or bend and the Luo River, and two groups were known at the time, Chidi (Red Di) and Baidi (White Di). (Note that ancient West Yellow River Bend is the same as today's East Yellow River Bend. Ancient Yellow River Bend did not equate to today's inverse U-shaped course with the North Bend lying inside Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, but the U-shaped Bend with South Bend in southern Shanxi Province and then a south-to-north turn in Hebei Province for exit into the sea.) When Qin intended to get rid of Luhun-rong & Jiang-rong around capital Yong in 638 B.C., Jinn Principality adopted a policy of allowing the remotely-related barbarian clan to stay closer to the land between Qin, Jinn and Zhou Dynasty capitals: Jinn Lord Huigong, for his mother's tie with the Luhun-rong clan, relocated the Luhun-rong to Yi-chuan and the Jiang-rong to southern Shanxi Pro, i.e., namely, the southward migration to the Mt Songshan area of the Yun-surnamed Xianyun [Huns] clan For those Rong who dwelled on the southern bank of the Yellow River, they were alternatively called the 'Yin [sun shade] Rong' or the 'Jiu-zhou [nine greater prefectures] Rong', who were to develop into a threat to the extent that the Chu Army campaigned against the Luhun-rong in 606 B.C.E. Qin Lord Mugong (r. B.C.E. 659-621) In 659 BC, Qin Lord Mugong conquered Maojin-rong. During 19th year reign of Jinn Xian'gong (r. 676-651 BC), i.e., in 658 B.C.E. approx, Jinn borrowed a path from Yu-guo and attacked Xiangyang of Guo-guo. During the 4th year reign of Qin Lord Mugong, i.e., 656 BC, Mugong was married with the sister of Prince Shensheng of Jinn. In this year, Qi Lord Huangong attacked Shaoling city of Chu. During Jinn Xian'gong 21th year reign, i.e., in 656 B.C.E. approx, Li-ji conspired to put poison into the meat Shensheng gave to his father; Li-ji pasted honey onto her body to attract bees, asked Shensheng help her drive away the bees, and then accused Shensheng of trying to take advantage of her. Shensheng fled to Xincheng city and committed suicide. Jinn Lord Xian'gong (676-651 B.C.) hence fell under the trick of his concubine (a Li-rong woman), and Prince Chong'e (Chong Er, ?-628 BC) escaped to Di(2) Statelet in 655 BC. (Prince Chong Er's birth mother was from Di barbarian.) In 655 BC, Jinn borrowed path from Yu-guo again by sending Jinn Xian'gong's stallion as a gift. A Yu-guo minister, Gong Zhiqi, advised against it, saying Yu-guo and Guo-guo were like lips and teeth to each other. Gong Zhiqi led his whole family away from the Yu-guo. Jinn Principality eliminated Guo and Yu statelets in the winter of 655 BC. Guo-gong fled to Zhou court. Yu-gong and his minister Baili Xi were captured and the stallion was found by Xunxi and delivered back to Jinn Xian'gong. During Jinn Xian'gong 23rd year reign, i.e., in 654 B.C.E. approx, Jinn attacked Prince Yiwu at Quwo land, and Yiwu fled to a different statelet, Shaoliang land, at the advice of Ji-rui. Ji-rui said that should Yiwu flee to Di, Jinn would attack Di because Chong'er was already there. Two years later, Jinn attacked Di, and Di counter-attacked Jinn; hence, Jinn withdrew from their siege. Li-ji's brother had a son called Dao-zi in this year. In 651 BC, Qi Lord Huangong assembled Zhou vassals at Kuiqiu.
The Battle Of Han-yuan After the death of Jinn Lord Xian'gong (676-651 B.C.), Li-ji's son, Xiqi, was erected, but a minister (Li'ke) killed Xiqi; after minister Xunxi erected another cousin of Xiqi (Dao-zi), Li'ke killed the new lord and Xunxi, consecutively. Li-ji was killed on the streets. Li'ke first sought for Prince Chong'er, but Chong'er declined it. Li'ke then went to Prince Yiwu. Jinn Prince Yiwu sought for help from Qin Lord Mugong (r. B.C.E. 659-621) in escorting him to the throne at Jinn, with a promise of seceding to Qin 8 cities to the west of Yellow River. Qi Huangong sent forces to help Yiwu as well, and Qi forces stopped marching at Gaoliang after knowing Qin already delivered Yiwu, i.e., Jinn Huigong (r. 650-637 BC). Yiwu ate his words, and killed Li'ke instead of conferring him the land of Fengyang as promised. Yiwu's emissary to Qin, Pi-zheng, being afraid of returning to Jinn to receive the same fate as Li'ke, would incite Qin Lord Mugong in having Jinn Prince Chong'er replace Yiwu. Pi-zheng was killed upon returning to Jinn, and his son (Pi-bao) fled to Qin. In 649 BC, a half brother, by the name of Shu-dai, colluded with Rong and Di barbarians in attacking King Xiangwang. (Rong-di barbarians had come to aid Shu-dai as a conspiracy of Shu-dai's mother, ex-queen Huihou.) Jinn Principality attacked the Rong to help the Zhou court. Shu-dai fled to Qi Principality. Three years after the death of Qi Lord Huangong, Shu-dai returned to Zhou court from Qi Principality at the request of King Xiangwang. During 12th year reign of Qin Mugong, i.e., 648 BC, Guan Zhong of Qi passed away. When Jinn had a drought-related famine, Qin, against the proposal of Pi-bao to attack Jinn, would dispatch ships with grains to Jinn, passing from Qin capital of Yong to Jinn capital of Jiang(4). Two years later, Qin had a famine, but Jinn refused to lend grains, and moreover attacked Qin in 645 BC. Qin Lord Mugong and Pi-bao fought against Jinn army at a place called Han-yuan in September. When Mugong saw Yiwu and his horse trapped in the mud, Mugong intended to capture Yiwu. But Jinn army came to aid Yiwu and encircled Mugong. Three hundred 'yeren' (countryside people) solders, who were spared death by Mugong for eating good horses, would rush to rescue Mugong, and moreover captured Yiwu. When Mugong intended to sacrifice Yiwu for Lord Highness, i.e., Heaven, Zhou court came to petition for mercy, and Mugong's wife would beg for mercy for his brother (Yiwu). Mugong released Yiwu in November for sake of frustrating Jinn ministers' attempt to erect Yiwu's son. Yiwu, upon return to Jinn, killed Qingzheng who refused to rescue him during the prior war, surrendered 8 cities to the west of Yellow River to Qin, and sent his son (Zi-yu) to Qin as a hostage. Yiwu, fearing that Prince Chong'er might stir trouble, sent an assassin to Di statelet and forced Chong'er into fleeing to Qi after a stay of 12 years with Di people. Qin gave Zi-yu a royal family girl for marriage. During 18th year reign of Qin Mugong, i.e., 642 BC, Qi Huangong passed away. Around 641 BC, Qin exterminated Liang and Rui statelets. (Zi-yu's mother was the daughter of Liang-bo, and hence Zi-yu was angry with Qin.) Three years later, Jinn Prince Zi-yu fled the Qin capital, without taking his Qin wife, when he heard that his father was getting ill. Zi-yu's wife did not report his fleeing to Qin court but refused to follow Zi-yu. Jinn Lord (Yiwu) passed away the next year, i.e., in 637 BC, and Zi-yu was enthroned as Jinn Huaigong (r. 637-636 BC). Zi-yu killed a minister called Hu-tu for not recalling his two sons from Chong'er entourage. Qin Lord Mugong, hating Zi-yu for his fleeing home, would retrieve ex-Jinn Prince Chong'er from Chu, and further gave ex-wife of Zi-yu to Chong'er. In 636 BC, Qin Mugong, with 500 chariots, 2000 cavalry, and 50,000 field soldiers, escorted Prince Chong'er to Jinn capital to become Jinn Lord Wengong (r. 636-628 BC), and Chong'er sent an assassin to have Zi-yu (Jinn Lord Huaigong) killed at Gaoliang. Chong'er, at the age of 17, possessed five tutors: Zhao Shuai, Huyan Jiufan (uncle-in-law), Jia Tuo, Xian Zhen, and Wei Wu-zi. (Later, one follower, by the name of Jie Zi-tui, went to the mountains to be a hermit instead of accepting Chong'er awards.) At Di statelet, he was given a Jiuru-Chidi (Gaoru-Chidi) woman of Kui surname; a sister of the woman married with Zhao Shuai and bore Zhao Dun. After staying in Di statelet for 12 years, Chong'er was forced into an exile tour of various Zhou vassals. Passing through Wey, Chong'er was mistreated by Wey Wengong and left. At Wey land of Wulu, Chong'er begged for food from peasants who added mud into the food. At Qi, Chong'er was given a royal girl and twenty carts for marriage. Chong'er stayed in Qi for five years, and under the collusion of Zhao Shuai, Huyan Jiufan and Qi wife, Chong'er was fed a lot of wine and carried out of Qi capital in intoxicated status. Chong'er wife had asked him to think more about recovering his country than staying with a woman. Passing through Cao statelet, Chong'er was mistreated by Cao Gonggong, but received assistance from a Cao minister. Passing through Song, Chong'er was received by Song Xianggong in a lord's rituals. Passing through Zheng statelet, Chong'er was mistreated by Zheng Wengong. At Chu, Chong'er was given vassal treatment by Chu King Chengwang. When Qin retried Chong'er, Chu King escorted Chong'er with big gifts to Qin. Qin gave Chong'er 5 royal family girls, including Zi-yu's wife. At the age of 62, Chong'er returned to Jinn after an exile of 19 years. When two ministers (Lü Sheng and Qie Rui) planned to rebel against Jinn Wengong, an eunuch, Lüti, who previously tried to assassinate Chong'er twice, informed Chong'er of the plot. Chong'er received the assistance of Qin Mugong in having the rebels killed over the river. Qin Mugong dispatched 3,000 soldiers as Jinn Wengong's bodyguards. In the autumn of 636 BC, the brother of Zhou King Xiangwang, Shu-dai, hired the Di barbarians in attacking the Zhou court. King Xiangwang fled to Zheng. In 635 BC, King Xiangwang sought help with Qin/Jinn. This is during Jinn Wengong's 2nd year reign. Qin Mugong led an army against Shu-dai and reached the Yellow River during the spring. Zhao Shuai advised that Jinn Wengong should aid Zhou court, too, and Qin-Jinn armies killed Shu-dai in April of the year. Zhou King Xiangwang conferred onto Jinn the title of Count and the land of Yangfan or 'he nei' (pronounced as He-rui in ancient Chinese to mean the winding section of the Yellow River or equivalent 'Hanoi' in Vietnamese for the meaning of the innerside of the Yellow River, i.e., northern Henan Province where Yellow River flows to the east with a 90 degree turn). The Battle Of Chengpu In 633 BC, Chu led its vassals on a siege of Song. Xian Zhen advised Jinn Wengong that Jinn should aid Song as requital. Huyan proposed that Jinn attack Chu's two allies, i.e., Cao and Wey. Jinn dispatched three columns of army, with Qie Hu in the middle, Huyan in charge of the upper column, and Luan Zhi the lower column. During Jinn Wengong's 5th year reign, i.e., in 632 BC, Jinn Wengong was refused a path by Wey for attacking Cao. Then, Jinn crossed the river elsewhere and attacked both Cao and Wey, taking over Wulu in January of 632 BC. In Feb, Jinn and Qi made an alliance at Wey land, and refused Wey's request for being a member. When Wey lord intended to ally with Chu, Wey ministers ousted him. Chu was defeated for aiding Wey. Jinn then sieged Cao. In March, Jinn took over the Cao capital but spared a Cao minister's home as a requital for the early help during Chong'er exile. Chu then lay a siege of Song. Jinn Wengong intended to attack Chu to help Song, but he was hesitant since Chu king had given him a lot of favor before. Xian Zhen proposed that Jinn capture Cao-bo and divide Cao & Wey land for sake of Song so that Chu would release Song to aid Cao/Wey. Hence, Chu army withdrew the siege of Song capital. Chu General Zi-yue adamantly insisted on a fight with Jinn, and Chu King allocated less soldiers. Zi-yue sent an emissary (Wan-chun) to Jinn in request for restoration of Cao/Wey. Xian Zhen proposed that Jinn have Chu da fu Wan-chun retained under custody to anger Zi-yue and that Jinn privately made peace with Cao/Wey for sake of making them defect to Jinn. Hence, Zi-yue was angered into a fight, and Jinn retreated three times as a fulfillment of promise that Chong'er made to Chu king while he was in exile stay at Chu. In April, Song-Qi-Qin-Jinn armies had a campaign against Chu at Chengpu (a Wey city), burnt Chu army for days, and defeated Chu at the Battle of Chengpu. (Zi-yue was ordered to commit suicide by Chu king later.) Zhou King Xiangwang personally went to Jinn camp to confer Marquisdom onto Jinn Wengong, and Jinn made a convenience palace for the king. Zheng, seeing Chu defeat, went to ally with Jinn. In May, Jinn sent Chu prisoners to Zhou court. Zhou king dispatched da fu Wang Zi-hu to Jinn, re-conferred 'bo' (Count) onto Jin Wengong, and offered royal arrows/bows and 300 royal guards to Jinn. Wang Zi-hu held an assembly of vassals. In June, Jinn restored Wey lord. In the winter of 632 BC, Jinn Lord Wengong assembled vassals at a place called Wen (near Zhengzhou, Henan Province) and called on the Zhou king to have a hunting party. Jinn restored Cao statelet's lord. Jinn first devised three columns of armies, with Xun Linfu in charge of the middle column, Xian Hu the right column, and Xian Mie the left column. In 630 BC, Jinn Wengong wanted to punish Zheng for not helping him while he was in exile years ago, and Jinn Wengong sought help from Qin. Jinn/Qin lay a siege of Zheng and forced a Zheng minister to commit suicide. But Jinn refused to back off. Zheng dispatched Zhu Zhi-wu to Qin Mugong and successfully persuaded Qin into a withdrawal. Qin left three da fu and a small garrison army at the north gate of Zheng. Jinn withdrew army, too. The Battle Of Xiao'er Two years after the Qin-Jinn armed intervention in the Zheng state affairs, namely, in the winter of 628 B.C., Jinn Lord Wen'gong passed away. Count Zheng-bo, the lord of Zheng, also died. While the Jinn lord's coffin left the Jiang4 city, there was an ox's sound coming from within. Sorcerer Bu-yan, asking the Jinn ministers to kneel down, claimed that the dead Jinn lord was issuing an order, which was a warning that the enemy from the west was to pass through the Jinn territory to attack them. What happened was that the Qin 'da fu' minister at the north gate of Zheng, Qi3-zi, sent a message to Qin Lord Mugong, stating that Zheng could be taken over by a surprise attack while it was in the mourning status. This would be during the 24th year reign of Zhou King Xiangwang. Qin minister Jian-shu (uncle Jian) was against it. Qin lord Mugong, against the advice of Jian-shu (Jian Shu) and Baili Xi, dispatched Meng-ming-shi (Baili Xi's son), Xi-qi-shu (Jian Shu's son), and Bai-yi-bin on a long distance campaign against Zheng. Baili Xi and Jian-shu were reprimanded for crying prior to their sons' march. Jian-shu said that Qin might suffer defeat at Xiao'er (i.e., the Xiaoshan Mountain in today's Mianchi and Luoning area). Jian-shu told his son that the Jinn army could ambush the Qin army at Mt. Xiao, between the southern hill (tomb) of Xia-hou-gao [Xia king Gao, namely, the grandfather of last Xia King Jie] and the northern hill where Zhou King Wenwang at one time sought the safe haven from some heavy rains. In the spring of 627 B.C. or the spring of Lu Lord Xigong's 33rd year, when the Qin convoy, about 300 over-crowded chariots, passed through the front of the north gate of the Zhou capital city, Zhou Aetheling Wang-sun-Maan (Wangsun [grandson] Maan [Ji Maan]), still a kid at the time, commented that the Qin army, with the rightside and leftside assistant drivers jumping off the chariots to show respect and then jumping back onto the chariots, lacked respect for the Zhou court and would for sure lose the war. At a place near the Hua2-guo statelet, a Zheng state's merchant, by the name of Xuan-Gao, who was en route of travelling to Chengzhou for business, donated 4 cooked buffalo skin and 12 buffalos to the Qin army by pretending to do so under the order of the Zheng lord. After receiving the news from Xuan-gao, Zheng Lord Mugong had minister Huang-wu-zi check on the Qin garrison troops to find out that they were all packed up. Huang-wu-zi then told Qin general Qi3-zi et al., that Zheng had run out of the supply, and suggested that the Qin generals go hunting at the Zheng state's you-yuan-pu hunting ground which was just like Qin's You-ju-you hinting ground. The Qin resident leaders, being scared, fled Zheng, with Qi3-zi fleeing to Qi and Feng-sun and Yang-sun fleeing to Soong. Three Qin generals were surprised to know that Zheng had the advance knowledge of the Qin attack, stopped at the Hua2-guo Fief, exterminated Count Hua2-guo's fief instead, and then embarked on the return trip.
In the spring of 627 B.C. or the spring of Lu Lord Xigong's 33rd year, when the Qin convoy, about 300 over-crowded chariots, passed through the front of the north gate of the Zhou capital city, Zhou Aetheling Wang-sun-Maan (Wangsun [grandson] Maan [Ji Maan]), still a kid at the time, commented that the Qin army, with the rightside and leftside assistant drivers jumping off the chariots to show respect and then jumping back onto the chariots, lacked respect for the Zhou court and would for sure lose the war. At a place near the Hua2-guo statelet, a Zheng state's merchant, by the name of Xuan-Gao, who was en route of travelling to Chengzhou for business, donated 4 cooked buffalo skin and 12 buffalos to the Qin army by pretending to do so under the order of the Zheng lord. After receiving the news from Xuan-gao, Zheng Lord Mugong had minister Huang-wu-zi check on the Qin garrison troops to find out that they were all packed up. Huang-wu-zi then told Qin general Qi3-zi et al., that Zheng had run out of the supply, and suggested that the Qin generals go hunting at the Zheng state's you-yuan-pu hunting ground which was just like Qin's You-ju-you hinting ground. The Qin resident leaders, being scared, fled Zheng, with Qi3-zi fleeing to Qi and Feng-sun and Yang-sun fleeing to Soong. Three Qin generals were surprised to know that Zheng had the advance knowledge of the Qin attack, stopped at the Hua2-guo Fief, exterminated Count Hua2-guo's fief instead, and then embarked on the return trip. Hearing of Qin's attack on Hua-guo, a state with the Zhou's royal Ji surname, Jinn Lord Wen'gong's son, i.e., Jinn Xianggong (r. 627-621)), in the spring of 627 B.C., at the suggestion of Yuan-zhen (Xian Zhen), sent an army to have the Qin army, which was en route of returning west, ambushed at Xiao'er. Jinn minister Luan-zhi was against the attack at the Qin army. Xian Zhen claimed that letting go the enemy would lead to trouble for several generations to come. Jinn Xianggong dyed his white mourning clothes into black, and marched forward, with Liang-hong driving the chariot and Lai-ju as assistant driver. The Jinn lord mobilized the Jiang-rong barbarians for attacking the Qin army. Per Zuo Zhuan, in the summer month of April and on the date of the 13th, the Jinn army ambushed the Qin army. The Jiang-rong barbarians, as recalled by their prince generations later, had always answered the Jinn lord's call, and during the Xiao-er Battle, pincer-attached the Qin army at one of the two ends of the mountain road. Three Qin generals were captured, while their soldiers were all killed.
