Chapter 7: The Three Palaces Stand Firm, King Hui Contends for Hegemony, Forging New Swords and Rectifying the Army
In 329 BC (the eleventh year of King Wei of Chu), King Wei of Chu suddenly fell ill and died at the age of fifty-six. His son, King Hui of Chu, succeeded him at the age of thirty-two.
King Hui was fond of dancing with swords and spears from a young age, had extraordinary arm strength, and was physically robust. He received good education in the royal school of Chu State when he was young, and was well-versed in literature and martial arts. At twenty years old, he married Qu Yuan's elder sister Qu Jiang (also known as Qu Ying) on his father's orders.
At twenty-eight years old, which was also the seventh year of King Wei of Chu, Chu and Qin formed an alliance through marriage. King Hui married a younger sister of Duke Xiao of Qin named Ying Yi, while Duke Xiao married King Hui's younger sister Ai Lian. At thirty-one years old, which was also the tenth year of King Wei of Chu, Chu and Qi formed an alliance, and he married a daughter of Duke Wei of Qi named Tian Hui.
When he was still the crown prince, he often went horseback riding, archery, and practiced martial arts with four close friends: Zhao Ying (from Fan City), Zhao Yang (from Jingmen), Tang Mi (from Xiangyang). The four men got along very well.
Shortly after the death of King Wu of Chu, when the entire country was in mourning, King Hui of Wei disregarded morality and sent General Xi to lead an army of 100,000 to attack the Chu army, retaking the lands of Xianyang (thirty miles southwest of Xinzheng County, Zhengzhou), Yuzhou, and Gucheng that had been lost when King Wu of Chu defeated them. King Hui of Chu was furious but could not fight back as he was still in mourning, so he endured the humiliation and anger, completing the funeral rites first. After the funeral, King Hui of Chu familiarized himself with state affairs while preparing his army. He ordered the creation of new swords and guns for the king, appointed Shao Yu as prime minister, Jing Chang as senior grandmaster, Qu Wu as senior general (the highest military rank, second only to the king), Shao Gu, Shao Yang, Qu Jue (Qu Wu's son and Qu Yuan's younger brother), Qu Zhuang (Qu Yuan's older cousin), Tang Mi, Jing Cui, Jing Kui, and Liu Xiang (originally named Liu Liu, later changed due to homophony) as generals. Day and night, they trained their troops, preparing to avenge themselves against the powerful Wei state, which was still considered the hegemon of the world at that time, and to determine who would be superior.
At that time, the Chu state had a territory of 5,000 miles and a population of 30 million people with an army of one million. King Hui of Chu adjusted his military deployment, ordering Zhao Yang to lead 200,000 troops to garrison Xu State, Huai North, Lin Yi, and Zaozhuang; Jing Cui led 100,000 Chu soldiers to guard Xuchang, Fangxian, Ye County, Zhoukou, and Haozhou; Qu Xi led 100,000 Chu soldiers to guard Shangnan, Xixia, and Zhechuan. Zhao Ying led 200,000 troops to garrison Nanyang, guarding the southern part of Nanyang, including Nanxiang, Xinyang, Xiangfan, and Jingmen; Tang Mi led 100,000 Chu soldiers to guard Jiangling and Hankou; Liu Xiang led 100,000 Chu soldiers to guard Yongjun's Fangxian, Ankang, Xunyang, and Yunxi; Qu Zhuang led 100,000 Chu soldiers to guard the southern part of the Yangtze River, with 50,000 Chu soldiers guarding each of Changsha and Qianzhong. In addition, there were also 50,000 elite palace guards in Jingzhou.
This year, King Hui of Chu established one capital (Jingzhou) and seven counties with 40 counties. The seven counties are:
1. Xuzhou County, which governs the northern part of Anhui's Bengbu, Suzhou, Huainan, Lingbi, Si County, the northern part of Jiangsu's Gaoyou, Xuyi, Huaian, Suqian, Xuzhou, Xinxiang and Shandong's Zaozhuang, Linyi, Pingyi, Ju County, Pei County, Yutai, Feng County.
2. Jiangnan County, which governs the middle part of Anhui's Huainan, Hefei, Lu'an, Chuzhou, Chaohu, Tongcheng, Anqing, Hubei's Huangshi, Huanggang, Xianning and the northern part of Jiangxi's Jiujiang, Jingdezhen, Nanchang.
3. Qianzhong County, which governs the northern part of Guizhou's Tongren, Zunyi, Guiyang, Anshun, Liupanshui, Bijie to Bazhong.
4. Cangwu County, which governs the southwestern part of Hunan, the southeastern part of Guizhou and the northeastern part of Guangxi.
5. Yong County, which governs from Fangxian to Ankang for over 300 miles to Xunyang, Yunxi and Shanyang.
6. The name of Yongwan County was changed to Nanyang County, which governs Dengzhou, Nanzhao, Shangnan, Xinyang, Fangxian, Ye County, Luhe, Zhoukou, Xuchang, Yuzhou, Ruzhou.
7. The name of Dongting was changed to Changsha County, which governs the northern and central parts of Hunan, Changde was transferred from Qianzhong to Changsha County. One capital is Jingzhou, which governs Jiangling, Zigui, Ezhou, Hankou, Suizhou.
At the same time, King Hui established three palaces: Bei Gong (North Palace) for Qu Jian's daughter, Xi Gong (West Palace) for Qin Xiao Gong's daughter, and Dong Gong (East Palace) for Qi Wei Wang's daughter. Among the three palaces, Bei Gong was the largest. Unfortunately, none of the three palace ladies gave birth to a prince for King Hui; they only had princesses.
