King Zheng of Qin (247–222 BCE)

The First Emperor of Qin was the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. While Zhuangxiang was a hostage in Zhao, he saw a woman of Lü Buwei’s household, took a liking to her, and married her; she bore the First Emperor. He was born in Handan in the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Zhao of Qin. At birth he was named Zheng, and bore the surname Zhao. When he was thirteen, King Zhuangxiang died, and Zheng succeeded him as King of Qin. At that time Qin had already annexed Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong; across the Wan River it held Ying and had established Nanjun Commandery. In the north it had taken the territory east of Shangjun, holding Hedong, Taiyuan, and Shangdang commanderies; in the east it reached Xingyang, had destroyed the two Zhou states, and had established Sanchuan Commandery. Lü Buwei was chancellor, enfeoffed with ten thousand times ten households and styled Lord Wenxin. He gathered guests and wandering scholars, seeking to unite all under heaven. Li Si served in his household. Meng Ao, Wang Yi, Duke Biao, and others were generals. The king was young and had just ascended the throne, so he entrusted affairs of state to his senior ministers. Jinyang rebelled.

In the First Emperor’s first year, General Meng Ao attacked and pacified it.

In the second year, Duke Biao led soldiers against Juan and took thirty thousand heads.

In the third year, Meng Ao attacked Han and took thirteen cities. Wang Yi died. In the tenth month General Meng Ao attacked Chang and Yougui in Wei. The year brought a great famine.

In the fourth year, Chang and Yougui were captured. In the third month the army was disbanded. Qin’s hostage prince returned from Zhao, and Zhao’s crown prince departed for his own country. On the day gengyin in the tenth month, locusts came from the east and covered the sky. Pestilence spread throughout the realm. Commoners who delivered a thousand shi of grain were awarded one rank of nobility.

In the fifth year, General Ao attacked Wei, subdued Suanzao, Yan, Xu, Changping, Yongqiu, and Shanyang, and captured them all: twenty cities in total. Dongjun Commandery was first established. Thunder sounded in winter.

In the sixth year, Han, Wei, Zhao, Wey, and Chu jointly attacked Qin and took Shouling. Qin sent out troops, and the five states withdrew their forces. Qin captured Wey and pressed toward Dongjun; its lord Jiao led his relatives to settle at Yewang, relying on the mountains to defend Wei’s Henei territory.

In the seventh year, a comet first appeared in the east, was seen in the north, and in the fifth month appeared in the west. General Ao died. Qin attacked Long, Gu, and Qingdu, then turned its troops against Ji. The comet appeared again in the west for sixteen days. The Queen Dowager Xia died.

In the eighth year, the king’s younger brother Chengjiao, Lord of Chang’an, led troops against Zhao, rebelled, and died at Tunliu. His officers were all beheaded and its people moved to Lintao. General Bi died; the soldiers at Tunliu and Puhe rebelled, and his corpse was mutilated. Great numbers of river fish swam upstream; light carts and heavily laden horses went east in search of food.

Lao Ai was enfeoffed as Lord Changxin and given the lands of Shanyang to inhabit. Palaces, carriages, horses, clothes, parks, and hunting were at Ai’s disposal. Every matter, great or small, was decided by him. The commanderies of Hexi and Taiyuan were further made his domain. In the ninth year a comet appeared, at times spanning the sky. Qin attacked Yuan and Puyang in Wei. In the fourth month the king lodged at Yong. On the day jiyou he donned his crown and sword. Lord Changxin, Lao Ai, plotted rebellion and was discovered. He forged the king’s and the queen dowager’s seals to levy county soldiers, guards, palace cavalry, Rong and Di chiefs, and retainers, intending to attack Qinian Palace in revolt. When the king learned of this, he ordered the chief ministers Lords Changping and Changwen to raise troops against Ai. They fought in Xianyang and took several hundred heads; all received noble rank, even the eunuchs who took part in the battle, who each received one rank. Ai and his followers fled in defeat. An order went out across the country: whoever captured Ai alive would receive a million coins; whoever killed him, half a million. Ai and his followers were all caught. Jie, commandant of the guards; Si, chief clerk of the capital; Jie, assistant director of archers; Ling Qi, grandee of the palace; and twenty others had their heads displayed on poles. Ai was torn apart by chariots as a public warning, and his clan was exterminated. Of his retainers, those with lesser offenses were condemned to gather firewood for the ancestral temples. More than four thousand families were stripped of rank and moved to Shu, to live at Fangling. In that month there was deadly freezing weather. Yang Duanhe attacked Yanshi. A comet appeared in the west and again in the north, extending south from the Dipper for eighty days. In the tenth year, Chancellor Lü Buwei was dismissed for his involvement in Lao Ai’s affair. Huan Yi became a general. Envoys from Qi and Zhao came for a banquet. Mao Jiao of Qi advised the King of Qin: “Qin is now making all under heaven its business; yet Your Majesty has acquired a reputation for exiling your mother, the queen dowager. I fear that when the lords hear of this, they will turn against Qin.” The king brought the queen dowager back from Yong to Xianyang, where she again lived at Ganquan Palace.

