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entity Updated 2026-08-21 Topics: History

平原君 / Lord Pingyuan

平原君 / Lord Pingyuan appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》43丨孟尝君妻子偷情被发现他咋处理？ as the 赵国 host who receives 孟尝君 / 田文. The episode does not develop Pingyuan Jun’s broader biography; it uses him as the reception context for the scene in which Zhao locals come to see Mengchang Jun and mock his short stature.

That small hosting role matters because the insult triggers a disproportionate retainer response. Mengchang Jun’s followers kill hundreds of local people, and the episode uses the incident to expose how 战国养士 and 贵族名誉高于生命 can turn public ridicule into political violence.

《资治通鉴·周纪》63丨 德高望重孟尝君是伪君子？ names Pingyuanjun as one of the 战国四公子, alongside 孟尝君 / 田文, 信陵君, and 春申君. The episode uses him as the next-episode bridge after criticizing Mengchangjun’s retainer quality through 王安石.

《资治通鉴·周纪》64丨 古代“杠精”公孙龙养成记 makes Pingyuanjun the central patron case. It identifies him as Zhao Sheng, a son of 赵武灵王 and younger brother of 赵何, and says he likes gathering士, with thousands of people around him. His retainer 公孙龙 is admired for 名辩, but 孔川 and 邹衍 push Pingyuanjun toward a different evaluation standard: verbal force is not enough if the argument does not serve truth-seeking debate.

《资治通鉴·周纪》86丨历史上靠收租的将军竟然是他？ turns Pingyuanjun from patron into the elite test case for 赵奢’s tax enforcement. His household refuses payment; Zhao She executes nine household personnel by law, then persuades Pingyuanjun that aristocratic exemption would weaken 赵国 and ultimately endanger Pingyuanjun’s own wealth. Pingyuanjun’s decision to recommend Zhao She to 赵惠文王赵何 makes him an example of 贵族税法同遵 rather than only retainer patronage.

《资治通鉴·周纪》90丨揭秘先秦最完美的复仇 gives Pingyuanjun a sharper interstate-risk role. After 范雎 demands 魏齐’s head from 魏国, Wei Qi flees to Pingyuanjun’s house in Zhao. The timing makes the refuge politically heavy: 赵惠文王赵何 has just died, 赵孝成王 has just succeeded, and Pingyuanjun is both a senior minister and the new ruler’s uncle.

《资治通鉴·周纪》95丨长平之战后秦国为什么没有灭了赵国（3） turns that asylum risk into direct coercion. 秦昭襄王 invites Pingyuanjun to Qin under the language of private friendship, then detains him and demands Wei Qi’s head. Pingyuanjun refuses to betray Wei Qi as a friend, but his detention gives Qin leverage over Zhao and pushes Zhao Dan into hunting Wei Qi inside Zhao.

The episode therefore adds a second negative test to Pingyuanjun’s Four Lords reputation. He shows personal loyalty once trapped, but he also misreads or cannot refuse Qin’s invitation, allowing Qin to convert elite sociability into a hostage problem. His return is bought by Wei Qi’s head rather than by a repaired Qin-Zhao peace.

《资治通鉴·周纪》95丨长平之战后秦国为什么没有灭了赵国（4） clarifies that Pingyuanjun’s behavior should not be reduced to anti-Qin resistance. The episode says he, like 信陵君, could shift with circumstances; the stronger explanation is friend ethics. Wei Qi’s correctness matters less than the fact that he is a friend and guest who cannot be handed over without destroying Pingyuanjun’s reputation.

That clarification makes Pingyuanjun an especially visible case for the clash between aristocratic sociability and state order. His refusal looks honorable inside 贵族义气与国家秩序冲突, but it also gives 秦国 a path to pressure 赵国 and becomes the kind of conduct 荀悦 later criticizes through 死党之义与守职奉上.

《资治通鉴·周纪》91丨触龙如何敲开守寡赵太后的门（1） turns that refuge background into one explanation for Qin’s attack on Zhao. Pingyuanjun is not the central speaker in this episode, but his protection of Wei Qi remains part of the pressure that forces 赵威后 to seek 齐国 aid and face the 长安君 hostage demand.

《资治通鉴·周纪》93丨在梦里藏着偷天改命？（1） brings Pingyuanjun back as one of the royal uncles whom 赵丹 / 赵孝成王 consults when 冯亭 offers 上党 to Zhao. The source develops 赵豹 / 平阳君’s rejection argument more than Pingyuanjun’s own position, so Pingyuanjun’s role here is chiefly as senior advisory context for the court’s windfall decision.

