燕王喜 / King Xi of Yan
燕王喜 / King Xi of Yan enters the wiki as the 燕国 ruler whose first developed decision is the failed attack on 赵国 in 《资治通鉴·秦纪》100-2｜六国竟然同时为他吊丧. After 秦昭襄王 dies and the six states attend the funeral, Yan Wang Xi looks for opportunity in Zhao’s post-长平之战 trauma.
He sends 栗腹 to Zhao under alliance language, accepts Li Fu’s report that Zhao’s adult males are depleted and its orphans not yet grown, and calls officials to prepare war. 乐间 warns that Zhao is a fighting state and cannot be judged only by demographic loss, while 将渠 warns that attacking immediately after alliance and gift exchange will end badly. Yan Wang Xi ignores both warnings.
The resulting 鄗代之战 turns his calculation into a reversal. 廉颇 defeats Li Fu near Hao, defeats the Yan forces around Dai, pursues Yan five hundred li, and surrounds Yan’s capital region. Yan Wang Xi must ask for peace and appoint Jiang Qu as chancellor and negotiator, making the ignored remonstrant the person needed for recovery.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》101-1｜这位倒霉君王登基三天即猝死 extends the same pattern onto the Qi front. Yan troops have captured 辽城, but Yan Wang Xi listens to slander that the occupying commander may rebel. That suspicion helps create the 辽城守将进退困局: the commander cannot safely return, cannot confidently surrender to 齐国, and eventually kills himself after 鲁仲连’s letter forces the choice into view.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》106｜惊人发现信陵君的非正常死亡 returns Yan Wang Xi to the Zhao front. This time he asks 剧辛 whether 庞煖 is a serious opponent; Ju Xin, relying on old familiarity from Zhao, says Pang Nuan is easy to deal with. Yan Wang Xi attacks, Pang Nuan defeats Yan, kills Ju Xin, and captures 20,000 soldiers, making the king’s earlier 灾后趁虚误判 pattern recur after different advice.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》116｜史上最惨太子：被父王亲手斩杀？！ turns Yan Wang Xi’s misjudgment pattern into a terminal survival choice. After 王翦 defeats Yan and Dai and captures Ji, Yan Wang Xi flees toward Liaodong with 燕太子丹. Under 赵嘉’s advice, he kills his own crown prince and tries to offer the head to Qin to preserve Yan’s ancestral sacrifices, but the source says he misreads 嬴政 / 秦始皇’s goal: Qin wants Yan, not only Dan.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》119-1｜拆解荆轲刺秦必败的秘密 records the final result of that misread. In 222 BCE, 王贲 attacks Liaodong, captures Yan Wang Xi, and ends 燕国. The episode treats Dan’s killing as buying only a few years, making Yan Wang Xi’s appeasement another failed attempt to answer Qin’s conquest logic as if it were only anger over one prince.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》120-1｜谁是皇帝中的妈宝男？ gives Yan Wang Xi’s state a later role in Qin’s founding story. Qin’s explanation makes 燕太子丹’s sending of 荆轲 the clearest Yan crime, allowing the final Yan campaign to be narrated as punishment for assassination rather than as ordinary conquest. This is recorded as 兼并自卫叙事.
Connections
- 燕国 - state he rules.
- 栗腹, 乐间, and 将渠 - envoy, warning general, and remonstrant in the failed policy chain.
- 赵国, 赵丹 / 赵孝成王, 廉颇, and 鄗代之战 - target state, ruler, opposing commander, and battle outcome.
- 长平之战 and 灾后趁虚误判 - disaster background and concept extracted from his decision.
- 弱者向更弱者转嫁压迫 - adjacent pattern where pressure from Qin does not stop weaker states from preying on each other.
- 辽城, 田单, 鲁仲连, and 辽城守将进退困局 - Qinji 101-1 Qi-front command-suspicion branch.
- 剧辛, 庞煖, and Qinji 106 - renewed Zhao attack and failed commander assessment.
- Qinji 116, 燕太子丹, 赵嘉, 王翦, and 杀储求和式保祀 - killing the crown prince as a failed Qin-facing appeasement.
- Qinji 119-1 and 王贲 - Liaodong capture and Yan’s final destruction in 222 BCE.
- Qinji 120-1, 荆轲, and 兼并自卫叙事 - Qin’s later framing of Yan’s destruction as punishment for assassination.