title: Cast (band)

text: In March 2015, Wilkinson confirmed he had left the band and therefore wouldn't be working on their forthcoming album or touring with the band, stating that "without going into too much detail, I don't really want to do it any more" and added that "they play the same set we were playing twenty years ago and I just thought "I can't do that any more - I can't engage with it". Power responded, stating that "we can all breathe easier in the knowledge that all those moments of second guessing and all them feelings of negativity. The toxic and uncreative atmosphere where everyone was feeling something's not quite right were indeed actually quite right. So the weight of carting a problem from room to room has been lifted and Pete can liberate himself and liberate the rest of us from what was becoming a drag and we can get on with being a band and recording new material as opposed to trying placate someone whose body language was telling us something right from the off and that was Pete had bigger issues to deal with other than dealing with Cast."


title: Cast (band)

text: Despite Wilkinson's departure from Cast, he would still involve his former band-mates in his project Aviator, with O'Neill on drums for live shows and Tyson contributing guitar on "The Gift". In May 2017, Wilkinson also tweeted that he had spent a couple of hours with Power, and Power confirmed the amicable nature of their encounter. Meanwhile, Cast resumed recording and touring with Jay Lewis as a full member of the band, with Power crediting Lewis as helping the band regain its creativity.


title: Cast (band)

text: In November 2015, the band set up a Pledge Music campaign to fund the recording of their next studio album which was due for release in April 2016. The same year, the band signed to Creation Management, the newly formed music management company run by Alan McGee and Simon Fletcher. The album was delayed due to scheduling conflicts and continued work in the studio, and the band's sixth studio album "Kicking Up the Dust" was eventually released 21 April 2017. A band member had incorrectly claimed the main reason for the delay was that they had signed a major label record deal with Warner Music Group, but in fact they had self-financed the distribution of the album using Warners owned distribution network Alternative Distribution Alliance and remain unsigned.


title: Cast (band)

text: Due to Tyson's touring commitments with Robert Plant to promote the latter's latest album "Carry Fire" (which includes several songs co-written by Tyson), he was unable to participate in Cast's U.K. shows from late November to mid-December 2017. In his absence, Lewis switched from bass to lead guitar, and filling in on bass was Martyn Campbell, best known as a member of The Lightning Seeds and a close friend of O'Neill's who had toured together with the drummer as part of Kealer's backing band. Campbell had also played bass on Power's debut solo album "Happening for Love" and on Richard Ashcroft albums. After fulfilling his duties with Robert Plant, Tyson returned to Cast halfway through their tour, in which they were the opening act for Shed Seven.


title: Cast (band)

text: On 2 May 2018, Cast announced the November release of the compilation "Singles 1995-2017", coinciding with a month-long, 13-date Greatest Hits Tour across the U.K. from 23 November to 22 December.


title: Court of St James's

text: The Court of St James's is the royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. All ambassadors to the United Kingdom are formally received by the court. All ambassadors from the United Kingdom are formally accredited from the court –  – as they are representatives of the Crown.


title: Court of St James's

text: The Marshal of the Diplomatic Corps (before 1920, Master of the Ceremonies), who acts as the link between the British monarch and foreign diplomatic missions, is permanently based at St James's Palace. In 1886, there were only six ambassadors in London, with 37 other countries represented by ministers. By 2015, this had increased to 175 foreign missions accredited to the Court of St James's: 47 high commissions from Commonwealth countries and 128 embassies from non-Commonwealth countries.


title: Court of St James's

text: Official meetings and receptions associated with the court, such as Privy Council meetings or the annual Diplomatic Reception attended by 1,500 guests, are held wherever the monarch is in residence—usually Buckingham Palace.


title: Court of St James's

text: The Court of St James's is named after St James's Palace, hence the possessive "s" at the end of the name. This is because St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace and has remained the official residence of the British monarchy despite the nearby Buckingham Palace having been the main London residence of all the UK's sovereigns since the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. Sometimes the court's name is spoken incorrectly as the "Court of St James", that is, incorrect without a separate "iz" pronunciation for the possessive "s" suffix.


title: Knock-knock joke

text: The knock-knock joke is a type of audience-participatory joke cycle, typically ending with a pun. Knock-knock jokes are primarily seen as children's jokes, though there are exceptions.


title: Knock-knock joke

text: The scenario is of a person knocking on the front door to a house. The teller of the joke says, "Knock, knock!"; the recipient responds, "Who's there?" The teller gives a name (such as "Noah"), a description (such as "Police"), or something that purports to be a name (such as "Needle"). The other person then responds by asking the caller's surname ("Noah who?" / "Police who?" / "Needle who?"), to which the joke-teller delivers a pun involving the name (" place I can spend the night?" / " let me in—it's cold out here!" / " help with the groceries!").


title: Knock-knock joke

text: A possible source of the joke is William Shakespeare's "Macbeth"; first performed in 1606. In Act 2, Scene 3 the porter is very hungover from the previous night. During his monologue he uses "Knock, knock! Who's there" as a refrain while he is speaking:


title: Knock-knock joke

text: Writing in the "Oakland Tribune", Merely McEvoy recalled a style of joke from around 1900 where a person would ask a question such as "Do you know Arthur?", the unsuspecting listener responding with "Arthur who?" and the joke teller answering "!"


title: Knock-knock joke

text: A variation of the format in the form of a children's game was described in 1929. In the game of Buff, a child with a stick thumps it on the ground, and the dialogue ensues:


title: Knock-knock joke

text: In 1936, Bob Dunn authored the book "Knock Knock: Featuring Enoch Knox", and he is regarded by some as having invented the modern knock-knock joke.


title: Knock-knock joke

text: A 1936 Associated Press newspaper article said that "What's This?" had given way to "Knock Knock!" as a favorite parlor game. The article also said that "knock knock" seemed to be an outgrowth of making up sentences with difficult words, an old parlor favorite. A popular joke of 1936 (the year of Edward VIII's brief reign) was "Knock knock. Who's there? Edward Rex. Edward Rex who? the Coronation." Fred Allen's 30 December 1936 radio broadcast included a humorous wrapup of the year's least important events, including a supposed interview with the man who "invented a negative craze" on 1 April: "Ramrod Dank... the first man to coin a Knock Knock."


title: Knock-knock joke

text: The format is so well known that it can be changed to humorous effect. This is shown in this circa 1980 joke:


title: Knock-knock joke

text: Other variations feature an Interrupting Pig, Interrupting Duck and other equally bothersome animals.


title: Knock-knock joke

text: "Knock knock" was the catchphrase of music hall performer Wee Georgie Wood, who was recorded in 1936 saying it in a radio play, but he simply used the words as a reference to his surname and did not use it as part of the well-known joke formula. The format was well known in the UK and US in the 1950s and 1960s before falling out of favor. It then enjoyed a renaissance after the jokes became a regular part of the badinage on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In".


title: Elias Canetti

text: Elias Canetti (; ; 25 July 1905 – 14 August 1994) was a German-language writer, born in Ruse, Bulgaria to a Sephardic family. They moved to Manchester, England, but his father died in 1912, and his mother took her three sons back to continental Europe. They settled in Vienna.


title: Elias Canetti

text: Canetti moved to England in 1938 after the Anschluss to escape Nazi persecution. He became a British citizen in 1952. He is known as a modernist novelist, playwright, memoirist, and nonfiction writer. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power". He is noted for his nonfiction book "Crowds and Power", among other works.


title: Elias Canetti

text: Born in 1905 to businessman Jacques Canetti and Mathilde "née" Arditti in Ruse, a city on the Danube in Bulgaria, Canetti was the eldest of three sons. His ancestors were Sephardi Jews. His paternal ancestors settled in Ruse from Ottoman Adrianople. The original family name was "Cañete", named after Cañete, Cuenca, a village in Spain.


title: Elias Canetti

text: In Ruse, Canetti's father and grandfather were successful merchants who operated out of a commercial building, which they had built in 1898. Canetti's mother descended from the Arditti family, one of the oldest Sephardi families in Bulgaria, who were among the founders of the Ruse Jewish colony in the late 18th century. The Ardittis can be traced to the 14th century, when they were court physicians and astronomers to the Aragonese royal court of Alfonso IV and Pedro IV. Before settling in Ruse, they had migrated into Italy and lived in Livorno in the 17th century.


title: Elias Canetti

text: Canetti spent his childhood years, from 1905 to 1911, in Ruse until the family moved to Manchester, England, where Canetti's father joined a business established by his wife's brothers. In 1912, his father died suddenly, and his mother moved with their children first to Lausanne, then Vienna in the same year. They lived in Vienna from the time Canetti was aged seven onwards. His mother insisted that he speak German, and taught it to him. By this time Canetti already spoke Ladino (his native language), Bulgarian, English, and some French; the latter two he studied in the one year they were in Britain. Subsequently, the family moved first (from 1916 to 1921) to Zürich and then (until 1924) to Frankfurt, where Canetti graduated from high school.


title: Elias Canetti

text: Canetti went back to Vienna in 1924 in order to study chemistry. However, his primary interests during his years in Vienna became philosophy and literature. Introduced into the literary circles of First-Republic-Vienna, he started writing. Politically leaning towards the left, he was present at the July Revolt of 1927 – he came near to the action accidentally, was most impressed by the burning of books (recalled frequently in his writings), and left the place quickly with his bicycle. He gained a degree in chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1929, but never worked as a chemist.


title: Elias Canetti

text: "Die Blendung" 1935 ("Auto-da-Fé", 1935), before escaping to Great Britain. He reflected the experiences of Nazi Germany and political chaos in his works, especially exploring mob action and group thinking in the novel "Die Blendung" and in the non-fiction "Crowds and Power" (1960). He wrote several volumes of memoirs, contemplating the influence of his multi-lingual background and childhood.


title: Elias Canetti

text: In 1934 in Vienna he married Veza (Venetiana) Taubner-Calderon (1897–1963), who acted as his muse and devoted literary assistant. Canetti remained open to relationships with other women. He had a short affair with Anna Mahler. In 1938, after the "Anschluss" with Germany, the Canettis moved to London. He became closely involved with the painter Marie-Louise von Motesiczky, who was to remain a close companion for many years. His name has also been linked with the author Iris Murdoch (see John Bayley's "Iris, A Memoir of Iris Murdoch", which has several references to an author, referred to as "the Dichter", who was a Nobel Laureate and whose works included "Die Blendung" [English title "Auto-da-Fé"]).


