Campaigners › Commanders
Li Xin
Young Qin general who hunted down Prince Dan of Yan and then lost a two-hundred-thousand-man army to Chu, remembered as the ancestor of Li Guang
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
- Roles
- Commanders
Li Xin was a Qin general whom the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) calls young and daring; with a few thousand men he chased Prince Dan of Yan to the Yan River and finally got the prince. When King Zheng asked how many troops the conquest of Chu would need, Li Xin said no more than two hundred thousand, while Wang Jian asked for six hundred thousand; thinking Wang old and timid, the king sent Li Xin and Meng Tian south with two hundred thousand. Li took Pingyu and Meng took Qin, defeating the Chu forces, and Li went on to break Yanying before turning west to join Meng at Chengfu. The Chu army followed them for three days and nights without rest, smashed Li's army, stormed two of his camps and killed seven commanders, so the king had to recall Wang Jian. The Shiji's biography of the Han general Li Guang names this Li Xin as his ancestor.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; general under King Zheng of Qin