Ministers › Diplomat / Envoy
Yao Jia
Qin envoy who broke up a four-state alliance against Qin and, with Li Si, slandered Han Fei into the prison where he died
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.
Yao Jia was a counsellor at the Qin court at the end of the Warring States period. The Intrigues of the Warring States (Zhanguo ce) says that when four states united to attack Qin, he volunteered to visit them, was given a hundred chariots and a thousand jin of gold, broke up their alliance, and was rewarded with a fief of a thousand households and the rank of senior minister. Han Fei then exposed his past to the king: the son of a gatekeeper in Daliang, he had stolen in Wei and been driven out of office in Zhao, and he had used Qin's treasure to make private friends among the lords. Yao Jia defended himself by recalling the humble origins of Taigong Wang, Guan Zhong and Baili Xi, and the king kept him and put Han Fei to death. The Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) likewise says that Li Si and Yao Jia slandered Han Fei into prison, where he took the poison Li Si sent him.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; served King Zheng of Qin