The Gathering Storm in Yan

In the waning days of spring, the Yan Mountains remained stubbornly cold and dry. Winds from all directions converged here in a perpetual contest – the gales from Liaodong’s peaks, the sea breezes from the southeast, the prairie winds from Yinshan, and the desert blasts from the shifting sands. Their shifting directions made spring’s arrival hesitant and uncertain. Through these persistent winds rode a black-clad cavalry unit, traversing Qin’s Shangjun commandery, crossing the great river northward from Jiuyuan before turning east into Yunzhong, then southeast directly toward Yanmen Pass, and finally northeast past Pingcheng to establish camp in the Yuyan River valley of Yan’s northwestern frontier. This was Bai Qi’s elite Iron Eagle Warriors, a thousand strong. After twenty days and over eight thousand li of hard travel, they had secretly reached Yan’s most vulnerable flank.

The political landscape of Yan had undergone earth-shaking changes that the Central States could scarcely anticipate. The assassination of Su Qin in Qi sent shockwaves through Yan’s court. As regent, Zi Zhi suddenly felt freed from constraints and immediately began secret discussions with Su Dai to pressure King Kuai of Yan into abdicating, allowing Zi Zhi to legitimately claim Yan’s throne. What Zi Zhi hadn’t anticipated was that Su Qin’s death would awaken Su Dai to reality. Witnessing his brother’s violent end for sincerely advocating reform, and seeing Zi Zhi’s once-passionate reform promises turn to empty words, Su Dai deeply regretted having placed his reformist hopes on Zi Zhi. Pretending to agree, Su Dai secretly fled to Qi that very night, beseeching King Xuan of Qi to send troops to restore order and return power to the Ji royal clan.

The Coup and Its Aftermath

While Qi’s court hesitated, Zi Zhi took matters into his own hands. Leading troops into the palace, he forced King Kuai to perform the abdication ceremony and immediately proclaimed himself King of Yan, announcing it to all states. Just three days after this proclamation, Crown Prince Ji Ping – who had been biding his time – along with Queen Dowager Liyang and scattered royal forces rose in rebellion, vowing to reclaim the throne. Prince Ji’s coalition of over ten thousand troops, led by General Shi Bei, besieged Zi Zhi’s palace but were decisively defeated by twenty thousand of Zi Zhi’s elite Donghu cavalry, with Shi Bei captured. When Prince Ji was regrouping for another attack, Shi Bei unexpectedly defected to Zi Zhi, leading Donghu cavalry in a fierce assault that scattered Prince Ji’s forces into the Liaodong mountains.

Emboldened by victory, Zi Zhi personally led campaigns to suppress royalist forces while imposing heavy taxes to expand his military for ambitious conquests. He even disrespectfully expelled envoys sent by King Xuan of Qi to discuss territorial concessions. This proved the final straw for King Xuan, who recognized Zi Zhi’s rule as akin to harboring a crouching tiger at Qi’s back. After consulting with Lord Mengchang, Qi mobilized one hundred thousand troops under newly appointed General Zhang Zhi to punish Yan.

The Fall of Zi Zhi and Yan’s Devastation

Zi Zhi personally led fifty thousand Donghu border troops to meet Qi’s forces, determined to establish his hegemony in one decisive battle. However, the Donghu troops – mostly impoverished hunters and farmers who had followed Zi Zhi expecting land reforms and emancipation – had grown disillusioned as Zi Zhi’s rule proved harsher than the old regime. When battle commenced, Qi’s forces smashed through Yan’s defenses like a hot knife through butter. The once-feared Donghu border troops collapsed completely, with Zi Zhi escaping with just five or six thousand survivors. Qi’s army pursued relentlessly to Ji City, where astonishingly no defenders resisted – someone had even opened the city gates in advance. General Zhang’s troops stormed the palace, unleashing three days of slaughter and plunder that left Zi Zhi and King Kuai dead amid streets choked with corpses.

The Rise of King Zhao of Yan

Just as General Zhang prepared to annex Yan, Crown Prince Tian Di arrived with urgent orders from King Xuan recalling Qi’s troops, citing Su Qin’s warning against excessive bloodshed that could create lasting enmity. Prince Tian remained in Ji City to oversee transition, eventually locating the scattered Crown Prince Ji Ping who returned to the bloodstained capital and ascended the throne as the formidable King Zhao of Yan.

The new king faced a devastated realm – empty treasuries, five southern cities ceded to Qi, and a country trembling like autumn leaves in the wind. Then came a miraculous turn: one stormy night, a leather pouch containing a white silk message and treasure map appeared on King Zhao’s desk, revealed to be from the late Su Qin’s hidden assets. With these resources, King Zhao initiated Yan’s arduous recovery – importing goods from northern tribes and Central States, personally supervising agriculture and industry, sharing his people’s hardships like Goujian of Yue. His sincerity attracted talented advisors like Yue Yi, Ju Xin and Zou Yan, laying foundations for Yan’s remarkable revival.

The Covert Operation to Retrieve Prince Ying Ji

Meanwhile, Bai Qi’s secret mission continued. His reconnaissance revealed that Prince Ying Ji – sent as hostage during Zi Zhi’s rule – had mysteriously disappeared during the chaos and was likely being secretly held by the new Yan regime. Bai Qi devised an audacious plan: under guise of hunting, they would extract the prince from his mountain excursion.

The operation unfolded with precision. During a hunt, the prince feigned injury from a “wolf attack” and was taken to a mountain camp. That night, with the help of a Chu maiden named Chugu creating diversions, Bai Qi’s team spirited the prince away through the darkness. By the time Yan guards realized their charge was missing at dawn, the prince was already deep in the mountains with Bai Qi’s elite cavalry.

The Dramatic Border Confrontation

As Bai Qi’s party approached Zhao territory, they encountered an unexpected obstacle – Yan’s brilliant strategist Yue Yi had anticipated their route. In a tense rainy standoff, Yue Yi – clad in crimson like a flame in the downpour – confronted the black-clad Qin forces. Bai Qi admitted the prince had already been sent ahead to Qin, prompting Yue Yi to declare Yan would retain the prince’s mother as leverage for future negotiations. Recognizing Yue Yi’s strategic position, Bai Qi accepted these terms and was permitted to pass.

Legacy and Historical Significance

This covert extraction proved pivotal in Qin’s history. Prince Ying Ji would become King Zhaoxiang of Qin, ruling for fifty-six years (306-251 BCE) – the longest reign of any Qin monarch – and laying crucial groundwork for Qin’s eventual unification of China under Qin Shi Huang. The mission demonstrated early examples of special operations tactics that would become hallmarks of Qin’s military prowess. Bai Qi’s combination of strategic foresight, operational flexibility and disciplined execution foreshadowed his future as one of China’s most brilliant military commanders.

The episode also highlighted the complex interplay between states during the Warring States period, where hostage exchanges, covert actions and calculated diplomacy all served as instruments of statecraft. Yan’s retention of the prince’s mother reflected the nuanced hostage diplomacy of the era, where human collateral served as continuing leverage even after primary objectives were achieved.

Ultimately, this little-known mission represents a crucial turning point where the fates of Qin and Yan became briefly intertwined before their historical trajectories diverged – one toward ultimate supremacy, the other toward dramatic but temporary resurgence under King Zhao before its eventual absorption into Qin’s expanding empire.