Campaigners › Strategists
Chen Ping
Strategist of the Han founding who sowed distrust between Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng, freed Liu Bang from the siege at Baideng, and helped destroy the Lu clan
Inside a tent at dusk, a low table holds a board of faint map-like lines with scattered black and white stones beside a feather fan, a lit lantern, an iron teapot and rolled bamboo slips, while one person sits with their back turned at the open flap, facing a river valley at sunset.
Chen Ping of Huyou in Yangwu grew up poor but bookish; praised for dividing the sacrificial meat fairly, he said he would rule the realm the same way. At the end of the Qin he served King Jiu of Wei and then Xiang Yu before Wei Wuzhi brought him over to Liu Bang, who made him an army inspector. At Xingyang he spent forty thousand jin of gold to turn Xiang Yu against Fan Zeng, and sent two thousand women out of the east gate at night so that Liu Bang could slip away. In 201 BC his plan of a feigned royal tour to Yunmeng let Liu Bang seize Han Xin, and the next year his secret scheme ended the Xiongnu siege at Baideng, making him Marquis of Quni. Chancellor under Emperor Hui and Empress Lu, he joined Zhou Bo after her death in destroying the Lu clan and enthroning Emperor Wen. He died in 178 BC, posthumously named Marquis Xian.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–179 BCE
- 200 BCEGaozu Besieged at Baideng