Skibbies

ep 50 ~ 51: 237 BC, Ying Zheng kicked all the foreigners out under pressure from all his relatives/nobles, then recalled the order after Li Si submitted a brilliant argument, 谏逐客书 (jian zhu ke shu) could be required readings for kids in Chinese schools (not at all schools though)
ep 53: 237 BC, Mao Jiao risked death to ask Ying Zheng bring his mum to the capital
ep 58 ~ 60: 236 BC, Zhao and Yan at war, Qin went to "help" Yan and grabbed bunch of cities
ep 60: 236 BC, King Zhao Yan (Zhao) dies
ep 64: 235 BC, Lv Buwei dies
ep 64: 229 BC (drama says 233 BC), General Huan Yi (Qin) dies
ep 65: 236 BC (roughly), Zhengguo Canal complete
ep 69: 233 BC, Han Fei (Han) dies

ep 69: 230 BC, Han King surrender to Qin, Han Kingdom conquered
ep 71: 229 BC, General Li Mu (Zhao) dies
ep 72: 227 BC, Zhao lost its last battle against Qin, Zhao King surrenders, Zhao Kingdom conquered
ep 72: 227 BC, Queen Dowager Zhao Ji dies
ep 73: 228 BC, Xiong Fuchu kills King Xiong You (Chu) and replaced him as King
ep 74: 227 BC, Jing Ke fails to assassinate Ying Zheng, Ji Dan (Yan) dies to stop Qin's constant attacks
ep 75: 225 BC, Qin floods Wei's capital Da Liang, Wei King surrenders, Wei Kingdom conquered
ep 76: 225 BC, Qin lost against Chu's army led by Xiang Yan (later King of Western Chu Xiang Yu's grandpa), Mi Qi/Xiong Qi betrayed Qin
ep 77: 223 BC, Qin conquered Chu's capital, captured Chu King Xiong Fuchu, Mi Qi/Xiong Qi became Chu King but dies when Qin attack again, Xiang Yan dies, Chu Kingdom conquered 
ep 78: (completely skipped over lol) 222 BC, Qin captured Yan King Ji Xi, Yan Kingdom conquered
ep 78: 221 BC, Qi King Tian Jian surrenders, Qi Kingdom conquered, Qin ends Warring States, starts Qin dynasty and Ying Zheng becomes an emperor at 38

ep 1: 259 BC, Ying Zheng born, start of Battle of Handan
ep 1: 257 BC, Ying Yiren/Zichu escape Handan with Lv Buwei
ep 4: 256 BC, Western Zhou lost in battle against Qin, end of Zhou Dynasty
ep 4: 251 BC, King Ying Ji (Qin) dies at 75
ep 6: 251 BC, Zhao Sheng/Lord Pingyuan (Zhao, four lords of Warring States) dies
ep 7: 250 BC, King Ying Zhu (Qin) dies at 54 after only 3 days of reign
ep 8: 249 BC, Lv Buwei becomes chancellor
ep 9: 249 BC, Qin conquers Eastern Zhou
ep 13: 247 BC May, King Ying Zichu (Qin) dies at 35 after 3 years of reign, Ying Zheng ascends the throne at 13
ep 15: 245 BC, General Biao Gong kills 30k people during battle, gets stripped of his title
ep 16: 246 BC, start constructing Zhengguo Canal
ep 20: 245 BC, King Zhao Dan (Zhao) dies

ep 22: 241 BC spring
ep 24: 239 BC, completion of Master Lv's Spring & Autumn Annals
ep 19 ~ 26: 248 ~ 243 BC, Lord Chunping (Zhao) was held hostage in Qin
ep 27 ~ 28: 241 BC, last time of five kingdoms fighting together against Qin (Qi isn't part of it because they were attacked some decades ago by other kingdoms together, and it's also geographically most far away from Qin)
ep 30: 240 BC, General Meng Ao dies, Queen Dowager Xia dies
ep 33: 239 BC, Cheng Jiao's rebellion fails and dies
ep 36: 239 BC, Lao Ai gets promoted to Duke Changxin
ep 38: 238 BC, King Xiong Wan (Chu) dies, Huang Xie/Lord Chunshen (Chu, one of the four Lords) murdered
ep 45~47: 238 BC, Lao Ai's rebellion fails and dies, King Ying Zheng gains control of the court at 22
ep 48~49: 237 BC, Lv Buwei demoted and leaves the capital

This drama is pretty good at noting dates for important events, but I made a time line anyways since I wanted time to moooove, and there's some events they didn't date. Certain events have historical base but there's no dates for them so I didn't put them down. Mild spoilers, mostly containing deaths and important events. Will post first 50 ep now, the remaining 28 ep will be later, since the last 10 ep have lot of important stuff and I need to wait for the last two ep.