In 626 BC, Chu Prince Shang Chen assassinated his father King Chu Chengwang. Two years after Xiao'er defeat, in 625 BC, Qin Mugong dispatched Mengmingshi on another campaign against Jinn. Incidentally, Jiang-rong barbarians had assisted Jinn in ambushing Qin army at the Battle of Mt Xiao'shan [Xiao'er]. Then, Qin turned around to expand westward. Qin lord Mugong heard of the fame of a talent called You Yu who deserted the Jin (Jinn) Principality for the Xi-rong (Western Rong) nomads, and he played a trick of dissension and managed to hire over this person when Xi-rong sent You Yu to Qin as an emissary. Qin Mugong and You Yu had an exchange of opinions on China's system, law, music/rituals and the lack of such things in the Xi-rong Statelet. You Yu rebutted the dilapidation of China's systems and laws that occurred after Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) and commented that Xi-rong had reached governance without knowing a sophisticated system via their king's self-perfection into a saint and that Xi-rong did not have to undergo the patricides and usurpation as the Sinitic Chinese did. Qin Mugong deliberately retained You Yu for one year while he sent some beauties and music to Xi-rong King as gifts. When You Yu went back to Xi-rong, Xi-rong king was indulgent in women and music. Hence, You Yu deserted Xi-rong for Qin at several invitations of Qin lord Mugong. In 624 BC, Qin Mugong dispatched Mengmingshi against Jinn again. The Qin army burned their ships after crossing the river, and defeated Jinn and captured one of their outskirts palaces. Then, the Qin armies crossed the Yellow River at Maojin and buried the Qin soldier's dead bodies at Xiao'er. The Qin armies mourned for three days at Xiao'er. Qin Mugong again expressed regrets about not taking the advice of Jian Shu and Baili Xi. When Qin Mugong repented over his mistake in invading the Zheng Principality which had led to the ambush disaster at the Battle of Xiao'er, he used the characters 'huang fa po po [fan fan]' (white hair turning yellowish) to describe the high age of his two counsellors, Jian Shu and Baili Xi. The next year, in 623 BC, Jinn counter-attacked Qin and took over Xincheng. In 623 BC, i.e., during the 37th year reign, Qin Mugong, using You Yu as a guide, campaigned against eight Xi-rong barbarian states and conquered the Xi-rong Statelet under their lord Chi Ban. The eight Xi-rong barbarian states, per Shi-ji, could include: Mianzhu, Gun-rong, Di[2]yuan[2], Huan-rong, Yiqu, Dali, Wuzhi and Xuyan. Once Chi Ban submitted to Qin, the rest of the Western Rongs in the west acknowledged the Qin overlordship. Qin Mugong would conquer altogether a dozen (12) states in Gansu-Shaanxi areas and controlled the western China of the times. Zhou King dispatched Duke Zhaogong to congratulate Qin with a gold drum. In 622 BC, Jinn's ministers, Zhao Shuai (Zhao Shuai-cheng-zi), Luan Zhi (Luan Zhen-zi), Jiuji Zifan and Huobo, all passed away. Zhao Dun assumed Zhao Shuai's post. Lord Qin Mugong passed away in 621 BC, and 177 persons were buried live, including three Ziche brothers who, being distinguished ministers, had at one time promised to live and die with Qin lord together during a banquet. Historians commented that Qin could not campaign to the east because their best ministers were buried as funeral objects. Jinn Lord Xianggong died early in this year, too. Qin Lord Kanggong (r. B.C.E. 620-609), Qin Lord Gonggong (r. B.C.E. 608-604) Qin Mugong's son, Kanggong, succeeded the throne in 620 BC. Qin Kanggong had a reign of 12 years, till 609 BC. Jinn Minister Zhao Dun sought for Jinn Lord Xianggong's brother (Yong) as Jinn Lord. Yong was born by the mother of Qin royal heritage and lived in Qin land. Qin sent Yong to Jinn and arrived at a place called Linghu, east of the river. At this time, Jinn had decided to select Jinn Xianggong's son as their lord. Zhao Dun attacked Qin army at Linghu for sake of stopping Yong from coming back to Jinn, and Qin retreated with Zhao Dun's emissaries (Sui Hui and Xian Mie). The second year, Qin counter-attacked Jinn and took over Wucheng city. During the 4th year reign of Jinn Linggong (r. B.C.E. 620-607), i.e., 617 BC, Jinn attacked Qin and took over Shaoliang; Qin counter-attacked Jinn. Two years later, i.e., 615 B.C.E. approx, Qin Kanggong attacked Jinn and took over Jima. Jinn Linggong ordered Zhao Chuan, Zhao Dun and Qie Que on a counter-attack and defeated Jinn at He-qu (inflexion point of Yellow River). The next year, i.e., 614 B.C.E. approx, six prominent ministers of Jinn managed to have their general Wei Shouyu pretend to surrender to Qin; when Sui Hui came to see Wei Souyu, Jinn would have Sui Hui captured and brought back to Jinn. Still one more year later, in 613 B.C.E. approx, when Zhou King Qingwang died, Zhou ministers, Duke Zhougong (Yue) and Wangsun Su had disputes. In this year, Chu King Zhuangwang (r. B.C.E. 613-591) was enthroned. Jinn dispatched 800 chariots to Zhou court, and Zhou King Kuangwang (Ji Ban, reign 612-607 B.C.) was selected as king in 612 BC. In 609 B.C.E. approx, Qi Lord Yigong (r. B.C.E. 612-609) was assassinated. Qin Kanggong was succeeded by his son, i.e., Qin Gonggong (r. B.C.E. 608-604) who was enthroned next for 5 years. In 607 BC, Jinn Lord Ligong had previously tried to assassinate Zhao Dun several times and caused Zhao Dun into fleeing the country. Ligong used bows to shoot people and killed his cook and other servants at random. An assassin, Chu Mi, committed suicide by bumping his head against a tree near Zhao Dun's house. When Ligong released a dog to bite Zhao Dun, a cook (who was previously saved from hunger by Zhao Dun) would fight off the dog. Zhao Dun's brother, Zhao Chuan, killed Jinn Ligong at Daoyuan Garden (i.e., Peach Garden) and sent a messenger to recall Zhao Dun. Zhao Dun dispatched Zhao Chuan to the Zhou court and then retrieved Jinn Xianggong's brother as Jinn Lord Chenggong (r. B.C.E. 606-600). The assassination of Jinn Lord Linggong (r. B.C.E. 620-607) would be during the 2nd year reign of Qin Gonggong (r. B.C.E. 608-604), 607 B.C.E. approx. During the 3rd year reign of Qin Gonggong, i.e., 606 BC, Lord Chu Zhuangwang campaigned northward against the Luhun-rong barbarians and inquired about the Zhou cauldrons when passing through the Zhou capital. 606 B.C.E. approx would be the 1st year reign of Jinn Chenggong (r. B.C.E. 606-600). Jinn attacked Zheng for betraying Jinn. Two years later, in 604 B.C.E. approx, Chu attacked Zheng for betraying Chu for Jinn. Jinn came to the relief of Zheng. Qin Gonggong died during 5th year reign, i.e., 604 BC. Three years later, in 601 B.C.E. approx, Jinn defeated, captured and killed one Qin general by the name of 'Chi'. The Barbarian Groups As to the barbarian groups, by the later Zhou Dynasty, there were Mianzhu (eastern Gansu), Gun-rong (eastern Gansu), Di [2] or Di[2]yuan[2], and Huan-rong to the west of the Qin Principality, Yiqu-Dali-Wuzhi-Xuyan to the north of the Qin Principality, Linhu-Loufan to the north of the Jin (Jinn) Principality, and Donghu-Shanrong to the north of the Yan Principality. Mianzhu could be pronounced Raozhu. Gun-rong (Quanrong) was know as Kunrong or Hunrong or Hunyi, about the area of today's Tianshui. The character 'hun4' for Hunyi or Hun-yi is the same one as Hunnic King Hunye or Kunye and could mean the word of mixing-up. Yiqu was one of the Xirong or Western rong statelets in the ancient Qingzhou and Ningzhou areas, north of the Jing-shui and Qi[1]-shui Rivers and about the area of today's Ningxian, Gansu. Dali-rong dwelled in today's Fengxu County. Wuzhi, i.e., today's Pingliang of Gansu, was originally part of Zhou land, but it was taken over by the Rong people. Qin King Huiwang took it back from the Rong later and launched the Wuzhi county. Xuyan, or written as Quyan, was located in today's Yanchi (salty pond), Ningxia. Linhu was later destroyed by General Li Mu. Li Mu (?-229 B.C.), a Zhao Principality general who was counted as one of the four famous [together with Bai Qi, Wang Jian and Lian Po) during the Warring States time period, in mid-240s B.C. induced the Huns into invading south and thoroughly defeated about 100,000 Huns in the Yanmen area. Loufan belonged to today's Yanmen'guan Pass area (Ningwu of Shanxi). In 606 BC, Lord Chu Zhuangwang campaigned northward against the Luhun-rong barbarians. Luhun-rong barbarians, according to Hou Han Shu, had relocated to northern China from ancient Gua-zhou prefecture of Gansu Province. Alternatively speaking, per ancient scholar Du Yu, Luhun-rong barbarians, with clan name of Yun-shi, originally dwelled to the northwest of Qin and Jinn principalities, but Qin/Jinn inducingly relocated them to the Yichuan area (i.e., Xincheng, Henan Province) during the 22nd year reign of Lu Lord Xigong (r. B.C.E. 659-627), i.e., in 638 BC. Qin Lord Huan'gong (r. B.C.E. 603-577) Qin Lord Huan'gong was next enthroned in 603 BC. During the 3rd year reign, 601 B.C.E. approx, Jinn defeated, captured and killed one Qin general by the name of 'Chi'. In 600 BC, Jinn Chenggong competed against Chu for hegemony by calling an assembly of vassals at Hu(4), and Chen refused to attend for fearing Chu. Jinn Chenggong dispatched Zhongxing Huanzi against Chen statelet as well as rescued Zheng from Chu attack. Jinn defeated Chu. Jinn Chenggong (r. B.C.E. 606-600) died in 600 B.C.E. and was succeeded by his son, Jinn Jinggong (r. B.C.E. 599-581). Two years later, in 598 BC, Chu attacked Chen because a Chen minister killed their lord one year ago. The next year, in 597 BC, Chu King Zhuangwang (r. B.C.E. 613-591) lay siege on Zheng. Jinn dispatched three armies led by Xunlinfu, Sui Hui and Zhao Suo to the relief of Zheng. Before crossing the Yellow River in June, Zheng had surrendered to Chu. Chu defeated Jinn, and Jinn, when fleeing across the river, cut tons of their soldier's fingers off for sake of getting rid of the soldiers climbing up the ships. Xian Hu (Xian Zhen's son) fled to Di statelet the next year for fearing punishment as to his bad advice in fighting Chu when Zheng had surrendered already. Xian Hu's family was exterminated for collusion with Di barbarians. In 595 BC, Jinn attacked Zheng for surrendering to Chu. Chu Zhuangwang defeated Zheng, and went north to defeat Jinn on the bank of Yellow River. The next year, Chu attacked Song, and Song requested help with Jinn. (This would be the year 594 BC, during the 10th year reign of Qin Lord Huan'gong.) Chu Zhuangwang held a hegemony assembly of Zhou vassals. In 593 BC, Jinn dispatched Sui Hui against the Chi-di statelet and exterminated it. In 592, a Jinn emissary, Qie Ke, was ridiculed by the mother of Qi lord for his deformed body and hence swore on the Yellow River bank that he would someday revenge on Qi. In 591 BC, about six years after victory over Jinn, Chu Zhuangwang passed away. Jinn attacked Qi, and Qi sent in a prince as a hostage. Another two years, Qi attacked Lu; Lu requested help with Wey. Jinn sent 800 chariots, with Qie Ke, Luan Shu and Han Jue in charge, against Qi, defeated Qi Qinggong (r. B.C.E. 598-582) during the summer and pursued Qi back to their statelet. In this year, Chu minister Shen'gong Wuchen fled to Jinn with a Chu king's concubine. The next year, in 588 BC, Qi lord went to Jinn and proposed that Jinn Jinggong be the king. Jinn Jinggong declined it, but he re-organized his armies into six columns in the same fashion as Zhou court. One year later, Lu lord Chenggong (r. B.C.E. 590-573) went to Jinn, but he betrayed Jinn later because Qi did not respect him. Jinn attacked Zheng in this year. In 586 BC, earthquake occurred. In 584 BC, an ex-Chu defector minister (i.e., Shen'gong Wuchen), who resided in Jinn, would petition for a mission to Wu in the attempt of avenging on his family's extermination by Chu. Shen'gong Wuchen asked his son to teach Wu soldiers how to fight with chariots. Jinn and Wu began to ally to attack Chu. In 583 BC, the Zhao Tong and Zhao Gua families were exterminated. At the urge of Haan Jue, a Zhao family member, Zhao Wu, was retained to inherit the lineage of Zhao Shuai and Zhao Dun. In 581 BC, Jinn Jinggong got ill, and Jinn Ligong (Shouman, r. B.C.E. 580-573) was enthroned. Jinn Jinggong died months later. This would be during the 24th year reign of Qin Lord Huan'gong, i.e., 580 BC. Jinn Lord Ligong had an alliance meeting with Qin Lord Huan'gong across the Yellow River. However, Qin Lord Huan'gong tore apart the alliance agreement after returning home, and then cooperated with Di barbarians in attacking Jinn. Two years later, Jinn led vassals against Qin, pursued Qin to Jing River and captured a Qin general by the name of Chengchai. One year later, Qin Lord Huan'gong (r. B.C.E. 603-577) passed away, and his son, Qin Jinggong (r. B.C.E. 576-537) was enthroned. Qin Lord Jinggong (r. B.C.E. 576-537) In 576 BC, three Qie family ministers impeached a Jinn da fu called Bozong and had Jinn Ligong kill Bozong. In spring of 575 BC, Zheng betrayed Jinn for Chu. Luan Shu proposed a war with Chu. Jinn Ligong personally led troops across the river in May. Against the advice of Fan Wen-zi, Jinn Ligong fought with Chu, shot at the eye of Chu king, and defeated Chu King Gongwang (r. B.C.E. 590-560) at the Battle of Yanling (a place in southeastern Zheng). Chu General Zi-fan, who previously caused Shen'gong Wuchen family extermination, would be killed by Chu king. Jinn Ligong intended to have the brothers of his concubines replace various ministers. Most notable would be someone called Xutong. In December of 573 BC, during the 8th year reign of Jinn Ligong, Xutong killed three Jinn brother ministers and captured Luan Shu and Zhongxing Yan. Jinn Ligong released the two ministers against the advice of Xutong, but Luan Shu and Zhongxing Yan conspired to attack Xutong and Jinn Ligong in the 13th month ('run yue') of 573 while the Jinn lord was visiting a fief of his concubine's relative. Xutong was killed, and Jinn Lord Ligong (r. B.C.E. 580-573) was killed after being under arrest for 6 days. Jinn dispatched emissaries (a Zhi family member) to the Zhou court to retrieve Zi-zhou as Lord Daogong (r. B.C.E. 572-558). Zi-zhou's father was the great grandson of Jinn Xianggong, and he was at age 14 at that time. 573 B.C.E. would be the 4th year reign of Qin Lord Jinggong or the 13th year reign of Zhou King Jianwang. Jinn Lord Daogong would attack Zheng in the autumn of 572 B.C.E. and reached Chen statelet. In 570 BC, Jinn Ligong held an assembly of vassals. Jinn minister Qixi recommended both his feud and his son for government posts. Another minister, Wei Jiang, executed a driver of Yanggan (Jinn Ligong's brother) when Yanggan was messing up the Chen statelet. Qixi was commented to be selfless, and Wei Jiang commented to be saintly. Wei Jiang was appointed the task to have peace with Rong & Di people. In 562 BC, Jinn Ligong commented that Wei-zi (Wei Jiang) had big contributions in assembling vassals 9 times and pacifying Rong/Di barbarians. This would be during the 15th year reign of Qin Jinggong, i.e., 562 BC. In this year, Qin rescued Zheng from Jinn Lord Daogong's attack at Yangdi County, Henan Province. In 559 BC, Jinn Lord Daogong ordered that his six ministers assemble vassals and campaigned against Qin. Jinn pursued Qin across the Jing-shui River. In 558 BC, Jinn Lord Daogong inquired about governance with his blind-musician, Shi Kuang. Shi Kuang proposed that 'ren' (compassion or benevolence) and 'yi' (righteousness) should be the fundamentals in governing a country. In the winter, Jinn Lord Daogong passed away, and was succeeded by his son, Jinn Pinggong (r. B.C.E. 557-532). In 557 BC, Jinn attacked Qi. Qi Linggong (r. B.C.E. 581-554) retreated with the advice of Yan Ying. Jinn sieged Linzi and burnt city walls, and went as east as Jiao and as south as Yi on Shandong Peninsula. In 552 BC, Lu Lord Xianggong (r. B.C.E. 572-542) came to Jinn court. Jinn minister Luan Cheng (Luan Shu's grandson) fled to Qi. Two years later, Qi Zhuanggong (r. B.C.E. 553-548) escorted Luan Cheng back to Jinn and almost sacked the Jinn city of Jiang. Fan Xian-zi advised against Jinn Pinggong's suicide attempt, fought off Luan Cheng, and killed him near Quwo. Luan family was exterminated. Qi took over Chaoge and then retreated. In 548 BC, Cui Zhu assassinated Qi Zhuanggong and Jinn defeated Qi at the Battle of Gaotang. In 544 BC, a Wu prince came to Jinn and commented to Zhao Wen-zi, Haan Xuan-zi and Wei Xian-zi that 'Jinn governance will lie in the hands of you three families." In 547 B.C., Chu King Kangwang allied with Qin for attacking Wu. Upon arriving at Yulou (Shangcheng, Henan), the allied army did not attack Wu but Zheng instead. At Chengjun, the Qin-Chu army captured Zheng ministers Huang-jie and Yin-jing-fu. Chu minister Bo-zhou-li, a descendent of Bo-zong from the Jinn state, arbitrated between the Chu prince [who was to become the next king) and the Fangcheng county magistrate Chuan-feng-xu as to who was to take credit for capturing Huang-xie (Huang-jie). Zuo Zhuan stated that Huang-xie (Huang-jie) deliberately angered Chuan-feng-xu with a claim that he was caught by the Chu prince. Zheng Prince Zi-chan managed to have Qin release the prisoners of war. In 541 BC, Chu prince assassinated his father to be Chu King Lingwang (r. B.C.E. 540-529). Qin Jinggong's brother fled to Jinn with thousand carts of wealth and said to Jinn Lord Pinggong (r. B.C.E. 557-532) that he would return to Qin after the death of his brother. When Qi's emissary, Yan Ying, came to Jinn in 539 BC, a Jinn minister, Shu-xiang, commented that Jinn might not last long since the ministers were in charge. In 538 BC, Chu King Lingwang assembled hegemony meeting at Shen (Nanyang, Henan Province). Qin Jinggong passed way during the 40th year reign, i.e., 537 BC, and his son Qin Lord Aigong (r. B.C.E. 536-501) was enthroned.
