Pangcong returned to the Wei army camp and told Pang Juan what Sun Bin said. Pang Juan mused, “Crown Prince Shen has been loved by the King since he was a child, it would be hard for the King to agree to using Crown Prince Shen as a bet.”
Pangcong went to rebuff Sun Bin, Pang Juan stopped him, “No need, I didn''t expect Sun Bin to respond to the battle in the first place, I wanted to test him, he''s still smart enough to win two battles in a row and yet he still manages to keep his cool, I''m going to have to capture this harridan if he gets carried away!” After saying that, Pang Juan sighed softly, “Unfortunately, it made me right in my estimation, he wanted to drag it out with me. My 100,000 troops have been abroad for a long time, I can''t afford to drag it out ......”
Pangcong asked Pang Juan how he could force Sun Bin into a duel. Pang Juan thought for a moment and said, “You send some strong soldiers and go around and grab food.”
Pangcong asked, “Uncle means that with grain, we won''t be afraid of Sun Bin dragging on?”
“Most of the grain around Chenggao has been requisitioned by Han''s army, even if we grab all the grain left, it''s still just a drop in the bucket for a 100,000 strong army.” Pang Juan laughed and asked Pangcong, “Do you know how to fish?”
When Pang Juan mentioned fishing at this time, Pangcong was puzzled and asked, “What does this have to do with fishing?”
“Fish won''t take the bait if it''s not baited. Sending soldiers to grab grain is to lay bait to lure the Country of Han''s army into battle.”
The Wei army sent thousands of soldiers to the surrounding people''s homes to forcefully rob food, and at first the Han army was unmoved. Pang Juan then ordered the Wei army not only to rob the grain, but also to kill people and kill more Country of Han. Faced with the bloodshed of their own compatriots and the violent corpses in the wilderness, the soldiers in the camp of Han finally became sullen. Hundreds of soldiers disobeyed military orders and rushed out of the camp without authorization. Prince Han ordered General Wu to immediately lead men to recover the soldiers who left the camp. Sun Bin instructed General Wu: “Not only should you intercept those soldiers back, but you should also feign an attack on the grain-robbing Wei army and snatch some grain back from the Wei army, and if Pang Juan''s army makes an attack, you should immediately withdraw and not engage in battle.”
Pang Juan''s army didn''t attack, Pang Juan was worried about Sun Bin''s deception and only sent out 5,000 men. General Wu ordered his men to immediately withdraw to the camp with the grain they had recaptured from the Wei army. A dozen Country of Han soldiers, eager for revenge, refused to withdraw and insisted on continuing to pursue the Wei soldiers, led by a pawn commander with a beard.
General Han was about to abandon the Country of Han soldiers, when a tall pawn commander requested to bring men to intercept the bearded pawn commander. General Wu did not agree, fearing that he would be stopped outside the camp by the Wei army. The tall pawn captain pulled General Wu''s horse and said, “General Wu, not many Wei troops are coming, we can not retreat.”
General Wu said without question, “This is the order of the military division!”
“The Military Master, who is not a Korean, doesn''t care about the lives of our Country of Han compatriots.”
“The Military Master cares about the victory or defeat of Country of Han!”
General Wu ordered the tall pawn commander to let go of his horse, the tall pawn commander refused and begged, “General Wu, I beg you, you can''t just leave Big Beard and the others alone ......”
General Wu ordered his soldiers to tie up the Tall Pawn Leader. The tall pawn captain cried out, “General Wu, Sun Bin could care less about our Country of Han lives, you shouldn''t do this ...... you shouldn''t ......”
General Wu stopped paying attention to the tall pawn captain, led his army, and withdrew to the camp.
The bearded pawn captain and his soldiers, being outnumbered, were surrounded by the Wei army in the woods and died in a tragic battle. According to Pang Juan''s order, the Wei soldiers piled up dozens of corpses of Country of Han soldiers, including the bearded pawn commander, outside the gate of Han''s camp. Inside the camp gate, Country of Han soldiers could only look at the bloodstained corpses of their companions with bated breath, part of them were saddened by the death of the rabbit and fox, their souls were broken; part of them were eager to take revenge, and the group was furious, especially the tall pawn commander, who couldn''t bear to swallow his breath and said that he would avenge the death of his brothers with all his might. The tall pawn commander led the soldiers who swore to avenge their deaths to break into Prince Han''s tent with their weapons.
