范增

Already about seventy when he joined the rising against Qin, he advised 项梁 to set up a descendant of the old Chu kings, and Xiang Yu honoured him as 亚父, 'second father'. At the 鸿门宴 in 206 BC he raised his jade ring three times as a signal to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu did nothing. Later, distrusted after a ruse by 陈平, he left in anger and died of an abscess on his back on the way home.

When Liu Bang escaped, Fan Zeng smashed the pair of jade cups Liu Bang had left for him and cried 竖子不足与谋, 'this boy is not worth making plans with', words still quoted about someone hopeless to work with. He foresaw that Liu Bang would take the empire.