赵丹 / 赵孝成王 / King Xiaocheng of Zhao

赵丹 / 赵孝成王 / King Xiaocheng of Zhao enters the wiki in 《资治通鉴·周纪》90丨揭秘先秦最完美的复仇 when 赵惠文王赵何 dies and Zhao Dan succeeds in 赵国. The episode does not yet develop his own decisions; it introduces him through the immediate political environment around his uncle 平原君.

That succession timing matters because 魏齐 flees to Pingyuanjun while 范雎 is using 秦国 pressure against 魏国 to demand Wei Qi’s head. Zhao Dan is therefore born into the episode as a new ruler whose court can be pulled into another state’s revenge and coercion through aristocratic refuge.

《资治通鉴·周纪》91丨触龙如何敲开守寡赵太后的门（1） shows the practical crisis around that accession. Because Zhao Dan is young, 赵威后 governs in a queen-mother regency while Qin attacks Zhao. The state asks 齐国 for help, but Qi demands 长安君 as hostage, creating the setting for 触龙’s persuasion.

《资治通鉴·周纪》91丨触龙如何敲开守寡赵太后的门（2） resolves that first accession crisis: Zhao Weihou sends Chang’an Jun to Qi, Qi sends troops, and Qin withdraws. The episode also compares Zhao Dan’s youth with 齐王建 / 田建’s young accession under 君王后, making queen-mother regency a cross-state pattern in this annalistic year.

《资治通鉴·周纪》93丨在梦里藏着偷天改命？（1） makes Zhao Dan an active decision-maker after that regency phase. With 赵威后 gone and Zhao Dan newly governing in his own right, 冯亭 offers 上党’s seventeen cities to Zhao. Zhao Dan consults 平原君 and 赵豹 / 平阳君, but Zhao Bao’s warning against 无故之利 does not overcome Zhao Dan’s belief that Shangdang’s people are drawn by his 德. The episode treats this as the beginning of Zhao’s 利令智昏 exposure.

《资治通鉴·周纪》93丨在梦里藏着偷天改命？（2） completes that decision. Zhao Dan rejects Zhao Bao’s risk pricing, follows 平原君, sends him to receive Shangdang, and rewards 冯亭 and Shangdang’s officials lavishly. The source also adds the 《史记》 dream layer omitted by 《资治通鉴》: Zhao Dan dreams of mixed clothing, riding a flying dragon, falling midway, and landing among gold and jade. The episode reads this as dream foreshadowing for the coming 长平之战.

《资治通鉴·周纪》94丨杀神白起，长平之战中的“草包”名将？（1） turns the foreshadowed consequence into Zhao Dan’s serial decision failure. He consults 娄昌 and 虞卿 after repeated front-line losses, but follows the direct-peace path by sending 郑朱 to 秦国. The episode presents this as a diplomatic mistake: Qin receives Zheng Zhu publicly, isolates Zhao from possible 合纵 help, and does not actually make peace.

The same source then makes Zhao Dan responsible for the command break at Changping. He pressures 廉颇 for staying defensive, accepts 范雎’s rumor that Qin fears 赵括, and appoints Zhao Kuo despite warnings from 蔺相如 and 赵母. Zhao Dan’s page therefore now links the earlier Shangdang windfall trap to 阵前换将风险 and 纸上谈兵式统帅陷阱.

《资治通鉴·周纪》94丨杀神白起，长平之战中的“草包”名将？（2） gives the battlefield consequence of Zhao Dan’s replacement decision. Zhao Kuo abandons the defensive attrition line, attacks across the Dan River, and falls into Bai Qi’s encirclement-and-supply-cutting system. The later grain crisis also exposes the earlier diplomatic error: after Qin seals the route, Zhao asks Qi for food but receives no relief.

《资治通鉴·周纪》94丨杀神白起，长平之战中的“草包”名将？（3） adds the final consequence and retrospective blame. Zhao Kuo’s failed breakout and death lead to the Zhao army’s surrender, after which 白起 kills the prisoners and returns only 240 young soldiers as messengers. The host names Zhao Dan’s greed for 上党 as one link in the causal chain, placing the ruler’s earlier 利令智昏 alongside 冯亭’s transfer and Zhao Kuo’s paper-war command.

《资治通鉴·周纪》95丨长平之战后秦国为什么没有灭了赵国（1） shows Zhao Dan after the catastrophe as a ruler trying to preserve the state through direct risk. The episode says the 《战国策》 layer has Zhao Dan personally go to 秦国 for peace despite the remembered danger of 楚怀王’s captivity. Qin detains him, reaches a settlement, then 秦昭襄王 releases him while keeping 赵郝 to negotiate the details of the six-city cession.

This episode softens the page’s earlier blame frame without erasing it. Zhao Dan’s acceptance of 上党 and appointment of 赵括 remain catastrophic decisions, but the source now also presents him as accepting personal danger and the political cost of peace after Changping.

