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The legendary group of generals who served as King Zhao's blades, Qin's Six Great Generals were so trusted and formidable they were given free rein to war during the golden era of the Warring States, conquering vast swathes of land for Qin. States feared the Six Great Generals so much that cities would open their gates to them. The group eventually became defunct when all but one of its members, Wang Yi, died of various causes. Later revived by Zheng after the conquest of Ye.
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General Tropes
- Badass Crew: The most powerful and successful group of generals in the history of the warring states.
- Hero of Another Story: The Qin Six scored spectacular victories and conquests in the golden age, turning Qin into a super-state, but their era is past, and the story is told from the perspective of a new generation.
- The Dreaded: The Qin Six were so feared that cities would open their gates rather than challenge them. Even today, their name carries tremendous weight.
- Four-Star Badass: All of them, obviously. The rank of Great General is the highest in seemingly every warring state’s military hierarchy, and all of these guys were obviously of that rank.
- Genius Bruiser: All but Hu Shang were formidable warriors in addition to being great tacticians.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: With the exception of Bai Qi, who's considered one of the best generals from the Warring States Era, the rest of them were fairly obscure figures in history. In fact, considering Wang He is often theorized to be the same person as Wang Yi, some of them might never even have existed at all.
- Old Soldier: Except Liao, all of the Qin Six lived up to a ripe old age but still kicked a huge amount of ass.
- Posthumous Character: All but Wang Yi are dead by the beginning of the story.
- Public Domain Character: Although the concept of "Six Great Generals" itself is fictional, the generals themselves are historical characters.
- The Smurfette Principle: Each generation of The Qin Six has one female member. General Liao in the first, Yang Duanhe in the second.
- Undying Loyalty: The Qin Six were given free rein to wage war not only because of their might, but also because of their iron loyalty to King Zhao.
1st Generation
Bai Qi
Bai Qi
Japanese Pronunciation: Haku Ki
The leader of the Six Great Generals. Several years prior to the series, Bai Qi is placed in charge of one of the largest battles in Chinese history, the Battle of Changping, where Qin and Zhao both brought forth the brunt of their military might. After securing the victory, Bai Qi buries the 400,000 survivors alive.
- Combat Pragmatist: Will not fight battles if he thinks victory will be unlikely. While this pragmatic approach made him extremely successful in expanding Qin's territory, it ultimately led him to lose favour with Zheng's father.
- Death Glare: Seems to be his default expression. Didn’t budge an inch during the mass burial at Changping.
- Driven to Suicide: Killed himself. The Shiji describes this in more detail and turns out it was more of a Murder by Suicide by Zheng's paranoid father.
- Four-Star Badass: Considering that he was the leader of Qin's Six Great Generals. In fact, it's said that he had never suffered a loss in his entire career.
- Generation Xerox: In many ways, Wang Jian is the current generation's Bai Qi. Both are cold strategists experts at reading and manipulating opponents, both were capable of fort building, and are hugely pragmatic, never fighting battles they don't have a high chance of winning. Lian Po notes the great similarity between their style and calibre. They differ in Bai Qi's 'iron loyalty' to King Zhao while Wang Jian allegedly cares only for himself.
- Good Is Not Nice: Responsible for the most monstrous tragedy in the entire series.
- The Leader: Of the Qin Six, and by extension Qin's military. He led 400,000 soldiers, including Wang Yi, against Lian Po in the Battle of Changping.
- Manipulative Bastard: Lian Po claims that he would never take any bait and would always outplay his enemies by getting them frustrated and hence running into traps.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: He was given the nickname Human Butcher in Real Life.
- Posthumous Character: As with all the other Qin Six besides Wang Yi. In his case, the cause of his death was suicide.
- Public Domain Character: Perhaps the most infamous one here besides Zheng, due to his orchestration of the burial at Changping.
- The Strategist: The strategist.
Wang Yi
Wang Yi
Japanese Pronunciation: Ou Ki
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama
"As if he could fly, he would materialize anywhere and everywhere wielding that ferocity. At some point, Wang Yi became known as the Monstrous Bird of Qin."
