The Tale of Princess Changhuan

In the present age, four kingdoms vie for supremacy: Central Chu, Eastern Qi, Northern Yan, and Southern Yue.

On the fifteenth day of the first month in the second year of Wanfeng, seven-colored clouds suddenly descended upon the Chu Palace, and birds circled the rear halls for seven days. On the night the seventh day ended, the Purple Star suddenly

shone brilliantly. At that very moment, the legitimate eldest prince, Chu Chen, and the legitimate eldest princess, Chu Huan, were born. The Imperial Preceptor declared that Prince Chu Chen had descended from the Purple Star and would one day unite the four kingdoms, conquer all lands, and become a peerless ruler. But he remained tight-lipped about the princess. Heeding the Imperial Preceptor's slander, King Chu immediately ordered everyone who knew the truth to be beaten to death. The people of Chu all believed that the queen had given birth to only one prince. When the prince turned one month old, he was named Crown Prince. As both the legitimate and eldest son, his status was beyond compare.

In the summer of the eighteenth year of Wanfeng, at the height of his prime, King Chu Xiong suddenly suffered a stroke and fell unconscious. Before this, Crown Prince Chu Chen had fled the palace for over three months, unhappy with his impending marriage to the Princess of Yan. The king had only one child, and the queen had died young. The father and son had been deeply attached, and the king had never taken any consorts, so his line of succession was thin. King Yan Ao used the Crown Prince's refusal to marry as an excuse to wage war. He joined forces with Zhang Liao, deputy general of the Chu army stationed in Xiangcheng, who rebelled and murdered the commanding general, Wang Ce, that very night, coordinating the attack from within. The Chancellor of Chu was already old, and upon hearing of the mutiny, he fell ill and never recovered. With no one left to govern Chu, Yan troops stormed the palace in just one month. The fire consumed the halls for seven days without stopping, and cries of grief filled the land. No one could have imagined that the once-prosperous and mighty kingdom of Chu would fall so easily.

On the day the kingdom fell, King Chu died.

King Yan made the Chu rebel general Zhang Liao the Governor of Central Chu, turning Chu into a province under his rule.

It was widely rumored that the Crown Prince had long since been murdered by King Yan.