Warlords: History & Biographies

The Kingdom of Chu

Location
The Kingdom of Chu dominated both of the periods before and after the Qin Empire. At the time of the establishment of the Qin, Chu covered a large swath of land stretching from the ocean to the mountainous area of known as Ba, encompassing most of the modern provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, and southern Henan.

Pre-Qin Empire
During the Warring States period, Chu had its origins in the fertile plains between the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. Over the four hundred years of the Warring States period, Chu absorbed the Kingdoms of Lu, Wu, Yueh, Liang, and parts of Jin and Song. The last fifty years of the Warring States period degenerated to a war between Chu and Qin, with each side using the other smaller kingdoms as pawns in wars against one another. But when Qin conquered the northern Kingdoms of Wei, Hann, and Zhao and extended its influence into the southwest kingdoms of Han, Ba, and Shu, Chu became isolated and had few natural barriers to prevent invasions into its land. In 224 BC, the hugely successful Qin General Wang Jian was called out of retirement to take over the invasion of Chu after several failures. Wang Jian gathered an enormous army, and when he began his invasion, the King of Chu, Fu-Chu, surrendered in despair. But the famous Chu general Xiang Yan refused to accept his ruler’s surrender and put a new King on the throne. After suffering several bloody defeats at the hands of Xiang Yan, Wang Jian finally captured and killed the new Chu King in 223 BC and Xiang Yan committed suicide.

Post-Qin Empire
The Qin Empire remembered the resistance put up by the Kingdom of Chu, and their conscription laws were heavily enforced in Chu, stirring up great discontent. In 209 BC, barely six months after the death of the First Emperor of the Qin, a peasant named Chen Sheng(Chen She) began a revolt. Although Chen She was dead within another six months, his revolt inspired a thousand others, and soon the entire Empire was in a general state of chaos. Unsurprisingly, the populous Kingdom of Chu threw up the two greatest men of the age in Xiang Yu, a great grandson of the Chu General Xiang Yan, and Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty.

After Chen She’s death and a brief few weeks under a king set up by the Marshal of Chu, Xiang Liang, grandson of Xiang Yan, took control of Chu and put Huai Xin, a descendent of the old Chu royal house, on the throne. Under Huai Xin’s rule, Xiang Liang directed a general war against the Qin forces still trying to put down the revolt. After Xiang Liang’s death in battle, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu ended up as the two primary generals for Chu, with Xiang Yu tasked with freeing the northern Kingdoms of Qin control, and Liu Bang tasked with the conquest of the Qin homelands. Both generals were successful, but when it became time to divide the spoils, Xiang Yu seized power in Chu and made himself King, while Liu Bang was given a poor prize, having been named King of the distant border kingdom of Han.

Xiang Yu proved to be a tyrant in every sense of the word, and soon all of China was at war with Chu, with Liu Bang as his chief adversary. For four years Chu fought against internal rebellions, Liu Bang’s invasion force, and a growing number of former allies until Xiang Yu was defeated and killed, leaving Liu Bang in control of all the land.

Liu Bang was aware of the importance of the massive Chu Kingdom, and determined to split it up, putting several of his victorious generals over different sections of the region. Though rebellions happened several times, Liu Bang eventually replaced all the kings with relatives of his own and Chu remained a part of the Han Empire until the Three Kingdoms period – four hundred years later.

Kings Chen Sheng(Chen She) Xiang Qiang Jing Ju Huai Xin Xiang Yu Han Xin Liu Jiao	Major Officers Fan Zeng Qin Jia Song Yi Xiang Liang Liu Bang	Important Officers Cao Jiu Chen Ying Long Ju Lu Chen Wu Shu(Wu Guang) Xiang Bo Yong Chi Zhou Wen Zong Pu
Minor Officers Cai Ci Cao Qiu Deng Yue Deng Zong Ding Ji Dong Xie Fu Tong Ge Ying Gong Ao Gongsun Qing Hu Wu Huan Chu Ji Bu Ji Xin Li Gui Lord Ding (Gong)	Minor Officers Li Ji Lord Ning Lu Qing Marqius of Gangwu Pin Yu(Lady Yu) Ping, Overseer of Si River Shusun Tong Sima Ang Song Xiang Tian Zang Wu Rui Wu She Wu Xu Xiang Sheng Xiang Tuo Xiang Zhuang	Minor Officers Xue Gong Zhang Jia Zhao Tuo Zhao Ping Zheng Bu Zheng Chang Zhongli Mo Zhou Lan Zhou Yin Zhu Fang Zhu Jishi Zhuang Jia

All information derived from the Burton Watson translation of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian

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