Ya Zi Bi Bao

In the Warring-State Period （476 – 221 BC）， there was a middle-level minister named Fan Ju in the State of Wei. Because of his offense against some authority in the court， he was exiled from his motherland. However， with his wisdom and eloquence， he quickly found a new job in the State of Qin.

With the fear of letting others know his real identity as an exile from the State of Wei， Fan Ju lived and worked in the State of Qin in the name of Zhang Lu. He offered Lord Zhao of Qin the strategy of befriending remote states while attacking the nearby ones. Lord Zhao thought this strategy to be very useful. He adopted it and appointed Fan Ju to an important position in his court.

This gave Fan Ju more opportunities to get close to Lord Zhao. He offered a lot of strategies， most of which were taken by the lord and had good effect after being implemented. Lord Zhao was very pleased and kept promoting Fan Ju till he was given the position as the Prime Minister of the State of Qin.

Taking the highest position in the court， Fan Ju was complacent. With the unparallel power given by the lord， he became one of the most influential people in the State of Qin. He felt it necessary to reward or revenge people for what they did to him in the past. Those who once helped him were heavily rewarded even though they just gave him something to eat. But those with whom he had rancor， which was sometimes caused by one hostile look， could not be let go without any punishment.endprint