Qin Lord Aigong (r. B.C.E. 536-501) In 536 BC, Jinn campaigned against Yan. Jinn Pinggong died in 532 BC, and Jinn Zhaogong (r. B.C.E. 531-526) was enthroned for 6 years. During the 8th year reign of Qin Aigong, i.e., 529 BC, Chu prince assassinated Chu King Lingwang and became Chu King Pingwang (r. B.C.E. 528-516). In 526 BC, Chu King Pingwang sought Qin royal family girl as his son's wife, but Chu King Pingwang later took in Qin girl as his own concubine. Jinn Qinggong (r. B.C.E. 525-512) was enthroned in 525 BC. Six prominent families of Jinn, i.e., Haan, Zhao, Wei, Fan, Zhongxing & Zhi, began to overpower Jinn court. (I deliberately spelled Han2 as Haan here.) In 522 BC, Chu Elder Prince Jian fled to Zheng where he was killed. Wu Zixu fled to Wu after his father and brother were arrested and later put to death by Chu King Pingwang. In 520 BC, Zhou King Jingwang died. Six ministers of Jinn went to Zhou court and quelled internal princes-related turmoil. Zhou King Jing4-wang was selected. Six Jinn prominent families began to attack each other for control of Jinn. As a result of this turmoil, Jinn and Qin had peace for this time period. In 517 BC, the Ji(4) family of Lu drove Lu Lord Zhaogong (r. B.C.E. 541-510) away from the capital. In 515 BC, Wey and Song petitioned with Jinn to have Lu Zhaogong restored. Ji Ping-zi bribed Fan Xian-zi, saying to Jinn Qinggong that the Ji(4) family of Lu had no fault. In 514 BC, 6 families of Jinn exterminated Jinn royal relatives, i.e., the families of Qi-xi-sun and Shu-xiang-zi. Two years later, Jinn Qinggong died, and Jinn Dinggong (r. B.C.E. 511-475) was enthroned. During the 31th year reign of Qin Lord Aigong, i.e., 506 BC, Wu King He-lu and Wu Zixu attacked Chu. In the winter of 506 B.C., Wu King (Viscount) He-lu, using Sun Wu as the chief commander and Wu Zixu and Bo Pi (another Chu refugee) as deputies, attacked Chu under the guidance of Cai-guo Marquis Zhaohou and Tang-guo Lord Chenggong. Moving along the Huai River, the 30,000 Wu army borrowed a path from the Tang-guo and Cai-guo statelets, and moved along the Huai River via ships. At Huai-rui (Huangchuan, Henan), Sun Wu abandoned ships, chose 3500 soldiers as a vanguard army, circumvented around the Dabieshan mountain range, passed the three passes of Dasui, Zhiyuan and Ming'e (Pingjing-guan, Xinyang, Henan) along today's Henan-Hubei provincial border, and reached the Han-shui River. Chu King Zhaowang (r. B.C.E. 515-489) fled to Sui Fief; Wu army occupied Chu capital; Wu Zixu dug up the dead body of Chu King Pingwang (r. B.C.E. 526-516) and lynched it... By the winter, the Wu army pressed Chu King Zhaowang (r. B.C. 515-489) into first fleeing to Yunmeng [where he was attacked by robbers], then to the Yun-guo state and then fleeing to Sui (Suizhou). Dou Xin, a brother of the Yun-guo lord, was dissuaded from avenging on his father's death in the hands of the predecessor Chu king, and accompanied Chu King Zhaowang to the Sui-guo state. The Wu army stationed to the south of the Sui-guo palace, telling the Sui-guo lord that Chu had basically eliminated all the states along the Han-shui River. The Wu army withdrew after the Sui-guo lord refused to turn in the Chu king. Chu Minister Shen Baoxu went to seek help with Qin and cried for seven days and seven nights. Chu Minister Shen Baoxu went to seek help with Qin, told Qin Lord Aigong that the Wu state was a big pig ('feng shi') and a long snake ('chang she'), and cried for seven days and nights. Shen Baoxu was said to have told Wu Zixu that he was to revive the Chu state should the latter capsize it. Qin Lord Aigong, being moved, wrote the poem Wu Yi [{who said} no clothes], and hence dispatched Zi-pu, Zi-hu, and Zi-qi with 100,000 troops and 500 chariots, to Chu. The poem Wu Yi was about tracing Qin ancestor-lord Xianggong's assistance to Zhou King Pingwang in fighting the Quan-rong barbarians, with three statements about sharing the same war robe against the same enemy ('yu zi tong bao', 'yu zi tong chou'), sharing the same sweater to fight shoulder to shoulder ('yu zi tong ze', 'yu zi xie zuo'), and sharing the same pants to march together ('yu zi tong chang', 'yu zi xie xing'), a poem that was collected under the Qin Feng section of Shi[-jing]. In early 505 B.C., the Qin army came south to render relief to the Chu army. Qin defeated Wu army at Junxiang. Chu King Zhaowang returned to the capital. Qin Lord Aigong passed away during the 36th year reign, i.e., 501 BC. A grandson was selected as Qin Lord Huigong (r. B.C.E. 500-491). Qin Lord Huigong (r. B.C.E. 500-491) In 500 BC, Confucius, i.e., Kong-zi, was offered a job as prime minister for Lu. In 497 BC, Zhao Yang intended to kill Jinn da fu Wu. Wu colluded with Zhongxing Ying and Fan Jieshe in attacking Zhao Yang. Zhao Yang fled to Jinyang city. Jinn Dinggong sieged Jinyang. Xue Yue, Haan Buxin, and Wei Chi came to attack Zhongxing Ying and Fan Jieshe. Zhongxing Ying and Fan Jieshe counter-attacked Jinn Dinggong. Jinn Dinggong defeated the two, and Zhongxing Ying and Fan Jieshe fled to Chaoge city. Haan and Wei families thanked Jinn lord for saving Zhao Yang. In 496 BC, Zhongxing and Fan families rebelled against Jinn lord. Zhi and Zhao Jian-zi were ordered to quell the Zhongxing and Fan families. Qin Huigong died during the 10th year reign, i.e., 491 BC, and his son was erected as Qin Lord Daogong. Qin Lord Daogong (r. B.C.E. 490-477) In 490 BC, Zhongxing Ying and Fan Jieshe were defeated, and their sons fled to Qi. In 489 BC, Qi minister Tian Qi assassinated his lord (Ru-zi, reign 489 BC) and selected Ru-zi's brother as Qi Daogong (Yangsheng, reign 488-485 BC). In 485 BC, Wu defeated Qi army. Qi Daogong was assassinated and his son was erected as Qi Jian'gong (r. B.C.E. 484-481). In 482 BC, Jinn Dinggong competed with King Wu Fu-chai for hegemony at Huangchi. Yue King Gou-jian attacked Wu by taking advantage of Fu-chai's absence, and Wu secretly made peace with Gou-jian to prevent vassals from hearing about Wu defeat at home. Zhao Yang died at the meeting. Before his death, Zhao Yang was said to have overwhelmed Wu king in securing the hegemony status for Jinn Dinggong. In 481 BC, Tian Chang assassinated Qi Jian'gong (r. B.C.E. 484-481) and Qi Pinggong (r. B.C.E. 481-456) was erected. Kong-zi (Confucius) stopped the recording of Chun Qiu (i.e., Springs and Autumns) in 481 B.C., two years before his death. In 479 BC, Confucius passed away. In 478 BC, King Jing(4)-wang passed away. Qin Lord Ligong (r. B.C.E. 476-443) In 475 BC, Jinn Lord Dinggong died, and his son would be Jinn Lord Chugong (r. B.C.E. 474-457). Zhan Guo or the Warring States time period began to count. The King of Yue, Gou-jian, who had undertaken the secretive preparations to defeat Wu in 482 BC, would launch another attack at the Wu Principality in 475 BC. Fu-chai had caused his best minister, Wu Zixu, to commit suicide. (Wu Zixu, the junior son of an ex-Chu official, had earlier sought asylum with Wu and then asked the Wu King for help in attacking the Chu Principality. Wu Zixu was famous for his exile stories as well as digging up the Chu King's dead body for lynching.) Gou-jian laid siege of the Wu capital for 3 years, and by 473 B.C.E. (?), and King of Wu Fu-Chai committed suicide. Zhou King Yuanwang upgraded Gou-jian's title to Count from Viscount. In 461 BC, Qin Lord Ligong, with 20,000 army, attacked the Dali-rong barbarians and took over the Dali-rong capital. During Qin Lord Li4-gong's reign, the Qin army campaigned westward against the Qiangs around the Yellow River Nine Winding area. Wuyi [slave] Yuanjian [chieftain], who escaped from the Qin captivity, later led his clansmen in a relocation to the Xizhi-he River area, in today's Tibet-Qinghai borderline, to become the Tibetan ancestors. The Qiangs had just split into the Western Qiangs and Eastern Qiangs. The Qin army's campaign in the west could also have something to do with the Qiangs who dwelled to the south of Mt. Qilianshan, which led to the split of the Western Qiangs and the ultimate migration of the ancestors of the Tibetans to the Roof of the earth where they acquired the high plateau genes of the D-haplogroup natives. In 458 BC, Zhi-bo colluded with the Zhao-Haan-Wei families in dividing the land of the Fan and Zhongxing clans. Jinn Lor Chugong planned to petition for help with Qi/Lu in restricting the 4 families' power. The four families hence attacked Jinn Lord Chugong, and Chugong died on the road of fleeing to Qi. Zhi-bo selected the great grandson of Jinn Lord Zhaogong as Jinn Lord Aigong (r. B.C.E. 456-439 ?). Zhi-bo became the main minister governing Jinn and controlled the land that belonged previously to the Fan and Zhongxing families. In 456 BC, Jinn took over the city of Wucheng. In 453 BC, i.e., during the 24th year of the Qin Lord Ligong reign, three Jinn prominent families, i.e., later rulers of three separate states of Haan2, Zhao, and Wei, under Zhao Xiang-zi, Haan Kang-zi and Wei Huan-zi, respectively, killed opponent Zhi-bo and split Zhi-bo's ex-Jinn land into three parts. Zhi-bo's son, Zhi Kai, fled to Qin in 452 BC. In 444 BC, Qin Lord Ligong attacked the Yiqu-rong barbarians in the areas of later Qingzhou and Ningzhou and captured the Yiqu-rong king. A Sun eclipse occurred the next year, i.e., 443 BC, and Ligong died and was succeeded by Qin Lord Zaogong (r. B.C.E. 442-429). Qin Lord Zaogong (r. 442-429 B.C.), Qin Lord Huai'gong (r. 428-425 B.C.), Qin Lord Linggong (r. 424-415 B.C. or with 10 years of reign per Liu-guo Nian Biao of Shi-ji) & Qin Lord Jian'gong (r. 414-406 B.C. per Qian Mu/Shi-ji Suo-yin/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals; r. 414-399 B.C. or with 16 years of reign per Shi-ji) In 441 BC, the Nanzheng area rebelled against Qin. In 439 BC, Jinn Aigong died, and Jinn Yougong (r. 438-421 B.C.E. ?) was erected as a puppet. Jinn held only the two cities of Quwo and Jiang(4). Around 430 BC, the Yiqu-rong barbarians counter-attacked Qin and reached south of the Wei-shui River. The next year, i.e., 429 BC, Qin Lord Zaogong died and his brother, Qin Huan'gong (r. B.C.E. 428-425), succeeded the throne. Qin Huan'gong committed suicide when being attacked by a minister during the 4th year reign, i.e., 425 BC. His grandson was selected as Qin Lord Linggong (r. B.C.E. 424-415). In 424 BC, Wei Lord Wenhou became a marquis. In 421 BC, Jinn Lord Yougong died of his wife's adultery. Wei Lord Wenhou quelled the Jinn turmoil and selected Jinn Lord Liegong (r. B.C.E. 419-393 ?) as a puppet. Qin attacked Jinn during the 6th and 13th year reign of Qin Lord Linggong's reign. When Linggong died, his uncle was selected as Lord Qin Jian'gong (r. B.C.E. 414-399). Lord Jian'gong allowed ministers to carry swords to the court.
Qin Lord Jian'gong (r. 414-406 B.C. per Qian Mu/Shi-ji Suo-yin/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals; r. 414-399 B.C. or with 16 years of reign per Shi-ji) died after a reign of 16 years per Shi-ji which could have errors for both Qin Lord Linggong and Qin Lord Jian'gong. Shi-ji claimed that the Qin lord's son would be Qin Lord Huigong II (r. 393-387 B.C. per Qian Mu/Shi-ji Suo-yin/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals; r. 399-387 B.C. or with 13 years of reign per Shi-ji), while Shi-ji Suo-yin pointed to the existence of Qin Lord Jing4gong (r. 405-394 B.C. per Qian Mu/Shi-ji Suo-yin/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals). Qin Lord Jing4gong, not seen in Shi-ji, cast doubt as to whether Sima Qian had the access to Qin Ji (Qin chronicle) records that was speculated to have survived the book burning and the wars at the turn of Qin and Han dynasties. Qin Lord Huigong II (r. 393-387 B.C. per Qian Mu/Shi-ji Suo-yin/Gu Ben Bamboo Annals; r. 399-387 B.C. or with 13 years of reign per Shi-ji) & Qin Lord Chuzi (r. B.C.E. 386-385) Jinn Liegong died in 393 B.C.E. (?), and Jinn Xiaogong (aka Jinn Huan'gong) was erected as a puppet (r. B.C.E. 392-378 ?). Huigong had his son Chuzi during the 12th year reign, i.e., 388 BC. The next year, in 387 BC, Qin attacked Shu statelet (Sichuan-Hanzhong areas) and took over Nanzheng city. Huigong passed away this year, and Chuzi was enthroned. Chuzi and his mother were assassinated by a minister during the 2nd year reign, and Linggong's son was selected as Qin Lord Xian'gong (r. B.C.E. 384-361). In 384 B.C.E. (?), Wei Wuhou became a marquis and attacked Handan of Zhao family. As a result of the Qin turmoil, Jinn (Wei) re-took from Qin the 8 cities to the west of the Yellow River. Qin Lord Xian'gong (r. B.C.E. 384-361) During the 1st year reign, Qin Xian'gong ordered to forbid the live funeral burial practice. The next year, he relocated the capital city to Yueyang (Lintong, Shenxi Province). During the 4th year reign, in 383 BC, son (later Qin Lord Xiaogong) was born. Jinn Lord Xiaogong (aka Jinn Huan'gong) died in 378 B.C.E. (?), approximately the time Qi King Weiwang (r. B.C.E. 378-343) was enthroned. Jinn Lord Jinggong was erected as a puppet (r. B.C.E. 377-376 ?). In 376 B.C.E. (?), Jinn Jinggong was forced to abdicate and become a civilian. Jinn prominent ministers, i.e., Wei Wuhou, Haan Aihou and Zhao Jinghou, officially split the Jinn land into three parts. In 374 BC, Zhou King Liewang (Ji Xi, reign 375-369 B.C.) dispatched his civil and military officials to the Qin Principality to show harmony. Zhou 'tai shi' (chronicle official), Dan, went to see Qin Lord Xian'gong and mentioned a necromancy note stating that Qin and Zhou had a fate of re-union and that Qin would produce a hegemony lord (i.e., future Qin Lord Xiaogong) within 17 years. In 369 BC, the peach trees blossomed during the winter. In 367 BC, a gold rain fell to the Qin capital. In 364 BC, Qin defeated Jinn at Shimen and killed 60,000 Jinn (Wei) soldiers. The Qin army had a 'guo' practice of taking no live prisoners, killing the enemy troops and cutting off the left ears, which was known by an ancient character written either with the head part or the ear part and pronounced as guo or huo or xu. The Zhou king sent congratulation. This would be Zhou King Xianwang's 5th year reign, i.e., 364 BC. In 362 BC, Qin defeated Wei/Jinn at Shaoliang and captured General Gongsun Cuo. The next year, Qin Lord Xian'gong passed away, and Qin Xiaogong was enthroned at age 21. Qin Lord Xiaogong (r. B.C.E. 361-338) & the Shang Yang Reform During the first year reign, Qin Xiaogong made an open announcement for seeking talents all over China in the attempt of restoring Qin Mugong's glories. In the east, Qin Xiaogong took over Shaancheng city, and in the west, he defeated and killed a Rong king by the name of Huan-wang near Tianshui, Gansu Province. Shang Yang (?-338 B.C.) heard Xiaogong's announcement and came to serve Qin beginning from 361 BC. In 360 BC, Zhou King Xianwang dispatched his civil and military officials as well as delivered 'royal bestowal meat' to Qin Lord Xiaogong. During the 3rd year reign, i.e., in 359 BC, Qin Xiaogong, against objections of Gan Long and Du Zhi, would adopt Shang Yang's advice in reforming criminal laws, encouraging agriculture, clarifying reward and penalty system. The populace first resented the new laws, but became accustomed to them in 3 years. Shang Yang was conferred the post of zuo shu zhang (the 10th level in 20 tiers). 
In 355 BC, Qin Xiaogong met Wei King Huiwang at the border. In 354 BC, Qin fought Wei at Yuanli.
The Wei principality, which had to fight against both Qin and the Rong people, built the Great Wall that extended though the Qingyang area of eastern Gansu, through today's counties of Zhengning, Ningxian and Heshui.
Under the attack by Qin, Wei lost large patch of land to the west of the Yellow River, and relocated the capital city to Daliang.
During the 10th year reign, i.e., in 352 BC, Shang Yang was conferred the post of da liang zao (the 16th level in 20 tiers), and he took over the Anyi city of Wei to the east of the river. In 350 BC, Qin Lord Xiaogong made Xian'yang (today's Chang'an county, Xi'an Municipality) the capital. (Xian'yang was previously known as Weicheng.) Shang Yang first set up the county system by merging the small units of xiang (12500 households). Shang Yang devised the county civil magistrate of xian ling or xian zhang and the military post of cheng wei . Altogether 41 counties were set up. In 348 BC, Shang Yang instated the agriculture-related tax system. Shang Yang also devised 20 levels of officialdom. Shang Yang devised some laws as to farming soldiers. Shang Yang encouraged the people from Haan-Zhao-Wei to migrate to the Qin land for farming. For every one hundred persons, 50 would rotate for military exercises while the other 50 would farm the land. Shang Yang would change the Zhou measure of 100 steps to 240 steps as one acre and each person would be offered one acre of land. Scholars have credited Shang Yang with initiating the totalitarian rule that enabled Qin (Ch'in) to expand into the whole China domain. To show Qin people what a law was like, Shang Yang announced that whoever moved a three-Chinese-yard pole to the opposite city gate would be rewarded gold of 10 Chinese ounces. When nobody dared to move the pole, he raised the award to 50 Chinese ounces of gold. Many people were sarcastic, but they were convinced when one guy dared to move the pole and got rewarded. Shang Yang also made laws that would punish the royal family and the privileged. When Prince Huiwenjun violated the law, Shang Yang would order Prince Huiwenjun's teachers (Gongzi Qian and Gongsu Jia) be punished, as a substitution, by peeling off the nose of Gongsu Jia. Gongzi Qian's nose was peeled in a later offense. Reformer of Qin Principality, Shang Yang, was credited with enforcing a rule of neighborhood watch. Shang Yang made five households into a so-called 'bao', and ten 'bao' would be a collective unit for punishment should the neighbors fail to report the crime of one member. (Shang Yang had ordered the passes be closed at nights, and when he later fled the capital, he could not sneak out of Hanguguan Pass at night.) In 343 BC, the Zhou king passed on respect for Qin Xiaogong. The next year, various Zhou vassals sent congratulation. Qin Lord Xiaogong sent his prince to the Kaifeng area for assembling Zhou vassals for a hegemony meeting and then paying a visit to the Zhou king. Taking advantage of the Wei debacle, Shang Yang proposed to Qin lord Xiaogong to break out of the Xiaoshan Mountain and Yellow River barriers. In 341 B.C., Qin allied with Qi and Zhao against Wei. In September, Shang Yang led the Qin army to He-dong, i.e., east of the Yellow River. In 341 BC, Qi defeated Wei at the Battle of Maling. Qi, under the advice of strategist Sun Bin, captured Wei Prince Shen and killed Wei General Pang Juan. (In the early years, Pang Juan cheated his classmate Sun Bin to Wei and then paralyzed Sun by peeling off the knee bones. Sun Bin was said to be a descendant of great Chinese strategist Sun-zi [aka Sun Wu].) The next year, Shang Yang proposed that Qin attack Wei by taking advantage of Wei's conflicts with other vassals. Shang Yang attacked Wei and captured Wei Prince Mao by pretending to have a peace talk. Shang Yang cheated Wei prince Mao to a banquet and put him under arrest. Shang Yang then defeated Wei while Prince Gongzi Mao was in his custody, hence defeating the Wei army [which had no commander] at Wucheng (Pinglu, Shanxi). The Wei king ceded some land in He-xi to Qin, and exclaimed that he regretted not taking Gongsun Cuo's advice to either employ Shang Yang or get Shang Yang killed. The Wei King relocated his capital to Da-liang (Kaifeng) from Anyi and seceded to Qin the land to the west of the river. King Liang (Wei) Huiwang angrily said that he regretted not taking the advice of Gongsun Zuo in killing Shang Yang before Shang Yang left for Qin. Shang Yang was conferred Marquisdom (19-20th level in 20 tiers), the title of 'Shang-jun' or Prince Shang, and the land of Shangluo county (15 cities in Yu-xian and Shang-xian counties, later Hongnong area). Zhao Liang advised Shang Yang to be merciful to people since Shang Yang was too cruel and made too many enemies. Zhao Liang proposed that Shang Yang retire. Shang Yang claimed that he should be ascribed great contributions to Qin and that he was responsible for renovating Qin's Rong-Di customs such as "parent and son living in same bedroom" and for differentiating the protocol of men from women. Shang Yang compared himself to the same level as 'Five Sheep Skin Da Fu'. Zhao Liang cited the punishment of Gongzi Qian and Gongsu Jia, stated that Gongzi Qian had not stepped out of door for 8 years, and reminded Shang Yang that he had killed Zhu Huan. Zhao Liang cited Shi Jing in saying that whoever won over people would succeed and whoever lost people would demise; Zhao Liang cited Shang Shu in saying that whoever relied upon violence would perish and whoever relied upon virtues would prosper. Shang Yang refused to take the advice. Shang Yang, for his contribution, was given 15 fief cities in the land of Shang, and the title of Prince Shang-jun. Shang Yang was to die for offending too many people in Qin, and did not listen to Zhao Liang's advice to learn from the Five Sheep Skin 'da fu'. In 338 BC, Qin attacked Wei/Haan. In 338 B.C., Qin defeated Wei at Anmen (Hejin, Shanxi) and captured Wei general Wei Cuo. In this year, Qin Lord Xiaogong passed away. Qin Lord Huiwang (Huiwenjun, r. B.C.E. 337-311) The two successive Jinn states which bordered the northern nomads, Wei & Zhao, plus Qin and Yan, would be busy fighting the nomads for hundreds of years, and they built separate walls to drive the nomads out. Zhao Xiang-zi of the Zhao Principality took over the Bing and Dai areas near the Yanmen'guan Pass. Zhao, together with the Haan and Wei families, destroyed another opponent called Zhi-bo and split Jin (Jinn) into the three states of Han, Zhao & Wei. The Yiqu-Rongs built castles to counter Qin. Qin King Huiwang took over 25 cities from Yiqu-rong. After Qin lord Xiaogong died in 338 B.C., successor Qin King Huiwang, whose tutor was peeled off the nose as punishment by Shang Yang, ordered to arrest Shang Yang. Shang Yang fled the capital, and failed to pass a border pass for lack of documents. After fleeing to the Wei land, Wei general Rang Ci expelled Shang Yang and his entourage back to Qin. Shang Yang hence went to his fief to organize resistance. When attacking Zhengxian (Huayin, Shenxi), he was defeated by the Qin army. Shang Yang was killed when fleeing towards Mianchi. His corpse was sliced by five horses in Xianyang. Gongzi Qian's disciples accused Shang Yang of rebellion against Qin. Shang Yang fled to the Pass but could not get out at night. When he looked for rest in a commoner's residence, he was told that he could not stay because Prince Shang Laws forbade it. Shang Yang then fled to Wei, but Wei people drove him off for his early cheating on Prince Mao. Shang Yang fled back to his domain, assembled his people and attacked Zheng-xian area. Qin army then defeated and captured him. Prince Huiwenjun, to avenge on his teacher's humiliation, would kill Shang Yang during the 1st year reign by accusing him of treason in fleeing Qin. Shang Yang suffered the cruelest penalty, i.e., 'five horses splitting body'. Shang Yang's whole family lineage was exterminated. Chu-Haan-Zhao and Shu (Sichuan) dispatched emissaries to show respect for Huiwenjun's enthronement. During the 2nd year reign, Zhou king sent congratulation. This would be during Zhou King Xianwang's 33rd year reign, i.e., 336 BC, when the Zhou court congratulated Qin King Huiwang. During the 3rd year reign, Huiwenjun went through the '20th year imperial crown ritual'. The next year, in 334 BC, Zhou king dispatched the civil and military officials to the Qin court to show respect. In this year, the Qi and Wei lords became Qi King Weiwang and Wei King Huiwang, respectively. In 334 B.C., Wei King Huiwang, taking prime minister Hui-shi's advice, rallied vassals to travel to Qi to see Qi King Weiwang, which was called reciprocal recognition of the kingship between Qi and Wei at Xuzhou (Tengzhou, Shandong). Wei King Huiwang restarted his era as the "hou-yuan-nian" or the latter first year. Chu King Weiwang, seeing the challenge of the twin-kingship of the Zhou court and the Chu state, launched an invasion against Qi to punish the upgrade. Zhao and Yan joined in the military action against Qi. In 333 B.C., the Chu army defeated Qi at the Battle of Si-shui River, laid siege of Xuzhou, caught Qi general Shen Fu. In this year, Chu general Jing Cui also defeated Yue to the east, and killed Yue king Wu-qiang. In 333 B.C., Qin 'da liang zao' Gongsun Yan led an army to attacking Diaoyin (Ganquan, Shenxi). After two years, In 330 B.C., the Qin army defeated Wei general Long Jia and killed 45,000 Wei troops. Wei ceded all He-xi Commandary territory to Qin. After that, Qin attacked Wei cities such as Jiao (Shenxian, Shenxi), Quwo, Fenyin (Wanrong), and Puyang (Xixian, Shanxi). Su Qin persuaded the six principalities into an alliance to fight the Qin in 334 B.C.E. (?). Qin defeated the Wei Principality in 333 B.C.E. (?). During the 4th year reign, i.e., 333 B.C.E. (?), the Zhou court dispatched the civil and military officials to the Qin court to show respect. Qin Lord Xiaogong's son, Prince Huiwenjun, proclaimed himself as a king, and began encroaching on the Zhou Kingdom. During Zhou King Xianwang's 44th year reign, i.e., 325 B.C., Qin King Huiwang officially proclaimed himself a king. All vassals, Haan-Wei-Qi-Zhao, followed suit by claiming to be kings as well. In 323 B.C., with Zhang Yi's manipulation, the Qin-Wei army crossed the Wei, Haan and Wey land to attack Qi, passing through Yangjin and Kengfu to reach Sangqiu (mulberry hill, i.e., Yanzhou, Shandong) at the Qi-Lu border. Qi general Zhang-zi changed the military flags, and sent the soldiers into the Qin army in disguise, and defeated the Qin army. Qin sent Zhang Yi to having truce talks with Qi and Chu at Niesang (Peixian, Jiangsu). Later in 320 B.C., Qi fetched a Qin woman for marriage. Peace with Qin lasted till 298 B.C. Gongsun Yan was ordered to agitate to have Qi and Wei attack Zhao. Gongsun Yan proposed to the Qin king to attack the other countries while Qin and Wei were on good terms. Zhang Yi lobbied with the Wei king to ally with Qin against Haan so that Qin would grab the San-chuan [three river-tagged areas] land while Wei was to take the Nanyang land. The Wey king offered Zhang Yi the prime minister job. However, Gongsun Yan pulled ahead in persuading the Haan king into ceding Nanyang to Wei. Hence Zhang Yi lost favor with the Wei king. Zhang Yi (?-310 B.C.), a proponent of the horizontal alliance [against Gongsun Yan's vertical alliance], began serving the Qin statelet in around 329 B.C. Zhang Yi was at one time prime minister to Wei King Huiwang; and subsequently, Zhang Yi was humiliated while being a hanger-on guest at Chu prime minister Zhao-yang's house before he went to Qin for seeking the great expectation. Zhang Yi, who came to Qin, told the Qin king that Qin should not attack the barbarians to the west but Wei to the east, before Wei was to revive to pose a threat to Qin. With Zhang Yi employed by the Qin king, Gongsun Yan left for Wei. Sima Qian's Shi-ji, possibly citing Zhan Guo Ce records, claimed that Su Qin used a trick to agitate Zhang Yi so that Zhang Yi went to Qin as a counterweight of the vertical-horizontal alliance. Gongsun Yan had come to Wei from Qin, and tacked on the post as 'xi shou' [head of the rhinoceros]. Gongsun Yan, with the Haan backing, acted as prime minister to Wei King Huiwang. In 325, Gongsun Yan allied with Qi general Tian Fen in defeating Zhao generals Haan Ju and Zhao Hu at Pingyi (Lexian, Henan) and Xincheng. Wei King Huiwang had a meeting with Haan Marquis Weihou at Wusha, and proposed to have the Haan marquis proclaimed a king as well. In 323, Gongsun Yan further frustrated Zhang Yi's attempt at allying with Qi and Chu by rallying a five-nation upgrading-to-king movement among the states of Wei, Haan, Zhao, Yan and Zhongshan, i.e., the 'xi-shou' [rhinoceros head] movement. Haan Marquis Weihou officially called himself a king, i.e., a person enjoying the rhinoceros head status. Qi, not happy over Zhongshan's status, had attempted to have joint action with Yan and Zhao against Zhongshan. Zhao King Wulingwang domestically called himself by "jun", in lieu of a king.
