Ministers › Diplomat / Envoy
Cai Ze
Persuader from Yan who talked the Qin chancellor Fan Ju into retiring, briefly held the post himself, and later arranged for Prince Dan of Yan to go to Qin as a hostage
On a road beside a desert gateway, a camel train carries a lidded chest and rolled bundles while travellers walk along the path; a large sailing ship lies in the harbour at the right, a stone waymark stands by the road, and dunes and mountains fill the distance.
Cai Ze of Yan wandered among the courts without finding employment. Hearing that the Qin chancellor Fan Ju was uneasy because two men he had recommended, Zheng Anping and Wang Ji, had surrendered to Zhao and been executed for treason, he went west to Qin and let it be known that he would take Fan's place. Citing Shang Yang, Wu Qi and Minister Zhong of Yue, ruined by staying on after success, he persuaded Fan Ju, who resigned on grounds of illness and recommended him to King Zhaoxiang. Cai Ze was chancellor for only a few months before slander made him return the seal, and he was given the title Lord Gangcheng. He lived in Qin for more than ten years under four rulers, and an embassy he led to Yan was followed three years later by the arrival of Prince Dan of Yan as a hostage. Sima Qian put him in one biography with Fan Ju as two persuaders of the age.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; Qin chancellor in 255 BCE