Planning In 228 BC, the Qin army was already at the
Zhao capital of
Handan, and was waiting to approach the
state of Yan. At the time, Dukang (督亢, in present-day
counties of
Zhuozhou,
Gaobeidian and
Gu'an of
Hebei province) was the first region of the Yan state that the Qin wanted to
annex due to the region's fertile farmlands.) had lost favor with the Qin court and fled to Yan in
exile, and the Qin state wanted him for
treason and had put a
bounty of 1,000 gold pieces for his head. Jing Ke went to Fan Yuqi to personally discuss the assassination plan. Fan Yuqi, who wanted revenge against Qin, believed that the plan would work, and agreed to
commit suicide so that his
severed head could be collected as a more sincere gift to Qin, which would give Jing Ke the opportunity to get closer to
King Zheng of Qin. Other sources suggest Jing Ke described Qin Wuyang as a rural boy who had never seen the world and was suffering a
cultural shock. The injured Jing Ke
threw his dagger at King Zheng in desperation, but missed. The king then proceeded to stab Jing Ke eight more times, mortally wounding him. Knowing it was hopelessly over, the dying Jing Ke sat with his legs
stretched forward and apart (a posture then considered very rude), and used the last of his strength to taunt King Zheng with abuses. At this point, the guards had arrived at the scene to finish off both Jing Ke and the fleeing Qin Wuyang. It was recorded that right after the incident, King Zheng sat on the throne holding his sword
catatonically for a short while before recovering from the
mental shock, and thanked and rewarded the physician Xia Wuju for attempting to stop the assassin. ==Yan annihilation==