Su Qin tacked on the vertical alliance job from Zhao lord Suhou to go to Yan to lobby with Yan against Qi. (Before that, Su Qin was said to have lobbied with Chu King Weiwang, ?-329 B.C.) Su Qin went to Yan to lobby with Yan lord Wenhou [or Wen'gong] (?-333 B.C.), who was a successor to Yan lord Huan'gong. Yan lord Yiwang succeeded Yan lord Wenhou. Su Qin had affairs with Wenhou's wife, over which Su Qin proposed a mission to Qi for avoiding trouble with the young Yan king. Yan King Yiwang (?-321 B.C.) was succeeded by son Kuai who imitated the ancient saints and ridiculously yielded the throne to prime minister Zi-zhi, a friend of both Su Qin and Su Dai per Zhan Guo Ce. After the Niesang Assembly, Zhang Yi requested for a mission to go to Wei as prime minister, a post Hui Shi yielded to the guest. In 319 B.C., Wei expelled Zhang Yi back to Qin. In 318 B.C., or the 7th year of Qin King Huiwang's re-numbered Gengyuan era, Gongsun Yan successfully launched an allied military action against Qin. The allied army consisted of Wei, Zhao, Haan, Yan and Chu, with Chu King Huaiwang as the vertical alliance leader. The Yiqu-rong state was also mobilized for attacking Qin from behind. The allied army defeated Qin at Libo, but lost the battle at the Han'gu'guan Pass. (In related section of Shi-ji and Zhan Guo Ce, the Yiqu-rong barbarians were said to have joined the military action and defeated Qin in the downstream area of Libo.) The 318 B.C. siege was the first of several allied attacks, with more to follow in 298 B.C. [under the helm of Prince Mengchang-jun] and 287 B.C., for examples, on both occasions of which the Qi state participated. In 317 B.C., Qin defeated the allied army of Haan, Zhao and Wei. Qi and Soong took advantage of the debacle to invade Zhao and Wei, and reached Guanze (sightseeing lake, i.e., Qingfeng, Hebei). This was recorded in the 9th year of Zhao King Wulingwang. In 316 B.C., Qin invaded and eliminated the Ba and Shu kingdoms in southwest China. In 314, Qin turned around to attack Yiqu, and took over 25 cities. Chu, Zhao, Haan, Wei and Yan failed in their attack on Qin. The Qi lord executed Su Qin via five horses splitting body. Su Qin was commonly taken as a spy of the Yan principality, which adopted a strategy of stabbing the Qi state in the back with a trick of having the Qi king command a purported allied army against the Qin state to the west. As detailed in the section on Su Dai and Su Qin below, Su Qin was recorded to have died in Qi after Yan king Kuai was enthroned in 320 B.C., meaning that Su Qin could not be at the Qi capital to suffer the claimed penalty of five horses slicing the body for the double-espionage work against Qi, at the time Su Dai conducted activities in Qi at about 284 B.C. The story went that Su Qin was wounded by an assassin, and upon death, asked the Qi king to kill him via horse-pulling to induce the killer to come out to claim the award for the assassination of a Yan spy, which the Qi king caught after the horses killed Su Qin. However, Shi-ji then claimed that the Qi king found out about the double role of Su Qin, over which the Yan king sent Su dai on a mission of explanation to the Qi king. About 314 B.C., Zhang Yi made Wei defect to Qin. The Qi-Chu joint army countered the Qin-Wei-Haan army, and attacked the Qin army in Quwo. In 312 B.C., Chu King Huaiwang betrayed the Chu-Qi alliance. Qi general Zhang-zi, commanding the Qi-Soong army, attacked Wei. Wei asked for aid from Qin. Qin defeated Chu at Danyang. The Qin-Wei-Haan army, after defeating the Chu army and reached the Deng land, then rendered aid to Wei and intruded into the Yan land to the north. The Qin and Wei armies intruded into the Yan territory to evict the Qi army. Soong lord Kangwang compromised with Qin. The Qin army, under Qu-li-ji, made a stealthy march through the Soong army's zone, pushed to the Pu-shui River, and defeated the Qi army at Pu-shang (upperstream Pu-shui River). Qi deputy general Tian Sheng was killed in battle. Qin King Huiwenwang, in his 25th year or 313 B.C., dispatched Chu-li-ji against the Zhao Principality. Chu-li-ji defeated the Zhao army, captured Zhao general Zhuang Bao, and took over the Lin4-yi city. The next year, 312 B.C., Wei Zhang and Chu-li-ji, commanding the Qin army, defeated the Chu army which was headed by Qu Gai, and took over the Hanzhong territory. One year earlier, Zhang Yi came to Chu to sow dissension between Chu and Qi. Zhang Yi promised to yield 600-li territory should Chu sever diplomatic relations with Qi. When Zhang Yi actually offered the Chu king six-li distance territory, which was Zhang Yi's personal fief, the Chu king got enraged and sent Qu Gai and Feng Houchou to attacking Qin. At Danyang (Xixia, Henan), Qin defeated Chu, caught Qu Gai alive, and killed 80,000 Chu army. Chu King Huaiwang assembled another force for duel with Qin, and was defeated again at Lantian. In 311 B.C., Qin defeated Chu at Zhaoling (Luohe, Henan). After the death of Qin King Huiwenwang, the new king, Qin King Wuwang expelled Zhang Yi, and used Chu-li-ji and Gan Mao as the leftside and rightside prime ministers. Alternatively speaking, Zhang Yi and Wei Zhang fled to Wei from Qin together. Gan Mao served under Qin King Huiwenwang under the recommendation of Zhang Yi and Chu-li-ji. Zhang Yi left Qin in 310 B.C. after Qin King Wuwang took over the rule in 311 B.C. Zhang Yi, also known as Zhang-zi, died shortly afterwards. Qin King Wuwang (311-307 B.C.) After Huiwenjun's death, Qin King Wuwang was enthroned. Wuwang's half-brother, Zhaoxiangwang, would be recalled from the Yan Principality where he served as a hostage. Zhaoxiangwang later succeeded the throne because Wuwang had no son by his birth. Qin King Wuwang continued the strategy of Huiwenwang adopted the old advice of Zhang Yi, i.e., attacking the San-chuan area of the Haan Principality. General Gan Mao took over San-Chuan. In 310 B.C., Gan Mao, as 'shu zhang', was sent to Shu to quell a rebellion. Back in 311 B.C., Chen Zhuang, a prime minister, killed Marquis Shu-hou (Tong-guo). In 308 B.C., Qin made Tong-guo's son as the new Shu-hou marquis. Sima Cuo, commanding a Shu-Ba joint army, sailed down the river from Zhixian (Fuling, Sichuan) to attack Chu, and took over Shang-yu to establish the Qianzhong-jun Commandary. In 310 B.C., Qin King Wuwang's 1st year, Qin defeated the Yiqu-rong rebellion. When Xizhou-jun's elder son died, the Chu Principality gave up some land to Prince Jiu of Xizhou-jun for sake of making Jiu the crown prince of Xizhou-jun. In 307 B.C., Qin attacked the Haan(2) land of Yiyang city. Qin King Wuwang, in order to travel to the Zhou capital in a curtained chariot, had schemed with prime minister Gan Mao to launch an invasion against the Wei Principality to take out the city of Yiyang for making the passage possible. The Qin king could not hold the cauldron which dropped to break his kneecap bone, over which he died. Later, Shi-ji named it by "long [dragon] wen [ingrained] chi [red] ding [cauldron]"; the Tang dynasty poet Haan Yu called it by "long [dragon] wen [ingrained] Bai [hundred] hu [bushel] ding [cauldron]". In 307 B.C., Qin attacked the Haan(2) land of Yiyang city. Qin King Wuwang (329-307 B.C.) told prime minister Gan Mao that he would suffice to die should be able to personally see the cauldrons at the Zhou capital. Gan Mao suggested to attack the Haan state to clear the passage, and volunteered to travel to the Zhao and Wei states to either neutralize and ally with two of the three post-Jinn-split states. Gan Mao, after working on the scheme half way, petitioned with the Qin king to make a Xirang Swear about trusting his loyalty by citation of Zeng-zi's mother mistaking her son to have murdered someone after being told of the rumor three times. Gan Mao also cited Zhang Yi's loss of trust even though Zhang Yi was responsible for the scheme to invade the Ba-Shu states to the west, conquer the beyond-Xihe-jun territory to the north, and take the Shangyong (Zhushan, Hube) territory to the south. With Chu-li-ji (late Qin lord Xiaogong's son and late Qin king Huiwenwang's brother) commanding a hundred chariots, the Qin king arrived at the Zhou court with three heavy-weight lifters, i.e., men of unusual strength on the par with Hercules and Samson. While Ren-bi and Wu-huo either failed to lift the cauldron or dissuaded the king from doing so, Meng-shui barely lifted the cauldron, which served as instigation to make the Qin king emulate to kill himself ultimately. After the king's death, brothers competed for power. Wei Ran [Wei Ya], a half brother, helped to propel Qin King Zhaoxiangwang to the throne. Qin King Zhaoxiangwang, or prince Ji4, who was serving as hostage in Yan, was fetched by Zhao Gu (prime minister of the Dai-jun Commandary) from Yan at the order of Zhao King Wulingwang. Later in 305 B.C., Wei Ran [Wei Ya] killed dowager empress Hui-hou and prince Zhuang and prince Yong, and expelled dowager empress Daowu-hou to Wei over prince Zhuang or 'shu zhang' Zhuang's rebellion. When the Yiqu-rong king came to congratulate the new king's enthronement, dowager empress Xuantai-hou adultered with the Rong king, with two sons born. When in 307 B.C., Qin attacked the Haan(2)'s Yiyang city, Chu came to the aid of Haan(2). The Zhou court sent relief to Haan as well. Chu mis-took the Zhou court as having sided with Qin and hence attacked the Zhou court. A minister by the name of Su Dai, a brother of Su Qin, went to the Chu camp and explained the intricacy of the relationship between the Zhou court and the Qin-Chu statelets. When Qin tried to borrow a path from Xizhou-jun for sake of attacking Haan(2), a minister suggested that Xizhou-jun was to dispatch some hostages to Chu so that Qin would worry about the Chu-Zhou alliance. When the Qin King invited Xizhou-jun for a state visit, Xizhou-jun sent someone to Haan for sake of having Haan send the troops to Nanyang; then, Xizhou-jun made a pretext to Qin saying that he could not make the trip because the Haan troops had invaded the Nanyang area. When the two Zhou fiefs, Xizhou and Dongzhou, fought against each other, Haan sent the troops to aiding Xizhou but was dissuaded from doing so by Dongzhou. When the Chu army lay a siege of Yangdi for three months, Haan sought for weaponry and grains from Dongzhou. Dongzhou-jun dispatched Su Dai to Haan and successfully persuaded Haan's prime minister from burdening Dongzhou; Su Dai claimed that the Chu army must be ill for not taking Yangdi after three months and that Haan would show its illness should Haan have to appropriate the weaponry and grains from the Dongzhou fief under coerce. Qin King Zhaoxiangwang (r. 306-251 B.C.; 306-leap month September 251 B.C. per Shui-hu-di Bamboo Slips) Qin, under Qin King Zhaoxiangwang (or Zhaowang), continued the wars against the Wei & Zhao principalities. Qin King Zhaoxiangwang, whose priority was against the Chinese statelets to the east, built the Great Wall to ward off the Yiqu-rong at the back, with the wall extending from today's counties of Lintao, to Weiyuan, Longxi, Tongwei, Jingning, Zhenyuan, Huanxian, to Huachi. In 280 B.C., Qin King Zhaoxiangwang, in his 27th year reign, ordered the creation of the Longxi Commandary, to the west of Longshan (Mt. Liupanshan). Duke Wugong of the Zhou Kingdom, i.e., Xi-zhou-jun, colluded with the other principalities. In 264 B.C., the Qin army attacked the Zhou Kingdom. Xi-zhou-jun (Zhou Duke Wugong) personally went to the Qin armies, bowed his head and surrendered 36 cities and 30,000 people to Qin. The next year, the Zhou people fled to the east. Qin purportedly acquired the nine bronze cauldrons (utensils) of the Zhou Kingdom, supposedly the embodiment of the ancient Nine Prefectures of China as described in Yu Gong (Lord Yu's Tributes). It was speculated that on the way of being shipped to Xian'yang, Qin's capital, one or all of the nine cauldrons fell into the River Si-shui. Somewhere there was a conspiracy involved about the whereabouts of the cauldrons, with some scholars claiming that they never existed and hence the rumor that one or all dropped into a river. In 262 BC, the Wei Principality was late in paying pilgrimage to Qin. Qin attacked Wei and took over the city of Wucheng. During this time period, a huge water project called the 'Dujiangyan Fork Dam' was launched by a Qin governor called Li Bing in today's Sichuan Province. King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou, adultered with a Rong king from the Yiqu-rong Statelet in today's northern Shenxi Province. She had two sons born with the Yiqu Rong king, but she killed the Yiqu King and incorporated the lands of Longxi (Gansu), Beidi (Yinchuan of Ningxia) and Shangjun (Yulin, Shenxi Province) on behalf of Qin. Qin took over Shangjun from Wei. Wei already built a 500 plus li distance Great Wall extending to the Yellow River from today's eastern Gansu, i.e., Qingyang to Guyang (Dingyang/Yan’an, Shenxi) to the Yellow River. Qin took over Longxi of Gansu, Beidi and Shangjun of Shenxi, and built the Great Wall on top of Wei's Great Wall. Zhao King Wulingwang adopted reforms by having his army troops wear the Hu cavalry clothing. Zhao defeated Linhu and Loufan and built the Great Wall from the Dai commandary to the Yinshan Mountain. Zhao set up the Yunzhong, Yanmen and Dai prefectures. A Yan Principality general by the name of Qin Kai, after returning from Donghu as a hostage, would attack Donghu and drove them away for 1000 li distance. Yan built the Great Wall and set up Shanggu, Yuyang, You-beiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong prefectures. There were remains of the Qin Great Wall along the Kuye-he (cavehouse wilderness) River, that extended southeastward to Shenmu from the southern riverbank of the North Yellow River Bend --a segment of the Great Wall that was speculated to be built by Qin King Zhaoxiangwang (r. 306-251 B.C.) per Dai Yingxin of the Shenxi Archaeology Research Institute. The Qin Great Wall, located on the west riverbank of the Kuye-He River, extended southwestward to southwestern Wuqi county from Shenmu and linked with the Gansu segment of the Great Wall. The Qin state, having no use for the original Great Wall that extended from the original Tianshui homeland across the upperstream Jing-shui River to the Guyang (Dingyang/Yan’an, Shenxi) area, built the west-to-east elm tree belt Great Wall within the sheath, with a Yu-xi-sai fort recorded in history, near today’s Yu2lin (elm forest) of Shenxi. In the Qin Ben-ji section, Sima Qian stated that the king travelled to 'Bei-he', namely, the North River. By the Eastern Han dynasty, Ban Gu, possibly using the divination materials, claimed that [misnomer] Qin King Xiaowenwang visited Quyan, with the barbarians surrendering a five-feet (hoof) ox. Later historians continued to pile onto the extrapolated history, with Shi-ji Zheng-yi falsely claiming that the Qin king reached the Lingzhou and Xiazhou prefectures which were on the middle segment of the Western Yellow River Bend. In 251 BC, Qin King Zhaoxiangwang died. King Xiaowenwang got enthroned. Qin King Xiaowenwang died shortly, and King Zhuangxiangwang (Zi-chu) got enthroned at age 32. While Qin King Xiaowenwang died in the same year of his reign, Qin King Zhuangxiangwang (r. 249-247 B.C.) died after a reign of 3 year, to be succeeded by son Zhao Zheng (Ying Zheng). Qian Mu sorted out the Qin succession history to state that Qin King Zhuangxiangwang had four years of reign, with the first year loaned to Qin King Xiaowenwang.
