King Wuzhu of Minyue and King Yao of Donghai were both descendants of King Goujian of Yue, with the surname Zou. After the unification of the Qin Dynasty, they were reduced to ordinary officials, and their territories became Minzhong Commandery. Later, when the princes rebelled against the Qin Dynasty, Wuzhu and Yao led the people of Yue to side with Wu Rui, the Prefect of Poyang (also known as Pojun), and participated in the war to overthrow the Qin Dynasty. At that time, Xiang Yu was in charge and did not crown them as kings, so they did not join Chu. After the Han Dynasty defeated Xiang Yu, Wuzhu and Yao once again led the people of Yue to assist the Han Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Wuzhu was reinstated as King of Minyue, ruling the original Minzhong region, with the capital at Dongye. In the third year of Emperor Xiaohui of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty appreciated the help of the people of Yue during the reign of Emperor Gaozu, acknowledging the great achievements of King Yao and his people's loyalty. Therefore, Yao was crowned as King of Donghai, with the capital at Dong'ou, and was later known as King of Dong'ou. Several generations later, in the third year of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, King of Wu, Liu Pi, rebelled and attempted to enlist Minyue in the rebellion against the Han Dynasty. However, Minyue did not agree; only King Dong'ou followed Liu Pi in rebellion. After Liu Pi's defeat, King Dong'ou, to save himself, obeyed the orders of the Han Dynasty and killed Liu Pi's son, Dantu, thus avoiding execution and being allowed to return home.
Later, Prince Zi Ju, son of King Wu Liu Bi, fled to Minyue. He held a grudge against the King of Dong Ou for killing his father, so he kept persuading the King of Minyue to attack Dong Ou. In the third year of Emperor Wu's Jianyuan reign, the King of Minyue finally sent troops to surround Dong Ou. Dong Ou was under siege, starving, and facing imminent disaster, so they had to send someone to ask the Emperor of the Han Dynasty for help. Emperor Wu asked the Grand Commandant Tian Fen what to do, and Tian Fen replied, "Yue states frequently warred with each other. They're unreliable, and there's no need for the court to bother rescuing them, especially since they've never been loyal subjects since the Qin." At this time, the Middle Official Zhuang Zhu refuted Tian Fen, saying, "Our only concern is that we lack the strength to rescue them and the influence to sway them; if we have enough strength and influence, why would we abandon them? Even Xianyang was abandoned after the Qin fell, let alone a tiny state like Yue! Now, a tiny state's begging for help because they're starving. If the Emperor does not help them, who else can they turn to for help? How can we hope to rule the empire?" The Emperor declared, "The Grand Commandant's wrong. I've just taken the throne, and I'm not about to use the Tiger Seal and mobilize the armies." So he sent Zhuang Zhu with the Emperor's imperial token to Kuaiji to mobilize troops. The Kuaiji prefect tried to stop him, refusing to send troops. Zhuang Zhu then killed a military officer to make his point, and only then was he able to successfully mobilize the troops, cross the sea by boat, and rescue Dong Ou. Before they arrived, the King of Minyue withdrew his troops. The King of Dong Ou asked to move his entire kingdom to the Central Plains, settling his people in the Jianghuai region.
Back in 135 BCE, Minyue went to war with Nanyue. Nanyue followed the imperial decree and did not dare to attack on their own, but reported to the central government. Emperor Wu of Han sent Wang Hui from Yuzhang and Han Anguo from Kuaiji as generals. Before the Han army crossed the mountains, King Ying led his troops to occupy strategic positions to resist. His brother Yushan and the ministers and clan members discussed and said, "The king attacked Nanyue without permission from the court, so the emperor sent troops to suppress. Now the Han army is strong; even if we somehow won, more Han troops will come in the future, and our country will eventually be destroyed. It's better to kill the king and apologize to the emperor. If the emperor accepts our apology, he'll call off the troops, and we'll be safe. Otherwise, we fight to the death – and if we lose, we'll flee to the sea." Everyone agreed, so they killed King Ying and sent messengers to present his head to Wang Hui. Wang Hui said, "We came to kill King Ying; now that his head has been presented, it's like apologizing. The problem can be solved without fighting; it couldn't be better." So he immediately stopped marching, notified Han Anguo to halt his advance, and sent messengers to rush King Ying's head back to the emperor. Emperor Wu of Han ordered the two armies to stop attacking, saying, "Ying's the one responsible; only his grandson You Junchou did not participate in the rebellion." So he appointed You Junchou as the King of Yueyao and let him keep overseeing Minyue's religious rites. After Yushan killed Ying, he became incredibly popular in the country, and many people submitted to him, so he secretly crowned himself king. King You was powerless to stop him, his reign crumbling. After Emperor Wu of Han heard about this, he thought there was no need to send troops after Yushan again, saying, "Yushan had repeatedly plotted with Ying. Now that he has killed Ying, that counts as making amends, and our army saves us a lot of trouble." So Emperor Wu of Han appointed Yushan as the King of Dongyue, sharing the rule of Minyue with King You.
