Wu

Wu was the southeastern kingdom of the lower Yangtze, founded by exiles who tattooed themselves and cut their hair among the southern peoples. Tradition holds that Taibo, eldest son of the Zhou ancestor, yielded the succession to his younger brother and fled to Meili near Lake Tai, where the locals made him their chief; after the Zhou conquest his descendant Zhouzhang was enfeoffed as viscount of Wu. For centuries Wu counted as barbarian, until Jin, seeking an ally against Chu, taught it chariot warfare and ritual in the sixth century BC. The pupil outgrew the teacher: King Shoumeng took the royal title in 585 BC, and under Helu, advised by the exile Wu Zixu and the strategist Sun Wu, author of the Art of War, Wu crushed mighty Chu, entered its capital Ying, and dominated the southeast. Helu's son Fuchai carried the arms north to contest Qi and Jin for the hegemony, and at his Huangchi meeting the central states acknowledged him leader. But while Fuchai campaigned in the north, Goujian of Yue, the vassal he had spared, rebuilt in the south; in 482 BC Yue raided the Wu capital, and in 473 BC Goujian besieged Gusu. Refused aid, Fuchai killed himself, and Wu, famed for its swords, the Wu hooks, passed into Yue and into legend.