Timeline of Kingdom Events, Past, Present and Future

I have reworked the timeline based on Shiji text as there seems to be quite a number of inconsistencies in the previous timeline. The timeline will start from the first year of Ying Zheng’s rule up till unification. The timeline is mainly based on Shiji: Annals of Qin Shi Huang with some cross reference to other chapters of Shiji for extra details of the events. There will be a mix of Japanese and Chinese names some of the characters are not in Kingdom(yet). As usual, let me know if there are any questions or if I miss out on something.

To find out about the current arc of Kingdom, Ctrl+F “Current”.

The Fire Dragons arc and the Kokuyou arc were fictional wars made up by Hara. Seikyo’s first rebellion in the manga is also fictional and probably a setup for the Tonryu arc.

Original text of the Annals of Qin Shi Huang can be found here.

Past:

Year 1, 246 BC:
– A rebellion happened in Jin Yang(晋阳). Mougou was tasked to quell the rebellion.
[This did not actually happen in the manga.]


Year 2, 245 BC:
– Duke Hyou attacked Juan(卷), killing 30,000.
[This happened in the manga as the Battle of the Dakan Plains.]


Year 3, 244 BC:
– Mougou attacked Han, capturing 13 castles.
[Briefly mentioned in the manga to introduce Mougou, Ousen and Kanki]

– Ouki dies.
[Bayou arc. Hara expanded 3 words in Shiji recording Ouki’s death into this arc.]

– October, Mougou attacked Wei’s Chang(畼) but discovered a trap.


Year 4, 243 BC:
– Chang(畼) was captured but there was a trap. The soldiers took a break in March.

– Hostages from Zhao and Qin were both returned to their respective states. Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao detailed Shun Pei Kun being tricked to stay in Qin in order to threaten the Zhao king to trade some of its castles for him.
[Briefly mentioned in the manga with Shun Pei Kun being returned to Zhao after Riboku pulled strings]

– October, locusts were seen coming from the east, covering the sky. There was a plague around the country. Commoners were promoted by a rank and given 1000 “dan”(a currency).

– According to Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, Riboku attacked Yan, capturing Wusui(武遂) and Fangcheng(方城).


Year 5, 242 BC:
– Mougou attacked Wei, capturing the castles of Suanzao(酸枣), Yan(燕), Xu(虚), Changping(长平, Chouhei), Yongqiu(雍丘), Shanyang(山阳, Sanyou).
[Kingdom’s Sanyou arc.]

– Tougun was setup.

– There was thunder in the winter.

According to Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, Houken attacked Yan, killing Gekishin.


Year 6, 241 BC:
– Han, Wei, Zhao, Chu and Yan attacked Qin. Capturing Shouling(寿陵). Qin sent out soldiers to stop the invasion successfully. According to Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, Houken commanded the elite forces from Zhao, Chu, Wei and Yan to attack Sai but failed to capture it. They then move on to attack Qi, capturing Rao An.
[Coalition invasion arc of Kingdom]


Year 7, 240 BC:
– A comet was seen in the east, north and later in May, the west.
[I recall Kingdom mentioning this in a couple of panels of a chapter]

– General Mougou dies.
[He died of old age in the manga in one of the chapters.]

– Attacked Long(龙), Gu(孤), Qing(庆) and Ji(汲).
[These are presumably the castles Ousen and Kanki attacked in the manga after Mougou’s passing]

– Comet seen in the west again for 16 days.

– Empress Dowager Xia dies.
[She is Sei’s grandmother. I don’t think her death was mentioned in the manga.]


Year 8, 239 BC:
– The king’s brother, Seikyo, was tasked to attack Zhao but instead he started a rebellion and died in Tonryu. His retainers were executed and the commoners were exiled to Lin Tao(临洮). The general died in the walls of Tonryu(or “General Heki died in Tonryu”). Hokaku rebelled and his corpse was being whipped.
[Seikyo’s second “rebellion” arc in the manga]

– Rao Ai was given the title of Lord Changxin and given the lands at Sanyou for him to live in. All matters were decided by Rao Ai and he even set up the state of Ai near Taiyuan.
[Beginning of Rao Ai rebellion arc in the manga]


Year 9, 238 BC:
– A comet was seen. Attacked Yuan and Puyang of Wei.

