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Lord Pingyuan
Warring States prince of Zhao and three-time chief minister who kept thousands of retainers and went to Chu for help during the siege of Handan, with Mao Sui at his side
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 Zhao Sheng
Lord Pingyuan, personally named Zhao Sheng, was a son of King Wuling of Zhao and brother of King Huiwen; he was chief minister under Huiwen and King Xiaocheng, left office and returned three times, and kept several thousand retainers. In 262 BCE, when Feng Ting offered Han's Shangdang commandery to Zhao, he argued for accepting it, drawing Zhao into the war with Qin that ended in disaster at Changping. When Qin then besieged Handan he went to Chu for help, and the retainer Mao Sui, who had volunteered for the journey, gripped his sword before the king of Chu and won the promise of an army. On Li Tong's advice he gave away his wealth to raise three thousand men for a sortie that pushed Qin back thirty li, and armies from Chu and Wei then lifted the siege. He died in 251 BCE. Sima Qian called him a dashing gentleman of a muddied age but said that greed had clouded his judgement over Shangdang.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–251 BCE