Battle of Boju - Beginning of The Wu-Chu War

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, Wu Zixu, as well as Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War. 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.