《资治通鉴·周纪》93丨在梦里藏着偷天改命？（2） makes his position decisive. After Zhao Dan dislikes Zhao Bao’s refusal argument, he turns to Pingyuanjun, who supports receiving Shangdang and is sent to take possession of it. The episode closes with 司马迁’s judgment that Pingyuanjun could be a “翩翩浊世之佳公子” and still “不识大体,” because he let 利令智昏 pull Zhao toward the 长平之战 prelude.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（1） shifts Pingyuanjun from asylum and Shangdang decision risk into urgent rescue diplomacy. With 邯郸 under Qin pressure and Wei/Qi support unreliable, 赵丹 / 赵孝成王 sends him to seek help from 楚国. Pingyuanjun’s attempt to choose twenty capable retainers but finding only nineteen creates the scene in which 毛遂 volunteers, showing both the scale of Pingyuanjun’s household and the limits of reputation-based selection inside 战国养士.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（2） shows the mission almost failing under Pingyuanjun’s formal leadership. He and 楚考烈王 discuss 合纵 from sunrise to sunset without result, and Mao Sui has to interrupt the stalled negotiation. Pingyuanjun’s post-mission judgment that he can no longer claim to see through people turns the episode into a correction of his talent-evaluation confidence.

The same source also makes Pingyuanjun the entry point for 新垣衍’s proposal. After 晋鄙 stops at 邺城 and Chu rescue remains route-dependent, Xin Yuan Yan enters Handan through Pingyuanjun to propose honoring 秦昭襄王 as western emperor. Pingyuanjun’s hesitation shows him again caught between heroic resistance, state survival, and the possibility of a humiliating settlement.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（3） makes Pingyuanjun the broker for 鲁仲连’s intervention. Lu Zhonglian asks to meet Xin Yuan Yan, and Pingyuanjun’s household again becomes the channel through which an outside or underused persuader enters a state survival decision. This extends Pingyuanjun’s Zhouji 96 pattern: he cannot resolve the crisis alone, but his network can bring in the person who changes the conversation.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（4） turns Pingyuanjun from crisis broker into the target of internal moral pressure. 李谈 / 李同 confronts him with the contrast between starving 邯郸 commoners and Pingyuanjun’s protected household wealth, food, clothing, women, servants, and metal vessels. The argument is practical as well as ethical: if Zhao falls, private wealth and noble comfort will not survive.

Pingyuanjun accepts the rebuke. He distributes family wealth to reward soldiers, sends wives, concubines, and servants into the army, and helps gather three thousand dare-death fighters. The episode therefore adds a late positive correction to his crisis record: after earlier misjudgments around Shangdang, Mao Sui, and submission proposals, he can still be moved by a clear argument that elite privilege must become burden sharing when state survival is at stake.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（6） gives Pingyuanjun a pressure role outside Zhao. He writes to 信陵君 and sharpens the appeal by invoking both Zhao’s danger and the fact that Pingyuanjun’s wife is Xinlingjun’s sister. The episode treats the letter as moral and reputational pressure: it helps push Xinlingjun from repeated failed requests to 魏安釐王 into his own attempted death mission and then into 窃符救赵.

After the rescue succeeds, Pingyuanjun and 赵丹 / 赵孝成王 greet Xinlingjun at the border. Pingyuanjun’s Zhouji 96 arc therefore ends with several forms of outsourced rescue: 毛遂 wins the Chu commitment, 鲁仲连 defeats the submission proposal, 李谈 / 李同 forces internal burden sharing, and Xinlingjun forcibly activates Wei’s army.

《资治通鉴·周纪》97-2丨揭秘信陵君凭什么是四公子之首 places Pingyuanjun in the next tension field. He and Zhao Xiaocheng Wang want to honor 信陵君 after the rescue, but Xinlingjun’s ritual humility prevents the reward from becoming direct parity. The source then points toward a subtler problem: Xinlingjun will now live in Zhao, continue attracting low-status worthies such as 毛公 and 薛公, and share the same Handan talent field where Pingyuanjun already has a major household.

《资治通鉴·周纪》97-3丨吕不韦：历史上风投第一人 shows that tension breaking into speech. Pingyuanjun privately says Xinlingjun is not the unparalleled figure people claim because he associates with gamblers and small traders. When Xinlingjun prepares to leave, Pingyuanjun apologizes and keeps him in Zhao. The episode uses Pingyuanjun’s reaction as a status-bound misunderstanding of 士的道德化身份: he initially sees low-status association as disgrace where Xinlingjun sees moral worth.

《资治通鉴·秦纪》100-2｜六国竟然同时为他吊丧 records Pingyuanjun’s death in the same year as 秦昭襄王’s death and the 鄗代之战. The episode notes that, according to the Shiji account it cites, his descendants inherit the title until Zhao’s fall, which makes his lineage a partial exception to the broader pattern in which many Warring States fiefs and titles are withdrawn after the holder dies.

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