By the year 134 BC, the Southern Yue rebelled, and the King of Dong Yue, Yu Shan, wrote a letter requesting to send eight thousand soldiers to follow the Louchuan General to attack Lu Jia and others. When the army reached Jieyang, they encountered a fierce storm, so they stopped advancing. Yu Shan wavered, secretly allying with the Southern Yue. The Dong Yue army failed to support the Han assault on Panyu. At this time, General Lou Chuan sent a messenger to seize the opportunity to attack Dong Yue. Emperor Wu of Han said the troops were exhausted and did not agree, ordering the cessation of military operations and stationing the commanders at Yuzhang Meiling, awaiting orders.
In the autumn of the sixth year of Yuanding, news arrived that the Louchuan General was marching on Yu Shan; the Han army was at the border, poised to strike. Yu Shan then rebelled, leading his troops to resist the Han army. He even bestowed the grand title of "Swallowing Han General" upon generals like Zou Li, and then led his army to kill the three captains of the Han army in Baisha, Wulin, and Meiling in a single sweep. At that time, the Han court had stationed Great Agriculturist Zhang Cheng and former Mountain Prefecture Governor Chi to guard, but they did not dare to send troops to fight and only sought safety. Their cowardice cost them their lives; the court executed them both.
That Yu Shan is still trying to be clever, having carved a jade seal reading "Emperor Wu" and pretending to be the emperor, spreading false rumors and deceiving the populace. Emperor Wu of Han naturally would not let him go, so he sent General Han Shuo from Sujia to launch a seaborne attack from the east; General Lou Chuan Yang Pu attacked from the Wulin direction; Lieutenant Wang Wenshu attacked from the Meiling direction; and Yue Hou led the warships and General Xialai, attacking from the Ruoxie and Baisha directions. By the winter of the first year of Yuanfeng, the Han army's troops from all directions had invaded Dongyue territory. Dongyue, which was originally well-defended by mountains and rivers, sent troops to hold Wulin, defeating several captains of the Lou Chuan army and killing many Han officials. Later, General Lou Chuan Yang Pu led the army from Qiantang, killed the general guarding Wulin, and was therefore made Marquis Yuer. This all happened before the Han army officially declared war.
Before Wu Yang, Yueyan Marquis, who was previously an official in the Han Dynasty, was still in office, the Han Dynasty sent people to persuade Yu Shan to surrender, but Yu Shan ignored them. When General Han Shuo arrived in Dongyue, Wu Yang led his subordinates to rebel with seven hundred men and even attacked the Dongyue army in Hanyang. At this time, Marquis Jiancheng Ao and Wang Jugu conspired together, saying, "Yu Shan is the culprit. He is holding us common people hostage. Now that the Han army is here, strong, we should kill Yu Shan, surrender, and maybe we'll all live." So they killed Yu Shan together and surrendered to General Han Shuo with their subordinates. For their services, Wang Jugu was appointed as the Marquis of Dongcheng with a fief of ten thousand households; Marquis Jiancheng Ao was appointed as the Marquis of Kailing; Wu Yang was appointed as the Marquis of Beishi; Han Shuo was appointed as the Marquis of Andao; Han Shuo's deputy, Fu, was appointed as the Marquis of Liaoying. This Fu, son of Prince Chengyang, had been Marquis of Haichang but lost his title for a crime. He got his title back thanks to family connections. The other generals had no merits, so they were not appointed as marquises. Seeing the Han army's unstoppable advance, the other Dongyue generals surrendered; one was made Marquis of Wuxi. Finally, Emperor Wu of Han felt that Dongyue was strategically important, with a large population, and the people in the Minyue region often rebelled and were constantly mutinous. Therefore, he ordered the people of Dongyue and Minyue to be relocated to the Jianghuai region. And so Dongyue was depopulated.
Sima Qian said: Although the Kingdom of Yue is a region considered uncivilized, what amazing things did their ancestors do for the common good? Why has it lasted for so long? Several generations have been powerful nobles, with only Goujian once dominating them all. However, what King Goujian did was truly remarkable; he destroyed the state of Wu and deported a massive population. Yet, his descendants, like Wangju and Gu, were still appointed as high-ranking officials. This shows that the Kingdom of Yue has been a noble family for generations! This is probably because they inherited Dayu's legacy.
Sima Qian found this longevity puzzling, especially given Yue's humble origins. He believed that the reason why the Kingdom of Yue could prosper for so long might be related to Dayu, as they benefited from his influence. While Goujian's destruction of Wu was a major event, his methods were marked by extreme cruelty and acts of great injustice. Nonetheless, his descendants still enjoyed power and privilege, indicating that the family power of the Kingdom of Yue was deeply rooted and sustained for a long time, unrelated to the merits of their ancestors, more like a fortunate accident or simply inherited power.
