Battle of Boju The Battle of Boju ( ) was the decisive battle of the war fought in 506 BC between Wu and Chu , two major kingdoms during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China . The Wu forces were led by King Helü , his brother Fugai , and Chu exile Wu Zixu . According to Sima Qian ' s " Shiji " , Sun Tzu , the author of " The Art of War " , was a main commander of the Wu army , but he was not mentioned in the " Zuo Zhuan " and other earlier historical texts . The Chu forces were led by " Lingyin " ( prime minister ) Nang Wa ( also known as Zichang ) and " Sima " ( chief military commander ) Shen Yin Shu . The Wu were victorious , and captured and destroyed the Chu capital Ying . Background . Wu was originally a minor state east of Chu , which was a major power of the Spring and Autumn Period and was frequently at war with the state of Jin , the other major power north of Chu . In order to check Chu ' s expansion , Jin made an alliance with Wu , trained the Wu army , and taught them to use chariots . Wu gradually grew stronger , and in 584 BCE defeated Chu for the first time and annexed the Chu city of Zhoulai . In the following 70 years Chu and Wu fought ten wars , with Wu winning most of them . During the reign of King Ping of Chu , the corrupt official Fei Wuji induced the king to marry the bride of Crown Prince Jian . Fearing the revenge of the prince when he would become king , Fei persuaded King Ping to exile Prince Jian and kill his advisor Wu She along with his son Wu Shang . Wu She ' s second son Wu Zixu escaped to the state of Wu and vowed revenge . Fei Wuji was later executed by Nang Wa and Shen Yin Shu . In the kingdom of Wu , Wu Zixu became a trusted advisor of Prince Guang and helped him assassinate his cousin King Liao of Wu . Prince Guang ascended the throne and was known as King Helü of Wu . Beginning of the Wu - Chu War . " Zuo Zhuan " , one of the earliest Chinese works of narrative history compiled in the 4th century BCE , gives a detailed account of the battle and the larger war . In 506 BCE , during the reign of King Zhao of Chu , King Helü decided to invade Chu . The king personally led the army , along with his younger brother Fugai and Wu Zixu . Wu was joined by the minor states of Cai and Tang whose monarchs had been held prisoners by the Chu prime minister Nang Wa . The Wu army sailed up the Huai River and then left their ships and marched to the east bank of the Han River . In response , Nang Wa and chief military commander Shen Yin Shu led the Chu army to the west bank of the Han , across the river from the invaders . Shen Yin Shu devised a plan in which Nang Wa would take up defensive positions with the main army along the Han River , while Shen would go north to Fangcheng on Chu ' s northern frontier , and lead the troops stationed there to destroy the Wu ships left on the Huai River and block the three passes on the Wu army ' s return route . Nang Wa would then cross the Han and the two forces would simultaneously attack the Wu army from both the front and the back . Nang accepted the plan , and Shen departed for Fangcheng . After Shen ' s departure , however , the historiographer Shi Huang ( 史皇 ) said to Nang Wa that the people of Chu hated Nang and loved Shen Yin Shu , and that if he followed Shen ' s plan then Shen would take all the credit for the victory and Nang would be doomed . Nang had a change of heart and decided to cross the river and attack right away . The two armies fought three battles between the Xiaobie ( southeast of present - day Hanchuan ) and Dabie Mountains and the Wu were victorious . Convinced that he could not win , Nang Wa wanted to flee but was dissuaded by Shi Huang . On the 19th day of the 11th month ( Chinese calendar ) , the two armies were drawn up at Boju . Fugai asked King Helü for permission to attack , saying that Nang Wa was cruel and his soldiers had no will to fight , and that if he attacked the Chu soldiers were sure to flee . King Helü denied his request , but Fugai decided to disobey the king and attack anyway with his own force of 5 , 000 men . As he predicted , the Chu soldiers fled and the Chu army was routed . Shi Huang was killed in the battle and Nang Wa escaped to the state of Zheng . Fugai then pursued the Chu army to Qingfa River , waited until half of them had crossed the river , and then attacked and defeated them again . Later , the Wu army caught up with the Chu soldiers when they were having their meal . The Chu soldiers fled , and the Wu troops ate their food , resumed the pursuit , and defeated them again at Yongshi River ( 雍澨 , present - day Sima River in Jingshan County ) . After winning five battles , the Wu army reached Ying , the capital of Chu . King Zhao of Chu escaped first to Yun , and then to the state of Sui , and the Wu captured Ying . Shen Yin Shu had by now returned and defeated the Wu forces at Yongshi , but he was wounded three times in as many battles . Not wanting to be captured alive , he ordered officer Wu Goubi to kill him and bring his head home . Aftermath . After the fall of Ying , Shen Baoxu , an official of Chu and a former friend of Wu Zixu , went to the State of Qin to plead for assistance . At first the Qin ruler Duke Ai ( 秦哀公 ) refused to help , but after Shen spent seven days crying in the palace courtyard , Duke Ai was moved by his devotion and agreed to send troops to assist Chu . In 505 BCE , the Qin and Chu armies jointly defeated Wu in several battles . In September Fugai returned to Wu and declared himself king . King Helü was therefore forced to return and defeated Fugai , who fled and sought refuge in Chu . King Zhao of Chu then returned to the capital Ying . Legacy . Historian Fan Wenlan considers the Battle of Boju and the Wu - Chu War the first large - scale war of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty . Chu , one of the most powerful states in the Spring and Autumn Period , would never regain its former strength and Wu reached the zenith of its power . However , Wu was unable to hold on to its territorial gains and its strength would not last for long . In 473 BCE , only three decades after it almost conquered the Kingdom of Chu , the Kingdom of Wu itself would be conquered by the rising power of Yue to its south .