title: Elias Canetti

text: After Veza died in 1963, Canetti married Hera Buschor (1933–1988), with whom he had a daughter, Johanna, in 1972. Canetti's brother Jacques Canetti settled in Paris, where he championed a revival of French chanson. Despite being a German-language writer, Canetti settled in Britain until the 1970s, receiving British citizenship in 1952. For his last 20 years, Canetti lived mostly in Zürich.


title: Elias Canetti

text: A writer in German, Canetti won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power". He is known chiefly for his celebrated trilogy of autobiographical memoirs of his childhood and of pre-Anschluss Vienna: "Die Gerettete Zunge" (The Tongue Set Free); "Die Fackel im Ohr" (The Torch in My Ear), and "Das Augenspiel" (The Play of the Eyes); for his modernist novel "Auto-da-Fé" ("Die Blendung"); and for "Crowds and Power", a psychological study of crowd behaviour as it manifests itself in human activities ranging from mob violence to religious congregations.


title: Elias Canetti

text: In the 1970s, Canetti began to travel more frequently to Zurich, where he settled and lived for his last 20 years. He died in Zürich in 1994.


title: Hazzan

text: A hazzan (; , lit. Hazan) or chazzan ( , plural ; Yiddish "khazn"; Ladino Hasan) is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term also used in Christianity.


title: Hazzan

text: The person leading the congregation in public prayers is called the "sh'liaḥ tzibbur" (Hebrew for "emissary of the congregation"). Jewish law restricts this role to adult Jews; among Orthodox Jews, it is restricted to males. In theory, any lay person can be a "sh'liaḥ tzibbur"; many synagogue-attending Jews will serve in this role from time to time, especially on weekdays or when having a Yartzeit. Someone with good Hebrew pronunciation is preferred. In practice, in synagogues without an official Hazzan, those with the best voice and the most knowledge of the prayers serve most often.


title: Hazzan

text: As public worship was developed in the Geonic period and as the knowledge of the Hebrew language declined, singing gradually superseded the didactic and hortatory element in the worship in the synagogue. Thus, while the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources, the office of the "hazzan" increased in importance with the centuries, evolving a specialized set of skills and becoming a career in itself.


title: Hazzan

text: Even in the earliest times the chief qualifications demanded of the "hazzan", in addition to knowledge of Biblical and liturgical literature as well as the prayer motifs (known as "steiger"), were a pleasant voice and an artistic delivery; for the sake of these, many faults were willingly overlooked. The "hazzan" was required to possess a pleasing appearance, to be married, and to have a flowing beard. Sometimes, according to Isaac of Vienna (13th century), a young "hazzan" having only a slight growth of beard was tolerated. Maimonides ruled that the "hazzan" who recited the prayers on an ordinary Sabbath and on weekdays need not possess an appearance pleasing to everybody; he might even have a reputation not wholly spotless, provided he was living a life morally free from reproach at the time of his appointment.


title: Hazzan

text: But all these moderations of the rule disappeared on holidays; then an especially worthy "hazzan" was demanded, one whose life was absolutely irreproachable, who was generally popular, and who was endowed with an expressive delivery. Even a person who had ever litigated in a non-Jewish court, instead of a Jewish court, could not act as "hazzan" on those days, unless he had previously done penance. However many authorities were lenient in this regard, and as long as a cantor was "merutzeh l'kehal," desired by the congregation, he was permitted to lead the prayers even on the holiest of days.


title: Hazzan

text: Today, a "hazzan", particularly in more formal (usually not Orthodox) synagogues, is likely to have academic credentials—most often a degree in music or in sacred music, sometimes a degree in music education or in Jewish religious education or a related discipline. The doctor of music degree is sometimes awarded to honour a "hazzan".


title: Hazzan

text: The role of "hazzanim" as a respected full-time profession has become a reality in recent centuries. In the last two centuries Jews in a number of European communities, notably Germany and Britain, came to view professionally trained "hazzanim" as clergy and the "hazzan" as the deputy rabbi. After the enlightenment, when European nations gave full citizenship and civil rights to Jews, professionally trained "hazzanim" were accepted by the secular governments as clergy just as rabbis were.


title: Hazzan

text: In a paradoxical turn of events, the United States government recognized cantors as the first Jewish clergy, even before rabbis were recognized: as a congregation could be organized and led by a committee of Jewish laypersons, who would not have the expertise in liturgy a hazzan would have, newly forming congregations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes hired a hazzan for a synagogue (and made sure that a kosher butcher was established in the neighborhood) for some time before setting about hiring a rabbi, seeing the hazzan (and the butcher) as a more immediate need. The hazzan therefore solemnized marriages and otherwise represented the congregation in the eyes of civil authorities.


title: Hazzan

text: In the United States, many hazzanim supplement their ministry by also earning certification as and working as mohels, for bris ceremonies.


title: Hazzan

text: In the United States there are three main organizations for professionally trained "hazzanim", one from each of the major Jewish denominations:


title: Hazzan

text: Many members of the Cantors Assembly are trained at the H. L. Miller Cantorial School and College of Jewish Music at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Many members of the American Conference of Cantors are trained at the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music at Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. Both of these programs offer a five-year training program. Members of the Cantorial Council, the Orthodox cantorial association, can train at the Philip and Sarah Belz School of Jewish Music at Yeshiva University in New York.


title: Hazzan

text: ALEPH, the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, includes a cantorial training program as part of its ordination program.


title: Hazzan

text: Full cantorial training is also offered by the Cantorial School of the Academy for Jewish Religion (California) in Los Angeles, the Cantorial Program at the similarly named Academy for Jewish Religion in New York, and the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College. These institutions are unaffiliated with any particular Jewish denomination.


title: Hazzan

text: Until 2012, neither the Reform nor Conservative streams used the term "ordained" for trained cantors; use of the term "invested" precluded confusion with those they titled rabbi. In 2021, Conservative Judaism's flagship institution, the Jewish Theological Seminary, began using the term ordain with respect to cantors.


title: Hazzan

text: In the 21st century, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism no longer maintain gender distinctions, and therefore women often serve as cantors in these communities.


title: Hazzan

text: The earliest known woman ḥazzan, Julie Rosewald, called “Cantor Soprano” by her congregation, is sometimes called the United States' first female cantor, serving San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El from 1884 until 1893. However, she was not ordained.


title: Hazzan

text: In 1955, Betty Robbins (born Berta Abramson in 1924, in Greece) was appointed as cantor of Temple Avodah, a Reform congregation in Oceanside, New York. Like Rosewald, she was not formally ordained, but "the spokesman for the School of Sacred Music, founded in 1947 as the first training school for cantors in [the United States], said today there was no religious law, merely a tradition, against women becoming cantors", indicating the School's institutional approval.


title: Hazzan

text: The Women Cantors' Network was founded in 1982 to support and advocate for women cantors by Deborah Katchko, the second woman ever to serve as a cantor in a Conservative synagogue. Initially a group of only twelve women, its membership grew to 90 by 1996. The organization holds an annual conference.


title: Hazzan

text: In 1987 Erica Lippitz and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel became the first two female cantors ordained in Conservative Judaism; they were ordained at the same time by the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.


title: Hazzan

text: The Cantors Assembly, a professional organization of cantors associated with Conservative Judaism, did not allow women to join until 1990.


title: Hazzan

text: Avitall Gerstetter, who lived in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002.


title: Hazzan

text: Susan Wehle became the first American female cantor in Jewish Renewal in 2006, serving until her death in 2009. The first American women to be ordained as cantors in Jewish Renewal after Susan Wehle's ordination were Michal Rubin and Abbe Lyons, both ordained on January 10, 2010.


title: Hazzan

text: In 2001 Deborah Davis became the first cantor (female or otherwise) in Humanistic Judaism; however, Humanistic Judaism has since stopped graduating cantors.


title: Hazzan

text: In 2009, Iran-born Tannoz Bahremand Foruzanfar was ordained as a cantor by the non-denominational Academy for Jewish Religion (California), becoming the first female Persian ordained cantor in the United States.


title: Hazzan

text: The period between the two world wars is often referred to as the "golden age" of "hazzanut" (cantorial performance). The great figures of this era include Zavel Kwartin (1874–1953), Moritz Henle (1850–1925), Joseph "Yossele" Rosenblatt (1882–1933), Gershon Sirota (1874–1943), and Leib Glantz.


title: Hazzan

text: In the post–World War II period, prominent cantors were Moshe Koussevitzky, David Werdyger, Frank Birnbaum, Richard Tucker and Abraham Lopes Cardozo (1914–2006). Operatic tenor Jan Peerce, whose cantorial recordings were highly regarded, was never a cantor by profession but often served as one during the high holidays.


