The harem of the Qin kingdom is divided into eight levels: queen, lady, beauty, good man, eight sons, seven sons, long envoys, and young envoys. The eighth son is only a relatively low-status palace concubine name, which shows that this "eighth son" was not of high status when her husband King Huiwen of Qin was alive, nor was she very favored, but she did give birth to three sons for King Huiwen, which also shows that she is still more liked by her husband. The harem battle is always about who is more favored by her husband, so the favor of the eighth son will attract the queen (Queen Huiwen) to be jealous and try her best to clean her up. After the death of King Huiwen, the queen's son took the throne as king, that is, King Wu of Qin. The eighth son lost the protection of King Huiwen and had to be bullied by the queen, sending his precious son Yingji to the Yan Kingdom as a hostage.
If history had developed so plainly, there would have been no later Empress Xuan. Seeing that the life of the eighth son was about to end bleakly, things took a big turn. The reigning King Wu of Qin was reckless, and not only did he not have the qualities to be a king himself, but his mother was not good at teaching him. The Qin people were shangwu, and this point was well inherited by the king of QinWu, but his "wu" was not used in the martial arts of expanding the territory and wenzhi like Emperor Wu of Han and Tang Taizong, but advocated brute force and liked to show off his martial arts.
One year in August, King Wu of Qin probably drank two more glasses of rice wine, and after the meal, at the instigation of Meng Shuo, decided to compete with ding. Unfortunately, king Wu of Qin did not have the momentum of the Western Chu overlord "pulling up the mountain and carrying the ding", and the heavy bronze big ding was pressed straight down, and the king of Wu smashed his shin bone at that time( and returned to the west a few days later. Meng, who instigated King Wu to carry Dingding, said that after being enraged by Qin Huiwen, the entire clan was destroyed, but King Qin Wu could not survive after all. King Wu of Qin reigned for only four years, married a woman from the State of Wei, and did not leave a son to inherit the throne. As a last resort, the State of Qin invited Gongzi Ji, who was a hostage in the State of Wei, to return to the State of Qin.
King Wu of Qin died, the queen was certainly not willing to give the throne to his brother, And Huiwen hou and Qi Bazi were as deep as the sea, and they were even more reluctant to let Gongzi Ji come back to take the throne, they preferred Gongzi Zhuang, who was more in control, so the power struggle began. Wei Ran, the half-brother of the eighth son of Qi, had already served in the Qin state as early as the time of King Huiwen of Qin, and at this time he stepped forward and, together with his sister and the two countries of Yan and Zhao, who supported him behind, proclaimed his nephew Gongzi Ji as king. After a three-year long "Rebellion of Ji Jun", The Gongzi Ji side represented by Wei Ran finally won and became the King of Qin Zhaoxiang. The unfortunate princes Zhuang, Empress Huiwen, and the other princes of King Huiwen were all killed by Wei Ran, and Queen Wu was also driven back to her mother's home, Wei. In the struggle for the throne, Qiu Bazi wisely created the position of general and filled it with her younger brother Wei Ran, and her use of the pro-party was richly rewarded. She finally turned over and became the empress dowager of qin.
Man's desire for power is never ending, both men and women. After Qiu Bazi became Empress Xuan, he always had to go further. This mature and beautiful woman of about 30 years old became the originator of the empress dowager in feudal society.
In order to consolidate the throne of her youngest son, she used the most direct method in the world: marriage—that is, marrying a princess of the Chu kingdom for her son as the queen, and also marrying a Qin woman to the Chu state.
At the same time, Empress Xuan, who had taken power, began to appoint her own cronies to take care of the power of foreign relatives. At the recommendation of King Huai of Chu, Empress Xuan made her mother's clan Xiang Shou the chancellor of the State of Qin, and Wei Ran, who also controlled the military power, was given the title of Marquis of Yong (穰侯), with the fief of Yong (穰, in present-day Deng County, Henan Province), and later Taoyi (present-day Dingtao, Shandong). There was also a half-brother of Empress Xuan, Qi Rong, who was given the title of Huayang Jun, and the fief was first Gaoling in Shaanxi, and then changed to Xincheng Jun, and the fief became Mixian County, Henan. Empress Xuan's other two sons were Prince Zhaoxiang's younger brothers Gongzi Fu (公子芾) and Gongzi Wu (公子悝). Gongzi Fu was enfeoffed as Jingyang Jun, with a fief in present-day Jingyang, Shaanxi, and later a fief of Wan (present-day Nanyang, Henan Province); Gong Yu was enfeoffed as Gaoling Jun, with a fief in Gaoling, Shaanxi, and later changed his fief to Deng (present-day Haocheng, Henan).
Marquis Wei Ran, Huayang Jun, Gongzi Fu and Gongzi Wu were collectively known as the "Four Nobles" of the Qin State, and they were prominent for a while. However, it can also be seen from the fiefdoms of these "four nobles" that during the period when Empress Xuan was under the curtain and listened to the dictatorship, Wuzhi did a very good job and expanded a lot of territory for the Qin state. The three lands of Rang, Wan, and Deng were captured from Korea in 301 BC and 291 BC, while Xincheng was plundered from the Chu state in 300 BC. Shandong Dingtao, not to mention, was originally from the State of Qi. These expansions contributed greatly to the later development of the Qin state and to the eventual unification of Qin Shi Huang.
Once the power was in hand, it was difficult to give up, and although Empress Xuan's reign was beneficial to the State of Qin, it was a very depressing thing for King Zhaoxiang, the legitimate monarch of the State of Qin. Although his mother and uncle were of great help to his ascension to the throne, being a puppet emperor was not what he wanted, so Fan Ju came from the State of Wei to the State of Qin and entered the eyes of King Zhaoxiang. With the help of Fan Ju, King Zhaoxiang finally took over the dictatorial Marquis Wei Ran and others, and on the grounds of old filial piety, asked his mother Empress Xuan to return to the palace and no longer care about political affairs. Empress Xuan's reign ended here. But it is undeniable that Empress Xuan laid a solid foundation for the strength of Great Qin and the eventual unification of Qin Shi Huang.