Guo Wei 郭隗 was an advisor of King Zhao of Yan 燕昭王 (r. 311-279) who wanted to attract worthy advisors to rebuilt a strong state that would be able to rake revenge for the earlier defeat by the armies of Qi 齊. Guo Wei underlined that a really strong ruler used the worthies as his teachers, and not only as friends or subjects. The king thereupon took Guo Wei as his teacher and built a palace for him. With the help of this gesture, the state of Yan attracted a lot of capable scholars, like Yue Yi 樂毅, Zou Yan 鄒衍 or Ju Xin 劇辛, and Yan became a strong state.