Handan fell, the King of Zhao was captured, and Zhao State's Altars of State were overthrown.
Over the past decade or so, Zhao State had been the only country capable of standing against Qin State to any degree.
Yet it had fallen so quickly. Truly, even the strongest fortress became no more than clay dogs and earthen chickens once breached from within.
Most importantly, with Zhao State's destruction, all three feudal states that had partitioned Jin in years past had now perished.
Back when those three powerful ministers had eagerly sought to turn their houses into states and become feudal lords,
to win supreme glory for their families, they could never have imagined that they would die and their clans be destroyed in so short a time.
The Three Jin States had all fallen, and the world trembled!
Jin State had simply been too exceptional. In years past, Duke Wen of Jin, Chong'er, had dominated the world through the strength of his state alone.
Had Qin and Chu not secretly joined forces and caught it off guard with a surprise attack, compounded by the betrayal of its Ducal Clan, Jin State could still have emerged unscathed even against their combined might.
Apart from the Luo Clan, Zhou State's standing deputy Son of Heaven, Jin State had been the strongest. Jin State and Qi State had upheld the Son of Heaven of Zhou so faithfully that their names had almost become synonymous with kinship.
How powerful was Qin State now that it occupied the entire territory of the Three Jin States?
Eight hundred li of the Qin River Valley-this was the land where Zhou State's dynasty had risen to prosperity.
Ba-Shu had fertile fields stretching a thousand li. Once its floods were brought under control, it deserved to be called a