Lord Changping
Lord Changping was a Chinese monarch and politician who remained as an important military commander and lord of Qin, who later departed from the state of Qin and went to the state of Chu where he became the last king of Chu in the last days of the Chinese Warring States period. He was a son of King Kaolie of Chu and a maternal grandson of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, making him a first cousin once removed of Qin Shi Huang.
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 entered into a relationship with Queen Dowager Zhao and plotted against King Zheng of Qin :
The king found out this fact and ordered the chancellor to let Lord Changping and lead soldiers and attack Lao Ai. They battled at Xianyang and killed hundreds . they all received the peerage. Also, all eunuchs who battled received one higher peerage than before.
Although Lao Ai fled from this battle, he was ultimately captured and executed.
In 226 BC, Lord Changping moved to Ying.
In 224 BC, King Zheng of Qin appointed General Li Xin and his vice-commander General Meng Tian in charge of a 200,000 strong army with the task of conquering the Chu state. After some initial success, the invasion was successfully stopped by both Lord Changping and General, when they managed to wipe out most of the Qin army, killing thousands, as well as some of their top commanders. After this defeat, the Qin King put General Wang Jian in charge of a 600,000-strong Qin army to finally achieve the conquest of Chu. Wang went on to capture its king and capital. The remnants, however, continued to resist by adopting Lord Changping as their new king:
, general of Jing, adopted Lord Changping as the king of Jing and resisted against Qin at Huainan. In the 24th year, commander in chief General Wang Jian and his vice-commander General Meng Wu assaulted Chu and after some major battles they defeated the Chu army led by Lord Changping and General Xiang Yan. Lord Changping was killed by Meng Wu and Xiang Yan finally put an end to himself.
In contrast, 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.
Other references
His name was not recorded but some archaeologists associate him with a prime minister Shao of Qin.According to the modern historian Li Kaiyuan, his given name was Qi, his ancestral name Mi and his lineage name Xiong were those of the kings of Chu. 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.
In popular culture
In the manga series Kingdom by Yasuhisa Hara, he is known as Shou Hei Kun, where he is depicted as one of China's finest strategists and a mighty warrior. He serves as Chief of Military Affairs and Supreme Commander of Qin, as well as Headmaster of the Strategist Academy, where he teaches Meng Tian, Meng Yi, and He Liao Diao. A former "Pillar of Lü Buwei", he later joins the King's faction, aiding Yíng Zhèng in his quest to unify China and securing dominance over Qin. In his youth, he studied under , a renowned strategist among Qin's Six Great Generals.In Hara's earlier one-shot manga, Shou Hei Kun is portrayed as a former Qin official who defects to Chu when his homeland faces invasion and he can no longer aid Yíng Zhèng. He is ultimately killed in battle by his former friend, Qin General Meng Wu.