Chu Han Contention, Part 3: Shake the World 一鸣惊人
Vengeance burned in the 25 year old Xiang Yu's heart, but the tiger is restrained
Music: To Save the Young Lord
When Song Yi's army reached Anyang near Julu- where King Zhao Xie's forces was being strangled, Song Yi ordered his troops to lay camp there for 46 days (like the rest of the lords) instead of doing battle with the Qin. Xiang Yu was still eager to engage the Qin commander Zhang Han and avenge his uncle's death from 3 month back, so he urged Song Yi to finally relent and issue an attack order. The conservative Song Yi declined Xiang Yu's pleas and remarked that Xiang was a foolhardy man. To further discourage such behaviors Song gave instructions that "anyone with barbaric, defiant, fame-seeking behavior that violates orders will be executed."
Song Yi then played the part of a diplomat and during Chu's long encampment sent his son Song Xiang (宋襄) to the Qi state and threw a lavish banquet at Wujian (无盐; modern Shandong) to see his son off. At the time, there were heavy rains and Song Yi's soldiers suffered from the miserable cold and hunger. There was much grumbling in the camp. The defiant Xiang Yu made use of the situation to incite the men's anger towards Song Yi. On the morning of the 47th day, Xiang Yu burst into Song Yi's tent, took the latter by surprise and killed him.
After instigating a mutiny and having brutally killed Song Yi, Xiang Yu unpacked his army from Anyang and swiftly sent them north toward Julu. For 3 months, Julu was besieged without aid. The morale within Julu had reached a breaking point
XIANG YU'S RUBICON
Before Xiang Yu's main host arrived, Xiang Yu sent a vanguard of 20,000 men (of his 50,000) to link up with Ying Bu and Zhongli Mo- two of the peasant rebels already entrenched near Julu. These mixed coalition were soon used to reinforce the allied positions at Julu, and they were able to win a few skirmishes against the Qin.
As for Xiang Yu's main army, after carefully coordinated efforts, Xiang Yu was able to ferry his army across the broad span of the Yellow River using large transport barges. However, after he did so, Xiang Yu performed another action that showed his character. The first thing he did after the whole army had crossed the Yellow River, Xiang Yu ordered his men to carry only three days worth of food and destroy the rest, along with their cauldrons, cooking utensils and even the tents. Then Xiang Yu commanded the sinking of all the barges they used to cross the river (quite similar to Hernan Cortez's conquest of Mexico) boldly declaring that their success or failure are waged in this one gambit.
What Xiang Yu did became legendary and is still echoed in the modern world. The idiom of "breaking one's cauldrons and sinking ships" 破釜沉舟 is commonly used to show the utmost determination of someone, betting all of his fortunes on a fatal gamble where the die is cast like the western expression of "Crossing the Rubicon" it was conquer or death. This was not lost from the highest nobles nor the dimmest of Xiang Yu's army. They were already dead if they not do their part and dig themselves out of their own proverbial grave. After his army witnessed the sinking of the ships Xiang Yu then ordered his whole army to advance against the Qin positions in the west, the so-called region of Guanzhong 关中. They were to rapidly advance without looking back, win or die like pawns, but never look back.
What if the Lu Bu we knew from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" pales in comparison to the real deal? What if Achilles had not only his band of Myrmidons but a whole army and he charged at the vanguard of them against the best army of his age? In the twelfth month of 208 BC, Xiang Yu departed from the Yellow River's banks and wasted no time in speeding toward the Qin army of Wang Li. By the time Xiang had arrived and saw the Zhao city on the Julu battlefield, Zhao forces within had been nearly starved to the point of breaking, and the situation was not any better for Xiang Yu's impetuous goals.
In the previous months of waiting, none of the lords had reached an agreement on how the upcoming battle would be led. Even while Xiang Yu pressed for them to do battle, the lords simply stayed within their positions and watched. On the day Xiang Yu launched his all out offensive against the Qin, only Ying Bu and Zhongli Mo- the two rebels whom Xiang Yu had aided with his previously crossed troops chose to fight by Xiang Yu's side. It was no matter to Xiang Yu- after examining his army, Xiang Yu threw his full force against Wang Li's defensive lines. The crazed Chu army came like a wrecking ball.