The tall pawn commander angrily questioned the Crown Prince: “Great General, have you seen the bodies of the dead brothers in front of the camp gate?”
The Crown Prince said, “I didn''t see it, but I heard about it.”
“Why don''t you send troops, are you afraid of the Wei people?”
“It''s not fear, it''s waiting for the right time.”
“What timing are you waiting for?” Asking this, the tall pawn commander already had a murderous look in his eyes.
All the soldiers'' eyes were filled with murderous aura, waiting for the Crown Prince''s answer.
The crown prince did not know how to answer for a moment. The general next to him said disdainfully to the tall pawn commander, “Don''t ask him, his words don''t count, if you want to ask go ask the military division.”
The tall pawn commander stared at the Prince and asked, “Great General, is that so?”
The Crown Prince knew that in the face of these extremely angry soldiers, if he didn''t obey them, anything could happen, so he might as well go along with it and let them go to Sun Bin. So he acquiesced to the general''s words.
Sun Bin was worried about the soldiers causing trouble, he knew that if he couldn''t control the soldiers'' emotions, the consequences would be unimaginable. Just then, the tall Pawn Leader led the soldiers angrily into Sun Bin''s tent and surrounded him.
When Zhong Li Chun heard that Sun Bin was surrounded by rowdy soldiers in his tent, he immediately rushed with a few generals and the soldiers at the entrance of the tent stopped them. Zhong Li Chun drew his sword and barked at the soldiers, “Get out of the way, if you don''t, I''ll kill you!”
The soldiers were undaunted and responded, “If you kill me, the military division will not live either!”
A general pointed at the soldiers and said, “You are rebelling, those who rebel are guilty of death.”
“As long as we can avenge our dead brothers, we are willing to die.”
Faced with soldiers who aren''t even afraid of death, Zhong Li Chun is anxious but there''s nothing she can do about it, she can only silently bless Sun Bin in her heart to get through the danger safely.
Sun Bin''s tent was crowded with murderous soldiers. The tall pawn captain stood in front of Sun Bin and said to Sun Bin: “Warlord, we''re only asking you one thing, do you want to avenge us.”
Sun Bin said, “Of course I want to, not only do I want to avenge you guys, I want to avenge me.”
“Well then, please take us to fight Pang Juan.”
“I can promise you guys.”
“Go to war now.”
“Not now.”
A soldier in the crowd shouted, “We must go to war today!”
“Yes, we must go to war today!” The crowd chimed in.
Sun Bin looked at the soldiers whose faces were overflowing with murderous anger and asked, “Do you really want to take revenge?”
A soldier impatiently said, “Nonsense, why would I call you if I don''t want to take revenge?”
Another soldier shouted, “Don''t listen to his nagging, if he doesn''t agree to go to war, kill him!”
“Everyone be quiet for a moment.” At this moment, the tall pawn leader raised his hand to signal.
The tent quieted down.
The tall Pawn Leader said to Sun Bin, “Military Master, if we don''t go to war today, the brethren won''t agree.”
Sun Bin thought for a moment, had a plan in mind and said, “Alright, you can go to war today.”
The tall pawn commander fell to the ground with a “thud”.
The other soldiers also kneeled down.
Sun Bin said, “Don''t kneel yet, I haven''t finished my words.”
Tall Pawn Leader said, “Go ahead, Master, we''re kneeling to listen.”
Sun Bin lamented, “If you guys are kneeling to listen, then I should be kneeling to speak, but my knees were crippled by Pang Juan and I can''t kneel while alive, so I have to stand to speak.”
The tall pawn commander could not help but be moved and said firmly, “Master, we will definitely avenge you.”
