In 354 BC, Pang Juan led an army of 100,000 to invade the state of Zhao. The army of Wei was invincible and pushed the capital of Zhao, Handan, which was in great danger. Zhao Li, an envoy of the state of Zhao, came to Linzi, the capital of Qi, on the order of the king of Zhao to persuade the king of Qi. He told King Qi that the king of Zhao intended to offer three cities to Qi, and asked King Qi to send troops to save Zhao.


    King Wei of Qi summoned the great ministers of the court to discuss the matter of saving Zhao, “Gentlemen,” he asked the ministers, “will it be to my country''s advantage to save Zhao, or will it be to my country''s advantage not to save Zhao?”


    Zou Ji stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, I think it is advantageous not to save Zhao. Handan is the capital of the state of Zhao, and Zhao will certainly not give it up easily, and will surely fight with Wei to the death; even if Wei breaks through Handan, it will be greatly wounded, so that Wei''s threat to my state of Qi will be lessened. If your majesty sends troops to save Zhao, there will be a bloody battle, not to mention that the Qi army is not a match for the Wei army, and even if it is a match for the Wei army, both of them will lose. Therefore it is still advantageous not to save Zhao.”


    King Wei of Qi thought that Zou Ji had a point, and many of the great physicians were in favor of Zou Ji''s proposition.


    Tian Ji, however, opposed Zou Ji''s idea, and said to King Wei of Qi, “Your Majesty, I beg to differ with what you have said. In my opinion, saving the state of Zhao is favorable to my state of Qi. Zhao and Qi are the common enemies of Wei. If Zhao falls, Wei will deal with Qi with all its strength, so the threat of Wei to my Qi will increase instead of decreasing. If your majesty sends troops to save Zhao and save Zhao from extinction, the king of Zhao will be grateful to your majesty for the rest of his life, and once Wei invades Qi, Zhao will go all out to make it difficult for Wei to take care of its head and tail, and in that case, Wei will not dare to invade Qi rashly. Therefore, it is to my advantage to save Zhao.”


    King Wei of Qi thought that what Tian Ji said was more reasonable, and many of the great physicians favored Tian Ji''s proposition.


    Zou Ji said, “What General Tian Ji said is certainly reasonable, but I don''t know whether the king has thought about it or not, the Qi army has been defeated by Pang Juan several times, and if it is defeated by Pang Juan again in a faraway country, not only will it not be able to save the state of Zhao, but it will also be in danger of being wiped out by the whole army.”


    Zou Ji''s words led to a flurry of discussion, the Dafus have expressed support for Zou Ji''s advocacy, not to save Zhao, while King Qi Wei pondered in silence.


    Tian Ji anxiously said to King Wei of Qi: “Your Majesty, if you do not save Zhao, Zhao will be destroyed, and if Zhao falls, Qi will also cease to exist!”


    Zou Ji said to Tian Ji, “General Tian, don''t be an alarmist, if Zhao is destroyed, we can still ally with Chu, Qin, Country of Han and Yan, and Wei can''t destroy Qi.”


    Tian Ji sneered back, “Xiangguo, I don''t know whether you are really confused or pretending to be confused. This time, when Wei invaded Zhao, these countries you mentioned were all afraid of Wei and didn''t dare to save each other. In the coming year, if Wei invades Qi, will they not be afraid of Wei?”


    Zou Ji laughed coldly, “General Tian, I am not pretending to be confused, I understand everything you say. However, the army you lead is no match for Pang Juan, so how can you save Zhao?”


    Knowing that Zou Ji was mocking him for his incompetence in commanding, Tian Ji couldn''t help but blush and said, “I can surrender my military power and let someone with talent lead the army.”


    “You should have said this earlier, it''s too late now! In the heat of the moment let alone not being able to find such a person, even if you do, he is no match for Pang Juan.”


    “I can find one, and this person is absolutely certain to defeat Pang Juan.”


    Zou Ji burst into a sneer and said, “Anyone can say big words.”


    “What I''m saying is not big words, it''s the truth.”


    “Who is this person?”


    “A descendant of Sun Wu Zi, the heir to Sun Zi''s Art of War, his name is Sun Bin.” Tian Ji said to King Wei of Qi, “Your Majesty, I recommend Sun Bin as a great general, he can definitely defeat Pang Juan.”


    King Wei of Qi also thought of Sun Bin and he personally went to Tian''s house to ask Sun Bin to be the Great General of Qi. Sun Bin saluted King Wei of Qi and said, “Your Majesty has personally come to invite Grasshopper, I''m sincerely afraid, but Grasshopper once had an agreement with Your Majesty, Grasshopper will not be a general, but only a military advisor.”