After seeing Xiang Yu continue to defeat the 200,000-strong Qin army, the other coalition armies finally decided to sally out of their own camps and join him out of admiration for his unearthly martial valor, thus rapidly swelling the size of the Xiang Yu's thrust to the full combined strength of some 130,000. Against such an onslaught, the Qin army broke and their casualties soared to over 100,000. In the ensuing pursuit of the coalition that number would almost double.
THE QIN ARMY SHATTERS
One of the Qin generals: Su Jiao (苏角) was killed in action while the general Wang Li was captured. She Jian (涉间), another Qin general, refused to surrender and rather than return to the Qin capital and be punished by draconian torture he committed suicide by throwing himself into a bonfire. Zhang Han was yet prevented from rescuing Wang Li from the debacle and was forced to hastily retreat with his portion of the Qin army from Julu to the nearby Jiyuan. In total, nearly the whole of Wang Li's 200,000 perished at Julu.
As for Xiang Yu's main army, after carefully coordinated efforts, Xiang Yu was able to ferry his army across the broad span of the Yellow River using large transport barges. However, after he did so, Xiang Yu performed another action that showed his character. The first thing he did after the whole army had crossed the Yellow River, Xiang Yu ordered his men to carry only three days worth of food and destroy the rest, along with their cauldrons, cooking utensils and even the tents. Then Xiang Yu commanded the sinking of all the barges they used to cross the river (quite similar to Hernan Cortez's conquest of Mexico) boldly declaring that their success or failure are waged in this one gambit.
In doing so, Xiang Yu was sending a clear signal to his troops that they had no chance of survival unless they defeated the enemy and seize new supplies.
VANGUARD
What if the Lu Bu we knew from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" pales in comparison to the real deal? What if Achilles had not only his band of Myrmidons but a whole army and he charged at the vanguard of them against the best army of his age? In the twelfth month of 208 BC, Xiang Yu departed from the Yellow River's banks and wasted no time in speeding toward the Qin army of Wang Li. By the time Xiang had arrived and saw the Zhao city on the Julu battlefield, Zhao forces within had been nearly starved to the point of breaking, and the situation was not any better for Xiang Yu's impetuous goals.
VANGUARD
" '楚战士无不一以当十。又羽兵呼声动天地' Their shouts resounded the heavens, and that every Chu soldier was able to take on ten foes." There would be 9 fatal battles.
According to the Han historian Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian,"- 项羽本纪 which detailed the life of Xiang Yu, and scroll 1 of Gaozu 高祖皇帝 detailing the life of Liu Bang, when Xiang Yu attacked the Qin forces, the other rebel armies did not participate in the fighting and they watched the battle from their camps. However the progress made by the Chu forces greatly astounded the watching armies. Despite being greatly outnumbered by Wang Li's army 4 to 1, Xiang Yu's 50,000 army attacked the Qin with shocking vigor.
As the other armies watched, not only was Xiang Yu and his loyal army intrepid in their advance towards the Qin army, but they were well able to contend with the Qin soldiery. The Chu army was so ferociously invigorated that: quote- 羽兵呼声动天地, "Their warcry resounded the heavens, and that every Chu soldier was able to take on ten foes." With Xiang Yu leading from the vanguard the Chu army proceeded to break through whole Qin units. Soon tens of thousands of Qin soldiers laid dead on the fields. From the distance, the observers from the kingdom of Qi and Yan were mightily impressed by Chu's lone vigor. But this was only the beginning.
Zhang Han- the man who had slew Xiang Yu's uncle was unable to link up with his sub commander Wang Li during the series of battles and was thus unable to supplement his aide with his 200,000 soldiers. As a result the combined 400,000-500,000 of the Qin army was never able to form a unified front against the lone forces of Chu. A consequence of this was that Xiang Yu's 50,000 was able to solely focus on dislodging Wang Li's 200,000 by only fighting portion of it at a given time.
Xiang Yu pressed on after his initial victories and after he was finished with one of the Qin armies he immediately throw his forces against another nearby Qin garrison- as he did so, he also made sure that the defeated camps of each Qin garrison was thoroughly plundered. It should be remembered that though the Qin were initially well supplied the Qin were doing double duty. Not only were they the besiegers against Zhao but they were also tasked with resisting the oncoming Chu- they are hundreds of miles away from their homelands, thus their operation could be considered that of an expeditionary army. The continual loss of their supplies in this hostile land would be devastating to their morale. Each Qin defeat thus rapidly boosted Chu's own hungry men's morale and greatly devastated that of the Qin. Wang Li's supply lines were completely disrupted by this series of sustained attacks and the whole Qin army suffered one defeat after another in detail.