title: Hazzan

text: Popular contemporary cantors include Shmuel Barzilai, Naftali Hershtik, Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, Chazzan Avraham Aharon Weingarten, Ari Klein, Yaakov Lemmer, Joseph Malovany, Benzion Miller, Jacob (Jack) Mendelson, Aaron Bensoussan, Aaron Aderet, Alberto Mizrahi, Yaakov Yoseph Stark, Jochen (Yaacov) Fahlenkamp, Meir Finkelstein, Daniel Gross, Azi Schwartz, Netanel Hershtik and Eli Weinberg.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: Christopher David Bell (born December 16, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver and a Toyota Racing Development driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: Bell began his racing career in micro sprints at I-44 Riverside Speedway in the early 2000s. He earned the Lucas Oil ASCS2 Championship in 2010 before winning the 66 Mike Phillips Memorial micro-sprint car race in 2011. The following year, he finished second in the Short Track Nationals at I-30 Speedway, a race sanctioned by the American Sprint Car Series. In 2013, he joined Keith Kunz Motorsports in USAC racing, replacing Kyle Larson. On October 31, he joined CH Motorsports' sprint car racing program. Bell concluded 2013 as the USAC National Midget Champion. In 2014, he began racing asphalt Super Late Models for Kyle Busch Motorsports, including competing in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. On May 7, he won his first career WoO Sprint Car Series race at Jacksonville Speedway. As a Super Late Model driver, he won races at New Smyrna Speedway, South Alabama Speedway and Southern National Motorsports Park. During the year, he won 24 USAC Midget races and 26 total dirt races, including the Turkey Night Grand Prix.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In 2017, Bell won the Chili Bowl Nationals, becoming the first Oklahoman to win the event since Andy Hillenburg in 1994. Bell followed the 2017 Chili Bowl win with his third consecutive Turnpike Challenge victory, the most recent win coming at his hometown track I-44 Riverside Speedway in Oklahoma City. He finished the 2017 season with a win in the Tulsa Shootout's Winged Outlaw Division.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In 2015, Bell made two NASCAR K&N Pro Series West starts at Irwindale Speedway and Iowa Speedway, driving the No. 54 for Bill McAnally Racing; he finished 15th and second, respectively. In June, Bell returned to Iowa to make his Camping World Truck Series debut for KBM in the American Ethanol 200. Bell finished second to KBM teammate Erik Jones in the race's practice session, and finished fifth in the race. On July 8, Bell was announced as Justin Boston's replacement in the No. 54 at Kentucky Speedway. Bell won his first career Truck race in the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway after holding off Bobby Pierce on the green–white–checker finish.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: On October 29, 2015, KBM announced that Bell would compete full-time in the Truck Series in 2016. His season started on a terrifying note at Daytona, when on the final lap, Brandon Brown pushed Timothy Peters into him causing his truck to spin. His truck gripped the track, causing it to go on two wheels before it launched into the air and barrel-rolled multiple times. The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bell was leading the race on his way to win, when he blew a tire and crashed into the wall, ending his day. He would have one lone win in 2016 at Gateway. He would finish third in the final standings.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In 2017, Bell won the second race of the season at Atlanta after winning the first two stages and passing Matt Crafton for the lead with 16 laps remaining. In May, Bell made his Pinty's Series and Xfinity Series debuts; in the former, he drove the No. 22 for 22 Racing at the season-opening race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. In the latter, he joined the No. 18 of Joe Gibbs Racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of a seven-race schedule. He also drove the No. 20 at Iowa and Richmond International Raceway before returning to the No. 18 to drive at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. At Mosport, he was the lone American in the field as he finished 23rd after suffering a brake failure.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In his Xfinity debut, Bell got an impressive 4th-place finish despite being spun out early in the race by Ryan Reed. During his second start at Iowa, Bell won the pole and looked on track for his 1st career win. Unfortunately, he was caught up in a multi-car crash late when he got turned while leading by the lap car of Ross Chastain following a crash between the lapped cars of Ryan Reed and Brennan Poole which collected Bell and Chastain. The previous night, in the Truck race, he was also on track for a win but dropped back late and finished 5th. At Kentucky, Bell recovered from an early spin and outraced John Hunter Nemechek and Brandon Jones for his third truck win of the season and fifth of his career. Bell won his first Xfinity race in his fifth start at Kansas after catching and passing Erik Jones in the final laps. On November 17, Bell won the 2017 Truck Series championship by finishing second to his friend Chase Briscoe and being the best finisher among the Championship 4 of Bell, Crafton, Johnny Sauter, and Austin Cindric. Bell ended his Truck Series season with 5 wins, 15 top 5s, and 21 top tens to win the championship.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In 2018, Bell moved to the Xfinity Series full-time to drive the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bell won his first race of the season at Richmond in April, holding off teammate Noah Gragson. In July, Bell won three consecutive races at Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Iowa, becoming the first series regular since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999 to win three consecutive races. Bell entered the Xfinity Series playoffs by winning at Richmond in September for the season sweep of the track. With this win, Bell would advance to the next round of the playoffs. Bell won his sixth race of the season at Dover in October, setting a rookie win record in the Xfinity Series. Bell won at the ISM Raceway on November 10, advancing to the Championship 4 after being in a must-win situation after poor finishes in the two prior races at Kansas and Texas. Bell finished 11th at Homestead and 4th in points.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: Bell returned for his second full-time season in Xfinity competition in 2019. He started with a sixth at Daytona, and the following week won at Atlanta in dominating fashion. The win at Atlanta was the first win for the Toyota Supra since the Camry was the model used when Toyota joined both the Xfinity and Cup Series in 2007. Bell won his second race of the season at Bristol in April, where he also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus. Bell won once again at Dover, winning his second Dash 4 Cash bonus. Bell won his fourth race of the season at Iowa in June.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: On June 28, 2019, Bell signed a contract extension with JGR through 2020. In the following day's Camping World 300 at Chicagoland, Bell finished third but was disqualified after failing post-race inspection, relegating him to 38th. Bell won races at New Hampshire in July and Road America in August, the latter of which was his first road course win in the Xfinity Series. In September, Bell won the first race of the playoffs at Richmond, advancing to the next round. In November Bell would win at Texas Motor Speedway and would punch his ticket into the championship round at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the second year in a row. He finished the 2019 season third in points after finishing fifth at Homestead.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: On September 24, 2019, Leavine Family Racing announced that Bell would drive the No. 95 Toyota in the Cup Series starting in 2020. In addition, his Xfinity crew chief Jason Ratcliff joined him in the team. In LFR's final season, Bell scored two top fives and seven top tens. He would end up finishing 20th in points and earned a drive in the No. 20 at Joe Gibbs Racing for 2021.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: In his second race in JGR's No. 20, the 2021 O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 on Daytona's road course, he passed Joey Logano with two laps remaining to score his first career Cup victory. He became the first driver from Oklahoma to win a Cup Series race, the 35th driver to win a NASCAR race in all three main series, and the 100th winner in NASCAR's modern era. In July, he returned to the Xfinity Series at New Hampshire, where he led 151 of 200 laps including the final 146 to win. During the playoffs, Bell made it to the Round of 12, but struggled with a poor finish at Las Vegas, yet he rebounded with a fifth-place finish at Talladega. Following the Charlotte Roval race, he was eliminated from the Round of 8. He finished the season 12th in the points standings.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: Bell started the 2022 season with a 34th place finish at the Daytona 500. At Atlanta, he accidentally struck jackman David O'Dell during his pit stop. Bell crossed the finish line in second place, but he was penalized to a 23rd place finish for passing below the line on the final lap. Bell scored a win at New Hampshire to become the 14th different winner of the season. During the playoffs, Bell won at the Charlotte Roval to advance to the Round of 8 after being in a must win situation. At Las Vegas, Bell got caught between a wreck involving Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace, resulting in a 34th place finish and being well below the playoff cutline. Bell won at Martinsville to make the Championship 4. He finished 10th at the Phoenix finale and a career-best third in the points standings.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: On September 19, 2019, Bell in conjunction with fellow racer Chad Boat announced the formation of CB Industries, a World of Outlaws sprint car team fielding the No. 21 Mobil 1 Toyota for Christopher Bell. In the team's first-ever race on September 21, 2019, they won the Jim Ford Classic.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: On August 13, 2019, the team won with Bell in their first-ever start in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Tri-State Speedway.


title: Christopher Bell (racing driver)

text: Bell got engaged to Morgan Kemenah in December 2018 after they had been dating for years, and they married in February 2020, weeks before the Daytona 500.


title: Primary care

text: Primary care is the day-to-day healthcare given by a health care provider. Typically this provider acts as the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients within a healthcare system, and coordinates other specialist care that the patient may need. Patients commonly receive primary care from professionals such as a primary care physician (general practitioner or family physician), a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner. In some localities, such a professional may be a registered nurse, a pharmacist, a clinical officer (as in parts of Africa), or an Ayurvedic or other traditional medicine professional (as in parts of Asia). Depending on the nature of the health condition, patients may then be referred for secondary or tertiary care.


title: Primary care

text: The World Health Organization attributes the provision of essential primary care as an integral component of an inclusive primary healthcare strategy. Primary care involves the widest scope of healthcare, including all ages of patients, patients of all socioeconomic and geographic origins, patients seeking to maintain optimal health, and patients with all manner of acute and chronic physical, mental and social health issues, including multiple chronic diseases. Consequently, a primary care practitioner must possess a wide breadth of knowledge in many areas. Continuity is a key characteristic of primary care, as patients usually prefer to consult the same practitioner for routine check-ups and preventive care, health education, and every time they require an initial consultation about a new health problem. Collaboration among providers is a desirable characteristic of primary care.


title: Primary care

text: The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is a standardized tool for understanding and analyzing information on interventions in primary care by the reason for the patient visit. Common chronic illnesses usually treated in primary care may include, for example: hypertension, angina, diabetes, asthma, COPD, depression and anxiety, back pain, arthritis or thyroid dysfunction. Primary care also includes many basic maternal and child health care services, such as family planning services and vaccinations.


title: Primary care

text: In context of global population ageing, with increasing numbers of older adults at greater risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, rapidly increasing demand for primary care services is expected around the world, in both developed and developing countries.


title: Primary care

text: Funding for primary care varies a great deal between different countries: general taxation, national insurance systems, private insurance and direct payment by patients are all used, sometimes in combination. The payment system for primary care physicians also varies. Some are paid by fee-for-service and some by capitation for a list of registered patients.


title: Primary care

text: In Canada, access to primary and other healthcare services is guaranteed for all citizens through the Canada Health Act.


title: Primary care

text: The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's 2016 Policy Address recommended strengthening the development of primary care and establishing an electronic database of the "Primary Care Guide" to facilitate public consultation. The Department of Health developed reference profiles for preventive care for some chronic diseases.


title: Primary care

text: In 2017, the policy address recommended the establishment of a primary health care development steering committee to comprehensively review the planning of primary health care services and provide community medical services through regional medical and social cooperation.


title: Primary care

text: The 2018 policy address proposed the establishment of the first district health centre and promoted the establishment of district centre in other districts.


title: Primary care

text: The Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau established the Primary Healthcare Office on March 1, 2019, to monitor and supervise the development of primary health care services. In the process of developing the district health centers, regional health stations will be set up in various districts as transitional units offering the public with primary care services.


title: Primary care

text: In Nigeria, healthcare is a concurrent responsibility of three tiers of government. Local governments focus on the delivery of primary care (e.g. through a system of dispensaries), state governments manage the various general hospitals (secondary care), while the federal government's role is mostly limited to coordinating the affairs of the Federal Medical Centres and university teaching hospitals (tertiary care).general medical


title: Primary care

text: The basic health care unit (formerly: health care facility) is a medical entity that provides comprehensive care for people who have declared their willingness to use the services of a family doctor or another doctor who has the right to create an active list of patients. This means treatment and prevention of diseases, rehabilitation, as well as adjudication on the state of health. For a health care center to become a primary care provider, it must also provide care for its health visitor and midwife.


