Chu Takes Lingping, 529 BCE

Background

The previous entry records that in the seventh year of King Jing of Zhou Chu destroyed Lai and Wu moved its settlement to the foot of Lingping Mountain under the name Lingping. Lingping being a Wu settlement, Chu and Wu went on contending for this ground.

Time and place

The gazetteer dates this entry to "the sixteenth year, a renshen year", continuing the reign of King Jing of Zhou:

十六年壬申，楚子弃疾遣苏乃为将，败吴军，取陵平，更名平陵。「乃」，野志作「逸」，《高淳志》作「代」，今从《金陵志》及《郡纪》。

Translated: In the sixteenth year, a renshen year, the viscount of Chu, Qiji, sent Su Nai as general; he defeated the Wu army, took Lingping and renamed it Pingling. For "Nai", the unofficial gazetteer has "Yi" and the Gaochun gazetteer has "Dai"; the Jinling gazetteer and the Junji are followed here.

By the sexagenary year given in the source, this is 529 BCE. The fighting took place at Lingping, the settlement to which Wu had moved, and the gazetteer notes that Lingping Mountain lies in present-day Liyang.

What happened

The viscount of Chu, Qiji, sent Su Nai as general; he defeated the Wu army, took Lingping, and at once renamed it Pingling.

Consequences

Lingping passed to Chu under the new name Pingling, and the Wu settlement there was lost. The gazetteer continues with the conquest of Wu by Yue in the third year of King Yuan of Zhou and the conquest of Yue by Chu in the thirty-seventh year of King Xian, showing how often this ground changed hands in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

Dating basis

This entry predates the establishment of Lishui County in 591 CE, the eleventh year of the Kaihuang era. At that time Lishui did not yet exist as a county: what is recorded here concerns the Lishui area and its predecessor Liyang County. The BCE year is a later reconstruction, not a figure given in the source.

Uncertainties

First, the general's name has variant readings. The gazetteer notes that the unofficial gazetteer gives "Yi" and the Gaochun gazetteer "Dai", and follows the Jinling gazetteer and the Junji; this entry follows the old gazetteer with "Su Nai" and records the variants.

Second, the year is given only as "the sixteenth year", without repeating the royal title; if the dating of the previous entry is wrong, this one follows it. For these reasons the confidence level is set to medium.