Xiang Yu did not stop until his army was able to defeat the Qin armies in nine consecutive battles, carrying from victory to refreshed victory. By then, the Qin had suffered massive amount of casualties.
THE QIN ARMY SHATTERS
BATTLE OF JULU- VERSION 2
Although this version- presented in Sima Qian's "Record of the Grand Historian" makes for an extremely dramatic read: involving the vendetta fueled protagonist charging at the head of his army in a berserker rage and smashing his foes one by one in field battles, other historians have cast doubt as to the idea of Xiang Yu through his full weight in mad frontal battles. Historians in later dynasties, including Sima Guang and others have presented other versions of this battle, namely- that Xiang Yu was more clever with his maneuvers and maximized his attacks against weak points then gradually created a domino effect that broke Wang Li's great army.
. Zhang Er was one of the key figures of this period and knew almost every one of the figures in our story on a personal basis. He could be considered the Kingdom of Zhao's version of Xiang Liang. A military man and a patriot, he reclaimed the Zhao state in rebellion against the Qin, reconquered its ancient territories, and placed a set of puppet Kings (including lastly- Zhao Xie) as figureheads while rallied the commoners to support the cause of Zhao. He was personally trapped in Julu and was saved by Xiang Yu's victorious army. Zhang would join Xiang as one of Xiang's commanders until later he was forced to switch sides to Liu Bang.
" '待项羽数次攻击章邯粮道后，诸侯军则参与了围攻王离，俘王离、迫使涉间自杀，是楚军和诸侯军的共同战果。' - After Xiang Yu repeatedly attacked Zhang Han's supply road, many of the waiting lords followed suit against the besieging army under general Wang Li, Wang Li himself was captured, and forcing general She Jian to commit suicide. The fruit of victory was Xiang Yu and the coalition's. "
Another version of the battle was proposed by the famous Song dynasty historian and statesman Sima Guang's famous Zizhi Tongjian which tried to create a synthesis of the two version of the accounts as despite small details, the overall telling of Xiang Yu repeatedly overcoming the Qin, bit by bit until he was followed suit by the other lord still remained the same. Sima Guang thus proposed that, yes, at first Xiang Yu was alone in his efforts, then he cleverly assaulted the ringing Qin besiegers in a series of ambushes until his successes convinced the other lords to follow suit- leading to a combined final victory. Regardless, Xiang Yu's name was forever made, he had 一鸣惊人 amazed the world with one cry and his army 羽兵呼声动天地 followed suit with a warcry that resounded the heavens,.
SHAKE THE WORLD- MAN OF THE HOUR
The lords were so impressed by his lone prowess and his army's achievement that they soon voted Xiang Yu the position of: Shang Jiangjun 上将军- or "Generalissimo" (of the assembled nobles)" Thus overnight, Xiang Yu became the generalissimo of the entire anti- Qin alliance. He was delegated the power of overseeing the combined alliance of some 400,000 men, even some of most blue blooded nobles were placed under his sole authority.
Despite Xiang Yu's meteoric rise at Jul, his fortunes did not end after the jubilant celebration follwing his triumph. Within months, he would rock the world again when Zhang Han, the same man who had slew his uncle Xiang Liang fell into his hand. Five months after his bitter defeat, Zhang Han sent his deputy Sima Xin to Xianyang and pleaded for reinforcements and supplies. However Qin intrigue betrayed him- for the Qin court was rife with corruption.
VANQUISHER
Lurid atrocities: The Qin, even dying, would know of the great wrath of Xiang Yu, ...at least by the account of the later Han scholars. It was recorded that after Xiang Yu's victory at Julu, he ordered some 200,000 surrendered Qin soldiers to be buried alive as punishment. Though it's certainly likely that Xiang Yu punished the Qin soldiery after his victory, it should be reminded that the Han had every reason to demonize Xiang Yu and wildly exaggerated these numbers. Lower estimates have placed the number around some 20,000 but it's still debated.