Qin King Zhuangxiangwang (Zi-chu/Yi-ren, r. actual October 250-May 247 B.C. [three years]; nominal 249-247 B.C.; 250-247 B.C. [four years] per Qian Mu) & the Demise Of Zhou When Dongzhou-jun of the Zhou court colluded with various marquis for sake of restricting Qin's expansion, Qin King Zhuangxiangwang sent his prime minister, Lü Buwei, on an attack at the Zhou capital and relocated the Zhou duke to today's Liangxian County, Henan Province. The Zhou Kingdom officially ended in this year, 256 BC, after Zhou King Nanwang was on the throne for 59 years. In this year, both Duke Wugong (Xizhoujun) and Zhou King Nanwang passed away. Zhuangxiangwang dispatched General Meng Ao on a campaign against the Haan Principality, forcing Haan into giving up the Zhou land (around the Hulao-guan pass) that Haan acquired by taking advantage of Zhou's demise. Meng Ao also attacked Wei. The San-chuan-jun [three rivers] Commandary was set up. Meng Ao would continue on to attack the Zhao Principality, taking over Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. In the 3rd year of Qin King Zhuangxiangwang, Meng Ao attacked the Wei Principality and the Zhao Principality. A sun eclipse occured in April of this year. The next year, Wei General Wuji, i.e., Prince Xingling-jun, led a joint army of Yan-Zhao-Haan-Chu-Wei against Qin and defeated Qin General Meng Ao. In the month of May, around Shi-ji's ambiguous year 246 B.C. (actually 247 B.C. - since the successor Qinshihuang's reign was actual May 247-July 210 B.C.), Qin King Zhuangxiangwang died after 3-4 years on the throne, and Ying Zheng (Emperor Shihuangdi, r. 246-210 B.C.; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.) got enthroned. Lü Buwei likely took charge of calendar revision, which yielded the Qin state's Zhuanxu-li quarter remainder calendar, with 247 B.C. treated the first year by Lü Buwei's Lü-shi Chun-qiu (master Lü Buwei’s spring & autumn annals). The Qin Empire & the Unification Of China The wars for unifying China now fell to the shoulder of Ying Zheng (Emperor Shihuangdi, r. 246-210 BC; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.). Shihuangdi, enthroned at the age of 13, would unite China during the 25th year of his reign. At this time, Qin already took over today's Sichuan Province and the land between Sichuan and Shenxi Province and named it the Nan-jun (Nan meaning Southern) Commandary. Qin also took over the two Zhou fiefs and named the area by the San-Chuan-jun (Three River) Commandary, and the land of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province and made them into the Shangdang, Taiyuan and Hedong-jun (East of the Yellow River) commandaries. In the first month of 259 B.C.E. (lunar calendar), Ying Zheng was rumored to have been born after being inside of his mother's womb for 12 months and hence was implicated to Lü Buwei, Qin's Prime Minister under Prince Zi-chu. (Lü Buwei gave Ying Zheng's mother to Qin King Zhuangxiangwang and further smuggled Zhuangxiangwang out of the Zhao Principality's capital. Zhuangxiangwang previously served as a hostage in Zhao. Lü Buwei was responsible for making Zhuangxiangwang an adopted son of the late Qin king.) Qin's queen dowager would certainly possess the earliest record of royal adultery. Before Ying Zheng's mother, there would be Qin King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou of the Chu Principality's origin, who adultered with a Rong king from the Yiqu-rong Statelet in today's northwestern Shenxi Province. Xuantaihou had two sons born with the Yiqu-rong King, but she killed Yiqu King, hence playing a role of incorporating the land of Longxi, Beidi and Shangjun (Yulin, Shenxi) on behalf of Qin. In this sense, Xuantaihou was more a spider woman. The Yiqu-rong barbarian group, which adopted the fire burial ritual, was commented to be a branch of the Xi-rong or the Western Rong people. Ying Zheng, (Emperor Shihuangdi, r. 246-210 B.C.; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.), Qin's First Emperor, gained power at the age of 13. Lü Buwei, as prime minister and Marquis Wenxin-hou, was responsible for all political and military matters of the Qin court for the 13 years in between. Lü Buwei was said to have given Lao Ai, a man disguised as a eunuch, to the Qin dowager queen (who was implied by Sima Qian to be Lü's mistress while in the Zhao principality). The Qin queen had two sons born with Lao-Ai. The two half-brothers got killed by Ying Zheng when he found out about it. Shihuangdi had earlier regarded Lü Buwei as the so-called 'Zhong Fu', namely, second father. (In Chinese, the term for uncle was written as Uncle-Father. It basically means that an uncle could act as a proxy father.) The wars of conquest already took place. In 473 B.C., the Wu Principality was annexed by Yueh. The Chu Principality exterminated Yueh (Yue) in 344 B.C. and the Lu Principality in 249 B.C. Qi annexed the state of Soong in 286 B.C. And, Qin exterminated the Zhou Dynasty in 256 B.C. In 244 BC, General Meng Ao grabbed 13 cities from the Haan Principality. In 242 BC, Meng Ao grabbed 20 cities from the Wei Principality and set up the Dong-jun (East) Commandary. In 241 BC, a five statelet joint army attacked Qin. In 240 BC, a comet was observed in the sky. General Meng Ao died in this year. Qin Queen Dowager (Zi-chu's mother) died as well. In 239 BC, Prince Chang'anjun (Cheng-Jiao), while under order to attack the Zhao Principality, rebelled against his half-brother Qin King. Eunuch Lao-Ai (Marquis Changxin-hou) rebelled in 238 BC, and Lao-ai got quelled by Qin's prime ministers, i.e., Prince Changping-jun and Prince Changwen-jun (formerly princes of the Chu Principality). Lao-ai's two sons (Shihuangdi's half brothers) were ordered to be killed by throwing them onto the ground in bags. Lü Buwei was deprived of his post and titles for implication to Lao-Ai. A Qi person, by the name of Mao Jiao, somehow persuaded Shihuangdi into welcoming his birth mother back to the palace from banishment after Qin Shihuangdi killed a dozen ministers who admonished him as to observing the filial piety. One legalist, Li Si, played a role in Shi Huangdi's political beliefs. Li Si, a legalist and a student of Xun-zi, was previously a small potato official in the Chu Principality. He first observed the difference of behavior in mice which took home in a state's grain warehouse and in the poor people's house. Li Si commented about the psychology of officials who engaged in embezzlement and corruption by saying that "the mice was content with eating grains in the state's grain warehouse, but the mice in the poor people's house would be scared into fleeing once people came back home". Li Si was responsible for advising on the Qin King as to revoking an order to expel the non-Qin officials out of the Qin land. In face of the allied attacks by the various principalities, a person called Liao from Daliang (today's Kaifeng) proposed to the Qin King to sow dissension among the various principalities by means of bribing their ministers with 300,000 units of gold. Liao once fled the Qin capital as a result of fearing for his life because he thought that the Qin King, with the long eyes, a peculiar nose and a leopard voice, might someday kill him. The Qin King caught Liao and conferred him the title of 'wei' (lieutenant general equivalent), equivalent to the commander-in-charge. Liao was named Wei-Liao for his lieutenant general's title. The Haan Principality, one of the Zhou vassals, in order to divert the Qin's efforts at wars, sent someone called Zheng-guo to Qin for sake of diverting Qin's manpower to the irrigation projects. Ying Zheng, piercing Zhengguo's plot, still hired him as an irrigation expert. Zhengguo dug the famous 'Zheng-guo Qu' Trench. In 236 BC, General Wang Jian was ordered to attack Shanxi Province. In 235 BC, Lü Buwei died by drinking a traditional poison called 'zhen' that was made from a bird who preyed on poisonous snakes for living. His thousand followers were reprimanded by Qin King for mourning Lü Buwei's death. In 234-233 BC, Qin army attacked Pingyang of Zhao multiple times and killed 100,000 Zhao soldiers. Haan(2) King sent his prince, Hanfei-zi, to Qin. Hanfei-zi (also spelled Haan Fei Zi) admired the works of Shang Yang. When Hanfei-zi came over to Qin, his classmate, Li Si, would plot to have Qin King retain Hanfei-zi. Hanfei-zi was later killed by Li Si out of envy for the favor that Shihuangdi had shown to Hanfei-zi. Haan(2) King requested for vassalage with Qin. In 232 BC, Qin attacked Haan Principality in today's Shanxi Province again. Earthquake was recorded in this year. In 231 BC, both Haan and Wei surrendered some of their lands to Qin. In 230 BC, Haan was converted into Yinchuan Commandary after Haan King An surrendered to Qin. Earthquake was recorded again. Qin Queen Dowager Huayang-taihou died this year.
In 227 BC, Prince Yan, Dan, aka Yan-Dan, sent an assassin called Jing Ke (aka Qing-qing or Jing-qing) to abduct Qin King as a fast solution against the advice of his teacher who proposed a long term plan in allying with multiple statelets and the Huns against Qin. Prince Dan of the Yan Principality once served as a hostage in Zhao capital and hence he was a childhood pal of Qin King. Prince Yan-Dan later went to serve as a hostage at Qin capital but requested for a return when he was mistreated. (Jing Ke was from Wey statelet, toured numerous countries, finally arrived in Yan statelet where he made friend with a dog-butcher called Gao Jianli and drank wine and sang songs together all through the day. Note that today's Koreans still enjoyed eating dog meat.) Jing Ke was located by Tian Guang who later committed suicide to prove to Prince Yan-Dan that he would not divulge the assassination scheme. Prince Yan-Dan befriended Jing Ke with gold and women and rode chariots together inside palaces, Yan-Dan even killed his stallion when Jing Ke mentioned that stallion's liver should taste good, and Yan-Dan cut off the fingers of a court-maid when Jing Ke praised the artistic skills of the maid's fingers in playing musical instruments. Jing Ke then borrowed the head of ex-Qin defector general Fan Yuqi and brought along a 13-year-old teenager called Qin Wuyang as his assistant. (Qin Wuyang, a descendant of Qin Kai who had led Yan forces in defeating Eastern Hu barbarians on behalf of Yan, was hired by Prince Yan-Dan hastily rather than waiting for Jing Ke's better-qualified pal to come to the assistance.) On the bank of Yi-shui River, Prince Yan-Dan and his entourage wore the mourning clothes, Gao Jianli beat the instrument and Jing Ke sang the song, "Bitter cold the water of Yi-shui River under the wind blowing with whistling sounds, brave man now departs on the road of no return". Jing Ke hid a knife inside the maps of the Yan Principality and attempted to abduct Qin King while he was to show the maps at Xianyang-gong Palace. When the page turned and revealed the poisonous dagger, Jing Ke grabbed the dagger, charged against the Qin King, sliced off the Qin King's robe when the Qin King wrestled off, and chased the Qin King by circling the bronze pillar several times till an imperial doctor threw a medicine box at Jing Ke. Qin ministers, daring not come upward due to the Qin King's rule of distance, shouted at the Qin King that he could push the sword to the back and pull out his long blade against his spine. Qin King, pulling out the sword, cut Jing Ke's left buttock. Jing Ke threw the dagger at the Qin King and hit the bronze pillar, which generated sparks. The Qin King attacked Jing Ke 8 more times, and escaped alive. Jing Ke leaned against the pillar and laughed aloud, stating that the Qin King had escaped alive because he was trying to capture the Qin King alive as he had promised to Prince Yan-Dan. Qin Wuyang was killed by the garrison guards down at the palace steps. The Qin King, unhappy over the assassination for a long time, then awarded his doctor Xia-wu-qie with 200 taels of gold. (Sima Qian validated the assassination story by meeting with some personal friends of this imperial doctor.) Thereafter, the Qin King sent the march order to the Qin army stationed at the Zhao Principality and dispatched General Wang Jian & General Xin Sheng on a campaign to attack Yan in retaliation. In October of 226 BC, the Ji-cheng city, i.e., the Yan capital, was taken. General Wang Ben, son of Wang Jian, took over today's Beijing. King Xi of Yan and Prince Yan-Dan fled to Liao-dong or east of the Liao River. Qin General Li Xin continued to pursue the Yan remnants. King Xi of Yan, at the advice of King Jia of Dai, killed Prince Yan-Dan to appease Qin General Li Xin. In this year, General Wang Jian retired. (4-5 years later, in 222 BC, the Qin armies attacked King Xi of Yan again and captured him. Gao Jianli, hiding himself for years, was later captured and spared by Qin Emperor Shihuangdi. Shihuangdi made Gao Jianli beat instrument with his eyes blinded with application of horse's discharge. Gao Canli later filled his instrument with the mineral led and tried to hit Shihuangdi in vain. Shihuangdi then ordered that Gao Jianli be executed for his assassination attempt.) In 225 B.C., General Wang Ben attacked the Wei Principality and flooded Daliang, i.e., today's Kaifeng. In this year, Wei King Jia(3) surrendered. In 224 BC, General Wang Jian was recalled for attacking Chu. Chu King Fu-Chu surrendered. Chu General Xiang Yan erected Prince Changpingjun as the new Chu King and counter-attacked Qin south of the Huai River. In 223 BC, Wang Jian and Meng Wu defeated Chu and killed Prince Changpingjun. Chu General Xiang Yan committed suicide. In 222 BC, General Wang Fen pursued the Yan King to today's east Liaoning Province. Yan King Xi surrendered. On the way back, General Wang Ben attacked the King of Dai, Jia, and captured him. Meanwhile, General Wang Jian went on to conquer the ex-Yue land and set up the Kuaiji Commandary. In 221 BC, Qi King Jian closed off the border with Qin. General Wang Ben went on to attack Qi2. Qi(2) King Jian surrendered.
Qin Statelet's organization chart showed the best balance of power of ancient China. Early Qin had used Bali Xi and Jian Shu as the rightside prime minister and leftside prime minister. Three branches of governance were utilized, namely, chief counselor (chengxiang), grand marshal (taiwei), and censor-in-chief or inspector-in-chief (yushi dafu). The commandary-county system would see a similar power balance in each and every commandary, a governor-general and a censor, respectively. Sima Qian commented that Qin was able to defeat all rivals as a result of its abilities to conduct reforms and changes. Sima Qian said that Qin's armies might not be that strong as the three Jinn principalities, and Qin's morality and justice could not compare with that of the other vassals. The only strength was its ability to change the status quo. Sima Qian's insight could be applied to today's China as well ! In the next 11 years, Shihuangdi would be responsible for attacking the Huns in the Hetao and Ordos areas, building and linking the Great Walls, standardizing writing system, coins and measures, paving the highways across the country, and digging canals to link up the water system. In the north, after the rebuilding of the Great Wall, General Meng Tian was ordered to pave a road across the mountains to reach Inner Mongolia. To the south, a highway would continue up the valley of the Xiangjiang River, along the present-day railway line, southeastward into Lingling. South of the county of Lingling, by the present-day town of Xingan, Shihuangdi had a canal cut across the watershed to link the Xiangjiang River with the head-waters of the Lijiang River, namely, Ling Qu ("Magic Trench"), for sake of conquest of the south. In the southwest, after the Qin unification of China in 221 BC, Chang E, governor for today's Sichuan Province, extended the road to Yunan Province's Shaotong and Qujing on basis of Li Bing's pavement. This is the so-called "Five Chinese Feet Road" that was paved with raw stone slates, with over thousand meter long trace recognizable today still.
Campaigns Against the Huns (Xiongnu) Emperor Shihuangdi, being given a necromancy note stating that the people who would destroy Qin would be named 'Hu' (which turned out to be the name of his junior son Hu Hai [aka Huhai or Hu-Hai]), would embark on a northern expedition against a group of people called Xiongnu (i.e., Huns) who were categorically called Hu nomads at that time. The cause was to do with alchemist Lu-sheng who was ordered to go to the East China Sea in search of immortals but returned with some necromancy drawings stating that the people who would destroy Qin would be named 'Hu'. The record shows that the Huns lived not far away from the Chinese after all. The Qin empire would take over today's Hetao (the sleeve-shaped land surrounded by the Yellow River on three sides) areas and set up 44 counties. Thereafter, Shihuangdi ordered General Meng Tian to cross the Yellow River, and Yinshan Mountains of Inner Mongolia were taken, where 43 more counties were set up. In both campaigns, Qin migrated convicts to the new counties. It is very clear to me that the Huns had been driven out of China from the very beginning. To drive out the Huns, Shihuangdi ordered Meng Tian to construct and link the various walls into the Great Wall. The Great Wall project cost innumerable human lives, and one legend goes that Lady Menjiangnü had caused a segment of the wall break down after crying for her lost husband for a long time. In the north, after the rebuilding of the Great Wall, General Meng Tian was ordered to pave a road across the mountains to reach Inner Mongolia. This highway must have gone into oblivion in later times. See http://www.secretchina.com/news/articles/4/9/19/72164.html for writings on Qin highways. The major 'zhi dao' (or 'chi dao' {express way}) highways included the Shang-jun-dao, Linjin-dao (former Zhao-Wei-Haan territory), Dongfang-dao (east highway), Wuguan-dao, Xifang-dao (west highway), Qin-zhan-dao (wood and bamboo roads carved in the middle of the cliffs), and Qin-zhi-dao, etc. Qin-zhi-dao began construction in 212 B.C, which was a highway to be supervised by General Meng Tian for linking up the capital city to the northern desert. South of the Wei-shui River, the emperor ordered to build the Xin-gong palace which was renamed to Ji-miao ([heavenly] polar/pole/strut temple), with a road linking to the Lishan Mountain. The emperor also ordered to construct a front Ganquan (sweet springs) palace, with the 'yong-dao' walled corridor leading to Xianyang. The area of the Shanglinyuan [upper forest garden] royal garden south of the Wei-shui River was chosen, with the high-rise/elevated 'ge-dao' passageway above the Wei-shui River (likened to 'Han' or the Milky Way), reaching the Nanshan (i.e., the Southern Mountain, i.e., Qinling) peak ('dian') to the south [which served as the terrace ('que') or the heaven’s pole/strut ('tian ji'), i.e., culmen per David Pankenier] and the Xianyang palace on the northern Wei-shui riverbank [which served as the ‘encampment’ constellation {i.e., the great square of Pegasus}]. Another project, the imperial palace of "Er Pang Gong" ("E Pang Gong" or "E'pang Gong"), took another toll on the nation's manpower and resources. (General Xiang Yu later burned down the whole palace.) "Er Pang Gong" project was started one year after the book burning event. Shihuangdi personally reviewed the project. The area of the Shanglinyuan [upper forest garden] royal garden south of Wei-shui River was chosen, and 700,000 labor were called upon from all over the nation. After touring the completed "Er Pang Gong", Shihuangdi travelled to the Lishan Mountain where he decided for himself to have his underground tomb palace built there. Sima Qian stated that E'pang was a temporary name to denote a frontal 'qian-dian' palace of 500 steps east-west and 50 'zhang' [Chinese yards, equivalent to 10 'chi' or Chinese feet] south-north, pending a name change after the project's completion. Japanese Oka Hatsuku interpreted the word 'E' as a big mausoleum, and 'pang' as meaning the side. The terra cotta soldiers, with skewed hair coils, were placed inside of the tomb instead of live person burial. As we expounded earlier, Qin had abolished the barbaric live burial practice a long time time. During the 1st year reign, Qin lord Xian'gong ordered to forbid the live funeral burial practice. In the early days, when Qin Lord Wugong passed away in 677 BC, 66 persons followed to his tomb as live burial. When Lord Qin Mugong passed away in 621 BC, 177 persons were buried live, including three Zi-che brothers, distinguished ministers, who had at one time promised to live and die with the Qin lord together during a banquet. Shihuangdi collected the private weapons from all over the nation and melted into 12 huge bronze statutes in the hope of depriving people of weaponry and lengthening his dynasty. Bronze statutes weighed 240,000 Chinese grams each. The statutes could be of two kinds, bronze and aluminum. (Per Han Shu, 12 giants in the 'Yi-di' alien clothing were sighted at today's Lingtao of Gansu in 221 BC, i.e., during the 26th year reign, and Shihuangdi instructed that the bronze statutes were made on basis of the image of the giants.) Shihuangdi ordered all royal descendants of ex-Zhou principalities rounded up for closer supervision at the capital. About 120,000 households of noble heritage relocated to Xian'yang. Shihuangdi also ordered that citadels and castles across the nation be dismantled. Sima Qian commented that Shihuangdi, though clamping down on the royals, failed to control the civilians. Later, Chen Sheng and consecutively Liu Bang, who rebelled against Qin Empire, were both civilians. Shihuangdi encountered numerous assassination attempts against his life as a result of his cruelty to the people. Shihuangdi's cruelty would also be shown in his order to have all civilians living near a rock be executed in 211 B.C.E. after someone left some inscription on the meteor rock stating that Qin would disintegrate once Shihuangdi was to die.