    King Wei of Qi said “A military advisor doesn''t have the right to command an army, it''s hard to utilize your talent sir, I don''t feel comfortable with that.”


    Sun Bin said, “I''ve been with General Tian for many days, General Tian is a general who is good at listening to others, with General Tian in command of the army, I can still give full play to my talents.”


    On the side, Tian Ji said to Sun Bin, “I''ve already agreed to hand over my military power in front of all the great generals, if I become a great general again, wouldn''t I be going back on my word? Mr. Sun, you should stop excusing yourself.”


    “General Tian, I''m not excusing myself, as a great general in charge of the whole army, I should have majesty, I''m handicapped and have torture marks on my face, I have no majesty to speak of, how can I lead the whole army?” Sun Bin also said to King Qi Wei: “Your Majesty, it''s better to let General Tian lead the whole army, I''ll be his military advisor.”


    King Wei of Qi pondered for a moment and said, “Alright, let''s do what you want. But I have a word in advance, for major matters of conquest, we must listen to the advice of the military advisor, if we lose to the Wei army again, the military advisor and General Tian will be equally guilty.”


    Zhao Li heard that Qi''s military advisor was Sun Bin, and rushed to the Qi camp outside the city in a hurry to pay his respects to Sun Bin. After a long time, it''s not what it used to be, after they exchanged pleasantries. Zhao Li lamented, “This time our country of Zhao is saved. Mr. Sun, Pang Juan would never expect you to be alive and facing him.”


    Sun Bin smiled faintly and said, “He''d even less expect that instead of going to Zhao, I''d go to Wei.”


    “What, go to Wei?” Zhao Li asked in disbelief, “If you don''t go to Zhao, how will you solve the siege of Handan?”


    Sun Bin said, “If the Qi army goes all the way to Zhao, it''s hard for a tired division to win, then not only will they not be able to save Zhao, the Qi army itself will be hard to protect. Now Wei is empty, if I send my army to Wei, Pang Juan will definitely withdraw his army, so won''t the difficulty of Handan be lifted?”


    Zhao Li was uneasy about Sun Bin''s approach and asked “What if Pang Juan doesn''t withdraw his troops?”


    Sun Bin said with confidence, “The Qi army is threatening Daliang, the capital of Wei, so he wouldn''t dare not to withdraw.”


    “What if Pang Juan breaks through Handan before the Qi army poses a threat to Daliang?”


    “If Handan was really that vulnerable, we would have arrived in Zhao, and Pang Juan''s army would have long since captured Handan.”


    “Mr. Sun, the most certain way is to go straight to Zhao, the Qi and Zhao armies will work together inside and outside, and Pang Juan will surely withdraw.”


    “The most certain is often the least certain. Mr. Zhao, you don''t have to worry, I will definitely make Pang Juan withdraw his army is all.”


    Zhao Li was very dissatisfied and coldly said, “Are you afraid of Pang Juan?”


    Sun Bin smiled, “Don''t provoke me, it''s useless to provoke me, I won''t change my mind.”


    Zhao Li thought Sun Bin was just afraid of Pang Juan and intentionally told Qi General Tian Guo about Sun Bin''s intentions. Tian Guo is a straight-tempered and cranky general, he angrily walked into Sun Bin''s tent and nonchalantly questioned Sun Bin why he didn''t go to Zhao.


    Sun Bin said lightly: “Sun Tzu said: Generals are quiet to be quiet and correct to rule. It can fool the ears and eyes of the soldiers and make the people ignorant. The time is not ripe for the general''s plans to be known to his subordinates so that they can follow the general''s plans without fail.”


    Tian Guo sneered, “I already know about your ploy. You want to go to Wei, not Zhao.”


    Sun Bin was frank: “So what if it is?”


    “Hmph, you''re afraid of Pang Juan and bluffing to go to Zhao! You''re a disgrace to our Qi!”


    “Who said this?”


    Tian Guo said with a straight face, “I said it, I just said it.”


    “Come on man.” Sun Bin snapped, “Drag Tian Guo out and cane him for thirty.”


    Before Tian Guo could respond, two guards stepped forward to hold his arms. Tian Guo was furious and pushed the guards away with all his might, pointing at Sun Bin and cursing “: Sun Bin, how dare you! You don''t even ask me who I am? Let me tell you, I''m the cousin of the Great General, a great servant of Qi, I''ve fought hundreds of battles and killed thousands of enemies, the Great King respects me even when he sees me, how dare you hit me? You''re too out of your depth!”


