King Zhaoxiang of Qin
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).
King Zhaoxiang of Qin
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.