Wei Qing

Also known as Zi Zhongqing · Zhang Pinghou

Wei Qing, courtesy name Zhongqing, came from Pingyang in Hedong; his father Zheng Ji fathered him with a maid in the Marquis of Pingyang's household, and as a youth he was a horseman for Princess Pingyang. When his sister Wei Zifu won Emperor Wu's favour in 139 BCE, he too entered imperial service. In 129 BCE he struck from Shanggu as far as Longcheng; in 127 BCE he recovered the lands south of the Yellow River bend, where the Shuofang commandery was set up, and was made Marquis of Changping. After a night attack on the Xiongnu Worthy King of the Right in 124 BCE he was named grand general in the field. In 119 BCE he and Huo Qubing each led fifty thousand horsemen north, and he drove the Chanyu back to Zhaoxin fort. The Shiji counts seven campaigns and over fifty thousand enemy killed or taken. He married Princess Pingyang, died in 106 BCE and was named Lie; his tomb was shaped like Mount Lu.