Warring States Period (Guardians)

The Warring States Period was a five year civil war within the Zhou Dynasty of early China. The Zhou Dynasty had become increasingly incapable of maintaining its authority, with much power being devolved to the various duchies of the Zhou periphery. As a result, tensions began to rise between these states and the Zhou kings were unable to bring them under control and restore order. Even before fighting broke out, the political situation was beginning to hurt China. Different states meant different laws and economic policies that stifled trade and a country-wide legal system, stunting growth and increasing corruption across the country.

Despite this, it was not a sense of national patriotism or moral responsibility that prompted the civil war, but desire for land. King Helu of Wu wanted to add the lands of Chu to his own realm and commanded his generals, Sun Wu and Wu Zixu, to achieve this. To that end, he also allied with the northern state of Jin to split and weaken the Chu resistance. At the Battle of Boju in 506 B.C., the Wu forces were successful in driving the Chu forces from the field and burning their capital of Ying. Desperate for aid, Duke Zhao begged Duke Ai of Qin to intervene. Ai was persuaded by arguments that a united Wu and Jin would be too powerful for even his strong state of Qin to defeat. Qin began to invade the Jin lands and made significant progress, but by that point Chu had effectively been defeated and annexed by Wu. The states of Yan and Qi also invaded Jin, hoping to gain more territory of their own.

Eager to help his northern ally, Helu ordered his generals north to protect the Jin capital. However, in order to do so they had to cross the neutral state of Lu, which refused to allow access to Wu's armies. Deciding that the successful completion of their mission was more important than respecting Lu's neutrality, the two generals invaded and rapidly put Lu's armies to flight, occupying the country and moving on towards Yan and Qi, quickly beating them as well. Following these victories, Helu demanded that these states be annexed into Wu. Believing that this action would take away precious resources during a time of war as well as antagonizing the other Chinese states, Sun Wu refused to do this, causing Helu to label him a traitor and ordered Wu Zixu to capture him. Sun Wu, now in control of most of Wu's forces and all of Jin's following the defense of Jin's capital, was able to easily beat Wu Zixu and send him back to Wu empty handed. At the same time Helu's younger brother Fugai revolted within former Chu territory and sided with Sun Wu, tying up Helu's loyalist forces while Sun Wu marched south.

Upon reaching the south Sun Wu defeated Helu at the Battle of Qufu in 501 B.C. and executed him shortly thereafter. Following this victory there was no real opponent that could oppose him, and he began to mop up the remaining Chinese states. Many fell after only token resistance and various rebel armies of surrendered states were hunted down and extinguished. The Zhou Dynasty was overthrown and its Yi family was allowed to live in exile. Following his victory Sun Wu declared himself Sun Shi Huangdi of the Kai Dynasty, completing the unification of China and establishing the first imperial Chinese dynasty, with himself as the first emperor.