“You guys can''t avenge me.” Sun Bin shook his head.
“Army Master, you don''t believe us?”
“I believe in you guys, but if we go to war today, we''ll be in a bad way, or we might not return, our lives will be gone, how can we avenge ourselves?” Speaking of this, Sun Bin couldn''t help but let out a long sigh.
“Warlord is scaring us.”
“I''m telling the truth, by tomorrow, your corpses, including me of course, will be lying in front of the gate of the camp just like those of our fallen brethren today, I mean, if the camp of our Country of Han army still exists ......”
“The military master has used his army like a god and defeated Pang Juan several times, why did he only talk about defeat today but not victory?” The tall pawn commander asked.
Sun Bin explained, “Pang Juan sent the bodies of his brothers to enrage us and make us eager for revenge. People lose their wits in a hurry and are prone to fight rashly, and those who fight rashly will not be defeated when faced with a powerful enemy who has prepared for it.”
“Then what do you say, how can we win?”
“You guys stand up, stand up and I''ll tell you.”
The tall pawn commander stood up. The soldiers stood up.
Sun Bin said, “As you may have heard, I have practiced the book of war passed down by Sun Wu Zi. It is written in the book of war that in ancient times, a good warrior would first try not to be defeated by the enemy and then wait for an opportunity to defeat the enemy. Although we won twice, we did not hurt the Wei army''s muscles and bones, and the overall situation was still strong and weak. In order not to be defeated by Pang Juan, I have been holding out these days. Pang Juan understands that it would be difficult to win if we forcefully attacked the camp, so that''s why he''s letting the Wei army rob the grain with the aim of luring us into battle, and as long as we don''t fall prey to his temptation and continue to hold out, he won''t be able to defeat us.”
“We want to know, when will we be able to defeat the Wei?” The pawn captain asked.
“Whenever there is an opportunity to do so.”
“And if there is no opportunity?”
“The art of war says that if a general who is good at mobilizing the enemy confuses the enemy with falsehoods, the enemy will listen to the mobilization; if he lures the enemy with small gains, the enemy will come to take them. At this point, the time to defeat the enemy will come.”
“How does the military master plan to confuse Pang Juan and lure the Wei army?”
“This is something only generals should know.”
“We also want to know.”
“There are many mouths to feed, and if word gets out to Pang Juan''s camp, not only will we fail to confuse him, but we will be taken advantage of by him.”
The tall pawn captain turned back to the soldiers and said, “You believe me, right?”
“Believe!” The soldiers almost spoke in unison.
The tall Pawn Leader said, “Well then, please go back and let the Warlord speak to me alone.”
“If we all leave, the generals will arrest you.” A soldier worried.
The tall Pawn Leader said, “If the Military Master has a plan to win, I''d rather let the generals arrest me and use my blood to sharpen the generals'' long swords to kill the enemy!”
This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.Sun Bin looked at the tall pawn commander for a moment and said to the soldiers, “Go back, I can swear that I will never punish your pawn commander.”
The soldiers still hesitated.
The tall pawn commander said to the crowd, “Not believing in the master''s oath is an insult to the master. Those who insult the Military Master will no longer be my brothers.”
The soldiers then turned around and walked out of the tent.
Just as the soldiers left, Zhong Li Chun and Dafu Shen dashed into the tent. Shen Dafu said to Sun Bin: “Military Master, these soldiers who violate military discipline should be dealt with severely.”
Sun Bin said, “I''ve already promised them no disposition.”
“But Military Master always says that not disposing of those who violate military discipline will condone more people to violate military discipline.”
“Today''s situation is special, special things should be treated special.” Sun Bin looked at the tall Pawn Commander and said to Shen Daifu and Zhong Li Chun, “You guys go out first, I have something to say to this Pawn Commander alone.”
Zhong Li Chun was reluctant but walked out with Shen Daifu.
Only Sun Bin and the tall Pawn Commander remained in the tent, Sun Bin said to the Pawn Commander, “I''ll say it first, don''t tell anyone about what I said today, if it leaks out, tens of thousands of Country of Han generals will die without a burial site.”