The Book Burning & Confucian Burying Li Si (Li Szu), i.e., leftside prime minister, after winning favor over Chunyu Yue on the matter of the Commandery-County system, proposed the solution of book burning. The trigger was a celebration party, that was attended by over seventy doctors, on which occasion Chunyu Yue, a doctorate called by 'bo shi', had suggested that the Qin emperor restore the Zhou's feudal system for sake of having the feudatories come to the aid of the court should there be upheaval. Days after the party, Li Si submitted the Fen Shu Ling report to the emperor. Li Si was noted for proposing to the Qin emperor to have the books burnt. Though, it was Shang Yang who first proposed the book burning approach to Qin Lord Xiaogong to have Shi[-jing] and [Shang-]Shu burnt for sake of controlling the thoughts of people per the He-shi Pian section of Haan Fei Zi --which pierced the book as a Han dynasty sophistry writing. The biography of Li Si cited Li Si's statements about the remnant Zhou vassals' citation of the ancient to criticize the present and the people's preference for the private academy teachings in lieu of the emperor's subjects, namely, 'fa jiao' or the Legalist school. Li Si eulogized the emperor's accomplishment of unifying the country, making distinction between black and white, and establishing authority under 'yi-zun' or one and exclusive obeisance --a word that was also cited by the idiotic Communist China for its dictatorial rule. Claiming that people were having a different heart inside of the private academies and slandering the emperor while stepping out of the private academies to gather on the streets, Li Si asked that the emperor to ban 'wen-xue' (literature), 'shi' (Shi-jing), 'shu' (Shang-shu) and 'bai-jia yu' (hundreds of schools) to solidify the rule. In 213 BC, on Li Si's urging, Shihuangdi outlawed all other schools of thought (the "Hundred Schools") except for Qin Ji (i.e., the Qin chronicles). Prevalent claims were that the Confucianism was banned while Legalism was upheld, which could be a simplistic conclusion. The decree said that whoever was to learn the legal codes should study under the government officials. Other than Qin Ji, all other history books were destroyed. The book burning included Shi-jing as well. Per Shi-ji, the emperor ordered book burning under the supervision of the regional and local 'shou' [magistrates], 'wei' [captains], and other miscellaneous officials, with exception made for the 'bo-shi guan' or the doctorate officials --who were allowed to keep Shi[-jing] and [Shang-]Shu, and the "Hundred Schools" books. The categories of medicine books, divination books, sorcery books, and 'tree-planting" or agriculture books were exempt. Sima Qian claimed that Shi-jing, i.e., the poems, were not destroyed as the populace had those books in possession at their homes. The decree also stated that whoever discussed about Shi[-jing] and [Shang-]Shu would be executed by law, and whoever criticized the then contemporary-world with citation of the ancient examples could have the family lineages exterminated. Those who failed to burn the books within 30 days would be punished by sentencing to the coolie labor and night watch on the city walls. As a result of book burning, the important classics were lost forever. In the section on the Zhou dynasty (1106-771 B.C. per Zhang Wenyu; 1044-256 B.C. per Cao Dingyun; 1122-256 B.C. per Liu Xin; 1116-256 B.C. per Huangfu Mi; 1111-256 B.C. per Seng Yixing; 1050 - 256 per the forgery contemporary version [Jin Ben] of The Bamboo Annals), this webmaster already illustrated the ambiguity over the identity of Shao-zheng Mao, Zuo-qiu Ming, Su Qin and Xun Qing (Sun-qing-zi), all the result of book burning. Sima Qian sighed when he wrote about the 'book burning'. Valuable records were lost forever. Why? Sima Qian said that Qin Shihuangdi ordered all histories and chronicles of the Zhou Kingdom and the various principalities be burnt, that only the Qin chronicles were left intact, and that the worst thing about Qin's chronicle was that Qin, unlike Zhou and other vassals, did not write the dates in their chronicle. Sima Qian also expressed relief that the ancient classics, like Shi-jing(The Classics of Poems) etc, had survived because they were hidden by the civilians outside of the court. But the histories and chronicles, which were only kept in the Zhou court or the courts of the vassals, were all destroyed. Per Shao Bo of the Soong dynasty, Sui Dynasty scholar Wang Tong had made the comment that it was not Confucius' fault that Shi-jing and Shang-shu were so popular that the Qin empire had its demise; it was not Lao-zi and Zhuang-zi's fault that the xu-xuan [virtual and metaphysical] philosophy was so popular that the Jinn Dynasty court had its demise; and it was not Sakya Buddha's fault that Liang Emperor Wudi was so indulged in Buddhism that the Southern Liang state had its demise. Latter Han Dynasty scholar Wang Chong, who had access to the abundant volumes of the recompiled Warring States time period books that belonged to the hundred schools, claimed that the cruel Qin dynasty did not burn the books of the hundred schools while the saint's classics, namely, Confucius' books, still existed. During the Manchu Qing dynasty, scholar Liu Dakui blamed Xiang Yu's arson for the loss of books.
Two years later, Shihuangdi was angered by two Confucians (i.e., Lu Sheng & Hou Sheng), more semi-Daoist and semi-alchemist, who had cheated him about finding the panacea. Back in 212 B.C., Lu Sheng & Hou Sheng, had spread bad words about the emperor after failing to find panacea, and fled the scene. Claiming that Xu Fu had spent enormous amount of money but failed to locate the fairy land in the seas while Lu Sheng et al., had spread rumors in the capital city, the emperor ordered the 'yu shi' official to arrest the people implicated. Under interrogation, hundreds of people were named conspirators. Over 460 Confucians/scholars/alchemists were buried alive at one time outside of the Qin capital of Xianyang. When Shihuangdi's elder son, Prince Fu-Su (Fu Su, a name of some plant's blossom on the mountain [versus the lotus flowers in the lower land] in Shi-jing: "shan you fu-su, xi you he-hua"), encountered the rows of Confucians/scholars/alchemists who were on the way to the burial ground, he went straight to Shihuangdi, pleading for amnesty on behalf of the Confucians/scholars/alchemists, pointing out that with the people in the remote areas not subordinate and the various 'sheng1' [i.e., intellectuals], all reciting the Confucius' books, the heavy-handed punishment could cause instability to the world. Shihuangdi rebutted Fu-Su and further sent his elder son to Shang-jun (today's Suide and ancient Suizhou) Commandery on the northern border to be with General Meng Tian. Historian Sima Qian cited Fu Su's words to point to the various intellectuals reciting the Confucius' books on the one hand, and designated the buried intellectuals as "shu shi" [i.e., alchemists] on the other hand, which left a riddle as to the nature of those victims. Per late Manchu era scholar Cai Dongfan, Shihuangdi then played a trick to have the various prefectures send over about 700 more Confucians/scholars/alchemists. Qin Shihuangdi first ordered to have the fruits planted at a valley in Mt. Lishan in the winter months, and then asked the scholars (not necessarily Confucians, but possibly including alchemists) to inspect on the place to explain why the trees bore fruits in the winter time. All 700 persons were stoned to death in a valley called by Xing-gu Valley, that was later renamed keng-lu-gu (the 'valley of Confucian killing') or 'min-lu-xiang' (the pitiful Confucian shire). This episode about the 'valley of Confucian killing' could be a latter-day forgery. Mao Tse-tung was reported to have commented on Shihuangdi's book burning and Confucian killing in 1958: "What's so unusual about Emperor Shihuangdi of Qin Dynasty? He had buried alive 460 scholars only, but we have routed millions of rightists..." Mao's statement was the result of mis-reading the nature of Confucian burying for the last thousands of years. The actual story of Confucian burying was carried by Latter Han DYnasty scholar Wei Hong's book Gu Wen Guan Shu, which was cited by Kong Yingda in Shang Shu Zheng Yi as being triggered by the scholars' criticism over Qin Emperor Shihuangdi's order to ban the tadpole characters and adopt the Qin "zhuan li" characters. During the Manchu Qing dynasty, scholar Kang Youwei stated that not all Confucians were buried, nor the six classics lost forever, pointing out that Shu-sun Tong and over thirty former Lu Principality scholars survived the Confucian burying. Shu-sun Tong et al., had acted as court advisors till the time of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebellion, after which time Shu-sun Tong suggested to Emperor Hu-hai not to worry about the rebellion and then fled the capital city for his life. Campaigns to The South Between 220 B.C.E. and 214 BC, the Qin expeditions conquered two small states of the Yue people, in present-day Wenzhou and Fuzhou, and set up the Commandery of Minzhong. Shihuangdi also launched the military expeditions to the south and southwest, taking over today's Guangdong Province, parts of Guangxi Province, and coastal Fujian Province. The 215 B.C. campaign consisted of five routes of the imperial army, with 'wei' (i.e., lieutenant general) Tu Sui in charge. The Qin army moved eastwards from today's Jiangxi Province, crossed the Wuyishan Mountains, and went southwards to today's Guangdong Province. Huai Nan Zi, claiming that the southern country possessed the treasures of Rhinoceros horns, ivory, emerald, and beads, stated that one army stationed at Panyu. Sima Qian commented on Panyu as a trading polis in Shi-ji, with products of pearls, Rhinoceros horns, tortoise (hawksbill sea turtle) shell bracelet/head plugs/rings, fruits and cloth. During those campaign, Qin mobilized an army of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly consisting of the so-called outcasts of then China, i.e., the men who lived in wives' homes after the marriage and the merchants whose occupation was deemed the lowest in then society. In 214 B.C., the emperor ordered the massive human emigration to the 'Lu-liang-di', literally meaning the continental ridge land, or the later commanderies of Guilin (laurel tree forest), Xiang-jun (elephant commandery) and Nanhai (south sea). Ren Xiao was appointed the post as 'wei' for the Nanhai-jun commandery, while Zhao Tuo (Zhao Ta) the post of magistrate for the Longchuan (dragon river) county. History recorded that altogether 500,000 people, consisting of the disgraced men and the merchants and et al, were relocated to southern China. This explains the fact that today's Guangdong Province still possesses the most variety of ancient northern Chinese dialects, especially the area to the west of the Pearl River. Qin Emperor Shihuangdi, after conquering the south, set up the commandaries of Guilin (laurel tree forest), Nanhai (south sea), and Xiangjun (elephant Commandery, i.e., the later Rinan Commandery of the Han Dynasty) etc. (Guilin, i.e., the laurel tree forest, could be the origin for the claim in the Hai-nei Nan-jing section of Shan Hai Jing that in the place of Guilin, there were eight trees, which Jinn Dynasty scholar Guo Pu interpreted to be eight trees forming a forest. That is, the book Shan Hai Jing, at least the seas' section of Hai-nei Nan-jing [i.e., the southern inner-seas], could be only written after the Qin invasion, not to mention that Shan Hai Jing was directionally wrong in saying that Guilin was to the east of Panyu. Panyu, a city built at the confluence area of the West River, the North River, and the East River, carried Lord Yu or Count Yu's connotation, a name that was said to have been adopted from some mythical place naming in Shan Hai Jing, which was said to be a mutation of the legendary Mt. Panzhong-shan tomb mountain [with 'pan' speculated to be soundex for 'bo' {count} or Lord Yu] of northwestern China. Literally, Shan Hai Jing claimed that Lord Di-jun born Fan-hao, Fan-hao born Yao-liang, and Yao-liang born Panyu (Fan-yu) who invented the boats. Here, we could use the name of Panyu to timestamp the age of the said book Shan Hai Jing. The most likely case was that Shan Hai Jing was written much after the time period when Panyu was known, namely, after the Qin imperial army's southern conquest in 215 B.C. Before Sima Qian commented on Panyu as a trading polis in Shi-ji, Huai Nan Zi mentioned Panyu as the place where one of the five Qin expedition armies stationed. The name Panyu could be literally paraphrased as the 'fan' [the barbarians] 'yu' [the sea's corner]. Shen Huaiyuan of the 5th century, in Nan Yue Zhi, claimed that the name came from the two small mountains of Mt. Pan-shan and Mt. Yu-shan. During the Soong dynasty, there were some possibly-forged map books which claimed that the place of Panyu was used to be called the five sheep city dating from the Chu King Weiwang's era, and prior to that, the Nanwu city built by a Yue-ethnic founder called Gongshi Yu. Gongshi Yu was recorded in The Bamboo Annals to be an emissary of the Yue king for surrendering [to the Wei Principality] 300 ships, 5 million arrows, rhino horns and ivory during Zhou King Nanwang's 3rd year, or 312 B.C. This could mean that the Ming dynasty scholars, i.e., Huang Zuo, and Gu Zuyu, et al., citing the Soong dynasty maps, had extrapolated on The Bamboo Annals, a late 3rd century A.D. excavation, to make up this claim.) Shihuangdi's Nationwide Tours & His Death Shihuangdi went on numerous inspection tours of the nation. In order to travel faster around the nation, he ordered the pavement of so-called 'Zhi Dao', i.e., straight highways. Zhidao might have gone into oblivion later, but its existence could be corroborated by Sima Qian's comments that he returned to the Han capital via an ex-Qin Zhidao. During the autumn of the 27th year's reign, Shihuangdi travelled westward to Longxi of Gansu Province and returned via Beidi of today's northern Shenxi Prov; the next spring, he travelled eastward to the Shandong Peninsula. Shihuangdi climbed Mount Taishan, and the later dynasties would make it a rule to revere Mount Taishan (considered one of the three 'Di' or overlords). On top of Mt. Taishan, he conferred the title of Five Dafu onto five big trees for sheltering him from a rain storm. There was no record showing that any Zhou king ever travelled to Mt. Taishan for reverence, and it would be Qin Emperor Shihuangdi who first climbed the Taishan Mountain to confer the titles of sainthood, a sacrificial ceremony called 'feng shan', with 'feng' meaning oblation for heaven and 'shan' [which mutated to a word for the later zen school of buddhism] meaning oblation for earth. Later, during the Han dynasty, Sima Qian participated in Han Emperor Wudi's trip to Mt. Taishan, where oblation for heaven and earth was conducted, with discussion of a mythical personified 'Tai-di' (Mt. Taishan Overlord) possessing one cauldron, the Yellow Overlord possessing three cauldrons and Lord Yu possessing nine cauldrons --a product of post-book-burning forgery. Note that there was no personification of a so-called Overlord Tai-di prior to Qin Emperor Shihuangdi's coining his title 'huang-di' from the Mt. Taishan Huang and the five prehistoric sovereign lords. For the Zhou kings, there was the royal veneration site of 'Xu-tian' (near today's Xuchang, Henan) for venerating Mount Taishan, meaning the kings did not need to travel to the east. Shihuangdi climbed Mt. Langya-shan and ordered a renovation surpassing Yue King Gou-jian's project. 100 days later, the project was completed with 30,000 labor; Shihuangdi climbed up the storey and looked into the east sea for the three legendary islands of Peng-lai, Fang-zhang and Ying-zhou. An article extolling his unification of China was inscribed on Mount Langya-shan. Shihuangdi admired the building of Langye, i.e., a costal palace that King Yue had used after relocating capital from Kuaiji. In 219 B.C., at Langya on the Shandong coastline, Shihuangdi ordered the erection of the Langya Stone Monument extolling the unification of China, with signatures bearing the names of [rightside] prime minister Kui Lin (Kui Zhuang), [leftside] prime minister Wang Wan, and 'qing' [and concurrent acting prime minister] Li Si. Shihuangdi also oversaw two panacea-finding overseas trips by Xu Fu at the Langye port. The always-on lamps inside of Shihuangdi's tomb, lit by oil refined from mermaid fish from the East China Sea, corroborated the fact that Chinese fishing vessels were very active in the East Sea 2200 years ago. Xu Fu, by the way, was speculated to have arrived in Japan with 3000 virgin boys and girls, plus the artisans. (Xue Jun of the Ming Dynasty, in Ri Ben Guo Kao Lüe, claimed that the Qin-wang-guo statelet was founded by elixir-seeking Xu Fu without elaboration. Today's Chinese people, including the Japanese, took the Wakayama area, the southern tip of Honshu and to the southwest of Nara, as the place where Xu Fu might have landed. However, the Wakayama heritage could be a latter-day add-on. Interestingly, Xue Jun had recorded the name of Xu-wo in Japan, namely, the Wa Japan statelet under Xu Fu's rule, stating that Xu-wo was subject to Da-wo, i.e., the Greater Wa State. This could mean that Xu Fu, with 3000 boys and girls [or 3000 boys and 3000 girls], did not have enough adult men to defeat the aboriginals upon landing in Japan. It was said that Qin Emperor Shihuangdi sent Xu Fu on the sea trip in search of An Qisheng, a legendary figure with whom Qin Emperor Shihuangdi had conversations about the elixirs in the seas and who later left a note with the emperor saying that he had departed for the overseas.) The emperor arrived at Mount Jieshi, near today's Qinhuangdao and the Shanhaiguan Pass, to see sunrise. In the late Han Dynasty time period, autumn of A.D. 207, Cao Cao, returning from his triumphant campaign in today's southern Manchuria, came to the same spot and wrote a famous poem Guan Cang Hai (observing the expanse of the seas), stating that the sun and moon traveled in the seas as if having their home there and that the stars and the Milky Way shined on the seas as if having their home there. (Cao Cao later also wrote another poem to express his ambition at a high age by making an analogy of him to an old war horse.) Shihuangdi travelled to Mount Kuaijishan where he revered Lord Yu the founder of Xia Dynasty. The Qin Emperor, when travelling to Kuaiji in 210 B.C., ordered to erect a stone monument extolling the unification of China, with the usage of a philosophical concept "liu he" to describe the world with four borders, a top [heaven] and a bottom [earth], to the effect that the emperor had spread the virtues within the three-dimensional universe of six sides. (The "liu he" concept preceded the Pan'gu egg creation that was imported from India about 2000 years ago, as well as preceded the actual place of today's Liuhe [Luhe), Anhui Province.) While touring Kuaiji, i.e., today's Shaoxing, Zhenjiang, a large crowd gathered to witness the emperor's procession, with Xiang Liang, a Chu royal related to the late Chu General Xiang Yan, and his nephew present. Xiang Yu, a kid who had the Hercules and Samson-like strength capable of raising a bronze cauldron, uttered a sentence, saying that the Qin emperor could be replaced, which scared Xiang Liang so much he forced the nephew to leave the welcome crowd. Xiang Yu refused to study the military strategy books, nor liked to practice sword. Xiang Yu, bent on restoring the Chu Principality, told his uncle that he would study the art that allowed him to beat 10,000 enemies. (This webmaster, since the high school days, always had the ears echoing Xiang Yu's proclamation about his swear to overthrow Qin Emperor Shihuangdi: 'ke qu er dai zhi'. When paraphrasing this sentence carried by Sima Qian's Shi-ji, this webmaster's high school teacher, at the time of just surviving the cultural revolution and numerous political purge movements of the 1960s-1970s, probably carried the same eternal wish and indignation that this webmaster had accumulated against the thuggery communist regime of China.) At one time, on the road, near Bolangsha of Yangwu County, he encountered the 'iron hammer' attack of an assassin sent by Zhang Liang, an ex-Haan(2) royal descendant. In 211 B.C., Shihuangdi, during the last trip, had the accompaniment of his 18th son (Huhai). Zhao Gao, the 'zhongchefu-ling' (i.e., the eunuch officer in charge of palaces), was the tutor of Huhai. During his last trip, the emperor died at a place called Shaqiu (near today's Xingtai of Hebei or ancient Xingzhou prefecture). Bolangsha or Shaqiu, all carrying the sand name, could be what Guan Zi meant by the place of 'liu sha' or quick sand that Qi Lord Huan'gong's trekked across. Early in the year, a returning Qin emissary, when passing Huayin, was stopped by a mysterious person with a jade, was asked to pass the jade to 'gao [high] chi [lake] jun [lord]', and was told that 'zu [ancestral] long [dragon]' would die in this year. It was found out that the jade was the one that the emperor had thrown into the Yangtze eight years ago to quell some water turbulence. Zhao Gao colluded with Li Si in hiding the death of Shihuangdi (r. 246-210 B.C.; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.) and revising Shihuangdi's will. Zhao Gao and Li Si bought carts of salt fish ('bao4 yu2') to cover the stinky smell of Shihuangdi's dead body. They later sent an order in the name of Shihuangdi to have the elder prince (Fu-Su) and General Meng Tian commit suicide on the pretext that they had failed to complete the Great Wall project within 10 years. Fu-Su was originally banished to Shangjun to build the Great Wall after he offended Shihuangdi earlier on the matter of Confucian burying. Thereafter, Hu-hai arrested Meng Yi and ordered Meng Tian to commit suicide. Meng Tian, at the Great Wall, would give up military authorization to General Wang Li and surrender himself against his generals' advice to stage a rebellion. Meng Tian said he did not want to defame the three-generation loyalty of his family. (Cao Cao of the Latter Han Dynasty had cited Meng Tian's loyalty as one reason that he still upheld last Han Emperor Xiandi as the lord.) The two Meng brothers were killed thereafter. By September of this year, Hu-hai dispatched Shihuangdi's coffin to Lishan Mountain. Right after Hu-hai's ascension to the throne, he would order that all his half brothers (12 in total) and half sisters (10 in total), relatives, some generals and ministers, be killed for sake of solidifying his rule.
