生平

早年

楚亡之後，熊心在鄉間地方隱居，以牧羊為生。

立為楚王

秦末民變時，前209年七月陳勝和吳廣發動大澤之變，前208年陳勝敗死於章邯。項梁知道後，召諸將在薛縣商議後事。居鄛人范增前往向項梁提出建議，在民間找到楚懷王熊槐之孫熊心，立熊心為楚王，仍號「楚懷王」，定都盱台（今江蘇盱眙縣），以爭取楚人民心。

援趙

項梁在同年的定陶之戰中敗死於章邯後，在外的楚軍返回自保，呂臣軍駐紮在彭城東，項羽軍駐紮在彭城西，沛公軍在碭縣。懷王感到害怕，從盱台遷都彭城，自領項羽、呂臣的軍隊。以呂臣為司徒，以其父呂青為令尹。以劉邦為碭郡長，封為武安侯，統領碭郡兵。

趙國數次求援，因齊使者高陵君「顯」當時在楚國，經他的推薦，懷王召宋義相談，很高興。

于是懷王命宋義為上將軍，封項羽為長安侯，號為魯公，為次將，范增為末將，前往救趙。其餘軍隊將領都聽宋義調遣，稱為卿子冠軍。

項羽因怨恨秦軍殺死項梁，請求懷王准許他跟劉邦一起進攻關中，懷王諸將以項羽殘暴為由，沒有同意。而派劉邦西進入關。

懷王又立下「懷王之約」，許諾封首先攻入秦國首都咸陽的將領為關中王。

鉅鹿之戰

宋義在安陽停留數十日不肯進兵，被項羽憤而刺殺，奪取兵權，項羽兵變取得對諸將的指揮權之後，懷王只好任命項羽代替宋義為上將軍。項羽進兵率領諸侯聯軍鉅鹿，在鉅鹿之戰取得決定性勝利，消滅王離統率的秦軍主力之一，威震天下，諸侯紛紛歸順，自命「諸侯上將軍」，勢力大增。

前207年十月，劉邦首先進入咸陽，接受秦三世子嬰的投降。其後項羽大軍抵達，殺了子嬰。雖然項羽希望懷王封他為關中王，但懷王的答覆是「如約」，項羽見情勢不對，知道懷王並不信任自己，也不願繼續聽命於懷王，因此向諸將表示懷王是項氏擁立的，但懷王沒有戰功，滅秦定天下的功勞在於項羽本人與各位將領們，眾人都認同。

尊為義帝

項羽在前206年正月尊懷王為「義帝」，但其實是把義帝當作傀儡。隨後項羽在二月自行分封天下諸侯，劉邦被封為漢王，項羽則自立為「西楚霸王」，定都彭城。

不久項羽把義帝流放至長沙郴縣，義帝被逼起行，在途中項羽暗中命令英布等人殺害義帝。漢王劉邦後來出兵進攻項羽時，曾以項羽暗殺義帝作為開戰理由之一。

義帝陵

位于湖南省郴州市北湖區，內有義帝陵墓，義帝新碑和義帝祠等設施。

Life

Early life

Xiong Xin was a descendant of the royal family of the Chu state in the Warring States period, and a grandson of King Huai of Chu. However, he was not in the main line of succession and there were four kings who succeeded his grandfather before the Chu state was conquered by the Qin state in 223 BC. Xiong Xin lived as a commoner under Qin rule after the fall of Chu.

King of Chu

In 209 BC, the Dazexiang Uprising broke out under the leadership of Chen Sheng, who proclaimed himself "King of Zhangchu" (張楚王; lit. "king of rising Chu") and aimed to overthrow the Qin dynasty. Although Chen Sheng's uprising was crushed by Qin imperial forces, other rebellions erupted throughout China to overthrow the Qin dynasty and restore the former six states conquered by Qin about two decades ago. The leader of the Chu insurgent state, Xiang Liang, was advised by Fan Zeng to seek a member of the Chu royal family and install him on the throne to garner more support from the people. Xiang Liang found Xiong Xin, who was living as a shepherd, and installed him on the throne in the summer of 208 BC. Xiong Xin ruled under the title of "King Huai II of Chu".

King Huai II was effectively a puppet ruler because the power of Chu was concentrated in Xiang Liang's hands. However, after Xiang Liang was killed at the Battle of Dingtao in the winter of 208 BC, King Huai II seized the control of the armies of two Chu generals, Xiang Yu and Lü Chen, and gradually began to assert his authority. After that, the king ordered Song Yi and Liu Bang to lead two armies to attack Qin, and promised to award the title "King of Guanzhong" to whoever entered Guanzhong (the Qin heartland) first. Xiang Liang's nephew, Xiang Yu, was the second-in-command to Song Yi, who led his army to attack Qin forces led by Zhang Han. Zhang Han's army was besieging Handan, the capital of the Zhao state, and Song Yi refused to advance any further to assist the Zhao forces. Xiang Yu took Song Yi by surprise in a meeting, falsely accused him of treason, killed him and usurped his command. He then sent a messenger to inform King Huai II, who reluctantly approved his command. In the winter of 207 BC, Liu Bang arrived in Guanzhong first, before Xiang Yu. The last Qin ruler, Ziying, surrendered to Liu Bang and brought an end to the Qin dynasty.

Emperor of Chu

According to the promise made earlier by King Huai II, Liu Bang should rightfully become the "King of Guanzhong", but after Xiang Yu reached Guanzhong, he wrote a letter to King Huai II to ask the king to give him the title instead. King Huai II's reply was to the effect of "per my earlier promise", but Xiang Yu ignored him and took control of Guanzhong from Liu Bang since he was more militarily powerful than Liu. Xiang Yu then proclaimed himself "Hegemon-King of Western Chu" and divided the former Qin Empire into the Eighteen Kingdoms, each ruled by one of the leaders of the rebel forces which overthrew the Qin dynasty. He also promoted King Huai II to a seemingly more "honourable" title – Emperor Yi of Chu. However, later, he had the puppet emperor relocated to Chen County (郴縣; in present-day Chenzhou, Hunan), thereby effectively sending the emperor into exile.

Death

Emperor Yi was aware that Xiang Yu wanted to force him into exile, so he feigned illness and used that as an excuse to postpone his trip to Chen County, but to no avail. Xiang Yu still forced him to make his way from Pengcheng (彭城; present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu) to Chen County. At the same time, he secretly ordered Ying Bu, Wu Rui and Gong Ao to kill the emperor during the journey to Chen County. Emperor Yi was murdered by Ying Bu's men near Chen County and buried by the locals at a hill in the southwest of the county.

Between 206–202 BC, a power struggle for supremacy over China (historically known as the Chu–Han Contention) broke out between Xiang Yu and Liu Bang. Liu Bang used Emperor Yi's death as political propaganda to justify his war against Xiang Yu. In 205 BC, he held a three-day memorial service for the emperor, accused Xiang Yu of committing regicide, and rally support from the people against Xiang Yu. In 202 BC, the Chu–Han Contention concluded with victory for Liu Bang, who became the sovereign ruler of China and established the Han dynasty. Liu Bang ordered his generals Zhou Bo, Wang Ling and Fan Kuai, who had been enfeoffed as marquises, to conduct memorial services for Emperor Yi in their respective marquisates.

Legacy

Yi sometimes appears as a door god in Chinese and Taoist temples, usually paired with the last Qin ruler Ziying.