during the spring and autumn period of chinese history, the zhou kingdom began to break up into its constituent parts and their lords gained more and more freedom from central control. one of these states was jin, around modern shanxi. as was common among wealthy chinese at the time, its duke had many wives. one of them, li ji, was of lower status and came from the rong tribes who lived to china's west, but successfully schemed to become a full wife and to establish her son as the duke's successor. her older stepson ji chong'er was framed for revolting against the duke in 655, forcing the prince to flee for his life to his mother's family among the di tribes north of china. only 15 of his men followed him into exile. these included jie zhitui, who entertained the prince with his poems and music. he was so considerate of his lord that once, when their supplies were stolen while traveling through wey, he used meat from his own thigh to make soup to relieve the prince's hunger.