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Lord Chunshen
Warring States chief minister of Chu who smuggled the heir home from Qin, served King Kaolie for twenty-five years, and was murdered by Li Yuan
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Huang Xie
Lord Chunshen, personally named Huang Xie, was a widely read native of Chu who served King Qingxiang. After Bai Qi had sacked the Chu capital and Qin prepared a new attack with Han and Wei, he wrote to King Zhao of Qin that a war between the two great states would only profit their neighbours, and Qin called off the campaign. Later, as companion to Crown Prince Wan in Qin, he had the prince slip home in disguise when the Chu king fell ill and stayed behind to face King Zhao, who let him go. The prince became King Kaolie and in 262 BCE made Huang Xie chief minister and Lord Chunshen. In office he helped relieve the siege of Handan, extinguished the state of Lu, made Xunzi magistrate of Lanling and kept three thousand retainers. When the king died in 238 BCE, Li Yuan's assassins killed him at the Ji Gate. Sima Qian closed his biography by warning that indecision invites disaster.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–238 BCE