He is regarded by Chinese modern folklore as one of the four Greatest Generals of the Late Warring States period, along with Bai Qi, Lian Po and Li Mu.

Chu had recovered significantly enough to mount serious resistance after their disastrous defeats to Qin in 278 BC and losing their centuries-old capital of Ying (Jingzhou).

Wu Qi was from the same state (Wei) as Shang Yang, whose legalistic reforms turned Qin into an invincible war machine.

The first Qin invasion initially appeared successful but ended up in a major disaster when the 200,000 Qin army was annihilated by a combined attack of 500,000 Chu troops led by General Xiang Yan and another army under the direct command of Lord Changping, at the Battle of Chengfu in the unfamiliar territory of Huaiyang (modern-day northern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces).

Before the campaign, during a personal meeting with the Qin king in the send-off ceremony, Wang Jian purposely demand huge rewards for the future victories in a deliberately shameless way.

Xiang Yan, the Chu general and Lord of Wu'an, managed to resist the onslaught of Wang Jian and the Qin forces, even though Wang Jian eventually started to take control of the battlefield, both armies inflicted heavy losses on each other during their fierce clash, Xiang Yan was finally defeated by Wang Jian at the battle of Shouchun 壽春 (modern Shouxian 壽縣, Anhui), and withdrew to Qinan 蘄南 (modern Suzhou 宿州, Anhui), where he was killed in battle or committed suicide, and Lord Changping (the last King of Chu) was killed by Wang Jian's second in command, Qin general Meng Wu, father of Meng Tian and Meng Yi.

The excavated personal letters of two Qin regular soldiers, Hei Fu (黑夫) and Jin (惊), records a protracted campaign in Huaiyang under general Wang Jian.

In the manga and anime, Kingdom, where he is known as "Ou Sen" the head of the Ou family, he's a silent and gifted tactician with a calm and collected attitude, possessing a remarkable intellect for warfare, making him one of the top strategists and Generals, and for his great accomplishments he was appointed by the King "Ei Sei" as one of the new "Qin Six Great Generals", in order to achieve the unification of China.