Contending for the crown, Qi and Chu engaged in a great battle, and the Chu army defeated the Qi forces at Xu and Huai.

  The Duke of Qi was enraged, and he turned his army around, took up a long sword, mounted a white horse, and galloped forward. The King of Chu saw this and jumped onto a black steed, holding a long spear, and charged forward. The two armies clashed on the open plains.

  The King of Chu grew more courageous as the battle raged on, and the Duke of Qi could only defend himself without being able to counterattack. Just then, the King of Chu struck with his spear, and the Duke of Qi raised his sword to block it. With a loud clang, the Duke of Qi stumbled backward. Then, with a whooshing sound, the King of Chu's spear reached the Duke of Qi's throat, sending chills down his spine.

  The Qi army hastily sent out three generals, including the famous General Guan Yue (father of Guan Zhang), who shouted, "Do not harm our king!" The Chu general Qu Wu charged forward on horseback, swinging his sword to meet the three Qi generals. Two Qi generals blocked Qu Wu, while General Guan Biao swung his sword at the King of Chu.

  The King of Chu saw this and changed his spear from a thrusting motion to a sweeping one. With a loud clang, he deflected Guan Yue's sword. Qu Wu struck down two Qi generals with his sword and then charged towards Guan Yue. The Duke of Qi retreated in defeat, but the King of Chu did not pursue him.

  Guan Yue engaged in a fierce battle with Qu Wu for thirty rounds, but was ultimately defeated and also retreated. In an instant, the various lords were shaken. The Duke of Qi was even more enraged and humiliated, and he led his army of 100,000 men to form up in array. The King of Chu waved his spear, and his army of 100,000 men marched forward in formation.

  The various lords saw this and retreated one after another. Suddenly, the war drums of the Chu army sounded, and the King of Chu pointed with his spear, charging forward on horseback to attack the Qi army. The 100,000-strong Chu army surged forward like a raging torrent, and Qu Wu's sword danced in the air as Qi soldiers fell left and right. Not a single soldier among the 100,000-strong Qi army could withstand them.

  After about half an hour of fighting, the Qi army was unable to resist the Chu army's attack, and the Duke of Qi led his army in a chaotic retreat.

  Historically, the "Xu State King" ended abruptly like this. The Qi Wei Wang did not even have time to take over the hegemonic crown before being defeated by the Chu Wei Wang, causing him to fall into disarray. The various vassals dispersed, and the Qi Wei Wang, unwilling to accept defeat, returned to the capital of Qi, Zibo, where he mobilized 300,000 troops to march south and attack the Chu army. He also made an agreement with the Wei, Song, and Yue states to send troops and jointly attack the Chu army in Suiyang and Huainan. The Wei Hui Wang agreed verbally but did not take action, adopting a wait-and-see attitude. The ruler of Song saw that 300,000 Chu troops had gathered in Xuzhou and dared not attack the Chu army. The Yue king, on the other hand, led 200,000 Yue troops out of Guangling to help the Qi Wei Wang attack the Chu army in Huainan, advancing as far as Yancheng. When the Chu Wei Wang saw this, he immediately ordered 100,000 Chu troops from Shouchun to attack Guangling and led 200,000 Chu troops eastward and southward, defeating the Yue king's army at Yancheng and Huai'an. He then joined forces with the 100,000 Chu troops from Shouchun to attack the Yue army in Guangling, killing tens of thousands of Yue soldiers. The Yue king fled back to Suzhou with his defeated army. At this time, the 300,000 Qi troops took advantage of the Chu army's main force being diverted southward to Guangling and divided their forces into three routes to capture Linzi and Zaozhuang, advancing directly on Xuzhou. The 100,000 Chu troops defending Xuzhou held out for a month before being defeated. After defeating the Yue king's army, the Chu Wei Wang led his troops northward to engage in a decisive battle with the Qi Wei Wang's 300,000 Qi troops at Xuzhou. The Chu army won three battles in a row, defeating the Qi army from Xuzhou to Lianyungang, killing 150,000 Qi soldiers, recovering Linzi and Zaozhuang, advancing as far as Shan County in Shandong, and capturing Pei County, Jining, and the entire Weishan Lake. Just as the Chu Wei Wang was preparing to lead his army northward to Tai'an and Laiwu, the Wei army gathered at Xuchang. The Chu Wei Wang heard this news and immediately stopped his attack on Qi, ordering 200,000 Chu troops to garrison Xuzhou and Suiyang while leading 200,000 troops day and night to hurry back to Xuchang. When the Wei Hui Wang heard that the Qi Wei Wang had been defeated at Xuzhou and the Chu army was approaching rapidly, he hastily ordered his troops to retreat back to Daliang.

  In the 8th and 9th years of King Wu of Chu, the Chu army repeatedly launched attacks on Wei, capturing several counties west of Xuchang up to Taikang. When Duke Huiwen of Qin saw that the Chu army had defeated the Qi army and was marching north to attack Wei again, he took advantage of the situation and launched a series of attacks on the Wei army in the western river valley. King Hui of Wei, unable to withstand the Chu army's northern advance and protect his capital Daliang, was forced to cede the land west of the Yellow River to Qin and make peace with them. From then on, all the land west of the Yellow River belonged to Qin, and Tongguan was also occupied by the Qin army.

  In the 10th year of King Wu of Chu, he launched an attack from Fangxi and defeated the Shu army, expanding his territory to Ankang; in the same year, he launched another attack from Qianzhong and defeated the Shu army at Bayu, expanding his territory to Yuzhou (Chongqing).

  In the 11th year of King Wu of Chu, he suddenly fell ill and died. His son Xiong Xuan succeeded him as King Hui of Chu.

  During King Wu's 11-year reign, he expanded his territory by nearly a thousand miles. At that time, the state of Chu had a vast territory of over 5,000 miles, with Dongting (Hunan) and Cangwu (western Hunan and eastern Guangxi) in the south, Yongjun (from Fangxian to Ankang City) in the west, Fang, Ye, and Xuchang in the north, and Huainan and Sishui in the east. The state had a population of over 30 million people and an army of one million soldiers, making it the largest and strongest state among all the vassal states.

  The state of Qin, on the other hand, stretched from Hancheng to Tongguan and Shaoxing, with a territory of over 2,500 miles, a population of seven million people, and an army of 600,000 soldiers. At that time, the southern part of Jiangsu and Anhui were still under the control of the state of Yue, which had an army of over 400,000 soldiers, roughly equal to that of the state of Han.

  The state of Shu had invaded as far as Bayu in the south and had territory in Hanzhong in the north, with an army of over 300,000 soldiers stationed in Chengdu and Hanzhong. The state of Qi, which had just risen to power and was ambitious to dominate the world, was defeated by Chu and forced to retreat.

  For a time, the state of Chu was the strongest among all the vassal states and dominated the other states. However, due to the rapid rise of Qin, which posed a threat to both Qi and Chu, and the fact that Wei still had strong military power despite its decline, the state of Chu had not yet reached the point where it could truly intimidate the world.

  The task of contending for dominance over the world naturally fell on the shoulders of King Hui of Chu.