A great search was made and an order issued to expel foreign guests. Li Si submitted a memorial of persuasion, and the order was rescinded. He then urged the king to take Han first, to frighten the other states, and was sent to bring Han to submission. The King of Han was alarmed and consulted Han Fei about weakening Qin. Wei Liao of Daliang came and told the King of Qin: “Given Qin’s strength, the feudal lords are like mere governors of commanderies and counties. I fear only that they will form an alliance and suddenly strike together. That is how Zhibo, Fuchai, and King Min came to ruin. I beg Your Majesty not to begrudge your treasures: bribe their powerful ministers and disrupt their plans. At a cost of no more than three hundred thousand gold pieces, all the lords can be brought to an end.” The king followed his plan and received Wei Liao as an equal, wearing the same clothes and sharing his food and drink. Wei Liao said: “The King of Qin has a wasp-like nose, long eyes, the chest of a bird of prey, and the voice of a jackal. He shows little kindness and has the heart of a tiger or wolf. When restrained, he readily humbles himself before others; when he gets his way, he will readily devour them. I am a commoner, yet whenever he sees me, he personally lowers himself before me. If the King of Qin truly gets his way under heaven, all under heaven will be his captives. I cannot remain in his company.” So he fled. The king discovered this and firmly detained him, making him commander of Qin; in the end he adopted his plans. Li Si rose to power.

In the eleventh year, Wang Jian, Huan Yi, and Yang Duanhe attacked Ye and took nine cities. Wang Jian attacked Eyu and Liaoyang, combining all the forces into one army. After commanding for eighteen days, Jian sent home the officers who received rations of one dou or less; from each ten men he selected two to join the campaign against Ye and Anyang, under Huan Yi’s command. In the twelfth year Lord Wenxin, Lü Buwei, died and was buried secretly. Of his retainers who attended his funeral, those from Jin were expelled; those from Qin with stipends of six hundred shi or more lost their ranks and were exiled; those with stipends of five hundred shi or less who had not attended were exiled without loss of rank. Henceforth, those who conduct state affairs wickedly like Lao Ai and Lü Buwei shall have their households confiscated, in accordance with these precedents. In autumn, the retainers of Lao Ai who had been exiled to Shu were restored. There was a great drought throughout the realm; rain did not fall until between the sixth and eighth months.

In the thirteenth year, Huan Yi attacked Pingyang in Zhao, killed the Zhao general Hu Zhe, and took a hundred thousand heads. The king traveled south of the Yellow River. In the first month a comet appeared in the east. In the tenth month Huan Yi attacked Zhao. In the fourteenth year Qin attacked the Zhao army at Pingyang, took Yi’an, routed it, and killed its general. Huan Yi pacified Pingyang and Wucheng. Han Fei came on a mission to Qin; Qin followed Li Si’s counsel and detained him, and he died at Yunyang. The King of Han asked to become a subject.

In the fifteenth year, great armies were raised: one reached Ye, another Taiyuan, and Langmeng was taken. The earth shook. In the ninth month of the sixteenth year, soldiers were sent to receive the territory of Nanyang in Han from acting governor Teng. For the first time, men were ordered to register their ages. Wei offered land to Qin. Qin established Liyi. In the seventeenth year, Teng, chief clerk of the capital, attacked Han and captured its king An, annexing all his lands and making them into a commandery named Yingchuan. The earth shook. The Queen Dowager Huayang died. The people suffered a great famine.

In the eighteenth year, a great army was raised against Zhao. Wang Jian led the troops from Shangdi down through Jingxing, Yang Duanhe led those from Henei, and Qiang Hui attacked Zhao; Duanhe surrounded Handan. In the nineteenth year Wang Jian and Qiang Hui fully subdued Dongyang in Zhao and captured the King of Zhao. They drew up their forces to attack Yan and camped at Zhongshan. The King of Qin traveled to Handan, and buried alive all who had harbored grudges against his mother’s family when he was born in Zhao. He returned by way of Taiyuan and Shangjun. The First Emperor’s mother, the queen dowager, died. Prince Jia of Zhao led several hundred members of his clan to Dai, proclaimed himself King of Dai, joined forces in the east with Yan, and camped at Shanggu. There was a great famine.