Discovery Of Terracotta Soldiers 
Writer Yue Nan described how terracotta soldiers were discovered by Shenxi peasants in the spring of 1974 in the book Resurrection Of The Legion (yuanliu publishing house, 1999 edition, taipei, taiwan), with a foreword given by Wang Xueli the director for archaeological society of Shanxi Province.
Several Yang surname peasants, including Yang Peiyan, Yang Wenxue and Yang Zhifa etc, were digging through the drought-stricken mud in search of water when they hit the strata of red mud. One week later, peasants reached 4 meters deep in well digging.
The terra cotta soldiers all possessed the skewed hair coils, a characteristic of the southern barbarians in the land of Chu and Pu (i.e., ancestors of the later Hundred Pu people or the Mon-Khmers). Qin's ancestors dwelled in the border areas of today's Gansu-Shenxi-Shenxi, and conquered and absorbed various Xi-rong or Western Rong tribes, i.e., the Qiangic barbarians. No evidence suggested that Qin's ancestors had noticeable deviation from the Zhou Chinese, other than the hair coil style. The difference between the Sinitic Chinese and the southern barbarians was the coil sitting at the top versus the coil skewing to one side of the heads. The reason for the skewed coils could have something to do with the influence of the Qin queens who were of the Chu origin, namely, the hundreds of years of the Qin-Chu intermarriage. Qin was considered a vassal of the same big family. The Qin people were mainly the Sino-Tibetan speaking Chinese, as seen in their adherence to the usage of the written Chinese characters while living in the barbaric West. China & The Name Of Chin (Qin), & the Qin Ethnicity The name of 'China' itself could be mistakenly linked to the so-called first united empire of China, Qin or Chin, which lasted just a dozen or so years, from 221 B.C.E. to 206 BC. The word 'china' or 'China' deserves another look as to its origin. The name of China has nothing to do with chinaware. As to the chinaware, that will point to the invention from the Song/Ming dynasties, not the ancient pottery. The chinas of Song & Ming were famous for their blue and white patterns and the hardness of the product as a result of using the high temperature manufacturing process. While this webmaster read about some citation of a similar name in the Sanskrit, i.e., Cina or Cin, some scholar had speculated that the name 'Chin' could be a mutation of 'Jing' the alias for the Chu State in Southern China during the Zhou Dynasty. This may sound a bit extrapolated. However, it is believable in light of the fact that Han emissary Zhang Qian mentioned that he saw in the Oxus and Fengana Valley the silk and clothing produced in Sichuan Province, which the local merchants said were shipped over from India. Around 122 BC, Zhang Qian saw the cloth of Sichuan in Bactria and reported that he saw the Zangke bamboo products and Sichuan clothing which the Bactria merchants said were shipped over from India. Han Emperor Wudi then ordered four expeditions to the west in search of a route to India. In 135 BC, some Han emissary noted that Nan-Yue or the Southern Yue was using soy sauce from today's Sichuan Province. The Yelang Statelet, with 100,000 strong army, was targeted by Han as an ally in the war on the Southern Yue. The Han emissary said that the Zangke River (a place in today's Sichuan Province), by which the Yelang Statelet dwelled, would flow into Panyu of today's Guangdong Province. Looking at the map, we could assume the ancient Zangke River must have flowed down today's Guizhou Province to converge with the West River of Guangdong Province. The Nan-yue capital city of Panyu (Fanyu) was today's Canton, a Lord Yu or Count Yu connotation name that was said to have been adopted from some mythical place naming in Shan Hai Jing, which was a mutation of the legendary Mt. Panzhong-shan tomb mountain [with 'pan' speculated to be soundex for 'bo' {count} or Lord Yu] of northwestern China. Chinese history recorded that the people living to the south of Vietnamese, in both Linyi (Champa) and Funan, possessed the curly hair, a Negroid characteristic that has more to do with Dravidians of India. It is no strange to see this phenomenon when we examined the history of southeast Asia as a whole to find that the Dravidian Indian influence had spread across the whole area much before the Chinese poked their nose in the same area. In the 110s BC, General Lu Bode (carrying the same title 'Quelling Sea Waves' as the Latter Han General Ma Yuan) was ordered by Han Emperor Wudi to campaign in the south, and he first set up Rinan commandery. The Linyi (Champa) Statelet would be where the Xianglin County of Rinan commandery was. General Ma Yuan erected two bronze pillars here as a demarcation line of Han China's boundary. We could not completely discount the name for China as having origin in Qin Dynasty. Some scholars pointed out that the Huns used to call Han Chinese by 'Qin Ren', i.e., Qin people. Some records in Chinese Turkistan did point to the continued usage of 'Qin Ren' well after Qin's demise. In between the name of Qin and Cathay, there was another name for China, i.e., Tabgac or Toba, that was inscribed on some stone monument by the Turks during Tang Dynasty. Qin's Ethnicity This webmaster considers the Qin people as mainly the Sino-Tibetan speaking Chinese. No conclusive evidence suggested that the Qin terra cotta soldiers sculpture had trace of the Greek flavor. The terra cotta soldiers all possessed the skewed hair coils, a characteristic of the southern barbarians of Chu and Pu (i.e., ancestors of the later Hundred Pu people or the Mon-khmers). Qin's ancestors dwelled in the border areas of today's Gansu-Shenxi, and they might have conquered and absorbed various Xi Rong or Western Rong tribes, i.e., the Qiangic barbarians. No conclusive evidence suggested that Qin's ancestors had noticeable deviation from the Zhou Chinese, other than the hair coil style. The difference between the Huns and the Sinitic Chinese was "hu2 [Huns] fu2 [clothing] ZHUI1 [back of the head] jie2 [bundling the hair]", while the Sinitic Chinese bundled the hair at the top of the head. The difference between the Sinitic Chinese and the southern barbarians was the coil sitting at the top versus the coil skewing to one side of the heads. The reason could have something to do with the influence of some Qin queen who was of the Chu origin. Qin was considered a vassal of the same big family. No history showed that the Zhou Chinese and the vassals had any direct contact with the Yuezhi other than the five Rongs as noted in history -- which could be the origin for the misnomer 'Indo-European' Yuezhi. Shi-ji recorded that Qin's ancestors were called 'Rong Xuxuan', carrying a denotation that they might be mixed with the Rong people; later, reformer Shang Yang's boasting that he had reformed Qin people's Rong/Di customs into the civilized mode did point to the fact that the Qin people had carried lots of the Rong-di barbarian traits. The Rongs' ethnicity, difficult to expound either via the classic books or archaeological findings, was more likely associated with the Qiangic people whose ancestors, San-Miao or the Three Miao people, were relocated to today's Gansu Province in 2200s B.C.E. In the hun.htm section, this webmaster had expounded that the Rong people in the west, sharing possibly the same blood-line with the Xia Chinese but differing in 'Culture' such as cuisine, clothing, money and language, appeared to be an early offshoot of the Sino-Tibetan speaking Qiangic people. The wars on record would be between Qin and the Xi-rong, Doggy Rong and various other Rong people, and between the Zhou Chinese and the Rong-di (which split into Bai-di and Chi-di) etc. The wars on record would be : i) between Qin and the Xi-rong, ii) between the Jiang-rong/Quan-rong and Zhou, iii) between Qi/Yan and the Shan-rong (i.e. Bei-rong/Wuzhong), iv) between the Chang-di and Wey/Xing, v) between the Chi-di/Bai-di and Jinn, vi) between the Dali-rong and Qin, vii) between the Lin-hu barbarians and Zhao, viii) between the Yiqu-rong and Qin, and ix) between the Zhou Chinese and the Rong-di (which split into the Bai-di and Chi-di) etc. Other wars would be with the Maojin-rong, Li-rong, Gui-rong, Ji-rong, Luhun-rong & Wan-rong etc. 
Qin's Historical Relation with the Yiqu-rong Barbarians Among the barbarians to the west and north of the Qin people, there were the so-called Yiqu-rong who existed since Shang Dynasty per possibly forged books such as Shang[-Shang Dynasty]-Shu and Yi-zhou[-Zhou Dynasty]-Shu. This webmaster, however, did not believe that the Yiqu-rong concept was more ancient than was recorded in the conflicts with the Qin people. The Yiqu-rong possibly dwelled in today's Guyuan area, the origin of the Jing-shui River and along the banks of the Yellow River. It was deduced from the fabricated books that Jiang Taigong sent Nangong Shi to visiting the Yiqu-rong, with the latter submitting gifts to Shang King Zhouwang as requital. In the Zhou Dynasty time period, Zhou King Muwang resettled the barbarians at the origin of the Jing-shui River, among them, Yiqu, Yuzhi, Wuzhi, Xuyan and Penglu, namely, the five Rongs as noted in history -- which could be the origin for the later misnomer 'Indo-European' Yuezhi. (The naming here could be the source of the later name for the Yuezhi people, should the Yuezhi be counted as being related to the Sinitic Chinese and dwelled near China from the beginning.) Yiqu was said to have established its own statelet after the Rong-di sacked Zhou capital Haojing and killed Zhou King Youwang. Subsequently, Yiqu was said to have merged Penglu and Yuzhi etc, with domain extending to the Qiaoshan [Arch] mountain to the east and Guyuan to the west, the Jing-shui River to the south, and the Sheath Area of the Yellow River to the north. Mo Zi purportedly recorded that the Yiqu people had a tradition of burning their dead, which was speculated to be some Zoroastrian religious practice but actually a Qiangic tradition which mutated to the 'heavenly burial' practice among today's Tibetans. In 651 B.C., as verified records stated, Yiqu sent You-yu to seeing Qin Mugong who bought over the emissary [who was of the Jinn background]. With You-yu as guide, Qin Lord Mugong attacked and took over some land from Yiqu. In 430 B.C., Yiqu attacked Qin and took over the lowerstream Wei River, and pushed to south of the Wei River. Yiqu, per ancient tactics book, had at one time sent emissary to seeking an alliance with the rest of the Chinese statelets against Qin. By 327, Qin pacified Yiqu as a vassal and made its territories into the Qin counties. In 318 B.C. Yiqu rebelled against Qin, and allied with five Chinese statelets, as seen in Zhan Guo Ce. In 314 B.C., Qin, after victories in the unification wars, turned around to attack Yiqu. After about one century of relative peace, Qin began to expand by attacking Dali & Yiqu. The barbarian statelets like Dali & Yiqu built dozens of castles. The Yiqu-Rong built castles to counter Qin. Qin King Huiwang took over 25 cities from the Yiqu-rong. In 306, Qin dowager queen Xiantaihou seduced the Yiqu king in Ganquan-gong. At the time of Qin King Zhaowang, Qin Queen Xuantaihou killed a Yiqu-rong King. (King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou, adultered with the former Rong king from the Yiqu Statelet, with two sons born.) Qin dowager queen Xiantaihou killed the Yiqu-rong king in 272 B.C., about 34 years after the seduction. Hence, Qin made the Yiqu land into the Qin commandaries and counties, which was said to be the start of the Qin commandery-county system. The Yuezhi Mystery Dwelling close to the various Rong people (including Xi-rong) would be the Yuezhi as known in the Hun-Yuezhi War of the 3rd century B.C.E. The relationship of the Yuezhi to Rong or Rond-di people is not clear. Bai-di and Chi-di evolved from Rong-di. Baidi (White Di) dwelled in ancient Yanzhou (today's Yan'an), Suizhou (today's Suide) and Yinzhou (today's Ningxia). Chidi (Red Di) dwelled in a place called Lu(4), near today's Shangdang (Changzhi, Shanxi). In the West Yellow River Bend area there wa said to have existed the Yuezhi people. Kuo Di Zhi (Gua Di Zhi) stated that Yuezhi country included ancient Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Yanzhou and Shazhou, i.e., today's Gansu, Ningxia and Shenxi Provinces. This webmaster could not speculate about it simply by interpreting the words here, i.e., Bai meaning white, Chi meaning red, and Rong meaning hairy. Note that white or red were designations of tribal clothing customs or related symbols, and they had nothing to do with hair or skin. Shang Dynasty used black bird as a totem, for example, and Clyde Winters' appropriation in claiming a Negroid origin of Shang people was fallacious. Similarly, minority people in Southwest China, like Bai-zu and Yi-zu, had derived from Bai-man (white barbarian) and Hei-man (black barbarian) of Di-Qiang people or ancestors of today's Tibetans. It appears that Wang Guowei could be right in the theory about invaders coming from the East while traders from the West. That is, the Yuezhi, with the nine Zhaowu clans with Sinitic names, could very well be related to the Chinese, and should they dwell in the same area along the Western Yellow River Bend, had to belong to the subcomponents of the Yiqu-rong people who were conquered by the Qin people. Or, alternatively, you could find soundex among the five Rongs as noted in history, namely, Yiqu, Yuzhi, Wushi, Xuyan and Penglu, who were said to be resettled by Zhou King Muwang at the origin of the Jingshui and Weishui Rivers. Though, Wang Guowei was wrong in extrapolating the soundex of some Yu-shi people mentioned in Guan Zi to be equivalent to the Yuezhi people. This webmaster first thought that Wang Guowei was extrapolating Xia's You-yu-shi clan as equivalent to Yuezhi. Now, this webmaster finally figured out, Wang Guowei was linking the Yuezhi to some Yu-shi people mentioned in Guan Zi, something like 2700-2800 years ago, which was different from the You-yu-shi clan of 5000 years ago. Qi Lord Huan'gong was recorded to have occupied 'da xia' (i.e., the Grand Xia land) in today's southern/central Shanxi Province and might have crossed the river to subjugate 'xi yu' (i.e., the western Yu-shi clan's land) in today's Shenxi Province. Both Guan Zi (Xiao Kuang section) and Guo Yu (Qi Yu section) carried a statement to the effect that Qi Lord Huan'gong campaigned to the west, containing Qin-xia [i.e., the barbarian-equivalent Qin people], or typo for Tai-xia (grand Xia), and subjugating Xi-yu [i.e., the people in the ancient western Yu state territory], with the Qi Yu section of Guo Yu using the character 'wu' to mean the ancient Western Wu State territory. This webmaster's conclusion was that this was erudite Wang Guowei's No. 1 blunder as Yu-shi, which could be taken as either the western Yu [Wu] or the northern Yu [Wu] remnants from the descendant of Zhou-zhang's brother, had absolutely nothing to do with the Yue-zhi people. Qin/Zhou Chinese Zigzags With the Rong & Di people Now back to Rong people at the time of Zhou Dynasty. Count of West, Xibo, namely, Zhou Ancestor Ji Chang, once attacked the Doggy Rongs (said to be same as Xianyun barbarian on the steppe). Dozen years later, Zhou King Wuwang exiled the Rongs north of the Jing & Luo Rivers. The Rongs were also called Huangfu at the time, a name to mean their 'erratic submission'. 200 years later, Zhou King Muwang attacked the Doggy Rongs and history recorded that he captured four white wolves & four white deers (white deer and white wolf being the titles of ministers of Rongdi barbarians) during his campaign. The Huangfu (Doggy Rong) people then no longer sent in yearly gifts and tributes. Zhou King Yiwang, the grandson of King Muwang (r. 1,001 - 946 BC), would be attacked by the Rongs. The great grandson, King Xuanwang (reign 827 - 782), finally fought back against the Rongs. Shi Jing eulogized King Xuanwang's reaching Taiyuan of Shanxi Province and fighting the Jiangrong. Thereafter, King Youwang (reign 781-771) was killed by the Doggy Rongs at the foothill of Lishan Mountain and capital Haojing was sacked. Quanrong & Xi-rong had come to aid Marquis Shenhou (father-in-law of King Youwang of Western Zhou, c 11 cent - 770 BC) in killing King Youwang of Zhou Dynasty in 770 BC. Rongs who stayed on at Lishan were called Li-rong. The Rongs moved to live between the Jing & Wei Rivers. Lord Qin Xianggong was conferred the old land of Zhou by Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720). Zhou King Pingwang encouraged the Qin Lord to drive out the Quanrongs. Quanrong or Doggy Rong of the west were also named Quan-yi-shi (Doggy alien tribe) or Hunyi / Kunyi (Kunlun Mountain aliens?, but was commented to be the same as character 'hun4' for the meaning of mixing-up). Shan Hai Jing legends stated that Huangdi or Yellow Emperor bore Miao-long, Miaolong bore Nong-ming, Nongming bore Bai-quan (White dog) which was the ancestors of Quanrong. Shan Hai Jing also stated that Quan-yi had human face but beast-like body. An ancient scholar called Jia Kui stated that Quan-yi was one of the varieties of Rong people. Among the above names, one group of barbarians would be called the Rong-di(2) people. Some of the Rong and Di must have mixed up, and one more designation would be Rong-di Rong which later split into Chi-di and Bai-di. History book mentioned that the Rong-di was of the dog ancestry, related to Pan-hu, i.e., the ancestor of the San-Miao people who were exiled to today's Gansu by Lord Shun. Qin warred with the various Rong people over a time span of over 600 years. When Zhou King Liwang was ruling despotically, the Xi Rong (Xi-rong or Western Rong) people rebelled in the west and killed most of the Da-luo lineage of the Qin people. Zhou King Xuanwang conferred Qin Lord 'Qin Zhong' (r. B.C.E. 845-822 ?) the title of 'Da Fu' and ordered him to quell the Xi-rong. Qin Lord Zhuanggong's senior son, Shifu, would swear that he would kill the king of the Rong people to avenge the death of Qin Zhong before returning to the Qin capital. Zhuanggong's junior son would be Qin Lord Xianggong (Ying Kai) who assisted Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720) in cracking down on both the Western Rong and the Doggy Rong. Shifu was taken prisoner of war by Xi Rong during the 2nd year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong and did not get released till one year later. During the 7th year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong, i.e., 771 BC, the Doggy Rong barbarians sacked the Zhou capital and killed the Zhou king at the invitation of Marquis Shen (i.e., Shenhou). Qin Lord Xianggong (Ying Kai) died during the 12th year of his reign (766 BC) when he campaigned against the Rong at Qishan. In 1917, a vessel called Qin-gong Gui was discovered in Lixian, on which Qin Lord Xianggong talked about the Qin ancestral temple on the 'Yu-ji' (Lord Yu's footsteps) land and by the side of Di-zhi-pi (high lord's tile/hill), with sacrifice of twelve Qin's 'gong' ancestors. Qin Lord Wengong (r. B.C.E. 765-716), during his 16th year reign, Wengong defeated Rong at Qishan. Wengong would give the land east of Qishan back to Zhou court. Qin Lord Ninggong (r. B.C.E. 715-704) would defeat King Bo and drove King Bo towards the Rong people during the 3rd year reign, i.e., 713 BC. Ninggong conquered King Bo's Dang-shi clan during the 12th year reign, i.e., 704 BC. Qin Lord Wugong (r. B.C.E. 697-677), during the 10th year reign, exterminated Gui-rong (Shanggui of Longxi) and Ji-rong (Tianshui commandery), and the next year, exterminated Du-bo Fief (southeast of Xi'an), Zheng-guo Fief (Zheng-xian County) and Xiao-guo Fief (an alternative Guo Fief, different from the Guo domain conferred by Zhou King Wenwang onto his brother, Guo-shu). Xiao-guo Fief was said to be a branch of the Qiang people. Meanwhile, lord of the Jinn Principality, Jinn Xian'gong (r. 676-651 BC), attacked Li-rong (Xi Rong) barbarians during his 5th year reign, i.e., 672 B.C.E. approx, and captured a Li-rong woman called Li-ji. In 664 BC, Qi Lord Huan'gong destroyed the statelets of Shan-rong and Guzhu. (Guzhu was formerly Zhu-guo Statelet, a vassal of ex-Shang dynasty. The Shan-rong or Mountain Rongs went across the Yan Principality of Hebei Province to attack Qi Principality in today's Shandong Province. 44 years later, they attacked Yan. Around 664 BC, Yan-Qi joint armies destroyed the Mountain Rong Statelet as well as the Guzhu Statelet. During the 16th year of Zhou King Huiwang (reign 676-652), namely, 661 BC, the Chang Di barbarians who were located near today's Jinan City of Shandong Province, under Sou Man, attacked the Wey and Xing principalities. The Di barbarians, hearing of Qi army's counter-attacks at Mountain-rong, embarked on a pillage in central China by attacking Wey and Xing statelets. The Di barbarians killed Wey Lord Yigong (r. B.C.E. 668-660 ?) who was notorious for indulging in raising numerous birds called 'he' (cranes), and the barbarians cut him into pieces. A Wey minister would later find Yigong's liver to be intact, and hence he committed suicide by cutting apart his chest and saving Yigong's liver inside of his body. Over 20 years later, in 636 B.C.E. approx, the Rongdi nomads attacked Zhou King Xiangwang (reign 651-619) at the encouragement of Zhou Queen who was the daughter of Rongdi ruler. Jinn Principality helped Zhou King by attacking the Rongs and then escorted the king back to his throne 4 years after the king went into exile. After the defeat in the hands of Jinn, the Rongs moved to the land between the Yellow River and the Luo-shui River, and two groups were known at the time, Chidi (Red Di) and Baidi (White Di). Baidi (White Di) dwelled in ancient Yanzhou (today's Yan'an), Suizhou (today's Suide) and Yinzhou. Zuo Shi Chun-qiu stated Jinn defeated Baidi and remnants were known as Bai-bu-hu later. Chidi (Red Di) dwelled in a place called Lu(4), near today's Shangdang. Zuo Shi Chun-qiu stated that Jinn Principality destroyed the Lu(4) tribe of the Chidi, and the remnants were known as Chi-she-hu nomads later. In 659 BC, Qin Lord Mugong conquered Maojin-rong. In 623 BC, i.e., during the 37th year reign, Qin Mugong, using You Yu as a guide, campaigned against the Xi-rong and conquered the Xi-rong Statelet under their lord Chi Ban. Once Chi Ban submitted to Qin, the rest of Western Rong nomads in the west acknowledged the Qin overlordship. Qin Mugong would conquer altogether a dozen (12) states in Gansu-Shaanxi areas and controlled the western China of the times. Zhou King dispatched Duke Zhaogong to congratulate Qin with a gold drum. During the 3rd year reign of Qin Gonggong, i.e., 606 BC, Lord Chu Zhuangwang campaigned northward against the Luhun-rong barbarians and inquired about the Zhou cauldrons when passing through the Zhou capital. Luhun-rong barbarians, according to Hou Han Shu, had relocated to northern China from ancient Gua-zhou prefecture of Gansu Province. Alternatively speaking, per ancient scholar Du Yu, Luhun-rong barbarians, with clan name of Yun-shi, originally dwelled to the northwest of Qin and Jinn principalities; when Qin intended to drive off the Yun-surname barbarian clan [Xianyu, i.e., Hun] and Jiang-rong barbarian clan, it was Jinn who volunteered to accept the two clans for re-assignment to its southern and southwestern domains. This was the story of Qin/Jinn seducingly relocating the barbarians to Yichuan area (i.e., Xincheng, Henan Province) during the 22nd year reign of Lu Lord Xigong (r. B.C.E. 659-627), i.e., in 638 BC, with the descendants coming to be known as the Luhun-rongs. For further discussions on Barbarians & Chinese, please refer to