Tall Pawn Commander nodded: “I understand ...... Warlord, go ahead.”
Sun Bin slowly said, “As I said before, Pang Juan robbed the grain, the purpose is to lure me into battle, I plan to use this as a plan, send an army of 5,000 men out to attack every day, and then withdraw after the fight, but not all of them are withdrawn, half of the generals go out but don''t return, and hide in the dense forests, and then when it''s dark, these generals will secretly go to the western mountains dozens of miles away from Chenggao. So for several days, when the generals hidden in the western mountains have more than 20,000 people, we send 10,000 troops to attack, and strike hard at the grain robbing Wei army, Pang Juan is bound to send out a large group of people to fight with me, and our attacking troops pretend to be defeated, and flee to the western mountains, luring the Wei army into our ambush zone.”
The tall Pawn Leader seems to know a little bit about the art of war, he said to Sun Bin: “If Pang Juan''s army is all out, the ambush on the west mountain won''t be able to hold them.”
Sun Bin said “We have 30,000 men in our camp, there are 10,000 left in Chenggao city, Pang Juan''s army doesn''t dare to send out all of them, at most 20,000 men.”
“There are only 10,000 men left in the camp, how can there be 30,000?”
“Pang Juan doesn''t know that there are 20,000 ambushes in the western mountains, he thinks that these soldiers are still inside the camp.”
The tall pawn commander had an epiphany and said, “I see, the reason why the military master showed falsehood and concealed the truth to confuse the enemy is to lure the enemy into taking the bait, and secondly to hold Pang Juan back from sending out too many troops to the point where our ambushes can''t be eaten.”
Sun Bin nodded his head in approval, “You''re very smart, if you become a general, you''ll be a good one.”
“It''s truly a blessing for Country of Han to have Sun Military Counselor.” The tall Pawn Leader sighed sadly and saluted Sun Bin, “Farewell, Military Master.”
Sun Bin instructed him again, “Remember, what I said today, don''t tell anyone.”
The tall Pawn Leader swore, “Don''t worry, what you said today will rot in my stomach forever!” After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the tent.
As soon as the tall Pawn Leader walked out of Sun Bin''s tent, he was surrounded by soldiers waiting outside the tent, who asked:
“What did the military master say?”
“Is the military master sure to defeat Pang Juan?”
“When will we go to war?”
The tall pawn commander shouted to the soldiers, “Brothers, don''t argue, let me speak slowly.”
The general guarding the outside of the tent came over to the tall pawn commander and said, “Don''t talk here, go back and talk.”
The tall pawn captain responded, “General, I''ll just say a couple of words, and after I finish, I''ll never say another word ......” He turned back to the soldiers and said, “Brethren, in fact, we should have believed in the military division a long time ago, Pang Juan has never defeated ever defeated him, and this time, the Military Master is still the victor!”
A soldier said, “Pawn Commander, can you be more detailed?”
The tall Pawn Commander shook his head and said, “I''ve promised the Military Master that I won''t tell anyone ...... But I can tell you one thing: as long as you listen to the Military Master''s command, you''ll be victorious.” The tall Pawn Leader looked at the crowd and continued, “One more thing, in the future, any of you must never violate military discipline and gather a crowd like we did today.” He swept a glance at the crowd of soldiers, “Anyone who causes trouble again will end up like me ......”
He said as he drew his sword in his hand and violently plunged it into his abdomen, blood gushing out.
The soldiers were stunned, watching the tall Pawn Commander slowly fall, I don''t know who let out a cry of surprise, “Pawn Commander!” The crowd then came to their senses and gathered around.
Sun Bin heard the soldiers'' cries of surprise, he walked out of the tent and squeezed into the crowd, hugged the tall Pawn Commander''s head and called out to him softly.
The tall Pawn Leader slightly opened his eyes and looked at Sun Bin, who chided him heartily, “You shouldn''t be like this ......”
The tall pawn captain forced himself to endure the severe pain and said brokenly, “Violating military discipline ...... should be ...... disposed of.”