– April, moved residence to You. The king was coronated.

– Lord Changxin(Rao Ai) rebelled with the imperial seal from the Queen Mother. The king then sent Shouheikun and Shoubunkun to attack the army of Ai. They battled at Kanyou. Hundreds were killed. Ai was defeated and fled. A bounty was placed on Ai. Rao Ai was eventually captured and executed with 20 of his retainers. 4000 families were exiled to the lands of Shu.
[Rao Ai rebellion arc in Kingdom]

– Yotanwa attacked the castle of Yan(衍) of Wei.
[Briefly mentioned in the manga as Yotanwa’s first war for Qin after the coalition war.]


Year 10, 237 BC:
-Ryofui was punished for his crimes in the Rao Ai rebellion

-Kanki was given the title of General

-Qi and Zhao came to Qin for a banquet.
[This is the mini event in the manga where the king of Qi and Riboku came to Kanyou, with Qi “surrendering” to Qin in the private meeting between the kings.]

-The Queen Mother was welcomed back to Kanyou from You after her crimes are being pardoned.

– Ri Shi wrote a petition to the king against the king’s decision to expel of all non-Qin officials from Qin after Sei discovered the Zheng Guo canal was in fact a plan by Han to waste Qin’s time and resources. Ri Shi was successful in doing so and this was seen as a key point in history leading up to unification.
[Ch 496 briefly mentioned this event. Thanks to Erebus for spotting this]


Year 11, 236BC

– Ousen, Kanki and Yotanwa attacked Gyou, capturing 9 castles. Ousen attacked Atsuyou and Ryouyou. On the 18th day, 2 out of 10 men in the army were selected to remain, while the rest were sent back. Kanki captured Gyou and Anyang(安阳).
[Western Zhao/Gyou invasion arc in the manga]

  • According to Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, king Toujou died. King Youmiu ascended the throne.
    [This was part of the conclusion of the Western Zhao/Gyou invasion arc]

Year 12, 235BC
-Ryofui dies. All who are related to him are being punished. If any officials says anything about Ryofui or Rao Ai in court, they are to be punished too.
[Ryofui faked his suicide in the manga and left to travel the world so Sei could consolidate his power]

-In the autumn, those who were exiled to Shu for Ryofui’s crimes were returned.

-In Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Chu, it was stated that Qin and Wei invaded Chu before the death of Ryofui.
[This is the Juuko invasion arc that just concluded]


Year 13, 234BC

-Kanki attacked Ping Yang(平阳) of Zhao, killing General Kochou and 100,000 soldiers.

-The king toured Henan(河南).

-January, a comet was seen in the east.

-October, Kanki attacked Zhao.


Year 14, 233BC
– The Zhao army was being pushed back to Ping Yang, and Yi An(宜安) was captured and the defending general killed.

– Kanki successfully captured Ping Yang and Wu Cheng(武城).

– From Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, when Qin attacked Chi Li(赤丽) and Yi An, Riboku led an army to battle the Qin army at Fei and was victorious. Riboku was then given the title of Lord Wu An.

-Hanfei arrived in Qin as an ambassador. He was not allowed to leave Qin and eventually died in Qin. This was planned by Ri Shi.


Current

Year 15, 232BC

– Qin sent a big army towards Gyou and Taiyuan, capturing Langmeng(狼孟).

– An earthquake occured.

– From Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, Qin attacked a castle of Fan Wu(番吾/Jap name:Hango). Riboku manage to defend it against Qin.


Future

Year 16, 231BC
– September, Qin sent soldiers and Tou to accept Nan An(南安) from Han.

– Wei offered land to Qin. Qin set up Li county(丽邑).


Year 17, 230BC
– Tou attacked Han, capturing King An of Han and annexed all the lands of Han.