title: Primary care

text: Since 2007, only General Practitioners, doctors undergoing specialization in family medicine, and doctors who have previously acquired the right to create an active list due to seniority in POZ before 2007 can be doctors creating active primary care lists. The currently pending proposals of the Ministry of Health, granting the right to create an active list to internists and pediatricians without experience of working in primary care, met with severe criticism of all family medicine organizations.


title: Primary care

text: The Act of October 27, 2017 on basic health care (Journal of Laws of 2020, item 172) has been in force since 2017.


title: Primary care

text: POZ clinics are independent companies (except SPZOZ), however, the services they provide are free for insured persons when POZ has a contract with the National Health Fund.


title: Primary care

text: Primary health care () in the Russian Federation is free (as part of territorial compulsory health insurance programs).


title: Primary care

text: Primary health care includes measures for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment of diseases and conditions, medical rehabilitation, monitoring the course of pregnancy, the formation of a healthy lifestyle, including reducing the level of risk factors for diseases, and sanitary and hygienic education. Primary health care is provided to citizens on an outpatient basis and in an inpatient setting, in planned and emergency forms.


title: Primary care

text: Primary medical health care is provided by general practitioners, district general practitioners, pediatricians, district general pediatricians and general practitioners (family doctors). Primary specialized health care is provided by specialist doctors, including medical specialists from medical organizations that provide specialized, including high-tech, medical care.


title: Primary care

text: In the United Kingdom, patients can access primary care services through their local general practice, community pharmacy, optometrist, dental surgery and community hearing care providers. Services are generally provided free-at-the-point-contact through the National Health Service. In the UK, unlike many other countries, patients do not normally have direct access to hospital consultants and the GP controls access to secondary care. This practice is referred to as "gatekeeping"; the future of this role has been questioned by researchers who conclude ""Gatekeeping policies should be revisited to accommodate the government's aim to modernise the NHS in terms of giving patients more choice and facilitate more collaborative work between GPs and specialists. At the same time, any relaxation of gatekeeping should be carefully evaluated to ensure the clinical and non-clinical benefits outweigh the costs"".


title: Primary care

text: As of 2012, there were about six primary care professional societies in the United States, including American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, the Society of General Internal Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Osteopathic Association, and the American Geriatrics Society.


title: Primary care

text: A 2009 report by the New England Healthcare Institute determined that an increased demand on primary care by older, sicker patients and decreased supply of primary care practitioners has led to a crisis in primary care delivery. The research identified a set of innovations that could enhance the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of primary care in the United States.


title: Primary care

text: On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law. The law is estimated to have expanded health insurance coverage by 20 million people by early 2016 and is expected to expand health care to 34 million people by 2021. The success of the expansion of health insurance under the ACA in large measure depends on the availability of primary care physicians. Unfortunately, The ACA has drastically exacerbated the projected deficit of primary care physicians needed to ensure care for insured Americans. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) without the ACA, the United States would have been short roughly 64,000 physicians by 2020; with the implementation of the ACA, it will be 91,000 physicians short. According to the AAMC's November 2009 physician work force report, nationally, the rate of physicians providing primary care is 79.4 physicians per 100,000 residents.


title: Primary care

text: Primary healthcare results in better health outcomes, reduced health disparities and lower spending, including on avoidable emergency department visits and hospital care. With that being said, primary care physicians are an important component in ensuring that the healthcare system as a whole is sustainable. However, despite their importance to the healthcare system, the primary care position has suffered in terms of its prestige in part due to the differences in salary when compared to doctors that decide to specialize. In a 2010 national study of physician wages conducted by the UC Davis Health System found that specialists are paid as much as 52 percent more than primary care physicians, even though primary care physicians see far more patients.


title: Primary care

text: In 2005, primary care physicians earned $60.48 per hour; specialists on average earned $88.34. A follow up study conducted by the UC Davis Health System found that earnings over the course of the careers of primary care physicians averaged as much as $2.8 million less than the earnings of their specialist colleagues. This discrepancy in pay has potentially made primary care a less attractive choice for medical school graduates. In 2015, almost 19,000 doctors graduated from American medical schools and only 7 percent of graduates chose a career in primary care. The average age of a primary care physician in the United States is 47 years old, and one quarter of all primary care physicians are nearing retirement. Fifty years ago roughly half of the physicians in America practiced primary care; today, fewer than one third of them do.


title: Primary care

text: Projections show that by the year 2033, the population of individuals 65 and older will increase by 45.1%, creating a demand for primary care physicians that is greater than the supply.


title: Primary care

text: The medical home model is intended to help coordinate care with the primary care provider the center of the patient's healthcare.


title: Primary care

text: The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act contains a number of provisions to increase primary care capacity. These provisions are directed towards medical school graduates and include payment reform, student loan forgiveness programs and increased primary care residency positions The PPACA also provides funding and mandates to increase the role of mid-level practitioners like physician assistants and nurse practitioners to enhance the primary care workforce. The PPACA is projected to increase patient demand for primary care services. Through the adoption of new patient care delivery models that include physicians working in tandem with physician assistants and nurse practitioners, demand for future primary care services could be met. Consumer surveys have found the American public to be open to a greater role for physician extenders in the primary care setting. Policies and laws, primarily at the state level, would need to redefine and reallocate the roles and responsibilities for non-physician licensed providers to optimize these new models of care.


title: Primary care

text: There is currently limited evidence to form a robust conclusion that involving older patients with multiple long-term conditions in decision-making during primary care consultations has benefits. Examples of patient involvement in decision-making about their health care include patient workshops and coaching, individual patient coaching. Further research in this developing area is needed.


title: Maxo Kream

text: Emekwanem Ogugua Biosah Jr. (born March 29, 1990), known professionally as Maxo Kream, is an American rapper from Houston, Texas. His debut album "Punken" was released in 2018, and the follow-up and major label debut, "Brandon Banks", was released in 2019.


title: Maxo Kream

text: Maxo Kream is known for his honest lyricism, speaking to his past life living in poor neighborhoods within Houston, Texas. He is a member of the Forum Park "Murda Blocc" Crips.


title: Maxo Kream

text: Kream is of Nigerian descent through his father, who is a Nigerian immigrant to the U.S. Kream began rapping in high school as part of the group Kream Clicc. In 2012, he started to gain popularity after releasing a remix of Kendrick Lamar's "Rigamortus" on YouTube. His early mixtapes "Retro Card" and "Quicc Strikes" pushed him into the limelight, hitting over 85,000 hits on LiveMixtapes. In 2013, he supported Chief Keef on the Texas leg of his tour.


title: Maxo Kream

text: His 2015 mixtape "#Maxo187" received attention from XXL Magazine and Pitchfork among others. He followed it up in 2016 with "The Persona Tape".


title: Maxo Kream

text: On July 19, 2019, he released his major label debut, "Brandon Banks" via Big Persona/88 Classic/RCA Records.


title: Maxo Kream

text: On October 22, 2016, Maxo Kream was arrested for engaging in "organized crime" under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. He, along with members of the Kream Clicc Gang, held charges sourcing from money laundering, possession of 85 pounds of mariijuana, 2,000 Xanax pills, 13 firearms, cash, and drug manufacturing/distribution paraphernalia. Maxo was held at Fort Bend County Jail in Richmond, Texas. He was released on bail of $200,000 the next day and denied the allegations, claiming to only be "organizing his music". Maxo eventually beat the charges.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: King Zhaoxiang of Qin (; 325–251 BC), or King Zhao of Qin (秦昭王), born Ying Ji (, was the king of Qin from 306 BC to 251 BC. He was the son of King Huiwen and younger brother of King Wu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: King Zhaoxiang reigned as the King of Qin for 57 years, and was responsible for the state of Qin achieving strategic dominance over the other six major states. During his reign, Qin captured the Chu capital Ying in 278 BC, conquered the Xirong state of Yiqu in 272 BC, slaughtered a 450,000-strong Zhao army at Changping in 260 BC, and overthrew the Eastern Zhou dynasty in 256 BC. These aggressive territorial expansions and the strategic weakening of other rival states paved the path for Qin's eventual unification of China three decades later by his great-grandson Ying Zheng.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Prince Ying Ji was born in 325 BC to one of King Huiwen's more lower-ranked concubines, Lady Mi (羋八子). As a "shu" child, Prince Ji was given low priority in the royal line of succession, and as an underage child was not granted a fief because the state of Qin employed a system of meritocracy that demanded that even princes earn their own lands through national service. He was dispatched to the state of Yan at a young age to serve as a political hostage, a common diplomatic practice among vassal states throughout Zhou Dynasty.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 307 BC, Ying Ji's older half-brother, King Wu, unexpectedly died after breaking his shin bones while trying to show off his physical prowess by lifting a heavy bronze cauldron in the Zhou palace at Wangcheng. King Wu died young and childless, hence placing the state of Qin into a succession crisis, with a number of princes now eligible to claim the throne. At the time, Prince Ji was still a hostage in the state of Yan, and was generally considered unlikely to be a candidate. However, King Wuling of Zhao decided to take advantage of the situation and intervene in the domestic politics of his western neighbour. King Wuling ordered his chancellor of the Dai Commandery, Zhao Gu (趙固), to smuggle Prince Ji out of Yan into Zhao territory, before endorsing him to return to Qin and contest for the throne. Furthermore, Prince Ji's maternal uncle, Wei Ran (魏冉), was a general in command of a significant Qin military forces, and helped suppressing most of his nephew's political opponents. This enabled Prince Ji to successfully claim the throne as the King Zhaoxiang of Qin at the age of 18.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Because King Zhaoxiang had not yet legally come of age (traditionally at the age of 20), his mother, who was now known as Queen Dowager Xuan, became the regent. She was supported by her brothers, Wei Ran and Mi Rong (羋戎), as well as two other sons, Prince Yi (公子悝) and Prince Fu (公子巿), the four of them collectively known as the "Four Nobles" (四貴).


