Warlords: History & Biographies

The Kingdom of Zhao

Location
The Kingdom of Zhao was located in the mid northern region of China, with most of its territory existing north of the Yellow River, but south of the Huai. The region roughly equates to the current southern portions of the Hebei and Shanxi provinces.

Pre-Qin Empire
The Kingdom of Zhao was one of the seven major statelets of the Warring States period. Founded on the northern bones of the former Kindom of Jin, Zhao reached its peak when it drove Rong and Di barbarians from the northern coil of the Yellow River and claimed the land directly to the north of the Qin Empire. This very proximity, however doomed Zhao to fall to the Qin Empire. Caught between Qi, Qin, and the raiding armies of Yan, Zhao grew weakened as the Warring States period continued, and after Qin cleared the way out of the major Hanggu Pass by destroying the kingdom of Hann, Qin next moved to clear the northern provinces by invading Zhao. Having grown up very poor in Zhao as a hostage to the Zhao King, the King of Qin had a hatred of the capital of Zhao, and when the region surrendered to Qin in 228, the populace of Handan was massacred. Zhao was then used as a jumping off point to bring the rest of the northern principalities to heel.

Post-Qin Empire
In 209 BC, when Chen She began his rebellion against the Qin, one of his first acts was to send his general Wu Chen to Zhao to free it from the Qin and bring it under his control. Wu Chen accomplished this mission, but instead of claiming Zhao in Chen She’s name, he made himself King of the region. After conquering the kingdom of Dai, Wu Chen managed to offend one of his chief generals and was assassinated at his capital. After a brief power struggle, his two chief advisors Chen Yu and Zhang Er took control of the kingdom and placed a descendant of the Zhao royal family on the throne: Zhao Xie.

Xie remained King of Zhao throughout the war with the Qin, but when Xiang Yu had completed the destruction of the Qin, he determined that Zhao Xie should be deprived of his rank and sent to Dai to be King instead, replacing him with Zhang Er. Chen Yu was angered by his kings dismissal and with the help of Qi drove Zhang Er from Zhao and placed Zhao Xie back on the throne. But Zhang Er fled to Liu Bang, who determined that it would be necessary to conquer Zhao if he was to be able to defeat Xiang Yu. With Liu Bang’s help, Zhang Er regained the throne of Zhao and had Chen Yu and Zhao Xie killed.

A year after the defeat of Xiang Yu, Zhang Er died and his son Ao inherited the Kingdom. Zhang Ao retained his title for another three years before his Prime Minister was accused of treason, and the blame fell on Ao. Ao was stripped of his title despite having been found faultless by Liu Bang, and Zhao was broken up into smaller provinces. A year later, during the great rebellion in Dai, Zhao Li, a descendent of the ancient Zhao Kings was named the new King of Zhao, but he was never able to take his new kingdom and was eventually killed by Liu Bang.

Kings Wu Chen Zhao Xie Zhang Er Zhang Ao Zhao Li	Major Officers Chen Yu KuaiTong Han Xin	Important Officers Guan Gao Li Liang Shen Yang
Minor Officers Chen Shi Li Zhouche Shao Sao Sima Ang Zhang Yan

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

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