赵奢

As a tax officer he executed nine stewards of the powerful 平原君 for refusing to pay. Summoned by the furious lord, he argued that the state is strong only when the great families obey the law: 奉公如法则上下平，上下平则国强. The lord recommended him to the king, and in 269 BC he defeated a Qin army at Yuyu, earning the title 马服君 'Lord of Mafu'.

He never trusted his son 赵括, saying that war is a matter of life and death and the boy spoke of it too lightly. After his death Zhao Kuo took command at 长平 in 260 BC and lost his whole army to Qin, which is where 纸上谈兵 'fighting battles on paper' comes from.