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In his first year as ruler (306 BC), King Zhaoxiang accepted the counsel of the Right Chancellor, Gan Mao (甘茂), who advocated the return of the Wusui (武遂) region back to the state of Han. The plan was opposed by two other officials Xiang Shou (向壽) and Gongsun Shi (公孫奭), who both despised Gan Mao greatly and proceeded to badmouth him repeatedly. This led Gan Mao to flee Qin in fear of his life and defect to the state of Qi.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 305 BC, two of King Zhaoxiang's older half-brothers, Prince Zhuang (公子壯) and Prince Yong (公子雍), who a year ago were both rival contenders for the throne, conspired to carry out a coup with Queen Huiwen (惠文后, the mother of the late King Wu) and Queen Wu (悼武王后, King Wu's childless wife, who was a princess from Wei) as well as a dozen other lords and court officials who were against King Zhaoxiang's ascension. The rebellion was quickly crushed by Wei Ran, who slaughtered all the conspirators except Queen Wu, who was exiled back to Wei. With the annihilation of the dissidents, King Zhaoxiang's hold to the throne was secured. In the same year, King Zhaoxiang had his coming-of-age ceremony, and began to personally attend state affairs.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 304 BC, King Zhaoxiang met with King Huai of Chu in Huangqi (黃棘) to negotiate an alliance, ceding Shangyong (上庸) as a gesture. In 303 BC, the states of Qi, Wei and Han broke off their previous alliance with Chu and invaded Chu, forcing Chu to send its crown prince Xiong Heng to Qin as a hostage in exchange for Qin assistance. King Zhaoxiang sent troops to attack Wei and Han, capturing Puban (蒲阪), Yangchun (陽春) and Fengling (封陵) from Wei, and re-capturing Wusui from Han. In 302 BC, King Zhaoxiang met with King Xiang of Wei and Crown Prince Yin of Han (韓太子嬰) in Linjin (臨晉), and agreed to return the seized lands in exchange for the two states denouncing their previous anti-Qin alliance. At the same time, the Chu crown prince secretly fled from Qin back to Chu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 301 BC, the four states of Qin, Han, Wei and Qi allied together to attack Chu, defeating the Chu army at Zhongqiu (重丘) and killing the Chu general Tang Mei (唐眜). In 300 BC, King Zhaoxiang sent his uncle Mi Rong to capture Xiangcheng (襄城), killing 30,000 enemy and the Chu general Jing Que (景缺) in the process.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Due to this defeat, in 299 BC King Huai of Chu was forced to go to Wu Pass (武關) to negotiate terms with Qin, but along the way was abducted and taken to Xianyang instead. When he refused to cede the territory of the Wu Commandery (巫郡) and Qianzhong Commandery (黔中郡), he was detained as a hostage. King Zhaoxiang then proceeded to invade Chu the next year, capturing 16 cities and killing 50,000 Chu soldiers. King Huai of Chu did manage to escape in 297 BC, when Qin was distracted by a joint siege on Hangu Pass by Wei and Han, but he was recaptured when he was seeking asylum in Wei, after unsuccessfully doing so in the state of Zhao. He died a year later in captivity, and Qin finally returned his corpse back to Chu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: The next Chu king, King Qingxiang, was an even less competent ruler than his father. In 280 BC, Qin forces defeated the Chu army again, forcing them to cede Shangyong and Hanbei (漢北) to Qin control. In 279 BC, Qin generals Bai Qi (白起) and Zhang Ruo (張若) launched amphibious assaults on Chu from two different fronts, capturing the cities of Deng (鄧), Yan (鄢, Chu's secondary capital at the time) and Xiling (西陵), during which Bai Qi flooded the city of Yan with a redirected river, drowning hundreds of thousands of people. This successful Qin campaign paved the way for Bai Qi's subsequent siege and capture of the Chu capital city of Ying (郢) in 278 BC, where Bai Qi burned the Chu ancestral mausoleums Yiling. The greatly weakened state of Chu was forced to relocate its capital to Chen (陳). Qin then permanently annexed the vast lands around Dongting Lake, south of the Yangtze River and north up towards Anlu (安陸), where the new Nan Commandery (南郡) was established.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 301 BC, Qin again attacked Han, led by King Zhaoxiang's uncle, Wei Ran, and occupied the city of Rang (穰城). The city was later given to Wei Ran, who was made chancellor six years later, as his fief. However, in 298 BC, Qin suffered a setback at Hangu Pass under the combined attack from a three-state alliance of Qi, Han and Wei, and was forced to concede the recently occupied Fengling and Wusui back to Wei and Han.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 293 BC, the states of Han, Wei and East Zhou allied together to attack Qin. King Zhaoxiang appointed the young Bai Qi as general, and defeated the two major states at Yique, killing 240,000 of the enemy and capturing (then executing) the enemy's supreme commander Gongsun Xi (公孫喜). This was the most devastating blow Qin delivered to the two eastern states to date. In 292 BC，Bai Qi again led the army and attacked Wei, capturing Weicheng (魏城) and sacking Yuanqu (垣邑). Then in 291 BC, Qin attacked Han again and seized the city of Wan (宛城) and Ye (葉). In 290 BC，King Zhaoxiang sent Sima Cuo (司馬錯), who captured Zhi (軹) from Wei and Deng (鄧) from Han, before joining with Bai Qi to seize Yuanqu again. These successive victories forced Wei to concede 400 "li" of Hedong lands, and Han to concede 200 "li" of Wusui lands to Qin.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 289 BC, King Zhaoxiang sent Bai Qi and Sima Cuo to attack Wei, capturing 61 villages around Zhi. However, in 288 BC, Qin was forced to back down when the five eastern states allied together and threatened to attack Qin again. It did not take long for Qin to strike back, capturing Xinyuan (新垣) and Quyang (曲陽) from Wei in 287 BC, and the former Wei capital Anyi (安邑) in 286 BC. In 283 BC, Qin allied with Zhao and attacked Wei again, capturing Ancheng (安城) with its vanguard reaching near the Wei capital Daliang (大梁).


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 276 BC, King Zhaoxiang once again sent Bai Qi to attack Wei. The following year in 275 BC, he sent his uncle Wei Ran to attack Daliang and killed 40,000 Han reinforcements sent to relieve the siege, forcing Wei to concede eight forts from Wencheng (溫城). Wei Ran attacked Wei again in 274 BC, capturing four cities and killing 40,000 men. In 273 BC, Wei and Zhao allied together to attack the Han city of Huayang (華陽). King Zhaoxiang sent troops to relieve the siege, killing 130,000 Wei soldiers outside Huayang and drowning 20,000 Zhao prisoners, forcing Wei to seek an armistice as well as ceding Nanyang (南陽). Qin attacked Wei again in 268 BC and captured Huaicheng (懷城).