A legendary general and last surviving member of Qin's Six Great Generals. After King Zhao's death, Wang Yi unofficially retires, returning only during the Mayang conflict when a Zhao army led by his nemesis Pang Nuan invades Qin.
Stats: Strength |98|, Leadership |93|, Knowledge |95|
- All-Powerful Bystander: Despite initially siding with Chengjiao which allowed him to fake Lord Changwen's death, he remains mostly neutral throughout Chengjiao's rebellion.
- Ambiguously Bi: We know that he has been in a relationship with a woman before, but he's made some not-so-subtle hints at being interested in men as well.
- Camp Straight: That said, we’ve never seen any confirmation, so he could just be very flamboyant.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: The Wang Yi army works on this logic, with Wang Yi himself obviously being the most powerful man in it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers one to about everyone in the series. Pang Nuan is the only one to not succumb in a single blow against him, in fact.
- Battle Couple: Presumably with Liao, a fellow member of the Six Great Generals. He would have been her husband if not for her premature death.
- Berserk Button: Pang Nuan is the only person or thing able to make him lose his cool. He is sent into a blinding rage after meeting him again years after Liao's death.
- The Chessmaster: Wang Yi received all of Lord Changwen's land in exchange for killing him but faked his death instead. He then places all of Lord Changwen's family and tenants under his protection (since they're on his property now) when Chengjiao orders them all to be executed.
- Decomposite Character: Assuming the historical Wang Yi and Wang He were the same person, he would be this.
- Four-Star Badass: Proficient at tactics and one of the most powerful characters in the entire series.
- Died Standing Up: Died while sitting on his warhorse, after leading his men in breaking through a massive encircling enemy army.
- Gag Lips: The author gave his lips 100/100 points in fact.
- Genius Bruiser: Not only is he a real monster in battle, he's also extremely proficient at tactics, completely outwitting Zhao's generals.
- Killed Off for Real: By Pang Nuan, via impalement on his broken glaive.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: Wang Yi was historically a relatively unknown general without notable achievements (certainly compared to the likes of Wang Jian, Lian Po, Meng Tian, Bai Qi and Li Mu). Here, he's considered the most powerful general in Qin's history and perhaps the most feared in all of China.
- Large and in Charge: Dude’s huge.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Killed by Pang Nuan at the end of the Mayang conflict.
- Moment of Weakness: Not everyone respects the duel of Great Generals. A Zhao archer freezes his movement with an arrow while he fights Pang Nuan, allowing Pang Nuan to impale him.
- One-Man Army: And not only is he capable of slaying thousands by himself, the reputation of the Six Great Generals was such that cities would immediately surrender should they set sight to one.
- In fact, Zhao's tactician had to deploy six of the nation's most powerful generals, plus Pang Nuan and his personal army in order to have a chance against him. The plan succeeds, even though Wang Yi saw through it near the end, because he underestimated the hidden army's speed.
- Perpetual Smiler: Pretty much the only time we ever see him drop the smile is during the flashback to Liao’s death when he cut down Pang Nuan.
- Red Baron: "The Monstrous Bird of Qin".
- Signature Laugh: "Kokokoko..."
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Wang Yi agrees to take Xin as his apprentice only after he proves himself by subjugating a stateless village that's constantly being attacked by barbarians.
- The Strategist: Easily one of the greatest Qin has at the start of the series. Though it is never stated directly, he is heavily implied to be both a strategic and instinctual general. On the strategic side, he is shown to excellently deploy his troops in incredibly effective manners, create impossibly efficient communications systems, and easily out-think Zhao's most skilled generals and strategists. From the very start of the Mayang Campaign, each of his moves were chosen specifically to weaken the enemy so that his army of drafted farmers and Meng Wu could match one of the best armies Zhao could field.
- Gut Feeling: On the instinctual side, he has a knack for picking the best targets on the battlefield to eliminate to cause the Zhao to fall apart, as evidenced by killing Feng Ji on the first day. And in one of the single greatest feats in the entire series, he was able to pick up on the hidden Zhao army with no prior information, simply on the Zhao army's movements and the fact that it is the only possible thing that could turn the one-sided battle in Zhao's favor.