    “It doesn''t matter who you are, you should be beaten for ignoring the military master''s orders.” Sun Bin very sternly told the guards, “Drag him out and cane him for forty.”


    The guards dragged Tian Guo outside the tent and executed him. Tian Guo was lying on the ground cursing Sun Bin for being a coward and disgracing Qi. Several generals came at the sound and snatched the bamboo cane from the guards'' hands. A general named Cao came forward to help Tian Guo up and asked, “General Tian, what''s going on?”


    Tian Guo angrily cursed, “Sun Bin was afraid of Pang Juan and didn''t dare to go to Zhao, so when I chided him about why he didn''t go to Zhao, he used the cane on me.”


    General Cao angrily said to the crowd, “How can such a coward be a military advisor? Let''s go, let''s go to the Great General.”


    The other generals chimed in to find the Great General to dismiss Sun Bin.


    Sun Bin walked slowly and said to the crowd, “It''s useless for you to look for the Great General, the Great General and I have the same idea.”


    General Cao didn''t give Sun Bin a second thought and said “Don''t be ridiculous, the Great General is not a person who is afraid of death.”


    Sun Bin said, “This isn''t greed for life and fear of death, this is a secret of army combat.”


    General Cao sneered “Bullshit secret, if you don''t go to Zhao, who are you fighting?”


    Sun Bin wanted to stop and said “Fighting with whom is not something you should ask.”


    General Cao pressed Sun Bin: “What if I have to ask?”


    “I advise you not to ask, otherwise the caning will not be pleasant.”


    “It''s the death penalty, I still have to ask!” General Cao''s chest puffed out, looking righteous.


    Sun Bin ordered to the guards, “Someone, thirty strokes of the cane.”


    The guards outside the tent came forward to arrest General Cao, who drew his sword and shouted, “I''ll see who of you dares to touch a hair on my head?”


    “Daring!” Sun Bin became furious and snapped at General Cao, “How dare you threaten the military master with your blades, military law will not tolerate it!” He commanded the guards, “Drag him to the camp gate and behead him!”


    The generals heard this and drew their blades to protect General Cao.


    Sun Bin swept a glance at the generals and said, “What, do you all want to die?”


    One of the generals shouted, “Death is better than having people point at my spine and call me a coward!”


    The two sides were in a stalemate when Great General Tian Ji walked up. The generals immediately withdrew their weapons and dodged aside. General Cao went up to sue Sun Bin, but Tian Ji interrupted him and said, “No need to say anything. Everything will be done according to the Military Counselor''s opinion, it''s the King''s will!”


    The crowd was dumbfounded.


    Sun Bin pointed at General Cao and said to his soldiers, “Drag him to the camp gate and behead him.”


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report itThe generals knelt down in unison and saluted, “Military Master be merciful, spare General Cao''s life.”


    Tian Guo also stumbled to Sun Bin and knelt on the ground saying, “Military Master, General Cao offended Military Master because of Tian Guo, if Military Master wants to kill, just kill Tian Guo.”


    Sun Bin pondered for a moment and said to the generals, “When your subordinate violates military discipline and you don''t punish him with military law, can you uphold the dignity of military discipline? When you issue an order to your subordinate and there is no error in your order, are you able to retract it without jeopardizing the majesty of the military order? If an army is not strict in military discipline and its orders are not dignified, can this army go into battle and do whatever is necessary? Can an army that can''t go through fire without hesitation defeat a powerful enemy?”


    The generals were speechless.


    Sun Bin said to the guards, “Drag General Cao to the camp gate and behead him.”


    General Cao was honestly carried away by the soldiers. The crowd silently looked at the racked away General Cao.


    Sun Bin turned around and two teardrops rolled out of his eyes.


    Afterward, Tian Ji complained to Sun Bin, “Warlord, you should have told the generals the true purpose of going to Wei, then today''s incident wouldn''t have happened and General Cao wouldn''t have died.”


    “Great General, if you tell everyone the true purpose, there are so many mouths to feed, it''s inevitable that word won''t get out, and if it reaches Pang Juan''s ears, he won''t withdraw his troops from Zhao, and we won''t be able to achieve our goal.” Sun Bin explained, “Therefore, it''s necessary to conceal our true purpose and put up a front of a real attack on Wei, the so called real attack, we have to block all the news, conceal our whereabouts while suddenly appearing in Wei, Pang Juan is a man who can use his army, he''s not afraid of bluffing, what he''s afraid of is a sudden attack.”


    The morning light illuminated the wilderness, the Qi army''s horses didn''t neigh, the people didn''t clamor, the flag didn''t fly, and they quickly drove towards Wei. The faces of the soldiers wore the grim look that precedes a great battle.