The taking of the 200,000 Qin prisoners proved a headache for both Xiang Yu and the other leaders of the coalition. Not only will the prisoners have to be fed, they also slowed down the progress of the coalition army. Worst yet, because the Qin army was not defeated in battle, many of the men- though unarmed, where still seen as a threat by the coalition army. In the 11th month of 207 BC, Xiang Yu led his army to the city of Xin An (新安 in present-day Yima, Henan) and made camp. He perceived the 200,000 surrendered Qin soldiers as disloyal and suspected that they might start a mutiny, he was not alone in his fears and the same fear was shared by other lords. As such, Sima Qian wrote:
诸侯微闻其计，以告项羽。项羽乃召黥布、蒲将军计曰：「秦吏卒尚众，其心不服，至关中不听，事必危，不如击杀之，而独与章邯、长史欣、都尉翳入秦。」于是楚军夜击阬秦卒二十余万人新安城南
Xiang Yu summoned his generals Ying Bu and Pu and strategized with them. He said, ‘The (surrendered) Qin soldiers are numerous, and their spirits have yet to be quelled. If we reach the Central Plain and they refuse to listen to our commands, the situation will turn dangerous. Let us instead slay them, and enter the heartland of Qin with (the captured former Qin commanders).’ And so the soldiers of Chu struck at night and dishonourably killed 200,000 or more of the Qin soldiers by the south of Xin An city. The Qin generals were retained.
How many of you have once regarded the images of the Terracotta Warriors, and saw them zoomed out, standing in rows as the Terracotta Army? Saw their stony faces- which were reported to have been modeled after real soldiers. How many of you have then thought from what you have just read, that some one out there was able to destroy nearly all of their living counterpart -and wipe off the very empire from which they were made? And if those soldiers were modeled after real life counterparts, that 1/5 of a million of them were slain by a vengeful unknown youth no more than 25 year of age. Such was the wrath of the empire destroyer. His name would forever be intertwined with their destruction.
WAR CRIME ASSESSMENT
What Xiang Yu did was a war crime, there is no doubt about that statement. However there are details that should be addressed, one is that although Sima Qian recorded that the prisoners were Kēng "阬" "buried" the character for burying "阬" is also used in Sima Qian's era as meaning: "Slaying" or "dishonorably killing." Thus could simply mean that he had many slain during the night. Slaying of prisoners is not exactly unknown in this age, after all, one of the most reviled and prominent example was that of Qin Shi Huang himself.
A point of irony lost to no one at the time: the fate that befell the Qin army near Xin An was one that it had regularly enacted upon its neighbors. The kingdom of Zhao once lived in this region and during Qin Shi Huang's conquests had 200,000 of the Zhao prisoners all buried alive.
Sima Qian claimed during the Qin army's conquest of Central China (right within the vicinity of this region) the Qin put whole cities to the sword and after having vanquished the Zhao army in the Battle of Changping pass, the Qin generals- for the same reasons of afraid of rebellion and unable to feed the Zhao captives buried 200,000 of the Zhao prisoners after the battle. Given the logistic nightmare to bury some 200,000 and Xiang Yu's desperation to press on his attack toward the Qin heartlands, to take precious time and effort to bury the 200,000 prisoners alive is highly unlikely. What IS most likely true is that Xiang Yu probably killed a great number of the prisoners in order to instill dread and keep pace with his race toward the Qin capital.
TOTTING THE OFFICIAL HAN VERSION OF XIANG YU
Another factor that should be raised is that the version of Xiang Yu passed on to us was done so through the filter of a dynasty that ended his life. Remember that Sima Qian serves the Han dynasty which rose through Xiang Yu's death and had enough reason to demonize him. Though Sima Qian was more maverick than most of his peers- himself personally bore a deep seated grudge against his Han masters (he had been unjustly castrated by Emperor Wu of Han) thus wrote the history of Xiang Yu with half romantcization and half Homeric priase (many parts essentially had Sima Qian "steel- manning" Xiang Yu in order to shame the Han dynasty's founders) he still had to tote the accepted Han caricature of Xiang Yu that he was a brash illegitimate brute that gets people killed and no sane person might want to follow. Still, the Qin army was broken here and never rose up again.
In total, this counts as an extension of the battle of Julu as well, after having met Xiang Yu, the Qin lost nearly half a million soldiers- such was the fate of those who stood in Xiang Yu's wrath. After his victory at Julu, Xiang Yu led his forces towards the western region of Guanzhong and prepared for an invasion of the Qin heartland. Fortunes had completely switched only a year since Xiang Liang's death, his nephew had broken the hated empire and all the lords of the realm followed in his wake and under his command. Now all knew of Xiang Yu's name and feared his wrath. With one bold gambit he had did it all, Xiang Liang was avenged hundred fold. Now Xiang Yu alone sits above Kings and Princes. Now it was the turn of the coalition to take the fight to the lair of the hated empire. All effort was directed toward the Qin heartlands and the Qin capital.