– Another earthquake occured.

– Empress Dowager Huayang died. She is wife of Sei’s grandfather, King Xiaowen.

– A famine occured.


Year 18, 229BC
– Qin sent a large army to attack Zhao. Ousen led the army of Shangdi(上地) to attack Jing Xing(井陉). Yotanwa attack He Nei(河内). Kyokai attacked Zhao. Yotanwa lay siege to Kantan.

– From Shiji: Biographies of Assassins: It was mentioned that Ousen has led hundreds of thousands of soldiers to Zhang(漳) and Gyou. Shin’s army left Taiyuan(太原) and Yunzhong(云中) .


Year 19, 228BC
– Ousen and Kyokai captured Dongyang(东阳), capturing the king of Zhao. They then led the Qin army east, preparing to attack Yan, with the armies stationing at Zhongshan(中山).

– From Shiji: Aristocratic Family of Zhao, Zhao sent Riboku and Shiba Shou to stop Qin’s advance into Zhao. Riboku was eventually executed and Shiba Shou stripped off his duties. Zhao Cong and Qi general, Yan Ju, replaced them. Zhao Cong’s army was defeated and Yan Ju fled. The Zhao king defeated.

– From Shiji: Biographies of Lian Po and Lin Xiangru, Qin sent money to Kaku Kai, the high ranking official in Zhao, to bribe him to spread false rumors about Riboku and Shiba Shou planning a rebel against the king. The king of Zhao sent Zhao Cong and Yan Ju to replace Riboku and Shiba Shou. Riboku refused the order to return to court and was captured and executed by agents. Shiba Shou was stripped off his duties. In 3 months, Ousen struck fast and defeated Zhao Cong and Yan Ju, defeating the state of Zhao entirely. 

– After the fall of Kantan, Sei travelled to Kantan and buried alive all those who offended his mother in the past. After Sei returned, his mother died soon after.

– Prince Ka of Zhao led a few hundred men to the region of Dai, setting up a small state of Dai, proclaiming himself king, combining his armies with the armies of Yan.

– A major famine occured.


Year 20, 227BC
– Crown Prince Dan of Yan was afraid of the threat of Qin. He sent Jin Ke to assassinate the king of Qin. Jin Ke was executed by having his body torn apart. Ousen and Xin Sheng was sent to attack Yan as revenge. Yan sent its army to defend against Qin but was defeated to the west of Yi river.


Year 21, 226BC
– Ouhon attacked Ji(蓟), the capital of Yan. *However, some sources indicate that Ouhon attacked Jing(荆), which is another name for Chu. The 2 chinese characters are quite similar in structure and there are records of both the fall of Ji and battle in Chu this year so both could be possible, despite their geographical locations being far apart. Let’s see which will Hara choose.

– Ousen defeated the crown prince’s army and obtained the head of the crown prince after reinforcements from Qin.

– From Zhan Guo Ce: Ch31, Yan No.3, we know that when Shin was pursuing the king of Yan towards Liaodong(辽东), through the suggestion of the king of Dai, the Yan king killed his own crown prince and gave Qin the crown prince’s head. We can deduce from there that Shin was part of Ousen’s invasion in the line above.

– The king of Yan moved to Liaodong and became the king there.

– Ousen retires.

Shiji: Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian details the reason for Ousen’s retirement. Sei asks both Shin and Ousen on their plans to invade Chu. Shin replied that 200,000 soldiers is enough to take Chu while Ousen thinks that he needs at least 600,000 soldiers. Sei disagrees with Ousen, and Ousen decides to retires. Sei sent Shin to invade Chu with 200,000 soldiers, resulting in a loss despite winning earlier battles in Chu. Scholars have blamed this loss is on the betrayal of Shouheikun halfway during the invasion, forcing Shin to turn the Qin army back resulting in a 2-pronged attack by Chu. Shin lost 7 of his lieutenants in this war. 

– A rebellion started in Xinzheng(新郑, old Han territory).

