Emperor Yi of Chu

Xiong Xin (熊心)
Ancestral name (姓):	Mi (羋)
Clan name (氏):	Xiong (熊)
Given name (名):	Xin (心)
Emperor Yi of Chu
Dates of reign:	208 BC – 206 BC
King Huai II of Chu
Dates of reign:
Official title:
Dates are in the proleptic Julian calendar

Emperor Yi of Chu (Chinese: 楚義帝), also known as King Huai II of Chu (楚懷王), personal name Xiong Xin (熊心) (died 206 BC) was the ruler of the Chu state during the late Qin Dynasty. Chu was annexed by the Qin state in 223 BC as part of Qin's wars of unification, but in 209 BC, it was revived when rebellions erupted throughout China to overthrow the Qin Dynasty and restore the former states annexed by Qin. Mi Xin was a grandson of King Huai I of Chu, and was living as a commoner then. Mi was discovered by a rebel leader, Xiang Liang, who officially recognized him as the heir to the throne of Chu, and Mi became King Huai II of Chu with Xiang's support. However, Mi was actually a puppet ruler as the military power of Chu was actually in the hands of Xiang's clan and he was merely used as a figurehead to rally men to join Xiang Liang's rebel force. After Xiang's death, his nephew Xiang Yu overthrew the Qin Dynasty and proclaimed himself "Hegemon King of Western Chu", while Mi was promoted to the more honorific title of "Emperor Yi of Chu". He was relocated by Xiang to Chencheng (in present-day Chenzhou, Hunan) and was assassinated during his journey on Xiang's order.

Biography

Early life

Mi was a descendant of the royal clan of the Chu state in the Warring States Period, and a grandson of King Huai I of Chu. However, he was not in the main line of succession and there were four kings who succeeded his grandfather before the Chu state was annexed by the Qin state in 223 BC as part of Qin's wars of unification. Mi became a commoner after the fall of Chu.

As King Huai II of Chu

In 209 BC, the Daze Village Uprising to overthrow the Qin Dynasty erupted under the leadership of Chen Sheng, who proclaimed himself "King of Zhangchu" ("King of rising Chu"). Although Chen's uprising was crushed by the imperial forces, other rebel forces had sprouted throughout China to overthrow Qin and restore the former six states annexed by Qin about two decades ago. The leader of the Chu rebel force, Xiang Liang, was advised by Fan Zeng to seek a member of the Chu royal family and install him on the throne, in order to garner more support from the people. After some searching, Xiang found Mi, who was a shepherd-boy then, and installed Mi on the throne of Chu in the summer of 208 BC, with the title of "King Huai II of Chu".^[1]

King Huai II was effectively a puppet ruler, as the military power of Chu was actually in the hands of Xiang Liang and his men. However, after Xiang was killed in action at the Battle of Dingtao in the winter of 208 BC, the military power of Chu fell into the hands of King Huai II and some Chu generals, with the king gradually beginning to assert his authority. Following that, King Huai II commissioned Song Yi and Liu Bang to lead two armies to attack Qin, promising that whoever managed to enter Guanzhong (heartland of Qin) first would be granted the title of "King of Guanzhong". Xiang Liang's nephew, Xiang Yu, was put as second-in-command to Song Yi's army, which was sent to attack the Qin forces led by Zhang Han. Zhang's army was besieging Handan, the capital city of the Zhao state, and Song Yi refused to advance any further to assist the Zhao forces. Xiang took Song by surprise in a military conference and killed Song on charges of treason. Xiang sent a messenger to inform King Huai II, and the king approved of Xiang's command of the army reluctantly. In the winter of 207 BC, Liu Bang's army arrived in Guanzhong before Xiang and the last Qin ruler Ziying surrendered, marking the end of the Qin Dynasty.

As Emperor Yi of Chu

According to King Huai II's earlier promise, Liu Bang should become the "King of Guanzhong", but Xiang Yu arrived in Guanzhong later and wrote a letter to King Huai II, asking the king to grant him the title instead. King Huai II's response was "As per the earlier agreement.", but he had already lost his authority by then and existed as a king only in name. Xiang proclaimed himself "Hegemon-King of Western Chu" and proceeded to divide the former Qin empire into the eighteen principalities. Xiang promoted King Huai II to a more honorific title of "Emperor Yi of Chu" and he moved the emperor to the remote region of Chencheng (in present-day Chenzhou, Hunan), effectively sending the puppet emperor into exile.

Death

Emperor Yi was aware of Xiang Yu's intention to send him into exile, so he feigned illness and used excuses in an attempt to postpone his "migration", but to no avail. The emperor was still forced to make his journey from Pengcheng (彭城; present-day Xuzhou) to Chencheng. In the meantime, Xiang issued a secret order to Ying Bu, Wu Rui and Gong Ao to kill the emperor during his journey. Emperor Yi was murdered by Ying's men near Chengcheng and was buried by the locals in a hill southwest of Chengcheng.

During the power struggle for supremacy over China, known as the Chu–Han contention, between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, Liu used Emperor Yi's death as political propaganda to justify his war against Xiang. Liu held a three-day long memorial service for Emperor Yi in 205 BC and denounced Xiang as guilty of regicide and called for the people to rise up against Xiang. In 202 BC, the Chu–Han contention ended with victory for Liu, who founded the Han Dynasty and became Emperor Gaozu of Han. Gaozu ordered his dukes Zhou Bo, Wang Ling and Fan Kuai to conduct another memorial service for Emperor Yi in their respective fiefs.

Notes and references

1. ^ In 299 BC, King Huai I of Chu was tricked into attending a conference in the Qin state, where he was captured and kept as a hostage in Qin until his death. Xiang Liang suggested to Mi to use his grandfather's title in order to garner more support, because King Huai I's tragic fate was still deeply remembered by the people of Chu. However, "King Huai" was actually a posthumous name and would be inappropriate for a living monarch.

• Shi Ji, vols. 7, 8.
• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 8, 9.
• Baidu Baike (Chinese)

Emperor Yi of Chu House of Mi Died: 206 BC
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Jing Ju	— TITULAR — King of Chu Royal descent claimant 208 BC – 206 BC Reason for succession failure: Assassinated	Succeeded by Hegemon-King of Western Chu
Preceded by Qin San Shi	— TITULAR — Emperor of China Royal descent claimant 206 BC Reason for succession failure: Assassinated