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 266 BC, the Wei national Fan Ju (范雎) fled to Qin after being persecuted and tortured by the Wei chancellor, Wei Qi (魏齊), and vowed revenge upon his home state. He advised King Zhaoxiang about the strategy of "allying distant states while attacking nearby states" (遠交近攻). This advice impressed King Zhaoxiang so much that he appointed him as the chancellor of Qin. In 264 BC, King Zhaoxiang sent Bai Qi to attack Han, capturing nine cities including Xingcheng (陘城) and killing 50,000 of the enemy, enabling Qin to blockade the routes around southern Taihang Mountains. In 262 BC, Bai Qi attacked Han and captured Yewang (野王), cutting off the Shangdang region from the Han mainland. King Huanhui of Han was fearful of the Qin military prowess and decided to concede Shangdang, but the local commanders refused to do so and instead surrendered the region to the state of Zhao. The struggle for control of Shangdang triggered direct conflicts between Qin and Zhao, then the two largest military powers among the warring states, leading to the devastating Battle of Changping.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 256 BC, a Qin general named Jiu (摎) attacked Han, killing 40,000 of the enemy and capturing Yangcheng (陽城) and Fushu (負黍). Two years later in 254 BC, Jiu attacked Wei and captured Wucheng (吳城), forcing Wei to submit to Qin as a vassal state.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Yiqu (義渠), also known as "the Rong of Yiqu" (義渠之戎), was a semi-pastoral, semi-agricultural people residing in the region from north of Jing River to western Hetao. They were historically an offshoot of the nomadic Qiang people living on the grasslands around Long Mountains during the Shang Dynasty, and were frequently at war with the surrounding nomadic tribes like Guifang (鬼方) and Xunyu (獯鬻), as well as the agricultural Huaxia settlements like Bin (豳, the precursor to Zhou). During the times of King Geng Ding in late Shang Dynasty (around 12th century BC), faced with a large Northern Di invasion, the aged Duke of Bin Gugong Danfu led his clan south and relocated to Qishan, and the Bin exodus resulted in the area being occupied by Di nomads hostile and stronger than Yiqu, who temporarily submitting to Xianyun (獫狁). During the reign of Wu Yi of Shang, Duke Jili of the now renamed state of Zhou attacked and evicted the Di presence from lands north of Bin with the support from the Shang court, and made Yiqu subject to Zhou instead. During the reign of Duke Wen of Zhou, Chancellor Jiang Ziya sent ambassador Nangong Kuo to negotiate an alliance with Yiqu, who assisted Zhou in evicting their rival Guifang, while occupied the fertile Longdong region for themselves. This allowed the Yiqu population to prosper, and after learning agricultural techniques and city building from the Zhou people, became significantly influenced by Zhou culture. Yiqu hence transformed into a distinctly different branch from other Xirong tribes, though still retaining the tradition of levirate marriage.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, Yiqu initially swore loyalty and participated in multiple Zhou campaigns against Di and other Rong tribes. In 771 BC, Marquess of Shen conspired with Quanrong (犬戎) to sack the Zhou capital city Haojing, killing King You of Zhou and his crown prince Bofu, and the Western Zhou Dynasty collapsed. Yiqu took advantage of the chaos, rebelled and annexed the surrounding four smaller Xirong tribes, and established their own multi-city state centred around modern day Ning County, Gansu, spanning an area of nearly from Guyuan grasslands to the west, Qiaoshan to the east, Hetao to the north and Jing River to the south.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: With the old capital city in ruins, the new Zhou king, King Ping, hastily relocated the capital to Luoyi (雒邑), starting the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. When King Ping moved east, a minor vassal lord from the land of Qinyi (秦邑), Duke Xiang, provided military escort. To reward Duke Xiang's contribution, King Ping formally granted him a nobility rank and enfeoffed him as a feudal lord, elevating the clan of Qin from a lowly "attached state" (附庸) to a major vassal state. Fearing another barbarian attack from the west and desperately in need of a buffer state, King Ping further promised Duke Xiang that any lands the Qin clan could seize from the Rong tribes west of Qishan (the former heartland of Zhou), they could keep permanently as their own fief. As a marcher clan already with a bitter history with the Xirong tribes, the new noble state of Qin were greatly motivated by this royal promise, and successive generation of Qin rulers died in battle against their Xirong enemy, three of the largest being Mianzhu (綿諸, near modern-day Tianshui), Dali (大荔, near modern-day Dali County), and Yiqu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Around 650 BC, Yiqu had conquered most of its surrounding smaller tribes and began to expand eastwards, bringing it into direct conflict with the state of Qin. In 651 BC, one of the other larger Xirong tribes, Mianzhu, recruited a Jin man in exile named You Yu (由余) as the ambassador to Qin in order to improve the strained diplomatic relationship. However, You Yu secretly defected and gave counsel to Duke Mu of Qin regarding ways to defeat the Xirong. Using You Yu's advice, Duke Mu sent women and musicians to the king Mianzhu, distracting him from domestic affairs. In 623 BC, Duke Wu led a well-prepared Qin army, invaded and conquered Mianzhu along with over 20 smaller Rong and Di states. Yiqu was among those defeated and forced to claim fealty to Qin's military prowess. For his dominance in the western region, Duke Mu received a golden drum from King Xiang of Zhou as commendation, and was later regarded as one of the Five Hegemons. However, after Duke Mu died, the subsequent Qin rulers were not as competent as their forebear. Being the most sinicized of all Xirong tribes, Yiqu spent the next two centuries slowly building up its strength. In 430 BC, Yiqu invaded Qin territory, forcing Duke Zao of Qin to abandon lands north of lower Wei River. The following three decades were the pinnacle of Yiqu power, with its territory doubling to almost . At this point, Yiqu had become a major threat to Qin, who had to solely focus on dealing with this north-western neighbour and thus became marginalised by other major Central Plain vassals states to the east.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 361 BC, Duke Xiao of Qin ascended as the ruler of Qin, and appointed Wei Yang in 359 BC, who enacted a series of legalist reforms that greatly strengthened the state of Qin. In 332 BC, King Huiwen of Qin dispatched Gongsun Yan (公孫衍) to attack Wei, killing 80,000 enemies and capturing Xihe Commandery (西河郡) and Shang Commandery (上郡). At the time, Yiqu was having domestic disputes, so the Qin army, with its morale boosted by the recent victories, invaded Yiqu under the pretext of helping to quell Yiqu's chaos. They were able to subject Yiqu to Qin rule. In 327 BC, Qin attacked and seized the city of Yuzhi (郁郅), forcing Yiqu to again swear fealty, this time formally as a Qin county. However, nine years later, in 318 BC, the five eastern states of Wei, Han, Zhao, Yan and Chu allied together and attacked Hangu Pass, forcing the Qin main force to leave its heartland. Yiqu took the opportunity and rebelled, and attacked Qin from the rear as part of a collaboration with the five-state alliance, defeating an undermanned Qin garrison at Libo (李帛). However, the allied five states were soon routed by a Qin counter-offensive led by Chulizi (樗里子, King Huiwen's brother), suffering a loss of 82,000 men. The victorious Qin army then returned and retaliated against Yiqu in 314 BC by invading from three different directions, capturing 25 cities and greatly weakening Yiqu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 306 BC, the young King Zhaoxiang ascended to the throne, with his mother Queen Dowager Xuan serving as regent. Knowing Qin could not focus on eradicating Yiqu when it had the hostile eastern states to deal with, and her son's rule was still shaky due to numerous rival princes keen to capture the throne, Queen Dowager Xuan decided to use an approach of pretended conciliation. She invited the king of Yiqu to live long-term in the Ganquan Palace, and consummated a seductive liaison that produced two sons with him. This completely removed the Yiqu King's hostility towards Qin, as the beguiled king had lost all cautiousness around the Queen Dowager. At the same time, King Zhaoxiang was aggressively acting to weaken rival warring states in the east and south, and Queen Dowager Xuan was secretly planning with her son the eventual annihilation of Yiqu.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Finally in 272 BC, Queen Dowager Xuan bared her fangs. She lured the unsuspecting Yiqu King to Ganquan Palace again, and had him assassinated on the spot. Shortly after, the Qin army invaded and overran the leaderless Yiqu, permanently annexing its entire territory into the newly established commanderies of Longxi and Beidi (北地). The Xirong threat that had plagued the state of Qin for over five centuries was removed for good.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: The state of Qin actually did not share any borders with the state of Qi, but they nevertheless clashed with each other due to the complicated "zong-heng" diplomacy during the Warring States period.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 299 BC, King Zhaoxiang invited Lord Mengchang to Qin with the intention of appointing him as chancellor. However, after hearing (perhaps ill-intended) warnings from his ministers that Lord Mengchang was still loyal to his home state of Qi (which had just soured its diplomatic relationship with Qin), King Zhaoxiang ordered Lord Mengchang to be put under house arrest. Desperate, Lord Mengchang sent a messenger to bribe King's Zhaoxiang's favourite concubine, who demanded a snow fox fur coat, which Lord Mengchang had already given to King Zhaoxiang as a gift when he first arrived and had to steal back from the royal vault. Thanks to the pleas of the concubine, Lord Mengchang was released within two days, and he quickly smuggled himself out of Qin, narrowly evading a small army that King Zhaoxiang had ordered to pursue him. In 298 BC, the disgruntled Lord Mengchang, who was now the newly appointed chancellor of Qi, lobbied for a combined force of Qi, Han and Wei and laid siege to the Qin fortification of Hangu Pass. The allied army managed to penetrate past the Hangu Pass all the way to Yanshi (盐氏), forcing Qin to negotiate an armistice that involved returning the previously occupied Fengling and Wusui back to Wei and Han.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 288 BC, King Zhaoxiang contacted King Min of Qi and proposed an alliance where both would claim the title ""Di"", and planned to attack the newly strengthened state of Zhao together. However, King Min was persuaded by Su Qin to renounce his "Di" title, and instead allied with other states to attack Qin, forcing King Zhaoxiang to also renounce his "Di" title. At the same time, Qi took the opportunity to conquer its rival state of Song, which made itself a major immediate threat in the eyes of other states.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 284 BC, King Zhaoxiang sent troops in a five-state alliance of Qin, Yan, Zhao, Wei and Han, led by the Yan general Yue Yi, to attack Qi. Over 70 cities were captured within six months, including its capital Linzi (臨淄), leading to the murder of King Min of Qi by his supposed Chu ally. The two remaining Qi cities Ju and Jimo were then sieged by the allied forces for five years. Qi eventually defeated the allied forces and recaptured lost lands after a routing victory at Jimo by Tian Dan using flaming oxen. However, Qi never regained its former strength and influence, and could no longer create any geopolitical threat to Qin.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 283 BC, King Zhaoxiang offered to trade fifteen cities in exchange for the Heshibi jade, which was in the state of Zhao's possession. King Huiwen of Zhao was attracted by the offer and agreed to the trade. However, the Zhao ambassador Lin Xiangru (藺相如) figured out that Qin never meant to hold up their end of the deal, and managed to return the jade back to Zhao. During the following three years (282 BC to 280 BC), Qin attacked Zhao multiple times, capturing cities such as Shicheng (石城), Lin (藺), Lishi (離石), Qi (祁) and Guanglang (光狼城), killing 20,000 men, and forcing Zhao to agree to send hostages and concede lands in exchange for returning the captured cities. During the armistice meeting held at Mianchi (澠池), King Zhaoxiang attempted to humiliate King Huiwen, but was forced to back down when Lin Xiangru threatened to physically harm the Qin king.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 273 BC, Wei and Zhao allied together to attack Han's Huayang (華陽). Qin offered military help to Han, defeating and killing 130,000 Wei soldiers, and drowning 20,000 Zhao soldiers in the Yellow River. In 269 BC, King Huiwen of Zhao backflipped on his previous promise to send hostages and concede land. In response, Qin attacked Zhao and laid siege to Yuyu (閼與). The siege was lifted after the Zhao general Zhao She (趙奢) ambushed and decisively defeated the invading Qin army. In 265 BC, Qin struck back at Zhao and captured three cities, and King Huiwen of Zhao resorted to sending his son to the state of Qi in exchange for Qi assistance, which forced the Qin army to withdraw.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 262 BC, Bai Qi attacked and cut off the Shangdang Commandery from the Han mainland. King Huanhui of Han was fearful of Qin military power, and decided to concede Shangdang. However, the local commanders Jin Tao (靳黈) refused to do so, thus King Huaihui then replaced him with a new commander Feng Ting (馮亭), but he refused as well and instead suggested surrendering the region to the state of Zhao, with the intention of bringing on a conflict between Qin and Zhao. Despite opposition from his brother Lord Pingyang (平陽君), King Xiaocheng of Zhao and Lord Pingyuan both decided to accept the annexation of Shangdang.