Lord Changping

Lord Changping (昌平君; died 223 BC) was a general and lord of Qin, but later seceded from Qin and died as the last king of Chu (224–223 BC) in the last days of the Warring States period of ancient China.^[1]

Accounts in the Records of the Grand Historian

The deeds of Lord Changping was mainly recorded in Vol. 6: Annals of Qin Shi Huang of the Records of the Grand Historian.

In 238 BC, in the State of Qin, a pseudo-eunuch Lao Ai became intimate with Queen Dowager Zhao and plotted against King Zheng of Qin (who would later ascend to Shi Huang, the First Emperor):

The king found out this fact and ordered the chancellor (Lü Buwei) to let Lord Changping and Lord Changwen lead soldiers and attack Lao Ai. They battled at Xianyang (the capital of Qin) and killed hundreds [of the rebels]. [For this deed,] they all received the peerage. Also, all eunuchs who battled [against Lao Ai] received one higher peerage than before.^[2]

Although Lao Ai fled from this battle, he was ultimately captured and executed.

In 226 BC,

Lord Changping moved to Ying (the capital of Chu).^[3]

In 224 BC, King Zheng of Qin ordered Wang Jian to conquer Chu, and he captured its king (Fuchu) and capital. The remnants, however, continued to resist by adopting Lord Changping as their new king:

Xiang Yan, general of Jing (another name of Chu), adopted Lord Changping as the king of Jing and resisted against Qin at Huainan. In the 24th year (223 BC), Wang Jian and Meng Wu assaulted Jing and defeated the Jing army. Lord Changping died and Xiang Yan finally put an end to himself. ^[4]

To the contrary, Vol. 40: House of Chu records Fuchu as the last king of Chu and does not mention Lord Changping. Furthermore, the order of events is utterly reversed compared to the accounts in Vol. 6; the army of Qin killed General Xiang Yan in 224 BC and then captured Fuchu in 223 BC.^[5]

Other references

He was the son of King Kaolie of Chu. Lord Changping's three predecessors were all his brothers: King You, King Ai, and Fuchu. He died from an arrow wound.

His name was not recorded but some archaeologists associate him with a prime minister Zhao (召) of Qin.^[6]

In Popular Culture

In the manga series, Kingdom, he is a member and general in the court of Qin, providing some assistance towards the unification of China. In Yasuhisa Hara's one shot manga written before Kingdom was serialized, he was referred as a former Qin official and prime minister, until he snapped and defected to Chu when the invasion of his former homeland was going to be invaded and he cannot pass any tactics to Ying Zheng. He was killed when his former friend, a Qin general Meng Wu fought him.

References