Relationship Between Shang Dynasty, Succeeding Zhou Dynasty & Barbarians Difference Between Rong and Chinese In 'Culture', Not 'Blood-line' Merging and Subjugating Barbarians By Zhou Dynasty & Principalities Assertions By Luo Xianglin & Wang Zhonghan Continuing Zigzags With Barbarians Where Were the Yuezhi, Wusun & Sai-ren [Scythians]? The Great Walls & The Barbarians As to the barbarian groups, there were Mianzhu-Quanrong-Di-Wanrong to the west of the Qin Principality, Yiqu-Dali-Wushi-Xuyan etc., to the north of the Qin Principality, Linhu-Loufan to the north of the Jin (Jinn) Principality, and Donghu-Shanrong to the north of the Yan Principality. Mianzhu could be pronounced Raozhu. Quanrong was know as Kunrong or Hunrong or Hunyi. The character 'hun4' for Hunyi or Hun-yi is the same as Hunnic King Hunye or Kunye and could mean the word of mixing-up. Wan-rong dwelled in today's Tianshui, Gansu Province. Yiqu was one of the Xi-rong or Western rong stateles in the ancient Qingzhou and Ningzhou. Dali-rong dwelled in today's Fengxu County. Wushi was originally part of the Zhou land, but it was taken over by the Rongs. Qin King Huiwang took it back from Rong later. Linhu was later destroyed by General Li Mu. Loufan belonged to the Yanmen'guan Pass area. During the 13th year reign of Zhou King Jianwang, i.e., 573 BC, Jinn Lord Ligong was killed by Luan Shu and Zhongxing Yan, and Jinn dispatched emissaries (led by a Zhi family member) to the Zhou court to retrieve Zi-zhou as Lord Daogong. Jinn Lord Daogong made peace with Rong-di (who attacked Zhou King Xiangwang earlier), and the Rongdi sent in gifts and tributes to Jinn. Another one hundred years, Zhao Xiang-zi of the Zhao Principality took over the Bing and Dai areas near the Yanmen'guan Pass. Zhao, together with the Haan and Wei families, destroyed another opponent called Zhi-bo and split Jinn into the three states of Han, Zhao & Wei. The Yiqu-Rong barbarians built castles to counter Qin. Qin King Huiwang took over 25 cities from Yiqu. In 461 BC, Qin Lord Ligong, with 20,000 army, attacked the Dali-rong barbarians and took over the Dali-rong capital. In 444 BC, Qin Lord Ligong attacked the Yiqu-rong barbarians in the areas of later Qingzhou and Ningzhou and captured the Yiqu-rong king. Around 430 BC, Yiqu-rong barbarians counter-attacked Qin and reached south of the Wei-shui River, i.e., the demarcation line of the ancient Yongzhou prefecture. Qin Lord Xiaogong (r. B.C.E. 361-338), during the first year reign, Qin Xiaogong made an open announcement for seeking talents all over China in the attempt of restoring Qin Mugong's glories. In the east, Qin Xiaogong took over the Shaancheng city, and in the west, he defeated and killed a Rong king by the name of Huan-wang near today's Tianshui, Gansu Province. Shi-ji recorded that at the time of Qin Lord Xiaogong, the Qin state was still treated by the vassals as 'Yi-Di' barbarians for not attending the summits and assemblies. Qin, under Qin King Zhaoxiangwang, continued wars against the Wei & Zhao principalities. King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou, adultered with a Rong king from the Yiqu Statelet in today's northwestern Shenxi Province. She had two sons born with the Yiqu Rong King, but she later in 272 B.C. killed the Yiqu King and incorporated the lands of Longxi, Beidi and Shangjun (Yulin, Shenxi Province) on behalf of Qin. Back in 330 and 328 B.C., Qin already took over the He-xi Shang-jun commanderies from Wei. Qin built the Great Wall at Longxi of today's Gansu, Beidi and Shangjun of today's Shenxi land. The two successive Jinn states which bordered the northern barbarians, Wei & Zhao, plus Qin and Yan, would be busy fighting the barbarians for hundreds of years. They built separate walls to drive the barbarians out. Zhao King Wulingwang adopted reforms by wearing the Hu cavalry clothing and he defeated Linhu / Loufan and built the Great Wall from Dai to the Yinshan Mountain. Zhao set up the Yunzhong, Yanmen and Dai prefectures. In 283 B.C., Yan dispatched General Qin Kai against the Dong-hu [eastern Hu] barbarians. Qin-kai, A Yan Principality General, after returning from Donghu as a hostage, attacked Donghu and drive them away for 1000 li distance. The Yan army moved eastward from the Gui-shui River (Yanqing, near Peking) area. Yan built the Great Wall and set up the Shanggu, Yuyang, You-beiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong prefectures. Yan wrestled over large patches of land from both Donghu and the ancient Koreans. Yan extended 2000-li distance towards the ancient Korean territory at the Man-fan-han border, near today's Yalu-jiang rivermouth. Qin State founded the first united empire of Qin in 221 BC. After Qin unification of China, Emperor Shihuangdi (r. 246-210 B.C.; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.) ordered General Meng Tian on a campaign that would drive the so-called Hu nomads or the Huns out of the areas south of the Yellow River. The Huns under Mote (Modu)'s father, Dou-man (Tou-man), fled northward and would not return till General Meng Tian died ten years later. Details about barbarians were also covered at prehistory section. 'Qian Shou' & 'Li Min' Often misinterpreted would be two words in Shi-ji, namely, 'Qian Shou' and 'Li Min'. Qian Shou means the dark head, literally. 'Qian' would be used as an alias for today's Guizhou Province in the south, and it means dark or black. Li Min or Limin means the people whose face had turned darkish and became brown. Both terms were used for designating the lower level people. This webmaster noticed one or two claims on the internet saying that the ancient Chinese people being ruled were of the Negroid origin and that the two terms validated this fact. This is fallacious the same way as those who claim that the rulers of China, Zhou or Qin, were of the Caucasian origin and they ruled the Mongoloid people. This webmaster deems both sayings as fallacious. This webmaster's interpretation would be based on the following quotes and citation. Shi-ji recorded that Qin's second emperor (Huhai) had once rebutted Li Shi's loyalty by citing Lord Yu's hardwork on behalf of Lord Shun. Emperor Huhai said that Lord Yu had spent years travelling around the country for sake of flood control and that Lord Yu's face had turned 'li hei', that is, the kind of brownish darkness. Also on record would be Li Shi's self-calling himself a 'qian shou' (or 'qianshou'), i.e., a civilian. Haan Fei Zi said that the working people possessed the hardened palms and 'li' face as a result of hard work and that they should be ascribed the big contribution to the society. Later records in the 4-5th centuries continued to use the word 'li' or 'zheng li' (steaming or sweating 'li' people) for designating the masses of people. (The character 'zheng', per Chinese dictionary, means a huge number, but this webmaster would rather interpret it on basis of its original meaning, i.e., steam. This character was also used for the relationship between a man or emperor and his father's concubines.) Another example about the dark-skinned 'qian' commoners would be a record in Lu Lord Xianggong's 17th year in Zuo Zhuan: In 556 B.C., Soong minister 'tai zai' Huang-guo-fu built a terrace for Soong Lord Pinggong, with extraction of labor to the extent that ballads were sung about the pale-skinned rulers ('ze-men [the city gate where Huang-guo-fu's residence was] zhi [of] xi [pale]') exploiting the dark-skinned laborers ('yi-zhong [the fief] zhi [of] qian [dark-skinned commoners'). The blackness, coined in 'Qian Shou' and 'Li Min', was related to the skin, not the hair. When Qin Lord Mugong repented over his mistake in invading the Zheng Principality which had led to the ambush disaster at the Battle of Xiao'er, he used the characters 'huang fa po po' (white hair turning yellowish) to describe the high age of his two counsellors, Jian Shu and Baili Xi. Both old men, 80-90 years old, had objected to Mugong's war against Zheng in the first place. The second example would be the reference to Daoist founder, Lao-zi, as Huang Lao. Lao-zi was recorded to have grown yellow beard and he was called Huang Lao or the Yellow Elderly. This shows that ancient Chinese did know the difference between 'huang' (yellow) and black. The universal feature of 'black' hair was not something that would have deserved a special coding in the terms of 'Qian Shou' and 'Li Min'. 'Qian Shou' and 'Li Min' meant nothing other than brownish dark skin as a result of sunlight exposure, not hair. The ancient Chinese took pride in hair's density and blackness as beauty and health: In classics Zuo Zhuan, during the 28th year reign of Lu Lord Zhaogong, a statement was made to infer that in the old times, a You-ren-shi woman bored a beautiful daughter, with 'zhen[3] hei[1]' (i.e., dense and black) hair. The Qin Chinese were still considered a part of the Zhou or Sinitic family. Shi-ji mentioned the prophesized union and separation of the Qin people and Zhou people. Shi-ji also talked about how much influence the Qin people had over the Xi-Rong or Western Rong people and why the Zhou court conferred the land of Qin or today's Shenxi-Gansu Provinces onto the Qin people at the advice of Marquis Shenhou. Shi-ji talked about the generations of fighting between the Qin and Xi Rong nomads. Demise Of the Qin Empire Three years after Emperor Shihuangdi(r. 246-210 B.C.; actual May 247-July 210 B.C.; nominal October 247-Sept 210 B.C.) 's death, by 207 B.C., rebellion, touched off by Chen Sheng & Wu Guang, would erupt over the country. This was to do with Emperor Hu-hai's continuing the policies of employing the huge manpower for building the Great Wall & the Shihuangdi's Tomb on the Lishan Mountain, and for the fighting with the northern nomads. Latter historians commented that China's dynasty substitution could be said to have been induced by the events in the east, but whoever succeeded in establishing an empire would be from the west. The Zhou Kingdom's demise was said to be attributed to Tian Chang's setting an example of killing his lord in the Qi Principality to the east. Qin's demise was attributed to the rebellion touched off by the Chen Sheng gang who were destined for the northern Yuyang post in today's Beijing area. The most recent dynastic change would be the communists destroying the nationalists (KMT) in 1949, and again the demise of the KMT government was induced by the Japanese invasion in the east. Zhao Gao killed his competitor Li Si and his whole family. Li Si suffered a cruel penalty called 'decapitation at the waist'. Li Si's elder son was exempt because Li You was a general stationed outside of the capital. Li You died fighting the rebels later. Qin's eunuch prime minister, Zhao Gao, killed the second emperor, Hu-hai (reign 209-207 B.C.; actual September 210-Aug 207 B.C.; nominal October 210-Sept 207 B.C.), in order to negotiate a peace with Liu Bang's Chu army. Liu Bang was able to take over Qin's capital because General Xiang Yu had entangled major Qin armies in Zhao Principality. Liu Bang declined the request to divide Qin land into two parts. Prince Zi Ying would succeed as the third emperor, and he, with the help of two sons, killed Zhao Gao. In this year, 207 BC, Zi Ying surrendered to Liu Bang after being on the throne for 46 days. Xiang Yu would enter Qin's capital, Xian'yang, and he killed Qin's last emperor, Zi Ying and Zi Ying's royal family members. After pillaging Qin's 'Er Pang Gong' Palace which ran for 300 Chinese li distance, Xiang Yu ordered the palaces burnt. The fire went on for three months. Xiang Yu then sent soldiers to the Lishan Mountain to dig up Qin Emperor Shihuangdi's tomb. The lootings took one month to move to Xian'yang. The exact damages to Shihuangdi's tomb would not be known till it is fully excavated by the future archaeologists. Counting Qin Lord Xianggong as the starting point, the Qin Statelet enjoyed a history of altogether 617 years. The Qin kinsmen, descending from the 'Ying' surname, would include the family names of Xu[2], Huang[2], Jiang[1] and Qin[2], Feilian-shi, and Zhongli-shi etc. The Qin kinsmen, descending from the greater 'Ying' surname, would include the family names of Xu[2], Huang[2], Jiang[1] and Qin[2], Feilian-shi, and Zhongli-shi, etc. Though the Qin Empire lasted just a dozen or so years, from 221 B.C. to 206 B.C., it left long lasting impacts on the development trajectory of China, not merely in the name of Qin or Chin, namely, the western name of 'China' itself that was speculated to be linked to the first united empire of China. Other than the name of China that could have derived from the word Qin, the lasting legacy of the Qin Empire would be the defense works called the Great Wall, a detente for the northern barbarians who dared not invade south or loiter in the south for fearing the possibility of being cut off the return path. Modern China's territorial boundary was largely based on the outer limits reached by the Qin Empire, overlapping the boundary with Ji1-zi Chaoxian (southern Manchuria and northern Korea) and Cochin-china (middle and northern Vietnam). With the Qin Empire's demise, the legacy would be the continuous usage of the name of Qin among the barbarians and in the area as far west as Central Asia. The Huns used to call the Han Chinese by 'Qin Ren', i.e., the Qin people. Excavated records in Chinese Turkistan pointed to the continued usage of 'Qin Ren' well after the Qin empire's demise. During the Han dynasty, when General Li Guangli campaigned against the Da-wan state in Central Asia, there was a record to the effect that the Qin-ren people, i.e., descendants of the Qin refugees in Central Asia, were teaching the Central Asians to drill the wells for irrigation and drinking. Not to mention the numerous records on the Qin-ren people who stayed with the Huns and taught the Huns the irrigation skills etc. The Qin-hu barbarians, who existed on the Western Corridor as late as the early Eastern Han Dynasty, were possibly a mixture of the Qin refugees, the Yuezhi people and the Huns. Qin-hu, together with the Yuezhi-hu and Lushui-hu barbarians, consecutively acted as the mercenaries of the two Han dynasties and the Cao-Wei dynasty, with elements implicated in the later Five Nomadic Groups Ravaging China during the Sixteen-Nation time period. (While the 'Qin-ren' refugees were recorded to have reached Central Asia, where they helped to dig wells and contribute towards the water irrigation projects, the 'Qin-hu' cavalry mercenaries were speculated to be some 'Lijian' [Roman/Alexandria Roman] legionaries who came to China from Central Asia.) Every change of the dynasties of Xia or Shang, or Zhou, or Qin, would see the former rulers and their clansmen fleeing to the northern or western border to be the new generation of the barbarians. The Qin dynasty remnants could have become the so-called Qin-hu barbarians to the west, the 'Qin-lai' (Zhenla) people of Cambodia, and the Qin-han statelet on the Korean peninsula. History recorded that at the end of the Qin Empire, Shu-pan, a prince of the last Shu-guo king from the Sichuan basin, launched the Ouluo-guo state in today's Hanoi and declared himself King Anyang-wang. Shu-pan was defeated by Zhao Tuo, i.e., the Qin Empire's 'wei' (i.e., governor-general equivalent) in charge of the southern territories, with Zhao Tuo himself proclaiming himself King Nanyue-wu-wang and later an emperor. The Sinitic civilization's mantle could be both a blessing and a disaster. The descendants of the mainland Chinese who sought safe harbor in Vietnam and Korea and practiced Confucianism could not escape the wrath of war or ethnic cleansing, as seen in the demise of twenty percent of the North Korean population in the 1950-1953 Korean War and the fate of 1.5 million Vietnamese Chinese's expulsion into the South China Sea in the late 1970s. Politically speaking, the Qin empire's centralized commandery-county system was a layout that the future dynasties inherited, a system that Han Dynasty founder-emperor Liu Bang modified into the 'jun-guo' (prefecture & king) system, namely, the juxtaposition of the commanderies (prefectures) with the royal Liu-surnamed kings' fiefdoms. Furthermore, the Qin empire's lasting influence would be seen in the areas of culture, economy and society, achieved through the standardization of the characters' writing style, monetary tender, weights and measures such as for the chariot and cart's axle, the conformity of the ethics and law, and the application of the same Legalist bureaucratic system throughout the nation. From the Liye bamboo slips, it could be seen that the Qin Empire's commandery-county system and its bureaucracy mechanically operated in the southern barbarians' land in a cloned way. This was exactly what Legalist Haan-fei-zi advocated, namely, a system, rather a capable person, for the ruling of a nation. Namely, with the legalist theories, any lord could rule a country, and with the gauge and square-tool, any carpenter could make it right in the carpentry work. Li Zhi of the Ming dynasty called Qin Emperor Shihuangdi by the sole thearch of the thousand epochs of antiquity. Qin Emperor Shihuangdi was revered in history as 'zu-long', namely, the ancestral dragon. Written by Ah Xiang
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This website expresses the personal opinions of this webmaster (webmaster@republicanchina.org, webmaster@imperialchina.org, webmaster@communistchina.org, webmaster@uglychinese.org: emails deleted for security's sake, and sometime deleted inadvertently, such as the case of an email from a grandson of Commander Frank Harrington, assistant U. S. naval attache, who was Mme Chiang Kai-shek's doctor in the 1940s). In addition to this webmaster's comments, extensive citation and quotes of the ancient Chinese classics (available at http://www.sinica.edu.tw/ftms-bin/ftmsw3) were presented via transcribing and paraphrasing the Classical Chinese language into the English language. Whenever possible, links and URLs are provided to give credit and reference to the ideas borrowed elsewhere. This website may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means, with or without the prior written permission, on the pre-condition that an acknowledgement or a reciprocal link is expressively provided. This acknowledgment was for preventing future claims against the authorship when the contents of this website are made into a book format. For validation against authorship, https://archive.org/, a San Francisco-based nonprofit digital library, possessed snapshots of the websites through its Wayback Machine web snapshots. All rights reserved. WARNING: Some of the pictures, charts and graphs posted on this website came from copyrighted materials. Citation or usage in the print format or for the financial gain could be subject to fine, penalties or sanctions without the original owner's consent.
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Republican China in Blog Format 
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![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)