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: This, as expected, did not go down well in Qin. So, the very next year (261 BC), Qin general Wang He (王齕) attacked Shangdang, and the Zhao general, Lian Po (廉頗), led 200,000 men to reinforce and defend the region, starting the biggest and bloodiest conflict between these two most powerful military states. After his vanguard forces suffered numerous setbacks, Lian Po recognized that the Zhao army were underpowered against their Qin enemies in field battles, so he readjusted the strategies and dug in with a 100 "li"-long defensive line near Changping, and decided to wait out and exhaust the Qin supply lines (which were at least three times longer than Zhao's, hence more difficult to maintain). This strategy worked, as the Qin offensives could not effectively penetrate the well-entrenched Zhao positions for over a year. Logistically strained, the Qin army attempted to engage in pitched battles, but Lian Po consistently refused to meet them in open battles. At this point, both sides increased the size of their forces at Changping, with the Zhao numbering 450,000 and the Qin numbering 550,000.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Unable to break the stalemate, Qin began using spies stationed within Zhao to spread rumours about Lian Po being old, cowardly and incompetent. King Xiaocheng believed the rumours, and decided to dismiss Lian Po and replace him with Zhao Kuo (趙括), the son of the late Zhao She, despite objections from chancellor Lin Xiangru and Zhao Kuo's own mother. Zhao Kuo, an arrogant young man with great philosophical knowledge of military strategies but no real combat experience, immediately reversed all of Lian Po's strategic arrangements upon arriving at the frontline. He led the Zhao army away from the protection of Lian Po's defensive structures, and sought to actively engage Qin in pitched battles.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: At the same time, King Zhaoxiang of Qin secretly appointed the feared Bai Qi as the new general of the Qin army, and conscripted every Qin man over 15 years of age as auxiliaries. Bai Qi then used feigned defeats to lure the overconfident Zhao Kuo into an ambush, trapping over 400,000 Zhao soldiers in a valley. Zhao Kuo's army, cut off from their base camp, were without supplies for 46 days and became severely demoralised. After multiple failed attempts to breach the Qin lines, Zhao Kuo led a final breakout assault where he was shot dead by Qin archers, along with 200,000 out of the 400,000 Zhao soldiers. Bai Qi then executed the remaining 200,000 Zhao prisoners by burying them alive, sparing only 240 of the youngest men to go back to Zhao to spread the news of the massacre of the Zhao army. The devastating defeat at Changping greatly shocked the state of Zhao, which descended into an atmosphere of despair and sorrow.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Bai Qi wanted to take advantage of the victory at Changping and immediately lay siege to the Zhao capital of Handan (邯鄲). This frightened the states of Zhao and Han greatly, so they sent Su Dai (蘇代, Su Qin's brother) to bribe Fan Ju (范雎, or Fan Sui 范睢), who was then the Qin chancellor and jealous of Bai Qi's military achievement. Fan Ju persuaded King Zhaoxiang to halt the offensives, citing as the reason that the soldiers needed to rest after years of war. Qin agreed to an armistice in exchange of the states of Zhao and Han conceding lands.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Bai Qi was furious at this because he believed Qin had just forfeited a chance to annihilate Zhao once and for all, and resigned his position in protest. However, Zhao soon changed its mind and refused to cede the lands it promised, and attempted to lobby an anti-Qin alliance with the other states. King Zhaoxiang then ordered an attack on Zhao in late 259 BC, laying siege to Handan. He wanted Bai Qi to lead the attack, but the still angry Bai Qi bluntly refused to assume the position citing illness. Instead, he advised King Zhaoxiang to call off the siege as the window of opportunity for an easy victory was already gone, because Lord Pingyuan had managed to secure military reinforcements from Chu and Wei, led by the famous Lord Chunshen and Lord Xinling. King Zhaoxiang did not take in his advice and instead appointed Wang Ling (王陵) as the commander of the siege.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Wang Ling's attack on Handan did not go well due to the fierce Zhao resistance, and King Zhaoxiang again decided to invite Bai Qi to command the siege, but Bai Qi again advised him that Qin had a very low chance of winning this campaign. King Zhaoxiang was unhappy to hear Bai Qi's counsel, so he replaced Wang Lin with Wang He and continued the siege. In 257 BC, the Qin army was suffering losses inflicted by reinforcements from the states of Chu and Wei. King Zhaoxiang then personally visited Bai Qi and attempted to coerce him into taking the command position with royal authority. When Bai Qi once again advised abandoning the siege, King Zhaoxiang was so angry that he stripped Bai Qi's titles and exiled him. Fan Ju then falsely accused to King Zhaoxiang that Bai Qi was cursing the King behind his back, so King Zhaoxiang decreed the forced suicide of Bai Qi. This did not improve the situation for the Qin offensive, and the Qin sustained heavy casualties under the combined assault of Wei, Chu and Zhao, and the Qin army was routed and went into a general retreat. The three-state alliance then pursued and attacked Qin, reinforced by the Han army that had recently joined them. The combined forces recaptured Hedong, Anyang, Taiyuan, Pilao, Wu'an, Shangdang and Runan. The Qin expeditionary force lost most of its men in the retreat. King Zhaoxiang's ignoring of Bai Qi's advice had sown bitter fruits at the end.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 256 BC, Qin struck back at Zhao again, with general Zhao Chan (趙摻) killing 90,000 men and capturing over 20 counties. Zhao would continue to be at war with Qin into the years following King Zhaoxiang's death, including participating in a fruitless anti-Qin offensive by the five-state alliance in 247 BC, and two major victories against Qin invasions in 240 BC and 231 BC (the latter won by general Li Mu), but it never recovered to its formal glory prior to the Battle of Changping. Meanwhile, Qin had fully regained its strength to become the only dominant military power, and went on to capture the Zhao capital Handan in 229 BC and eventually conquer the whole of Zhao in 222 BC.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: The authority of the Zhou court had been declining since the very beginning of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. When King Ping of Zhou abandoned the old capital of Haojing and relocated east to Luoyi, the new capital's crown land (王畿) was significantly smaller and less developed compared to the old capital. The royal Zhou court, which had been humiliated by Haojing's sacking, became increasingly reliant on the support of the vassal states. King Ping's son, King Huan, later had a falling out with one of the strongest vassals, Duke Zhuang of Zheng. The young King Huan decided to assert his authority as the lord paramount and personally led an expedition in 707 BC to punish on the state of Zheng, but was badly defeated in the Battle of Xuge. King Huan himself was wounded in the shoulder by an arrow, and was forced to back down and negotiate peace with Duke Zhuang. This destroyed any remaining prestige and authority the Eastern Zhou royal court had over its vassals, and confirmed the "de facto" independence of the feudal states. The Zhou court was so impoverished after that defeat that, when King Huan died in 697 BC, it took the court seven years to get enough funding for a fitting royal funeral. During the reign of King Xiang of Zhou, his half-brother Prince Dai (王子帶) twice attempted to usurp the throne in 649 BC and 635 BC, both times by conspiring with Quanrong to lay siege to the capital. King Xiang required military assistance by the vassal states to reinstate himself on both occasions, and was forced to increase their fiefs each time as commendations. This further weakened the image of the Eastern Zhou court in the eyes of the vassal states, and progressively relegated it to the status of a neglected figurehead.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: The situation only became worse for the Eastern Zhou court after the Spring and Autumn period ended. None of the warring states held any respect and marginalized the Zhou court to the "de facto" status equivalent of a minor vassal state. During the reign of King Kao of Zhou, he decreed a portion of crown land around Wangcheng (王城, the older of Luoyi's twin cities) to his brother Ji Xie (姬揭) in 440 BC, naming the fief "the state of West Zhou" (西周國). In 367 BC during the reign of King Xian of Zhou, the 2nd duke of West Zhou, Duke Wei (西周威公) died, and one of his younger sons, Lord Gen (公子根), rebelled against his brother Duke Hui (西周惠公) and seceded a portion of his home state centred around Gong (鞏地) with the support of Marquess Cheng of Zhao (趙成侯) and Marquess Gong of Han (韓共侯), naming it the "state of East Zhou" (東周國). This effectively splintered two separate vassal states out of the Eastern Zhou royal court, further decreasing the crown land.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 344 BC, Marquess Hui of Wei gathered other vassal lords to pay a visit to King Xian of Zhou, but instead used the occasion to declare himself king. This initially backfired and caused other states to turn hostile towards Wei, but in 334 BC Duke Wei of Qi openly supported King Hui of Wei's crowning, and declared himself king as well, prompting the state of Chu to attack Qi with the intention of forcing Qi to abandon the kingship. However, in 325 BC Duke Huiwen of Qin also declared kingship and supported Qi's crowning, and King Hui of Wei openly encouraged Marquess Wei of Han to claim kingship, who accepted the proposal and crowned himself in 323 BC along with the ruler of Yan and Zhongshan. Out of all the major states, only Marquess Wuling of Zhao refused to declare kingship at the time, as he considered his state not being strong enough to handle the diplomatic fallout, and titled himself "Lord" (君) instead. By this point, nearly all major states had claimed royal status equivalent to that of the King of Zhou, and it effectively spelled the complete death of Zhou authority.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 315 BC, the two splinter states of East Zhou and West Zhou declared autonomy and divided up the remaining crown lands between themselves, reducing the King of Zhou, whose seat, Chengzhou, was within East Zhou, to more or less a puppet at the mercy of the duke's charity. When King Nan of Zhou ascended in 314 BC, he was expelled by the Duke of East Zhou, who no longer wanted to provide for a less than useful monarch. King Nan was forced to beg for protection from the Duke of West Zhou, and moved out of Chengzhou to Wangcheng.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 307 BC, King Nan of Zhou hosted King Wu of Qin, who just returned victorious against Han at the Battle of Yiyang. During the visit, King Wu, a keen wrestler, decided to try lifting the "dragon-patterned red cauldron" (龍紋赤鼎) in the Zhou palace. He died from the attempt, bleeding from his eyes and breaking his shin bones. After the childless King Wu died, his hostage half-brother Ying Ji returned to claim the throne as King Zhaoxiang.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 293 BC, East Zhou decided to ally itself with the states of Han and Wei, and sent troops to help attacking Qin. However, the combined forces of this alliance was destroyed at Yique by the young Qin general Bai Qi, with 240,000 men killed and their commander Gongsun Xi (公孫喜) captured and executed. After this loss, the East Zhou was unable to actively participate in future interstate struggles in any significant fashion.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In 256 BC, Duke Wu of West Zhou (西周武公) allied with other states to stop the Qin offensive on the Han city of Yangcheng. In retaliation, King Zhaoxiang of Qin sent general Jiu to invade West Zhou, successfully breaking into Wangcheng. The Duke Wu was taken to Xianyang to beg for mercy, conceding all his lands. Both King Nan and Duke Wu would die later that year, and the subsequent Duke of West Zhou, Duke Wen (西周文公), was exiled to Danhuju (憚狐聚). Because the Zhou royal court had fallen from power and King Nan had died without a successor, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty collapsed, ending 879 years of Zhou monarchy. The remaining East Zhou state was also conquered by Qin chancellor Lü Buwei seven years later in 249 BC during the reign of King Zhaoxiang's grandson King Zhuangxiang, after Duke Jing of East Zhou attempted to form an anti-Qin alliance with other states.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: King Zhaoxiang died at age 75 in 251 BC, having outlived his eldest son, who died in 267 BC while serving as a hostage in the state of Wei. He was succeeded by his second son King Xiaowen.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: Reigning over 55 years, he was one of the longest-serving rulers during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Although making numerous policy mistakes during his later years, his aggressive territorial expansions were pivotal in consolidating the state of Qin as the dominant military powerhouse in the late Warring States period. It was the strategic dominance established during his reign that paved the way to Qin's eventual successful unification of China under his great-grandson, Ying Zheng.


