Huan Yi was a general of the state of Qin in the late

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

(5th century – 221 BCE).

Background

General

Pang Nuan Pang may refer to: Places *Siem Pang District, Cambodia *Pangnirtung or Pang, an Inuit hamlet on Baffin Island, Canada *Fo Pang (Chinese: 火棚), an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong *Pang, a hamlet in Leh district, Jammu and Kashmir, India *Pang, Mal ...

of Zhao occupied several towns of the state of Yan in 236 BCE, whereupon Yan asked the state of Qin for help. Huan Yi, Yang Duan, and Wang Jian commanded the relief campaign against

Zhao Zhao may refer to: * Zhao (surname) (赵), a Chinese surname ** commonly spelled Chao in Taiwan or up until the early 20th century in other regions ** Chiu, from the Cantonese pronunciation ** Cho (Korean surname), represent the Hanja 趙 (Chine ...

and took its towns Ye (today's

Linzhang Linzhang County () is a county of far southern Hebei province, China, named after the Zhang River within its borders. It is under the administration of Handan City, and, , it had a population of 590,000 residing in an area of . Administrative div ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

) and

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It ...

(

), as well as Eyu (

Heshun Heshun County () is a county of east-central Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...

), and Liaoyang (Zuoquan, Shanxi). In 236 BC, the Qin generals Huan Yi and Wang Jian seize nine cities in the Yecheng region. In 234 BC, Huan Yi attacked Pingyang (Linfen, Shanxi) and Wucheng (Cixian, Hebei), killed general Hu Zhe and massacred 100,000 troops of Zhao. He then left Shangdang, passed the Taihang Ridge and invaded Zhao by taking Chili and Yi'an (Gaocheng, Hebei). Zhao thereupon laid the supreme command in the hands of

Li Mu Li Mu (; died 229 BC), personal name Zuo (繓), courtesy name Mu (牧), was a Chinese military general of the State of Zhao during the Warring States period. He was named by Chinese historians as one of the four greatest generals of the late W ...

, who defeated Huan Yi in the battle of Fei ( Jinxian,

). No record of Huan Yi is found in the Shiji after his defeat at Feixia, however in the Zhan Guo Ce (a different historical source) it's mention that Huan Yi later died by attacking Handan, the capital of Zhao defended by

in one of the last Qin-Zhao battles.

In popular culture

Huan Yi is portrayed by the actor Lü Xiaohe in the film ''

The Emperor and the Assassin ''The Emperor and the Assassin'', also known as ''The First Emperor'', is a 1998 - 1999 Chinese historical romance film based primarily on Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin, as described in Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Histo ...

'' (1998) and by Wang Ya'nan in the television series '' Assassinator Jing Ke'' (2004). In the Manga and Anime Kingdom, he is portrayed as an ex-bandit leader nicknamed "The Beheader" and one of the new appointed "Qin Six Great Generals" for his prodigious skill for warfare relying mostly on unconventional tactics and psychological warfare. He initially served as one of the Vice Generals in Meng Ao's army alongside General Wang Jian.

Background

In popular culture

References

See also