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Ran You
Disciple of Confucius named Qiu, noted for administrative skill, who served as steward to the Ji family of Lu and led Lu's troops to defeat Qi at Lang.
In a riverside storehouse, sacks of grain and white salt blocks are stacked high; workers weigh grain in a basket hung from a large steelyard, others carry sacks along a plank onto a barge at the right, and a clerk sits at an abacus beside bundled tally sticks.
Also known as Ran Qiu · Zi Ziyou · Master Ran
Ran You, personal name Qiu, courtesy name Ziyou, was a native of Lu and a disciple of Confucius, twenty-nine years his junior, and the leading name in the school's category of government affairs. Versatile and capable in finance and arms, he became steward to the Ji family; in 484 BCE he commanded the Lu left army against Qi and won, using the success to persuade Ji Kangzi to bring Confucius home. Confucius also rebuked him for amassing wealth for the Ji. In the Analects passage on sitting with the Master, he says he could make a small state prosperous within three years.
Life and times
Dates c. 522 BCE–death unknown