The Qin Empire
This story takes place roughly 100 years before the Qin Shihuang Di launched his campaign to conquer all the other states during the Warring States Period of China’s history. The states during this period of constant conflicts were Qin (?) Qi (?), Yan (?), Chu (?), Han (?), Zhao (?), and Wei (?). The Qin state at the start of the series was weak both militarily as well as economically although the drafted peasant soldiers displayed an unusually strong martial spirit.
Qin’s main antagonizer was the Wei state which was the strongest amongst all the states at that time and sought to subjugate the Qin state. Into this picture came a young scholar, Shang Yang (??) from Wei who was welcomed to Qin by Duke Xiao and was made his Chief Advisor. Shang Yang instituted wide ranging reforms from laws of the state to agricultural reforms. The basic tenant of his reforms follow that the Laws of the state are paramount over the people regardless of rank. He took land reforms to the extreme of taking land from the nobility and giving them to the peasants as private land.