– Shouheikun moved to Ying(郢), the old capital of Chu that was captured by Hakuki in the past.

– A blizzard, bringing 2 feet and 5 inches of snow.


Year 22, 225BC
– Ouhon attacked Wei, redirecting the waters from the yellow river to flood Daliang, the capital of Wei. The king of Wei surrendered and Qin annexed the lands of Wei.


Year 23, 224BC
– The king of Qin resummoned Ousen for the invasion of Chu. Qin captured all castles south of Chen(陈, Chu capital) up to Pingyu(平舆) and capturing the king of Chu.

-King of Qin toured Yingchen(郢陈).

-Kouen made Shouheikun the new king of Chu, rebel against Qin in Huainan(淮南).

-From Shiji: Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian, Sei then invited Ousen back to lead 600,000 in the invasion of Chu. When Ousen set off from Kanyou, he made multiple requests to Sei for beauties, money and land when he return victorious from Chu. This is to give Sei the impression that Ousen wants only material wealth rather than rebel with the 600,000 soldiers, so that he will not suffer the same fate as Riboku. Instead of invading Chu, Ousen found a spot in Chu to build up defenses and refuses to attack despite taunts from the Chu army. He then waited patiently until the perfect opportunity to attack and crush the Chu army in one fell swoop, killing Kouen and capturing the king of Chu by the end of the year.


Year 24, 223BC
– Ousen and Moubu attacked Chu and defeated the Chu army. Shouheikun died and Kouen committed suicide.


Year 25, 222BC
– Qin sent a major force led by Ouhon to attack Liaodong of Yan, capturing King Xi of Yan. He then attacked Dai, capturing King Jia(King Ka) of Dai.

-Ousen attacks the lands south of Yangtze, defeated the king of Yue, setting up Huiji county(会稽郡).

-From Shiji: Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian, Shin was in fact involved in final invasions of Yan (as well as Qi).


Year 26, 221BC
– King Jian(Ouken) of Qi and his chancellor Kou Shou sent their armies to defend the western border with Qin. Qin sent Ouhon to lead his army down to invade Qi from the south of Yan.

-From Shiji: Biographies of Bai Qi and Wang Jian, Shin was in fact involved in final invasions of Qi (and Yan).

-From Shi Ji: Biography of Meng Tian, Mouten was rewarded the post of governer(same as Tou) for his family’s achievements over the years and his participation in conquering Qi.

-China is now unified under Qin

21 thoughts on “Timeline of Kingdom Events, Past, Present and Future

  1. About the edict in 237 BC, it’s mentioned in the manga, chapter 496.
    In the manga, high-ranking officials who were incompetent and jealous devised an edict against foreigners to protect their positions, but Rishi opposed it and made the edict vanish because the source of Qin’s power was meritocracy.

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    • Interesting, i must have missed it now that i went back to check. Will edit now. It was actually a significant event in history with Rishi writing his most well known piece of literature(Petition against the Expulsion of Guest Officers).

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  2. Is it possible the author changes riboku’s execution into him leaving with prince jia (ka) to dai, and later being defeated by shin (primarily) at the very end of the unification wars? seems pretty lame to die in such a way, if so.

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    • I doubt so. Hara would definitely not change history unless he can do it in smart way like what he did to Seikyo. There is only so much you can do though. Anyway, I think Riboku’s dying that way would earn some pity points from the reader too. After his death, the main antagonist will probably be Kouen

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      • I thought RiShin would defeat and overcome RiBoku. It’s hard to imagine our Shin becoming the best general in history, surpassing the past heroes, unless he had such a key victory to the unification wars. Given how he gets a depressing loss to Chu, and only wins wars against weak states like Qi and Yan. And the overwhelming power of MouBu and OuSen, who triumph in the biggest wars.

        I had one question about RiBoku, I read up on Li Mu, it seems like he was defending against the Xiongnu in the north well before the start of the manga. About 20 years before. I can’t imagine Riboku from Kingdom being at least 40 years old at the start of the manga, and now going on 50+. Do you predict Hara used creative license with this timeline?