title: King Zhaoxiang of Qin

text: In manga and anime Kingdom, he was described as a "War God", which he led Qin through bloody battles alongside his 6 most elite generals, including Bai Qi, Wang He, Wang Yi, Liao, Sima Cuo and Hu Shang.


title: Lisanne Falk

text: Lisanne Falk (born December 3, 1964) is an American former actress and film producer. She is best known for her role as Heather McNamara in the 1988 film "Heathers".


title: Lisanne Falk

text: Falk is a former child model who worked at the Ford Modeling Agency with a young Brooke Shields. She portrays the seemingly upset young woman in a men's restroom on the cover of Foreigner's 1979 album "Head Games". Her modeling work was featured in the book "Lisanne: A Young Model".


title: Lisanne Falk

text: She played the role of Heather McNamara in the black comedy film "Heathers" (1988) alongside Winona Ryder.


title: Monal Naval

text: Radhamonal Naval (26 January 1981 – 14 April 2002) was an Indian actress who appeared in Tamil language films. She was the younger sister of actress Simran and appeared in notable productions including "Badri" (2001) alongside Vijay. She died by suicide in 2002.


title: Monal Naval

text: Monal was born as Radhamonal Naval to parents Ashok Naval and Saratha in Delhi. She did her schooling in Delhi and college in Bombay and studied for the Bachelor of Commerce degree in Mithibai College. She had two sisters, Simran and Jyothi, and a brother, Sumith.


title: Monal Naval

text: She did some modelling, fashion shows and beauty contests and subsequently received film offers. Monal's sister Simran was a leading actress in Indian films during the period, while another sister Jyoti made her debut in 2003. She made her debut in 2001 and was reported by the media for throwing tantrums on the sets of her first film. She was signed to make her debut in "Badri" alongside Vijay but her first release was "Paarvai Ondre Pothume" alongside Kunal (the actor of "Kadhalar Dhinam").


title: Monal Naval

text: Naval appeared in a few more films, with most turning out to be moderate successes at the box office. At the time of the death, she was working on "Dadagiri", a Telugu film which featured her opposite Suman, and "Best of Luck", a Tamil film co-starring Eashwar and Yugendran.


title: Monal Naval

text: On the day of her death, she had attended the launch of her new film "Paiye Janmam", literally translating into "Ghost Life".


title: Monal Naval

text: She committed suicide, and was found hanging on 14 April 2002, aged just 21, in her room in Chennai. Her sister Simran in May 2002 accused choreographer, Prasanna Sujit, as a possible reason for her suicide claiming that Prasanna had broke off his relationship with her just days earlier.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: Torment: Tides of Numenera is a role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Techland Publishing for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is a spiritual successor to 1999's "".


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: The game takes place in The Ninth World, a science fantasy campaign setting written by Monte Cook for his tabletop RPG "Numenera". It uses the Unity game engine. "Torment: Tides of Numenera", like its predecessor, is primarily story-driven while placing greater emphasis on interaction with the world and characters, with combat and item accumulation taking a secondary role.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: The game was successfully crowd-funded through Kickstarter in the first six hours of the project's launch in March 2013. At the campaign's conclusion, "Torment: Tides of Numenera" had set the record for highest-funded video game on Kickstarter with over US$4 million pledged. The release date was initially set for December 2014, but was pushed back to February 2017.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: "Torment: Tides of Numenera" uses the Unity engine to display the pre-rendered 2.5D isometric perspective environments. The tabletop ruleset of Monte Cook's "Numenera" has been adapted to serve as the game's rule mechanic, and its Ninth World setting is where the events of "Torment: Tides of Numenera" take place. The player experiences the game from the point of view of the Last Castoff, a human host that was once inhabited by a powerful being, but was suddenly abandoned without memory of prior events.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: As with its spiritual predecessor, "Planescape: Torment", the gameplay of "Torment: Tides of Numenera" places a large emphasis on storytelling, which unfolds through a "rich, personal narrative", and complex character interaction through the familiar dialog tree system. The player is able to select the gender of the protagonist, who will otherwise start the game as a "blank slate", and may develop his or her skills and personality from their interactions with the world. The "Numenera" setting provides three base character classes: Glaive (warrior), Nano (wizard) and Jack (rogue). These classes can be further customized with a number of descriptors (such as "Tough" or "Mystical") and "foci", which allow the character to excel in a certain role or combat style.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: Instead of a classic alignment system acting as a character's ethical and moral compass, "Torment: Tides of Numenera" uses "Tides" to represent the reactions a person inspires in their peers. Each Tide has a specific color and embodies a number of nuanced concepts that are associated with it. The composition of Tides a character has manipulated the most determines their Legacy, which roughly describes the way they have taken in life. Different Legacies may affect what bonuses and powers certain weapons and relics provide, as well as give a character special abilities and enhance certain skills.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: "Tides of Numenera" has a science fantasy setting. In the far future (one billion years), the rise and fall of countless civilizations have left Earth in a roughly medieval state, with most of humanity living in simple settlements, surrounded by technological relics of the mysterious past. The current age is called the "Ninth World" by its scholars, who believe that eight great ages existed and were destroyed, disappeared or left the Earth for unknown reasons before the present day, leaving ruins and various oddities and artifacts behind. These artifacts are known as the "numenera" and represent what is left of the science and technology of these past civilizations. Many of them are irreparably broken, but some are still able to function in ways that are beyond the level of understanding of most humans, who believe these objects to be magical in nature.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: Character complexity and dialogue depth were identified among the primary elements of the "Planescape: Torment" legacy to be preserved and refined by the developers of "Torment: Tides of Numenera".


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: The tormented nature of the game's protagonist, the Last Castoff, attracts other, similarly affected people. They will play a significant role in his or her story as friends and companions, or as powerful enemies. The game contains seven companions in total: Aligern, Callistege, Erritis, Matkina, Oom, Tybir, and Rhin.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: The protagonist of the story, known as the Last Castoff, is the final vessel for the consciousness of an ancient man, who managed to find a way to leave his physical body and be reborn in a new one, thus achieving a kind of immortality by means of the relics. The actions of this man, known as the Changing God to some, attracted the enmity of "The Sorrow" (renamed from "The Angel of Entropy" to reduce the potential to imply a religious role), who now seeks to destroy him and his creations. The Last Castoff, being one such "creation", is also targeted by the Sorrow, and must find their master before both are undone. To do so, the protagonist must explore the Ninth World, discovering other castoffs, making friends and enemies along the way. One means of such exploration are the "Meres" – artifacts that let their user gain control over the lives of other castoffs, and experience different worlds or dimensions through them. Through these travels the Last Castoff will leave their mark on the world – their Legacy – and will find an answer to the fundamental question of the story: What does one life matter?


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: While the overall story varies wildly depending on personal preferences and specific interactions, the central storyline follows the Last Castoff as they search for a way to defeat or escape the Sorrow. They explore Sagus Cliffs after falling from a great height into a domed structure, destroying an artifact known as a resonance chamber that is believed to be capable saving the Last Castoff from the Sorrow. Finding another castoff, Matkina, The Last uses a Mere, a repository of memory to locate the entrance to Sanctuary. Using the Mere also alters the past, allowing Matkina to be healed of her mental damage. The Last finds Sanctuary, which the Changing God created as a hiding place from the Sorrow, where the Last finds a number of castoffs who represent both sides of the Eternal War: a conflict between followers of the Changing God, and followers of the First Castoff, who believe the God is selfish and malevolent. The Sorrow breaches Sanctuary after the Last is told that the resonance chamber will "defeat" the Sorrow by destroying every castoff in existence. After escaping the Sorrow through a portal to the Bloom, an apparition appears claiming to be the actual Changing God and attempts to possess the Last by force of will.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: In a 2007 interview, designers Chris Avellone and Colin McComb, who had worked on "", stated that although a direct sequel was not considered because the game's story was over, they were open to the idea of a similar-themed "Planescape" game if they could gather most of the original development team and find an "understanding set of investors". This combination was deemed infeasible at the time. Talks about creating a sequel with the help of a crowd funding platform resumed in 2012, but attempts to acquire a Planescape license from Wizards of the Coast failed. Later that year, Colin McComb joined inXile, which was at the time working on its successfully crowd funded "Wasteland 2" project. The studio gained the rights to the "Torment" title shortly thereafter.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: In January 2013, inXile's CEO Brian Fargo announced that the spiritual successor to "Planescape: Torment" was in pre-production and would be set in the Numenera RPG universe created by Monte Cook. Cook acted as one of the designers of the Planescape setting, and Fargo saw the Numenera setting as the natural place to continue the themes of the previous "Torment" title. Although the connections to its predecessor will not be relatively overt, due to licensing issues, it was noted that certain traditional RPG elements are relatively hard to copyright, and some elements of "Planescape: Torment" may make a reappearance. Development of the game began shortly after the acquisition of the "Torment" license, and various inXile staff will transition over to the Numenera team as production on "Wasteland 2" winds down. In late January 2013, inXile confirmed the game's title as "Torment: Tides of Numenera", and announced that "Planescape: Torment" composer Mark Morgan would create the soundtrack. The pre-production period was initially expected to continue until October 2013. During this phase, team composition for the project was to be finalised and development would focus on production planning, game design and dialog writing. With the "Wasteland 2" project facing delays in 2014, full production of "Torment: Tides of Numenera" was rescheduled to a later date.


title: Torment: Tides of Numenera

text: A Kickstarter campaign to crowd fund "Torment: Tides of Numenera" was launched on March 6, 2013 with a goal. Project director Kevin Saunders explained this choice of a funding source by stating that the traditional publisher-based funding model is flawed because it forces the developer into attempting to appeal to an abstract target audience, picked by the publisher. A crowd funding platform, on the other hand, would allow the developers to present their vision directly to potential buyers and determine its viability early on, making it a better choice for a mid-sized or smaller developer studio, like inXile. The campaign had attracted several high-profile backers, such as Markus Persson, creator of "Minecraft", and Min-Liang Tan, CEO of Razer USA.