《资治通鉴·周纪》95丨长平之战后秦国为什么没有灭了赵国（2） immediately complicates that peace settlement. Once Zhao Dan returns, 虞卿 argues against completing the six-city cession because it would help an exhausted Qin recover, while 楼缓 argues that non-cession exposes Zhao to Qin and opportunistic neighbors. Zhao Dan’s choice is now not only personal risk at Qin, but a post-defeat credibility trap: either cede land and advertise weakness or break the promise and invite Qin’s retaliation.

《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） adds a second post-defeat choice. When 秦昭襄王 detains 平原君 and demands 魏齐’s head, Zhao Dan sends troops to surround Pingyuanjun’s house and pursue Wei Qi. The decision protects a royal relative and reduces immediate Qin leverage, but it also means Zhao’s ruler turns against the guest-protection norm that Pingyuanjun and 虞卿 are trying to uphold.

The exchange succeeds only narrowly. Zhao receives Pingyuanjun back after Wei Qi’s suicide, but 秦国 still attacks under 王陵. Zhao Dan’s page therefore adds 贵族义气与国家秩序冲突 to the post-Changping survival branch: state rescue and legal command win the immediate round without buying peace.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（1） shows Zhao Dan’s next survival move under siege. With 王陵 failing but Qin still reinforcing and 白起 refusing to command, Zhao cannot simply wait for Qin exhaustion; the state also needs external help. Because Wei and Qi are unreliable, Zhao Dan sends 平原君 to seek 楚国 aid, opening the 毛遂 branch.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（2） shows that Zhao Dan’s external-help path only half succeeds. 毛遂 secures 楚考烈王’s alliance commitment, but Chu cannot easily reach 邯郸 without 魏国 transit, and 魏安釐王 halts 晋鄙 at 邺城. Zhao Dan’s crisis therefore shifts from “find an ally” to “make allied help physically and politically arrive.”

The episode then brings 新垣衍’s proposal to Zhao Dan through 平原君: honor 秦昭襄王 as western emperor to induce Qin withdrawal. The source frames this as a near-submission choice forced by failed relief, putting Zhao Dan between resistance at annihilation risk and status concession at legitimacy cost.

《资治通鉴·周纪》96丨毛遂自荐（3） keeps Zhao Dan in that dilemma but adds 鲁仲连 as the counterweight to status submission. Lu Zhonglian’s rebuttal gives Zhao’s side an argument for refusing the western-emperor plan even before rescue has actually arrived: recognizing Qin’s superior order may save the moment while exposing Zhao and Wei to deeper dependency.

Connections

• 赵惠文王赵何 - predecessor whose death opens Zhao Dan’s reign.
• 平原君 - uncle and Zhao minister whose decision to shelter Wei Qi becomes politically dangerous.
• 魏齐 - fugitive whose presence can expose Zhao to Qin pressure.
• 范雎, 秦国, and 以国力行私仇 - source context for the danger entering Zhao.
• 赵国 and 贵族政治避难 - state and asylum frame.
• 赵威后, 长安君, 齐国, and 触龙 - Zhouji 91 regency, hostage demand, and persuasion crisis.
• 齐王建 / 田建 and 君王后 - Qi-side young-ruler/regency parallel.
• 冯亭, 上党, 平原君, 赵豹 / 平阳君, and 无故之利 / 利令智昏 - Zhouji 93 Shangdang offer and decision-risk branch.
• 梦兆叙事伏笔 and 长平之战 - Zhouji 93 part 2 dream and consequence frame.
• 娄昌, 虞卿, 郑朱, 合纵, 楚国, and 齐国 - Zhouji 94 failed diplomacy before the battle decision.
• 廉颇, 范雎, 赵括, 蔺相如, and 赵母 - Zhouji 94 pressure, rumor, appointment, and rejected warnings.
• 阵前换将风险, 反间流言楔入, and 纸上谈兵式统帅陷阱 - concepts extended by his Changping choice.
• 白起, 战场围困与断粮, 齐王建 / 田建, 君王后, and 屏障国救援失灵 - Zhouji 94 part 2 encirclement and failed grain-relief aftermath.
• 杀降安全困境, 冯亭, and 战争成本与速决纪律 - Zhouji 94 part 3 massacre aftermath and responsibility chain.
• 秦昭襄王, 赵郝, 位阶焦虑式说服, and 欲擒故纵式让利外交 - Zhouji 95 post-Changping peace mission, detention, release, and city-cession details.
• 虞卿, 楼缓, 齐国, 抱薪救火式割地求和, and 合纵 - Zhouji 95 part 2 post-settlement cession debate.
• 魏齐, 平原君, 信陵君, 侯嬴, 王陵, and 贵族义气与国家秩序冲突 - Zhouji 95 part 3 hunt, head exchange, and continued Qin attack.
• 毛遂, 楚国, 邯郸, and 合纵 - Zhouji 96 rescue mission after Wei/Qi support proves unreliable.
• 晋鄙, 邺城, 新垣衍, 联盟救援借道依赖, and 尊号式投降方案 - Zhouji 96 part 2 blocked aid and western-emperor decision pressure.
• 鲁仲连, 文明-野蛮框架, 历史先例武器化, and 利益重构式说服 - Zhouji 96 part 3 anti-submission argument during Zhao’s Handan crisis.