    Zhao Li returned to Qi capital and reported what Sun Bin did to King Qi Wei. King Qi Wei explained to him that this was one of Sun Bin''s tricks. “What a whimsy,” Zhao Li said disdainfully, ”Pang Juan won''t fall for Sun Bin''s trick at all, Sun Bin''s real purpose is to borrow the King''s army to avenge his personal revenge.”


    King Qi Wei was deep in thought.


    Zhao Li added, “Wei is powerful, even if it''s empty for a while, Sun Bin will have a hard time getting what he wants, if Pang Juan breaks through Handan and immediately returns to his army, the Qi army will be rested!”


    King Wei of Qi ordered his palace guards to catch up with Tian Ji immediately, ordering him to stop his crusade against Wei and immediately lead his troops to Zhao.


    Tian Ji received the King of Qi''s order and asked Sun Bin what to do. Sun Bin told Tian Ji: “Once the battle deployment is finalized, it''s most important not to be erratic.”


    Tian Ji was skeptical and said, “If the King blames us, we can''t account for it.”


    Sun Bin said decisively, “Generals are outside, the king''s orders can be disobeyed.”


    Tian Ji is still skeptical: “That''s true, but the Great King is most jealous of generals who go against the King''s orders.”


    “The Great King''s order is to save Zhao, as long as we make Pang Juan withdraw his troops, we haven''t violated the Great King''s order.” With Sun Bin''s insistence, the Qi army advanced according to the original plan.


    The Qi army laid down and entered the territory of Wei and went straight to the capital of the country, Daliang. When King Hui of Wei heard about this, he immediately summoned his Dafus to discuss the matter. Some of them thought that Pang Juan should be transferred back to the army immediately, so that the Qi people could not come back; some of them thought that the Qi people did not have the guts to attack Daliang, but were just bluffing, and took the opportunity to seize the border city of Wei. King Hui of Wei ordered the border city army to attack the Qi army along the way, forcing the Qi army to reveal their attempts.


    The Qi army was constantly attacked by Wei''s soldiers, but they ignored Wei''s attacks and continued to drive towards Daliang without any hesitation.


    King Hui of Wei no longer hesitated, and ordered a Dafu, taking his military talisman, to travel day and night, and transfer Pang Juan to return to Wei immediately to destroy the Qi army.


    When Pang Juan received the order from King Hui of Wei, he was at first a little puzzled by the behavior of the Qi people, but then he heard that the Qi army had laid down its flag, disregarded the harassment of the border guards, and marched straight to Daliang, and only then did he resolve to return to the army.


    When Tian Ji and Sun Bin learned that Pang Juan had returned to the army, they immediately summoned the generals to their tent. Sun Bin said to all of them, “Pang Juan has always despised Qi, this time when he returns to the army, he will surely split into two armies before and after, he will personally lead the first army to go straight to Daliang, we will lay ambushes at Guiling, the road Pang Juan must pass through, to catch him by surprise, and Pang Juan will surely be defeated.”


    The generals were excited.


    Tian Guo stepped forward and said “Military Master, I want to make up for my mistakes, please let me be the first to meet Pang Juan.”


    Sun Bin shook his head, “You can''t.”


    “Military Master, do you not trust me? You can ask the Great General, I, Tian, have always put life and death aside in combat, killing the enemy bravely and never backing down.”


    “I believe in what you say, what I''m uneasy about is that you can''t fight according to my deployment.”


    Tian Guo stated with conviction, “I can! Warlord, you tell me, I''ll fight however you want me to fight!”


    “I want you to lose.” Sun Bin spelled out his plan, “The first person to meet Pang Juan must be defeated, you can''t let Pang Juan see the slightest break before you can lure Pang Juan into our ambush zone.”


    Tian followed Sun Bin''s deployment and led his army to stop Pang Juan. Pang Juan was furious that the Qi army had disrupted his plan to attack Zhao, and personally supervised the battle, intending to eat the Qi army that stopped in front of him in one gulp. Tian''s army fought and retreated, with Pang Juan''s army following close behind. Tian abandoned his wagons for his horses and fled, and Pang Juan also abandoned his wagons for his horses and led his soldiers in hot pursuit.


    Tian''s army fled into a long valley in “great fear”, and his soldiers were in a terrible state of disarray.


    Pang Juan himself led his army into the valley, and the sound of shouting and killing was overwhelming.


    At that moment, the rumbling of war drums suddenly sounded in the valley, and many Qi soldiers with shields swarmed out from the grass and trees, stopping in front of the Wei army. Behind the shields were soldiers with bows and arrows aiming at the Wei army.


