Qin Army

Biodata

Background / History

Ten years before the Chu State’s conscription, the Qin Army dispatched 100,000 troops to destroy Wei State; Wei’s royal family and common people were subsequently enslaved. Five years later, Qin forces began attacking Chu’s border, where they fought General Qu Wu’s army in repeated engagements. Six months before the conscription, Qin reinforced the front with another 500,000 troops, breached Chu’s border defenses after five months, and captured several cities. The defenders of captured cities were killed, while the civilian populations were massacred for three days and then enslaved. 16

Huju City became a key objective because it controlled the only traversable passage between two steep mountain ranges. Although the Qin Army held a numerical advantage, the city’s elevated position, long approach slope, traps, and reusable rolling-log defenses prevented a quick capture. 16 17

Organization & Military Doctrine

• Qin forces are portrayed as veteran, battle-seasoned troops with strict discipline, orderly formations, and strong willingness to continue advancing despite casualties. 17 18
• A typical hundred-man square formation placed spearmen and shield bearers in the outer rank, additional spearmen behind them, and left passages between formations for redeployment and flanking attacks. Cavalry stood behind the main formation, while the commanding general directed operations from the center. 17
• Even after their centurion was killed, one Qin unit maintained organized resistance and regrouped with a fresh formation rather than immediately collapsing. 18
• Qin officers enforced discipline through execution: laborers who abandoned their wheelbarrows during the siege were shot down by Qin archers, while other unwilling workers were beheaded. Promises of reward were also used to compel continued service. 20
• Their operations at Huju relied on repeated harassment, siege engineering, attritional assaults, and eventually a large-scale direct attack. 17 20 21 22

Huju City Campaign

Initial assaults

The Qin Army first used small raiding parties to trigger Chu rolling logs and stones, then destroyed or cut the ropes of these defenses when possible. This harassment also revealed the locations of traps on the approach to Huju City. 17

During a major assault, Qin troops advanced in synchronized formations under drums and shouted battle cries, stopping every ten paces to adjust their ranks. Their shielded formations absorbed Chu arrow fire as they closed into melee range. 17

Despite losing a centurion to Wang Hong’s wedge formation, Qin forces countered with fresh troops. Their dense spear formations inflicted severe pressure on the less experienced Chu recruits, and an elite unit continued fighting fiercely even while wounded. 18

Siege preparations

After withdrawing from the initial fighting, commander Ji Ru chose not to force an immediate breakthrough. He instead awaited reinforcements and ordered the construction of siege equipment for a decisive assault. 19

Five days later, Qin resumed the siege by sending laborers with shielded unicycles to fill Huju City’s moat with earth and stones. Archers provided suppressing fire while the army pressed the work forward despite heavy casualties among the drivers. 20

The next stage employed broad, wheeled siege ladders with iron hooks, protected pushers, and space for several soldiers to climb abreast. Qin soldiers also used wet cotton blankets to extinguish fires set on the ladders and continued pushing them toward the walls under heavy fire. 21

Collapse and retreat

After a Chu night raid burned the Qin supply depot, the army was left with at most one day of provisions. It nevertheless launched its fiercest assault, using more siege ladders, simple wooden ladders, and sustained arrow fire in an attempt to take Huju City before supplies failed. 22

Unable to capture the city, the Qin Army withdrew in a still-orderly defensive square formation, with shield bearers outside, spearmen facing outward, and archers protected in the center. Its arrow supply was eventually exhausted, allowing Chu forces to attack more aggressively. 22

Exhaustion, hunger, harassment, and a Chu ambush along the retreat route finally broke Qin morale. When Chu forces attacked from the rear and both flanks while leaving an escape route open, Qin soldiers fled in disorder; their military law officer was overwhelmed and killed by the retreating troops. 22

The Huju campaign ended in a major Chu victory, with over 50,000 Qin soldiers killed across the city defense and pursuit. In the following months, Chu counterattacks and new reinforcements recovered territory, returning the war to a border standoff. 22 23

Commanders

• Ji Ru — Qin Army commander during the Huju City campaign. He delayed a direct storming of the city to await reinforcements and siege equipment. 19
• Unnamed bearded officer — Proposed leading 3,000 elite soldiers through Huju City’s gates after the first battle, but Ji Ru rejected the immediate assault. 19
• Military law officer — Attempted to stop the army’s final rout by executing fleeing soldiers, but was swallowed by the panicked crowd and killed. 22

Equipment & Siege Assets

• Shields, spears, sabers, bows, and cavalry. 17 22
• Wooden anti-rolling-log structures formed from three joined stakes. 17
• Shielded unicycles for transporting earth and stones to fill trenches and the moat. 20
• Siege ladders with iron hooks, wheels, baffle boards, and wide climbing surfaces. 21
• Simple wooden ladders used during the final assault. 22
• Wet cotton blankets used to suppress fires on siege equipment. 21
• A defended supply depot surrounded by abatis and carts, guarded by 4,000 elite soldiers before its destruction. 22