A DEEP STING
However, it would seem that fate- which had soothed the vengeful youth's passion and raised Xiang Yu to become the hero of this age was capricious in the extreme. For right when Xiang Yu led the combined might of the coalition to delivered the killing blow, in the winter of 207 BC, reports came back to him that the Qin had already surrendered to another Chu general.
Music: The Dance of Liu Bang
When Xiang Yu reached Hangu Pass, the eastern gateway into the ancient heartland of Qin, he saw that Liu Bang had already occupied Guanzhong with both troops and his own banners. Xiang Yu was extremely displeased as he heard that Liu Bang would now become "King of Guanzhong" for having ended the Qin dynasty. It would be a sting so bitter that Xiang Yu never would forgive. The culmination of his life's training was stolen by a pretentious claimant.
And it was with this fateful, unforgivable rivalry that the second phase of the Chu Han Contention would began. Join us in the next chapter as we see the two warlords inch closer toward absolute power for themselves while ready to annihilate the another. The dance of Chu and Han had began right on tombstone of Qin.
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Comments
Yes, a lot of unanswered questions and embellishments and fanciful stories. Evil eunuchs, massacres, ruthless warlords. All written down and edited by Sima Qian no doubt.
1. 200k slaughtered and buried? sounds too much like the Battle of Changping. And where is this grave? if found it would be one of the greatest archaeological finds of the century. The DNA evidence alone would be invaluable. I look forward to this discovery but I'm not holding my breadth. Both Sima Guang of Song and the Qing dynasty Kangshi emperor both thought the Changping story was not believable, ... 200k tough and disciplined combat veterans just simply surrendering like that and led like sheep to the slaughter ... crazy!
2. Why would the 'evil eunuch' Zhao Gao go out of his way to sabotage the Qin Dynasty like that? betraying generals and lying to the emperor? Isn't he a member of the Dynasty? was he some spy or saboteur sent by the Zhao State to undermine Qin ?? What would he have to gain by undermining the Qin war effort like that?? surely he must know that if Qin fell, his gravy train and treasury house as the power behind the throne would end too??
3. Xiang Yu's story is too dramatic, ... is it possible that he was an invented character to make the rise of Liu Bang and the Han Dynasty more impressive? I've been reading books like Tom Holland's 'In the Shadow of the Sword' about the rise of Islam, he says written records about Muhammad didn't show up until a few centuries after his death, and that Muhammad was probably an invented figure, invented to be the 'founder' of Islam, and in fact if there was a Muhammad, he was just a minor Arab warlord sort of like King Arthur. I think the same of Xiang Yu and these 'heroes' and 'villains'.
I mentioned before that Sima Qian both resented the Han but still has to work within the confines of the official Han narrative. So he likely lionized the warlord and also steelmanned him to 1. both shame Liu Bang (who Sima Qian did not like because he also betrayed his loyal servants and had them destroyed, the same light Sima Qian saw in what Wu did to him) and also to 2. make the Han seem able for taking down such an able and mighty foe.
Regardless Xiang Yu's life did have a consistent theme of rage within him. After this he would he would slaughter the rest of the Qin clan and also burn its palaces to ashes. Peasants would vandalize the Terracotta vaults and have them burned. So this destructive wrath filled streak does fit a pattern.
Unfortunately I have no way of knowing how much of that was a caricture enhanced by the Han. Because there are probably logical reasons for Xiang Yu to do what he did, uprooting the Qin thoroughly, breaking the Qin soldiery etc. I always gets annoyed when people attribute pure practical ruthless to malice. It's one of the reasons I both gave a context to what happened before and the likehood of~ muh "200,000" burials.
What are your thought about all of it?
If you don't spent time consolidating you don't have a dynasty, you are doomed to be no more than an ephemeral caricature of violence. I mean think about it, when your polity die, whose story is it going to be? You didn't even spend enough time to tell your own stories or make the locals learn your perspective and identify AS you- through your lens, so all your legacy are- after your empire die is at the mercy of the surviving people who hated you.
I am not least bit of surprised that Qin was told by outsiders who were very unkind. Part of clever ruling- like the Han dynasty, is to be able to extend out while still have the subjugated see a future Through you.
Conquest without a capable bureaucracy + a governing apparatus able to address local concerns when the time comes will be easily cast away and vilified after they bellied up. This is why to me I rank the Romans as much more than Alexander.