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  3. Nice, I like that you decided to sort the time line section. Some small new things I managed to learn through reading this: The coalition did indeed turn their gaze towards Qi after their failure to capture Sai. And I guess the return of all the families exiled to Shu in 235 BC will be the time when Zhao Gao will resurface again, which I’m really excited for. I’m still keeping to my prediction that he might be given the position Sai Taku held when he was still alive, after all diplomacy seemed to be the thing he excelled at, immensely contributing to the establishing of the state of Ai.
    I’m also wondering what sort of reason Hara will think up for Wei allying with Qin in order to invade Chu.

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    • Yep, since Zhao Gao was last seen being exiled with those related to Ryofui, heshould be returning to Qin after Ryofui’s death next year with the rest of those exiled. I don’t think he will regain his influence that soon and he shouldn’t be holding any official political position as an eunuch. However, he should be able to gradually take control of the harem nearer to the later years of Sei.

      For the Qin-Wei invasion of Chu, it was recorded only in the chapter in Shiji about the rise and fall of the state of Chu and nowhere else so it could be easily missed. If Hara did not miss this small line of text, I am guessing instead of making Qin and Wei allying with each other to invade Chu, he will make either Qin or Wei invade Chu first and the other state taking advantage of the chaos and invade as well, resulting in two independent invasions rather than a coordinated one.

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      • I think what might aid in Zhao Gao becoming part of Sei’s team, would be Queen Mother and Sei’s relationship becoming more on the good side after their last meeting in the manga after the promise he made to her. A sign of such shift would be her taking care of his children, mentoring mothers of his children, and lending her most valuable piece (Zhao Gao) to further Sei’s efforts. It was showcased how loyal Zhao Gao is to Queen Mother so I can’t imagine he wouldn’t follow her request and play his part (for nor now) ;).

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      • That’s a possible scenario since the relationship between Sei and his mother did become better after he welcomed her back to Kanyou. This should have happened already but Hara decided to not draw it in the manga.

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  4. According to wikipedia, Qin managed to conquer nine Zhao cities, but didn’t advance to Handan (Kantan) that year. Why I have no idea. I wonder what Ri Boku will pull off to keep them from the capital. Knowing the author, probably something awesome.

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    • The “nine Zhao cities” in the Kingdom universe are the small cities Ousen conquered prior to the siege of Gyou, releasing their inhabitants and sort of directing them to Gyou.

      I think the objective of this campaign was never to conquer Zhao entirely, but to setup a foothold in the Zhao heartlands for future campaigns. If you read how the siege of Gyou ended in history and put it in the context of Kingdom’s chain of events so far, we can infer that Qin will be running out of provisions near the end of the campaign and had to send some men home. Without more provisions and lesser men to fight, it is impossible to take down the capital anyway.

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      • Hm, indeed, now that I think about it, you’re right. It makes more sense to have them just want to establish a foothold in the country. I forgot they only have 200.000 men after all, which is quite impressive, but not to a whole country; if King Toujou’s words (and the translation I follow) are to be trusted, the capital itself is guarded by half this amount. Either way, I have the feeling it won’t be just another Qin victory. I only know about this wars what wikipedia and the manga itself have taught me (and your site, of course), but even if Ri Boku’s going to loose, he’s not going without a fierce fight. Damn, my expectations to this arc are very high 🙂

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  5. I wonder during the invasion of Chu instead of Shouheikun, it’s Ousen who’s going to betray them though it’s still going to fail…. but that also means someone will replace his awesome and epic rampage against the 5 states….

    PS: I did not include Zhao because Riboku is executed by the king….

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  6. After reading Shin’s campaigns come much later, realized Ouhon is the best of his generation. And his pops(Ousen) is the main bad ass. And Shin and Mou ten conquering Qi is because of brains not brawn.

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    • I think Mouten was the best of his generation. If you read about his life after the unification wars, he becomes pretty important.

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