楚怀王 / King Huai of Chu

楚怀王 / King Huai of Chu appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》34丨秦国总理如何玩转六国 through the 329 BCE succession notice. 楚威王 dies, and his son succeeds as the new ruler of 楚国.

The source treats the notice as a preview rather than a developed biography. It says Chu Huai Wang will become one of the more dramatic rulers in Warring States history and notes that the Qu Yuan-era narrative is approaching, but this episode keeps him mainly as a marker that the political map is widening beyond the Qin-Wei front.

《资治通鉴·周纪》39丨历史上张仪是怎样怒怼强敌的 gives him his first active court role in the wiki. After 惠施 / 惠师 flees from 魏国 to Chu, 冯浩 advises Chu Huai Wang to send him onward to 宋国 rather than offend 张仪. Later, 陈枕 regains Chu favor by using 左爽’s 因事立道式政治转身.

《资治通鉴·周纪》42丨给孟尝君提意见的后果 gives a gift-court scene involving Mengchang Jun. The source calls the donor the Chu king; because the wiki’s preceding Zhouji chronology has Chu Huai Wang succeeding in 329 BCE, this branch links the scene here cautiously. The gift is an ivory bed whose refusal becomes a case of content-over-motive remonstrance through 公孙须 and 邓图直.

《资治通鉴·周纪》45｜以史为鉴，君王到底该不该杀人成性？ makes him the named leader of the 318 BCE five-state attack on 秦国. Under his alliance leadership, Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, and Yan reach 函谷关, but the source says the states do not attack in unity. Qin cuts Chu’s grain route, Chu withdraws first, and the coalition breaks, making Chu Huai Wang part of 联盟自保失灵 rather than a successful hezong victory.

《资治通鉴·周纪》50丨张仪是怎样把楚怀王忽悠瘸的 makes him the central decision-maker in 张仪’s deception. Chu Huai Wang accepts the promise of six hundred li of 商於, rejects 陈枕’s advice to verify Qin’s delivery before breaking with 齐国, and then escalates the break by insulting 齐宣王. When Zhang Yi changes the promise to six li, Chu Huai Wang refuses Chen Zhen’s second containment advice and attacks Qin, turning diplomatic humiliation into military exposure.

《资治通鉴·周纪》51丨 楚怀王：秦小儿看舅舅如何灭了你！ follows that exposure into disaster. The episode explains his credulity through the size of the promised gain, misplaced trust in 秦惠文王 and Zhang Yi’s office, and Zhang Yi’s prior influence over Chu elites, including pressure against 屈原. Chu Huai Wang then turns rage into war: 丹阳之战 costs Chu eighty thousand soldiers, 屈匄 is captured, 汉中 is lost, and the renewed push through 武关 ends near 蓝田之战. The source makes him the main case for 因怒兴师.

《资治通鉴·周纪》52丨 陈庄叛秦 端起碗吃饭放下碗骂娘 keeps him in the cliffhanger position rather than adding a new completed decision. After Yan and Qin-Shu material, the episode returns to Chu Huai Wang’s hatred of 张仪 and sets up Zhang Yi entering Chu despite the earlier Shangyu deception and Qin-Chu battlefield losses.

《资治通鉴·周纪》53丨秦惠王用张仪换地皮 follows that hatred into a new decision. Chu Huai Wang initially rejects 秦惠文王’s land exchange and demands Zhang Yi in place of 黔中, then imprisons Zhang Yi and prepares to kill him. He reverses after 郑袖 warns of Qin retaliation and a possible Qin ransom package involving 上庸, and he later accepts Zhang Yi’s argument for Qin-Chu brotherhood because releasing Zhang Yi lets him avoid ceding Qianzhong or violating the 不斩来使 norm. The episode therefore treats him as vulnerable to Zhang Yi again, but also as a ruler seeking an exit from an overcommitted revenge posture.

《资治通鉴·周纪》60丨 中国第一位把持朝政的太后竟是她？ makes Chu Huai Wang a temporary Qin ally. He meets 秦昭襄王 at 黄棘 in 304 BCE and receives 上庸 back from Qin. When 齐国, 韩国, and 魏国 punish Chu for abandoning the north-south 合纵 line, he sends crown prince 芈横 to Qin as hostage and receives Qin rescue through 客卿通. The later Mi Heng killing and escape turns Chu Huai Wang’s Qin alignment into a new Qin grievance.

《资治通鉴·周纪》61丨谁是历史上胆儿最肥的帝王？ carries that grievance into open pressure. After Mi Heng’s killing and escape, Qin joins Han, Wei, and Qi against Chu at Chongqiu, where Chu is defeated and Tang Mei is killed. In 300 BCE Qin’s Mi Rong attacks Chu again, kills Jing Que, and takes Xiangcheng; Chu Huai Wang then sends Mi Heng to 齐国 as hostage to seek peace. The source therefore shows Chu Huai Wang relying on hostage diplomacy again even after the previous hostage arrangement helped rupture Qin-Chu relations.