- Troll: His 'Wang Yi jokes' tend to be pretty random and always throw people off-guard.
- The Worf Effect: Li Mu's victory over Wang Yi is used to establish the former cred as a badass general.
Liao
Liao
Japanese Pronunciation: Kyou
A Legendary general and the only female member of Qin's Six Great Generals. Liao was Wang Yi's fiancee and set to marry him after her conquest of Mayang, but was tragically slain by Pang Nuan after her conquest.Stats: Strength |94|, Leadership |97|, Knowledge |95|
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Her style of warfare was incredibly offense-oriented and aggressive. Initially, her obsession with offense can leave her to make mistakes, which compels Wang Yi to send Lord Changwen to watch over her, though it is implied she outgrew the need for this.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: As a Great General, this is almost expected, and she was certainly no slouch.
- Battle Couple: Presumably so with Wang Yi, a fellow member of the Six Great Generals. She would have been his wife if not for her premature death.
- Child Prodigy: A natural genius at warfare, becoming a member of the Qin Six in her twenties. Who knows how strong she would have become had she lived longer...
- Cool Mask: Worn to conceal her gender, and possibly the fact that she was King Zhao’s illegitimate daughter.
- Four-Star Badass: A given. She conquered a hundred cities in her rather short service, alongside countless other conquests.
- Fragile Speedster: Her nimbleness allows her to land many strikes to Pang Nuan but it takes just one strike from him to fatally wound her.
- Master Swordsman: An extremely able swordsman capable of giving Pang Nuan several grievous wounds before falling herself.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: The child of King Zhao, smuggled out of the palace as a baby.
- Only One Name: Unlike pretty much everyone else, she only has one name. This is because she's King Zhao's daughter and therefore would have the same surname as him. Historically speaking though, it's because nobody saw it fit to mention General Liao's surname.
- Posthumous Character: A historical general who is long gone by the time Kingdom proper begins.
- Samus Is a Girl: Zheng was shocked to hear of her true gender. Interesting example as her gender is incredibly obvious to readers based on her appearance and name, but it is a shock to people at the time as most never saw her in person.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female among the Six Greats.
Hu Shang
Hu Shang
Japanese Pronunciation: Ko Shou
One of Qin's Six Great Generals, Hu Shang was not recognised for his great martial might unlike the rest of the Qin Six. Instead, he was revered for his strategic might, considered so great that he was believed to be the true mastermind behind the Qin Six.
- The Chessmaster: It is believed by some that he was the true mastermind and orchestrator behind the exploits of the Qin Six, and that they were mere extensions of his limbs.
- Four-Star Badass
- The Mentor: He was Lord Changping's teacher.
- Non-Action Guy: The only one in the Qin Six, but still considered equally formidable as the rest.
- Posthumous Character
- The Strategist
Sima Cuo
Sima Cuo
Japanese Pronunciation: Shiba Saku
One of Qin's Six Great Generals
- Bit Character: The one we know the least about.
Wang He
Wang He
Japanese Pronunciation: Ou Kotsu
Said to be the physically strongest among Qin's Six Great Generals. Wang He invaded Chu at some point, but was crushed by Han Ming and forced to retreat.
- The Brute: Gives this impression, being the physically strongest of the Qin Six. Of course, the Qin might've seen him as The Big Guy instead.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Han Ming defeated him in a single blow.
- Decomposite Character: Assuming the historical Wang Yi and Wang He are the same person, he would be this.
- Four-Star Badass: As a member of the Six Greats.
- Informed Ability: His crushing defeat at a young Han Ming's hands is irreconcilable with his great martial reputation, even taking into account Han Ming's own abilities.
- Posthumous Character: Long dead by the start of the story.
- The Worf Effect: He is defeated by Han Ming to prove the Chu general as a Worthy Opponent to Meng Wu.
2nd Generation
Meng Wu
See the Qin Military page here.
Teng
See the Teng Army page here.
Wang Jian
See the Meng Ao Army page here.
Yang Duanhe
Huan Yi
See the Huan Yi's bandits page here.
