Jing Ke: The Would-Be Assassin of the First Emperor.
The story of a daring bid to change the course of Chinese history.
This is the tale of Jing Ke, the audacious drunkard who attempted to change history forever by eliminating the First Emperor before he could swallow the world. Now, I know that seems like a massive spoiler, but while we know that Qin Shi Huang went on to conquer or annex all the states and form the “Qin” Empire and Dynastic China, the story of this man’s near miss, at changing the course of history as we know it becomes no less exhilarating for knowing the ending.
The End of an Era of Conflict
Jing Ke was born into a world in flux. For a long time, China had been divided into several competing kingdoms, each striving for dominance. His birth, in such a tumultuous era, would shape his destiny.
The period of warring states, however, was seemingly drawing to a close. The man who would go on to be called Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, was, at the start of our tale, the young king of a thriving Qin kingdom; his name was Ying Zheng. Under the reign of his grandfather and father, Qin had expanded significantly, and it seemed like nothing would stop it from swallowing the whole world. Ying Zheng had both the will and the power to make it so. The…