1. numbers like 200k, 100k ... I know China always had a huge population and still does, but these seem too incredible.
2. Qin was capable of good rule, witness the Qin invasion and conquest of Ba and Shu in 333BCE ... the same years as Chu's conquest of Yueh and Wu by the way (not a coincidence probably). The Qin were able to invade, co-opt the Shu King and eventually take over that state in Sichuan and out flank Chu on their west and make it the most productive region of the Qin state, enhancing the power of Qin for the next generation of conquest. Why didn't they use the same strategy with the Unification War I wonder ?? Qin controlled half of China when Ying Zheng took power.
3. Again, the key is Sima Qian and his morality tales about evil Qin, corrupt eunuchs and meglomaniacal emperors ... i.e. exactly the situation during his time under Han Wu Ti. My point is we can't take Sima Qian at face value, sure he wrote accurate stuff but from his biased perspective is evident. Instead of Qin Shihuang, he was instead writing about Han Wu Ti. These anecdotes Sima Qian writes about ... Xiang Yu being tall and strong, Zhao Gao being wily and evil, Qin Er Shi being weak and ineffectual, headstrong Xiang Yu killing Song Yi, etc, etc ... how did he come about this knowledge? were there Court reporters? eyewitness interviews? post battle analysis reports ??
However I have to say- like in the case with Herodotus, despite his problems the fact that he has names and brief notations about various people at his time and the nearly 1000+ years of history before him is extremely invaluable, without him taking time to give some description to each whole sections of names and deeds of East Asia from China to the northern steppes will be left blank- and even with archaeological evidence only isolated like puzzle pieces.
Ying Zheng's own grand grandfather Zhaoxiang also tried this and he was quite successful- if you look at an animated map of warring states China you will notice that Ying Zheng's great grandfather came close to defeating most of his enemies, including dealing capturing Chu's capital and ending the Zhou dynasty, -and also burying the Zhao soldiers at Changping however a lot of his conquest was undone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Zhaoxiang_of_Qin
Honestly looking at what he had done for the Qin for over five decades of administration and conquest I am surprised that he is not more well known in the west. He was essentially a hegemon of the Warring States period. If Ying Zheng had lived long enough like his great grandfather the Qin might last much longer than it did.
Do you have twitter? I can give you my photo :3
Ying Zheng on the other hand was more of a meglomaniac don't you think? Invading and conquering all the states at once, instead of the cautious strategy of his ancestors. Why not just conquer Han, Wei and Zhao (the old Jin) and leave the rest to his descendants like his ancestors did?? ... actually like the Romans did, slowly conquering the Italy and then the entire Mediterranean. Slow but steady conquest and unification, instead of all at once. Again, Ying Zheng shares his meglomania with Alexander, Napoleon and Hitler.
http://s.kugou.com/song.html?id=6xedoe8uIV2
史册间 一笔书 万民哭
谁胸怀万里雄图
却作茧自缚
谁声色不宣白龙鱼服
谁一怒将山川化焦土
六国兴亡八方风雨
又何尝在乎
一厢情愿的倾慕
万人之上的孤独
如何肩负 这一身荣与辱
如何颠覆 这一注赢与输
山河岁月空恍惚
叱咤风云穷兵黩武
纷乱杀伐 只等一个结束
家国恩仇 只剩一场虚无
l'm Qin gang.
What's your favorite dynasty?
lol, okay,
六合之内，皇帝之土，西涉流沙，南尽北户。东有东海，北过大夏。人迹所至，无不臣者。didn't last more than 15 years.
laughs in a 400 year dynasty,
also laughs in Heavenly Qaghan and the progenitor of Sinosphere's golden age
and the Celestial Empire of some 1,000 tributary states
Just playing, the Qin were needed in order to establish the framework for imperial China. The Zhou were not wise to make China into a feudal system and they screwed themselves in the process. The chaos was legitimized into the stupid inheritance system so Qin did the right thing in drastically reforming all of it. Unfortunately for them Ying Zheng was not his grand-grand father and died before the empire was stable enough to survive a transition of power.
Where can I find part 4? Thank you!
It's still not written yet. Lol
What's your thoughts on the chapters I wrote so far???
very interesting! I translate your lesson as a way to learn English (difficult with my level, many slang words). Unexpectedly, everyone in the history group really liked my post. If you do not continue writing, they will be very disappointed. is the best paragraph. So, comeback, please!