Zhang Yi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chancellor | |
| Monarch | King Hui of Qin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | |
| Died | 309 BC |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Occupation | Strategist |
| Zhang Yi | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 張儀 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 张仪 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Part of a series on |
| Chinese legalism |
|---|
 |
Zhang Yi (before 329 BC – 309 BC[1]) was a Chinese military strategist and philosopher. He was born in theWeistate[2] during theWarring States period ofChinese history. He was an important strategist in helpingQin to dissolve the unity of the other states, and hence pave the way for Qin to unify China. He was an advocate of theHorizontal Alliance [wikidata] to combatSu Qin'sVertical Alliance [wikidata]. Both were said to be disciples ofGuiguzi and adherents of theSchool of Diplomacy.[3]
A native of theState of Wei,[4] Zhang Yi studied underGuiguzi[4] and learnt politics and foreign relations.[3] After Su Qin died, Zhang left Guiguzi, and arrived at the state ofChu.[5]
He received a severe beating at a banquet in the house of a minister of Chu when he was wrongly accused of stealing a gem. It is said that on his return home, he said to his wife, "Look and see if they have left me my tongue." And when his wife declared that it was safe and sound, he cried out, "If I still have my tongue, that is all I want."[4] He then went to the state ofQin in 329 BC, and sawKing Hui of Qin, who had earlier rejected Su.[3][5] King Hui accepted him as a high minister, and in 328 BC he led a successful campaign against his native state, by which Qin acquired a large part of Wei.[4]
At that time, Su Qin's vertical alliance tactic still influenced China, and formed a sort of unity between the states ofHan,Zhao, Wei, Chu,Yan andQi. Zhang offered ideas to King Hui about ways to befriend Wei and Yan in order to break the alliance, which Hui graciously accepted. Hui decided to make him the prime minister.[3]
In 314 BC, civil war broke out in Yan.King Xuan of Qi attacked Yan and murdered the King of Yan.King Huai of Chu, who was the head of the vertical alliance, allied with Qi. Qi-Chu alliance would provoke a great threat to Qin's unification. Hui sent Zhang to weaken the alliance.[3] Zhang first drew the attention of the king by bestowing expensive gifts to his favoured official, Jin Shang. He then struck a deal with Huai. They agreed that Huai would end his alliance with Qi if Qin gave back 600li of land that Qin had previously captured to Huai.[5] Huai immediately accepted despite his official Chen Zhen's scepticism regarding the trustworthiness of Zhang. When Huai sent a messenger toXianyang to retrieve the land, Zhang gave Chu sixli of his own land, and claimed he had said 'sixli' of his own land instead of the six hundred of Qin he had promised.[5] Chu went to war with Qin. Qin defeated Chu and demanded a further six hundredli of land.[3]
Zhang repeatedly negotiated with Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan and Qi, thereby destroying their relationships with horizontal alliances, and paving the way for Qin's unification of China.[3][5]
In 311 B.C., King Hui of Qin State died and his son King Wu of Qin State ascended the throne. Zhang Yi was not satisfied with King Wu of Qin State, so he left Qin State for Wei State. Later, he died in Wei State.[6]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)