    Pang Juan was shocked, but quickly calmed down and said in a loud voice, “Shields to the front, bows and arrows at the back.”


    The Wei soldiers holding shields quickly formed a shield wall in front of the Wei army, and the soldiers holding bows and arrows surged behind the shield wall.


    There was another drumbeat. On the hills on both sides, a large number of Qi flags were raised, and many bow-wielding soldiers poured out from among the grass on the hillside.


    Pang Juan was startled again, and seeing that the situation was not good, he said in a loud voice: “The front group will be the rear, the rear group will be the front, withdraw!”


    Before the words fell, his familiar voice came from the hill, “Pang Juan, you can''t leave!”


    Pang Juan was shocked and turned his head to look.


    Sun Bin was standing at a high slope, beside him stood Tian Ji, behind him stood Zhong Li Chun, surrounded by many soldiers holding shields.


    Pang Juan looked at Sun Bin in surprise and asked in a trembling voice: “Who ...... are you?”


    Sun Bin smiled faintly and said, “Senior brother, don''t even recognize your senior brother?”


    Pang Juan couldn''t believe his eyes and shook his head, “No, you ...... are not my senior brother, my senior brother is dead.”


    Zhong Li Chun, who was on the side, said in a loud voice, “Have you seen Mr. Sun''s body?”


    Pang Juan was stunned.


    Sun Bin said, “That was my golden cicada trick, got it?”


    “Sculptor''s trick, let you have your way for once!” Pang Juan was furious.


    Sun Bin calmly said, “Then let''s get away with it one more time, this time it''s called Surrounding Wei to Save Zhao!”


    Pang Juan was so angry that he couldn''t speak for a moment.


    Sun Bin continued, “Pang Juan, you''ve been surrounded, put down your weapon and tie your hands, there''s still a way to live, otherwise, I as a senior brother can''t save you.”


    Pang Juan gritted his teeth and said, “You are dreaming! Your Qi army, straw men as usual, can''t stop me!”


    “Let''s try then.”


    With the sound of a drum, arrows raining down on the hills on both sides flew towards Pang Juan''s army, and the Wei army in the valley was tumbling over in a matter of moments, with blood flying everywhere.


    Another drumbeat sounded, and the Qi soldiers rushed down from the mountains with long spears in their hands, their momentum unstoppable! Team after team of Wei soldiers fell at their feet.


    Pang Juan''s guards held up their shields, protecting Pang Juan''s sides. As one guard fell, another one topped it up, and they retreated towards the way they came under Pang Juan''s command, protecting him with their blood and lives.


    The fierce shouts of killing in the valley faded away.


    The blood-like sunset colored the valley red after the fierce battle. At the entrance of the valley lay many Wei soldiers who had died in battle, and there were also quite a few Qi soldiers, so it was obvious that there had been a bloody battle here. Some Qi soldiers with bloodstains were organizing the battlefield.


    Sun Bin, Tian Ji, Zhong Li Chun and a few guards passed by. Tian Guo greeted them and said, “Great General, Military Master, the advance Wei army was almost completely wiped out, we just let Pang Juan run away, we didn''t dare to go after him without Military Master''s order, if we did, he couldn''t escape.”


    The general next to him pleaded, “Military Master, Great General, give the order, it''s not too late to go after him.”


    Sun Bin shook his head and said, “You can''t go after him, you should quickly withdraw your army and return to your country.”


    Tian didn''t understand and asked, “Military Master, we defeated Pang Juan, the Wei army has become a bird of prey, if we take advantage of the victory and pursue, we will win, why should we withdraw our troops?”


    Sun Bin said, “Although Pang Juan''s advance army was defeated, but the large group was not thwarted, defeating the Wei army is not an easy task. Besides, we are deep into Wei territory, we can''t fight for a long time, a long fight will make the army tired and frustrated, at that time, even the most resourceful person can''t save the danger.”


    Tian Ji and Sun Bin led the Qi army back to Linzi. King Wei of Qi led his ministers to meet the triumphant army outside the city, and the roadside was filled with the people of Qi who cheered and greeted them. Qi has never raised its eyebrows so much in all these years.


    Note: “Surrounding Wei to save Zhao” is the second of the 36 stratagems, which comes from the story of Sun Bin''s rescue of Zhao. The meaning of this plan is, to attack the front of the strong and concentrated enemy, it is better to detour to the weak rear of the enemy, forcing the enemy to retreat or divide their troops, and then look for opportunities to destroy the enemy. Sun Bin used this plan to save Zhao and hit Pang Juan hard. Pang Juan will never give up, to know what will happen next time, please read next time: “Capture the Ringleader to Capture All”.