代国 / Dai State
代国 / Dai State appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》04｜豫让 为智瑶复仇 as the polity conquered by 赵无恤 / 赵襄子. The episode stresses the kinship betrayal: the Dai ruler is Zhao Wuxu’s brother-in-law, and Zhao uses a family banquet setting to kill him and absorb Dai.
The conquest is not presented as clean strategic expansion. Zhao Wuxu’s sister kills herself after the attack, so the source reads the episode as both a state-building move and a human tragedy inside the ruling family.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》114-1｜今天聊聊 嬴政都有哪些残忍手段 returns Dai as the refuge after 赵国’s capital falls. 赵嘉 leads several hundred clan members there, calls himself king of Dai rather than king of Zhao, attracts anti-Qin Zhao officials, and joins 燕国 forces at Shanggu. The episode links Dai’s usefulness to geography, old Zhao frontier history, and the fact that 赵迁 / 赵幽缪王 remains alive as Qin’s captive.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-2｜秦王大难不死之后干了件你不知道的事？ shows Dai’s remnant role under direct pressure. After 嬴政 / 秦始皇 survives 荆轲’s assassination attempt, 王翦 attacks 燕国 and defeats the Yan force together with Dai Wang 赵嘉 west of the Yi River. Dai remains a refuge conceptually, but this source shows how dependent it is on Yan’s collapsing military position.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-3｜历史上第一位真正意义上“垂帘听政”太后 ends Dai’s late-Warring-States remnant function. After 王贲 takes Yan, the episode says Qin can attack Dai from the north and captures 赵嘉, removing the last Zhao-line resistance base before Qin turns fully toward 齐国.
Hanji 155-2 uses Dai in the later Chu-Han northern campaign. After 韩信 defeats 魏豹, 刘邦 sends 张耳 to assist Han Xin against Zhao and Dai. Han Xin defeats Dai troops near 阏与 and takes 晋阳, making Dai a first northern step before the coming Zhao campaign.
Connections
- 赵无恤 / 赵襄子 - conqueror.
- 赵国 - absorbing polity.
- 代成君 - Zhao Bolu’s son later associated with Dai.
- 三家分晋 - broader state-formation context.
- 赵嘉, 燕国, 秦国, 残余政权根据地, and 生俘亡君的合法性钳制 - Qinji 114-1 remnant resistance base after Handan falls.
- 王翦 and Qinji 115-2 - defeat of the Yan-Dai joint force west of the Yi River.
- 王贲, Qinji 119-3, and 齐国 - final Dai capture before the narrative turns to Qi.
- Hanji 155-2, 韩信, 张耳, 阏与, and 晋阳 - Chu-Han northern campaign step before Zhao.