Zhang Yi

Also known as Zhang Zi

Zhang Yi was a native of Wei who, according to the Records of the Grand Historian, studied with Su Qin under the Master of Guigu. Seeking a post in Chu, he was accused of stealing a jade disc and flogged, and asked his wife whether his tongue was still there. He became chancellor of Qin in 328 BCE and later served as chancellor of Wei, urging its king to submit to Qin first. In 313 BCE he promised King Huai of Chu six hundred li of land at Shangyu if Chu broke with Qi; once it did, he admitted to only six li, and the king attacked Qin and was routed at Danyang the next year. Disliked by King Wu of Qin, he left for Wei, where by the Shiji's account he died after a year as chancellor. The History of the Han lists a Zhangzi in ten sections, and the Mawangdui silk manuscripts place Su Qin after Zhang Yi, undermining the Shiji's story of their rivalry.