The weakest, Han Kingdom, was the first to dispatch an envoy for a secret meeting with Qin's Chancellor Fan Ju, speaking bluntly: "If Zhao falls, the king of Qin will surely become Co-Lord of the World. And Lord Wu'an, Bai Qi—more than seventy cities fell to his assaults; he crushed Yan and Ying in the south, secured Hanzhong, captured Zhao Kuo in the north, and annihilated their elite troops. Even if Duke of Zhou, Duke of Shao, and Jiang Shang were revived, their achievements would struggle to surpass his!"
Before long, Bai Qi was stripped of his authority and placed under house arrest. To prevent the Vassal Lords from suspecting strife within the Qin court, King Zhaoxiang took the opportunity to spread word that "Lord Wu'an's merit overshadowed his ruler, and he has been granted poisoned wine to end his own life."
In the fortieth year of Zhaoxiang, king of Qin, the Crown Prince Daoyao died in the Wei capital; in the forty-second year, Lord Anguo was named heir apparent, bearing the title "Lord Anguo."
King Zhaoxiang passed away, and King Xiaowen succeeded him. He was already fifty-three years old, bent and frail with age. Only three days after ascending the throne, he too suddenly passed away.
Crown Prince Zichu ascended the throne, becoming King Zhuangxiang.
Lord Anguo had more than twenty sons, and Zichu had originally been an obscure son born of a concubine. Yet Lü Buwei regarded him as a rare commodity, personally went to Xianyang, and, carrying precious treasures, knocked upon Lady Huayang's door to scheme for him the status of legitimate heir. He then returned to Handan, drinking and conversing freely with Zichu day after day, making broad connections with men of talent, patiently awaiting the crown to be set upon his head so that he