The Great Qin Empire Part Three: The Middle Volume of Swords and Warhorses

Qin appointed Fan Ju as chancellor and implemented the strategy of allying with distant states to attack nearby ones. With Bai Qi as its general, Qin won a decisive victory at the Battle of Changping. The Six States began to decline, and Qin established itself as the dominant power.

The Qin army advanced east, and the Zhou king and his court in Luoyang greeted them in panic. At the Battle of Yiyang, the thousand-man commander Bai Qi made his name. King Wu of Qin marched on Luoyang and died suddenly after trying to lift a ceremonial cauldron. Bai Qi led a small, isolated force on a dangerous expedition into Yan to bring back Prince Ying Ji, who was being held hostage. He allied with generals and soldiers such as Gan Mao and Wei Ran, and together they crushed Prince Ying Li's coup attempt. They placed Ying Ji on the throne, and he became known as King Zhao of Qin. Ying Ji's mother, Dowager Xuan, restored order and cleared the court of corruption, appointing her younger kinsman Wei Ran as chancellor and personally taking power to stabilize Qin.

King Min of Qi sought to rule all under heaven and urged the Six States east of the mountains to destroy Qin. In the crisis, Dowager Xuan appointed Bai Qi as general. He fought across the Central Plains and routed the allied forces of the Six States. Qin then fought successive campaigns against Wei and Han, and launched a surprise attack on Chu, becoming the mightiest state of the Warring States period. At that point, Yan secretly joined forces with five states and launched a major attack on Qi. Tian Dan held out against Yan for six years at Jimo, then used the Fire Ox formation to shatter the Yan army. Qi and Yan both fell into decline. During this period, King Wuling of Zhao adopted Hu clothing and cavalry archery, greatly strengthening his state. Qin and Zhao began a long standoff of power. Fan Ju, a renowned scholar who had suffered persecution by treacherous officials, came to Qin and helped King Zhao take personal control of the court. He proposed the grand strategy of allying with distant states to attack nearby ones, uniting Qin under a new common purpose. Zhao conspired with Han and Wei to suppress Qin from a position of advantage. The three-year-long Battle of Changping unfolded in stages, ending with the annihilation of more than five hundred thousand of Zhao's finest troops in a single battle.

After the war, King Zhao of Qin entered his final years. Bai Qi was forced to take his own life, and Fan Ju grew fearful and uneasy. An even greater crisis loomed: the crown prince was frail and sickly, with no legitimate son, while all the other princes were mediocre and incompetent. The hope of choosing a legitimate heir was slim, and for the first time, Qin's royal house faced a crisis with no clear successor.