In the twentieth year, Crown Prince Dan of Yan, anxious that Qin troops were approaching his country, sent Jing Ke to assassinate the King of Qin. The king discovered the plot, had Ke dismembered and displayed, and sent Wang Jian and Xin Sheng against Yan. Yan and Dai raised troops against Qin; the Qin army defeated Yan west of the Yi River. In the twenty-first year Wang Ben attacked Jing. Additional troops were then dispatched to Wang Jian’s army, which defeated the crown prince’s army, captured Ji, the capital of Yan, and took Crown Prince Dan’s head. The King of Yan gathered forces in Liaodong in the east and ruled there. Wang Jian pleaded old age and illness and retired. Xinzheng rebelled. Lord Changping was moved to Ying. Heavy snow fell to a depth of two feet five inches.

In the twenty-second year Wang Ben attacked Wei and diverted the river canals to flood Daliang. Its walls collapsed, its king asked to surrender, and Qin took all its territory.

In the twenty-third year the King of Qin summoned Wang Jian again, compelled him out of retirement, and put him in command against Jing. He took the land from Chen south to Pingyu and captured the King of Jing. The King of Qin traveled as far as Ying and Chen. Xiang Yan, a general of Jing, made Lord Changping King of Jing and rebelled against Qin south of the Huai River. In the twenty-fourth year Wang Jian and Meng Wu attacked Jing and defeated its army. Lord Changping died, and Xiang Yan took his own life.

In the twenty-fifth year a great army was raised under Wang Ben. He attacked Liaodong in Yan and captured its king Xi; turning against Dai, he captured its king Jia. Wang Jian then subdued the lands south of the Yangtze in Jing, brought the lords of Yue into submission, and established Kuaiji Commandery. In the fifth month there was a great feast throughout the realm.

The First Emperor of Qin was the son of King Zhuangxiang of Qin. When King Zhuangxiang was a hostage from Qin in Zhao, he saw a woman belonging to Lü Buwei, liked her, and married her. She gave birth to the First Emperor. He was born in Handan in the first month of the forty-eighth year of King Zhao of Qin. At birth he was named Zheng and given the surname Zhao. When he was thirteen, King Zhuangxiang died, and Zheng succeeded him as King of Qin. By then Qin had annexed Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong. Beyond Wan it held Ying and had established Nanjun Commandery. In the north it had taken the land east of Shangjun and held the commanderies of Hedong, Taiyuan, and Shangdang. In the east it reached Xingyang; it had destroyed the two Zhou states and established Sanchuan Commandery. Lü Buwei was Chancellor. He was given a fief of a hundred thousand households and the title Lord Wenxin. He recruited guests and traveling scholars, hoping to use them to unite the world. Li Si was one of his retainers. Meng Ao, Wang Yi, and Lord Biao were generals. The king was young when he first took the throne, so he entrusted state affairs to his senior ministers. Jinyang rebelled.

In the first year of the First Emperor of Qin, General Meng Ao attacked and pacified Jinyang.

In the second year, Lord Biao led soldiers against Juan and cut off thirty thousand heads.

In the third year, Meng Ao attacked Han and took thirteen cities. Wang Yi died. In the tenth month, General Meng Ao attacked the Wei towns of Chang and Yougui. There was a severe famine that year.

In the fourth year, Qin captured Chang and Yougui. In the third month the army was disbanded. Qin hostages came home from Zhao, and the crown prince of Zhao left Qin and returned to his country. On the day gengyin in the tenth month, locusts came from the east and covered the sky. Disease spread across the land. Common people who turned in one thousand shi of grain were awarded one rank of nobility.

In the fifth year, General Meng Ao attacked Wei and took the cities of Suanzao, Yan, Xu, Changping, Yongqiu, and Shanyang. In all he captured twenty cities. Qin established Dongjun Commandery for the first time. There was thunder in winter.

In the sixth year, Han, Wei, Zhao, Wei, and Chu joined in attacking Qin and took Shouling. Qin sent out troops and the five states withdrew theirs. Qin took Wei and pressed toward Dongjun. Its ruler Jiao led his relatives to settle in Yewang, where they relied on the mountains to hold Wei's Henei region.

