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Zhao Gao
Qin official who, with Li Si, forged the First Emperor's will to put Huhai on the throne, dominated the court as chancellor, and was killed by Ziying after forcing the Second Emperor's suicide
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.
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Zhao Gao is known mainly from the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), which calls him a distant member of the Zhao lineage born in the yingong; this has long been read as meaning he was a eunuch, though some scholars take the word as a term for convict workshops. Impressed by his strength and knowledge of the penal code, the Qin king made him keeper of the palace carriages and had him teach Prince Huhai law. When the First Emperor died at Shaqiu in 210 BC, Zhao Gao and Li Si forged an edict ordering the heir Fusu to die and enthroned Huhai. After Li Si's execution in 208 BC he became chancellor and tested the court by calling a deer a horse. In 207 BC he had his son-in-law Yan Le force the Second Emperor's suicide and set up Ziying, who soon had him stabbed to death and his clan destroyed. The Book of Han (Hanshu) credits him with the primer Yuanli.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–207 BCE