The first recorded Chinese invasion was in 339BC, when a prince of the Yangzi River valley sent his general over the mountains to conquer the southwest barbarians' .The campaign lasted ten years, during which his return to China was cut by the prince's rivals. When the general found himself isolated, he set himself up as the king of Dian in capital near present-day Kunming. For two centuries his descendants ruled the kingdom, completed cut off from China, and intermarried with the Dian people.