In the seventh year, a comet first appeared in the east, then was seen in the north, and in the fifth month was seen in the west. General Meng Ao died. Qin attacked Long, Gu, and Qingdu, then turned its troops against Ji. A comet appeared again in the west for sixteen days. The Queen Dowager Xia died.

In the eighth year, the king's younger brother Chengjiao, Lord Chang'an, led an army against Zhao but rebelled and died at Tunliu. All the army officers were beheaded, and the local people were moved to Lintao. General Bi died. The soldiers at Tunliu and Puhe rebelled, and his corpse was put on public display. Large numbers of fish came up the Yellow River. Light carts and heavily laden horses went east in search of food.

Lao Ai was made Lord Changxin. The territory of Shanyang was given to him for his residence. He was allowed free use of palaces, carriages, horses, clothing, parks, and hunting grounds. He decided every matter, great or small. The Henei and Taiyuan commanderies were also changed into Lao Ai's domain. In the ninth year a comet appeared, at times stretching across the sky. Qin attacked Yuan and Puyang in Wei. In the fourth month the king stayed at Yong. On the day jiyou he came of age, put on the cap, and took up a sword. Lord Changxin, Lao Ai, plotted a revolt and was discovered. He had forged the king's imperial seal and the queen dowager's seal to call out county soldiers, guards, official cavalry, Rong and Di chiefs and nobles, and his own retainers. He intended to attack Qinian Palace and start a rebellion. When the king learned of it, he ordered the Chancellor, Lord Changping, and Lord Changwen to call out troops against Lao Ai. They fought at Xianyang and cut off several hundred heads. All the fighters were granted noble rank, including the eunuchs who took part; they too received one rank. Lao Ai and his men were defeated and fled. The king immediately proclaimed throughout the state: whoever captured Lao Ai alive would receive one million coins; whoever killed him, five hundred thousand. Lao Ai and all his men were caught. The Guard Commander Jie, the Interior Scribe Si, the Assistant Archer Jie, the Grandee Ling Qi, and twenty others had their heads displayed on poles. Lao Ai was torn apart by carts and his remains displayed publicly; his entire family was wiped out. Among his retainers, those with lighter sentences were sentenced to hard labor gathering firewood for the shrines. More than four thousand families were stripped of noble rank and exiled to Shu, to settle at Fangling. In that month there was freezing cold, and some people died. Yang Duanhe attacked Yanshi. A comet appeared in the west and then in the north, extending south from the Dipper for eighty days. In the tenth year, Chancellor Lü Buwei was removed from office for his involvement in Lao Ai's case. Huan Yi became a general. Envoys from Qi and Zhao came and held a banquet. Mao Jiao of Qi advised the King of Qin: “Qin is now seeking to rule the whole world, but Your Majesty has gained a reputation for exiling your mother, the queen dowager. I fear that when the other rulers hear of it, they will turn against Qin.” The King of Qin then went to Yong to bring the queen dowager back to Xianyang, where she again lived in Ganquan Palace.

A major search was carried out, and an order went out expelling foreign guests. Li Si submitted an argument against the order, and it was withdrawn. Li Si then advised the King of Qin to take Han first in order to frighten the other states. The king sent him to Han. The King of Han was alarmed and discussed with Han Fei how to weaken Qin. Wei Liao of Daliang came to the King of Qin and said: “With Qin's strength, the other rulers are like the heads of commanderies and counties. I only fear that they may form an alliance and join forces to strike unexpectedly. That was how Zhibo, Fuchai, and King Min were destroyed. Your Majesty should not be stingy with money and goods. Bribe their powerful ministers to disrupt their plans. It will cost no more than three hundred thousand pieces of gold, and all the other states can be brought under your control.” The King of Qin followed his plan. He received Wei Liao with the courtesy due to an equal and wore the same clothes and ate and drank the same things as he did. Wei Liao said: “The King of Qin has a wasp-like nose, long eyes, a bird of prey's chest, and a jackal's voice. He has little kindness and the heart of a tiger or wolf. When pressed, he can easily humble himself before others, but when he gets what he wants he will just as easily devour them. I am a commoner, yet when he meets me he always lowers himself before me. If the King of Qin really gets his way in the world, everyone will become his captive. I cannot stay with him long.” He fled. The King of Qin noticed and insisted that he stay. He made Wei Liao Qin's chief military officer and ultimately followed his plans. Li Si also gained power.

