The Shaqiu Incident: Starvation of King Wuling of Zhao

In 299 BC, King Wuling of Zhao, famed for the "Hufu Qishe" reforms, abdicated to his younger son Zhao He (King Huiwen) and became "Lord Father." His elder son Prince Zhang was enfeoffed in Dai. During a tour to Shaqiu in 295 BC, Lord Father pitied Prince Zhang and proposed dividing Zhao into two kingdoms, alarming King Huiwen's faction. Prince Zhang then launched a coup, killing Chancellor Fei Yi. Generals Li Dui and Zhao Cheng crushed the rebellion. Prince Zhang fled to the Lord Father's palace; the besiegers killed Zhang but feared reprisal from the Lord Father. They sealed the palace, cutting off all food and water. After enduring over three months trapped, the once-powerful reformer King Wuling starved to death. This palace coup, known as the Shaqiu Incident, marked an ironic end for a monarch who had transformed Zhao's military might.

No formal trial was conducted. Li Dui and Zhao Cheng maintained their positions and were not prosecuted. King Huiwen never punished them, effectively legitimizing the regicide as a political necessity.

The key dispute is whether Li Dui and Zhao Cheng committed de facto regicide, or if King Wuling bore responsibility through his reckless plan to divide the state. Another focus is the moral dilemma of King Huiwen, who acquiesced to the siege and failed to rescue his father, balancing filial piety against political survival.

The Shaqiu Incident marked the end of Zhao's peak expansion under King Wuling. It destabilized the royal succession and weakened the state’s centralized power, contributing to internal strife. The tragedy became a historical lesson on the perils of divided sovereignty and succession disputes, foreshadowing Zhao's eventual demise by Qin.