Founded by Shi Le of the Jie people in 319 AD, Later Zhao became a dominant power that unified most of northern China. Shi Le rose from a former slave to a formidable conqueror, known for his military genius and surprisingly wise administration.
Folk tales describe how he could predict the outcome of battles by listening to the sound of temple bells in the wind. Under the later reign of the tyrannical Shi Hu, the state reached its peak of territorial expansion but also sowed the seeds of its own violent collapse through excessive luxury and brutality, which eventually led to the rise of Ran Min.