In the eleventh year, Wang Jian, Huan Yi, and Yang Duanhe attacked Ye and took nine cities. Wang Jian attacked Eyu and Liaoyang, combining all his troops into one army. After eighteen days in command, Jian sent home the soldiers of the lowest pay grade and below; from every ten men he selected two to continue with the army in taking Ye and Anyang. Huan Yi commanded them. In the twelfth year, Lord Wenxin, Lü Buwei, died and was buried in secret. His retainers who attended his funeral were treated as follows: those from Jin were expelled; those from Qin with a salary of six hundred shi or more lost their noble rank and were exiled; those with a salary of five hundred shi or less who had not attended were exiled without losing their rank. An order declared: “From now on, anyone who handles state affairs as unlawfully as Lao Ai or Lü Buwei will have his entire household registered and dealt with in this way.” In autumn, the retainers of Lao Ai who had been exiled to Shu were allowed to return. At this time there was a severe drought across the land; rain finally fell between the sixth and eighth months.

In the thirteenth year, Huan Yi attacked Pingyang in Zhao, killed the Zhao general Hu Zhe, and cut off a hundred thousand heads. The king went to Henan. In the first month a comet appeared in the east. In the tenth month Huan Yi attacked Zhao. In the fourteenth year he attacked the Zhao army at Pingyang, took Yi'an, defeated the army, and killed its general. Huan Yi secured Pingyang and Wucheng. Han Fei came as an envoy to Qin. On Li Si's advice, Qin detained him, and he died at Yunyang. The King of Han asked to become Qin's subject.

In the fifteenth year, Qin called up a large army. One force went to Ye and another to Taiyuan, where it took Langmeng. There was an earthquake. In the ninth month of the sixteenth year, troops were sent to accept the territory of Nanyang in Han from its acting governor Teng. For the first time men were required to register their ages. Wei ceded land to Qin. Qin established Liyi. In the seventeenth year, Interior Scribe Teng attacked Han, captured its king An, and took all its territory. Qin made it a commandery named Yingchuan. There was an earthquake. The Queen Dowager Huayang died. The people suffered a severe famine.

In the eighteenth year, Qin mobilized a large army against Zhao. Wang Jian led forces from Shangdi down through Jingxing, while Yang Duanhe led forces from Henei. Qiang Hui attacked Zhao, and Yang Duanhe surrounded Handan. In the nineteenth year, Wang Jian and Qiang Hui finished conquering Zhao's Dongyang territory and captured the King of Zhao. They moved their troops toward Yan and camped at Zhongshan. The King of Qin went to Handan and had buried alive all those who had feuded with his mother's family when he was born in Zhao. On his return he traveled through Taiyuan and Shangjun. The First Emperor's mother, the queen dowager, died. Prince Jia of Zhao led several hundred members of his clan to Dai and made himself King of Dai. In the east he joined his forces with Yan and camped at Shanggu. There was a severe famine.

In the twentieth year, Crown Prince Dan of Yan was worried that Qin's army would reach his country. He was afraid and sent Jing Ke to assassinate the King of Qin. The king discovered the plot, had Jing Ke's body cut into pieces and displayed publicly, and sent Wang Jian and Xin Sheng against Yan. Yan and Dai raised troops against the Qin army, but Qin defeated Yan west of the Yi River. In the twenty-first year, Wang Ben attacked Jing. More soldiers were sent to Wang Jian's army; he defeated the crown prince's army, took Ji, the capital of Yan, and obtained Crown Prince Dan's head. The King of Yan withdrew east to Liaodong and ruled there. Wang Jian pleaded illness and old age and returned home. Xinzheng rebelled. Lord Changping was moved to Ying. Heavy snow fell, two feet and five inches deep.

In the twenty-second year, Wang Ben attacked Wei, channeling the waters of the Yellow River to flood Daliang. The city's walls collapsed, its king asked to surrender, and Qin took all its territory.

In the twenty-third year, the King of Qin summoned Wang Jian again and pressed him to come out of retirement and lead an attack on Jing. He took the land from Chen south to Pingyu and captured the King of Jing. The King of Qin traveled to Ying and Chen. Xiang Yan, a Jing general, made Lord Changping King of Jing and rebelled against Qin south of the Huai River. In the twenty-fourth year, Wang Jian and Meng Wu attacked Jing and defeated its army. Lord Changping died, and Xiang Yan killed himself.

In the twenty-fifth year, Qin mobilized a large army under Wang Ben. He attacked Yan in Liaodong and captured its king Xi. He returned to attack Dai and captured its king Jia. Wang Jian finished conquering Jing's lands south of the Yangtze. He subdued the Yue rulers and established Kuaiji Commandery. In the fifth month, there were great public feasts throughout the land.