Series
Self-contained diplomatic stories from the Zhanguoce. Persuasion, betrayal, and strategic thinking from 2,300 years ago.
Part 1
A broke student returned home in rags, and his own family refused to speak to him. A few years later, he was wearing the chancellor’s seal of six kingdoms simultaneously. The most dramatic career reversal in Chinese political history—and the most instructive failure.
Part 2
A Qi minister realizes everyone is flattering him about his looks—then extrapolates from vanity to statecraft. Three kinds of flattery, a three-tier reward system for criticism, and the most elegant policy pitch in the Zhanguoce.
Part 3
Zhang Yi promised the King of Chu 600 li of Qin territory to break with Qi, then delivered only 6 li. The most brazen deception in the Zhanguoce—and a structural lesson in why bilateral deals beat multilateral alliances.
Part 4
Lord Pingyuan needed twenty retainers for a life-or-death diplomatic mission and could only find nineteen. The twentieth man volunteered himself, talked his way onto the team, walked up to the King of Chu with a sword, and changed the language forever.