Yeah Zhao had 3 notable battles before they used spies and Chu definitely put up a decent fight. Considering budget reason and audience reason (can't have battles ALL the time), I understand the why it's only few episodes. The drama wouldn't look so lopsided if they cut, oh idk 20 ep?

Yeah basically. Initially I thought it'd end with his death, I would be okay with it ending just before that too. I guess it's fine to end at just unificiation since they did move some of the stuff forward (same measurement system + writing system, building "highways", prefecture system) but i'm still disappointed.

it's.......not actually a cctv production, they just sold it to cctv, because the previous installments aired on it and it fits cctv's style more. The main producer for all four dramas are Qu Jiang, the previous 3 installments have Shaanxi's NRTA in its producers (or at least they co-operated somehow since they are in special thanks), but this one doesn't, instead this one has tencent, so cnetizens are all blaming tencent for the crash and burn, since internet giants are known for messing with productions.

It's fine to balance things, I'm ok with him having a grand goal and whatever, but really really not buying benevolent character lol. I just think it's perfectly ok for him to have flaws and negative aspects while still being an emperor with astounding achievements.

omg the novel is not THAT historically accurate, the author think it is, but it totally isn't, he's very very pro-Qin, all the other kingdoms sucks in comparison. He changed the gender of some real person for her to have a romance with Zhang Yi LOL. It's a pretty good series of novels but don't take it as history.

Anyways, the drama have nothing to do with the novel since the second installment, the author outright dislike the drama cos they kicked him off the production team. Qin Empire 1 have very perfect protagonists, especially Shang Yang because author loved him. 2 follows history much more closely compared to the novel and have less black and white characters (and you actually see the other kingdoms more, but it was also time of expansion and diplomacy). 4 well, you can't say it doesn't follow history since you can find the source for most events, but they clearly added way too much scenes for some people.

I never thought elixir stuff was on the table tbh, since it was going for a positive portrayal, but I'm NOT happy about the "whitewashing" here. What's up with oh no Ying Zheng was forced to do this and that, he's an emperor not a wuxia hero.

yes XD I was thinking about horse pulling the entire time so I wrote pull LOL.

i thought Lao Ai got the cows!!! I didn't look properly I guess.

merry xmas and happy holidays to you too! :D hope you have fun with all the dramas.

It's the same thing I think, it was cows first then horses, i think cos horses were more precious then? so i guess they might be used in battles more (?). The term (che lie) used is lit "cart pulled" so it doesn't specify what animal, the modern Chinese term reference horses (wu ma fen shi, five horse separate corpse). As a side note, from a cursory search, it seems that "che lie" could be something else entirely (could be run you over with a cart?).

I'm not sure it mentions in her wiki, i was wiki'ng Mao Jiao to see if he was real LOL.

LOL I start wiking everyone, since I want time to move, made another timeline cos of that.

No. they are about different people, the directors and tone/focus are different too. I think only 2 is subbed on netflix, 2 & 3 was filmed back to back and share same director/writer. So if this doesn't click for you, I'd rec trying 2. If you don't need subs then pick whatever you want or start from the beginning. The relationship between them are 1: Ying Qu Liang, 2; 1's son, 3; 2's son, 4: 3's great grandson.

HAHAHahHAHA. i can't stop laughing.

Nah, Zhao Ji returned, just like in the drama after Mao Jiao's comment, but it wasn't a dramatic return. and historically she became irrelevant to the court.

Don't worry, the arc is almost over! Yeah idk why they just left Fu Su behind, it seems really really dumb. Maybe they thought it'd go better if there's a "bait"? I think the drama was going they thought they were well prepared but they weren't.

Wang Jian struggled quite a bit against the Zhao army even after Zhao Yan's death, but the drama didn't really show that. They seem to be focused on other stuff instead, really trying to sell that benevolent Ying Zheng image here, ehhh.

You are cruel!! hahahaha. I'm kind of mad he died like that, since it felt kind of unnecessary. I'm starting suspect the writer have some kind fetish for brother-in-law and wife combo *squints*. I mean, sure, Zhao Yan's brother and his wife had affair, but that was AFTER Zhao yan died, also Ying Xi is entirely fictional so mhmmmmm.

I guess him visiting Qin was his final showdown, I did like that bit. Can I just say Zhao Yan's actor look so much better than Ying Zheng's, even the way he holds himself sometimes. *sighs for the nth time*