《资治通鉴·周纪》62丨稷儿，诓你舅舅的“腿”啊 turns that pressure into personal captivity. 秦昭襄王 invites Chu Huai Wang to 武关; 昭雎 warns him not to trust Qin, while 芈兰 and kinship confidence through 芈八子 / 宣太后 make attendance seem survivable. Qin closes the pass, takes Chu Huai Wang to 咸阳, and demands 巫郡 plus 黔中. The episode condemns Qin’s deception but also treats Chu Huai Wang’s isolation as self-made: his repeated alliance reversals and exclusion of loyal remonstrants such as 屈原 mean that, when he is detained, Chu’s court debates succession more urgently than rescue.

《资治通鉴·周纪》63丨 德高望重孟尝君是伪君子？ shows that succession debate becoming a loss of hostage leverage for Qin. 楚国 informs Qin that it already has a new king, 芈横 / 楚顷襄王, so holding Chu Huaiwang no longer gives 秦昭襄王 the same coercive path. The episode then has Qin attack Chu through 武关, kill fifty thousand troops, and take sixteen cities.

《资治通鉴·周纪》65丨我穿越去给浪漫的楚王念首诗 completes his captivity branch. Chu Huaiwang escapes 咸阳, finds the 武关 road blocked, fails to gain entry into 赵国 while 赵武灵王 is away in Dai, and is captured before he can use 魏国 as another route home. The episode then records his death in Qin in 296 BCE, Qin’s return of the coffin, and Chu public mourning; it also reassesses him as more than a foolish ruler, stressing his early expansion, later court vulnerability through 张仪 and 郑袖, and the remembered sympathy captured by 王十朋’s poem. This makes him a case for both 君臣反馈失灵 and 道德名望政治资本.

《资治通鉴·周纪》92丨历史上第一位著名舔狗是谁？（2） adds a literary-memory branch. In the episode’s retelling through 宋玉, Chu Huaiwang is the earlier king who dreams of 巫山神女 at Gaotang and has a “朝云” shrine built afterward. This does not revise the captivity-and-death arc; it shows how a defeated ruler can also remain attached to later mythic and poetic memory.

Qinji 130-3 makes his posthumous reputation operational in the Qin-collapse field. 范增 argues that Chu people still pity and remember him after his death in Qin, and that 项梁 should restore a Chu royal descendant rather than repeat 陈胜’s self-kingship mistake. Xiang Liang then installs 芈心, this page’s descendant and namesake claimant, as a new Chu Huai Wang. The episode therefore turns Chu Huaiwang’s death from remembered grievance into 复国王室名义合法性.

Connections

• 楚国 - polity he rules after the succession.
• 楚威王 - predecessor and father in the source notice.
• 周显王 and 《资治通鉴》 - annalistic frame.
• 战国时期 and 纵横家外交 - broader setting into which his reign will enter.
• 惠施 / 惠师, 冯浩, 宋国, 陈枕, and 左爽 - Zhouji 39 displaced-adviser and return-to-Chu branch.
• 孟尝君 / 田文, 公孙须, 邓图直, and 时绌举赢 - Zhouji 42 ivory-bed branch.
• 秦国, 函谷关, 合纵, and 联盟自保失灵 - Zhouji 45 alliance-leader branch.
• 张仪, 秦惠文王, 齐国, 齐宣王, 商於, and 未验地先断交陷阱 - Zhouji 50 deception, alliance break, and failed damage-control branch.
• 丹阳之战, 蓝田之战, 汉中, 武关, 屈匄, 屈原, and 因怒兴师 - Zhouji 51 rage-war, battlefield loss, and court-capture sequel.
• 张仪 - Zhouji 52 closing hook around Zhang Yi entering Chu despite Chu Huai Wang’s hatred.
• 郑袖, 黔中, 上庸, 宫廷后门自救, 可交换功臣, and 不斩来使 - Zhouji 53 prison, release, and face-saving diplomatic exit branch.
• 秦昭襄王, 黄棘, 芈横, 客卿通, 质子外交破裂, and 战国同盟转向 - Zhouji 60 alliance repair, hostage rescue, and Qin-Chu rupture.
• 齐国, 韩国, 魏国, and 质子外交破裂 - Zhouji 61 post-rupture pressure and second Mi Heng hostage branch.
• 昭雎, 芈兰, 芈八子 / 宣太后, 武关, 咸阳, 巫郡, 黔中, 君臣反馈失灵, and 战术信用成本 - Zhouji 62 Wuguan trap, territorial demand, and self-isolation judgment.
• 芈横 / 楚顷襄王, 楚国, and 质子外交破裂 - Zhouji 63 new-king announcement and failed Qin hostage leverage.
• 赵武灵王, 魏国, 王十朋, 权力退场困境, and 道德名望政治资本 - Zhouji 65 failed escape, death in Qin, public mourning, and retrospective reevaluation.
• 宋玉, 巫山神女, and 襄王有意，神女无心 - Zhouji 92 part 2 Gaotang dream and later literary memory.
• 芈心 / 楚怀王, 范增, 项梁, and 复国王室名义合法性 - Qinji 130-3 later reuse of his title and remembered grievance.