The harsh Qin laws mandated execution for those who showed up late for government jobs, regardless of the nature of the delay.

Figuring that they would rather fight than accept execution, Chen and Wu organized a band of 900 villagers to rebel against the government.

They also imitated animal sounds to say "Da Chu flourishes, King Chen Sheng" to make people believe in them.

[6] With Chen's men declaring him king of the former Kingdom of Chu, he and Wu became the centre of armed uprisings all over China.

However, in less than a year, their uprising faced serious trouble; their force was no match for the highly skilled battlefield tactics of the professional Qin soldiers and both Chen and Wu were assassinated by their own men.

Their spirit can be summed up in Chen's quote "王侯将相宁有种乎？" (traditional Chinese: 王侯將相寧有種乎, pinyin: wáng hóu jiàng xiàng nìng yǒu zhǒng hū; "Are kings and nobles given their high status by birth?