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Zhao She
Zhao tax official turned general who relieved Yuyu by a feigned delay and a forced march, routing Qin in 270 BC, and was made Lord of Mafu
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Ma Fujun
Zhao She began as a land-tax collector in Zhao; when the household of Lord Pingyuan refused to pay, he executed nine of its stewards, then convinced the angry lord that upholding the law served the state, and was recommended him to King Huiwen to run the kingdom's taxes. In 270 BC, when Qin besieged Yuyu, Lian Po and Yue Cheng judged it too far to relieve, but Zhao said that in a narrow pass the braver commander wins and was given the army. He halted thirty li from Handan, built ramparts for twenty-eight days and let a Qin spy go home, then marched two days and a night to the front, took the northern hill on the advice of the soldier Xu Li, and routed the Qin force. He was made Lord of Mafu, equal in rank to Lian Po and Lin Xiangru. His son Zhao Kuo later led Zhao to disaster at Changping, and Kuo's mother had cited her husband's opinion of him to warn the king.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; defeated Qin at Yuyu in 270 BCE