“I promised not to dispose of you.”
“So ...... I will die myself ...... I will not die ...... enough to ...... uphold the majesty of ...... military discipline ......”
Sun Bin looked speechlessly at this pawn commander who had followed him in bloodshed many times while he had only just met him.
“Also ...... I would like to reassure the military master ...... that your schemes ...... are with me... ...will never ...... leak ...... out ......”
With that said, the tall pawn commander closed his eyes with a smile on his face.
Sun Bin couldn''t hold back his tears any longer.
Han''s army followed Sun Bin''s deployment, with thousands of troops striking every day, and withdrawing as soon as they hit, with part of the army withdrawing to the camp, and part of the army hiding in the forest and quietly turning into the western mountains at night. Pang Juan thought Sun Bin was trying to tire out the Wei army and didn''t take it to heart, he ordered his army to kill more Country of Han while getting ready for the big battle.
When the army on the west mountain was gathered to 20,000 people, Sun Bin sent out 10,000 troops to attack the Wei army. Pang Juan didn''t send his troops at first, wanting to wait until Han''s army was farther away from the camp. Han''s army killed and left the camp far away. Pang Juan ordered Pangcong to take 20,000 troops and split them into two, one to cut off the Han''s road back to camp, and the other to attack head on and defeat the Han troops that attacked. Pangcong asked Pang Juan to give him more troops to destroy all the Han troops that went out of the camp. Pang Juan said, “Sun Bin has always been a trickster, we need to leave enough troops to deal with the 30,000 Han troops in the Country of Han camp.”
Pangcong''s army engaged the Han army and quickly gained the upper hand. The Country of Han army lost their armor and fled towards the western mountains, and Pangcong led his army in hot pursuit. At this time, there was no movement in the Han camp and Chenggao city, Pang Juan was a bit puzzled and thought: more than 10,000 Han troops were defeated by us, will Sun Bin sit back and do nothing? Then he heard from the Wei general that some days ago, Han soldiers made trouble and had to go to war, and a pawn commander died. He estimated that the Han soldiers who fled to the western mountains might have acted on their own and couldn''t help but feel smug, thinking, if that''s the case, Sun Bin, even if he has great skills, will have trouble undoing the defeat.
Pangcong''s 20,000 troops were ambushed by tens of thousands of Han troops on the west mountain and almost wiped out, Pangcong desperately tried to break out and survived but was seriously injured.
Pangcong said to Pang Juan, “Uncle, I am too incompetent.”
“It is Uncle who is incompetent.” Pang Juan sighed.
“Uncle, next time, when I fight Sun Bin again, I''ll be sure to grow an extra set of eyes.”
“Son, go back to your country and recuperate from your injuries, get well, then we''ll talk.”
“Uncle, I''m not going back to my country, I want to stay by your side and watch you defeat Sun Bin.”
“I''ll go back to my country too, all of our troops will go back to my country.”
Pangcong said anxiously, “Uncle, we still have 80,000 troops, we can defeat Sun Bin, we can''t go ......” Pangcong became more and more agitated, his body couldn''t help but move, and a sharp pain shot through his wound, and he let out a loud scream.
Pangcong pressed Pang Onion with concern and advised, “Son, don''t move, you''re hurt too ...... badly.”
Pangcong rolled down beads of sweat on his forehead and murmured, “Uncle, I am not willing ...... not willing ...... to do this.”
Pang Juan was in a very heavy mood and said, “Uncle is even more unwilling ...... But now, the battle can not be won quickly, and the delay can not afford to delay ...... Unwillingly, but also have to go ...... ”
Wei''s army retreated, Country of Han''s crown prince was excited and wanted to lead the whole army to chase Pang Juan, Sun Bin objected. The Crown Prince asked: “Pang Juan was defeated and fled in haste, why can''t we chase after him?”
Sun Bin said, “Pang Juan is retreating, not defeated, and even if he is defeated, he''s just pretending. Sun Tzu''s “Art of War” says, “If the enemy pretends to be defeated, don''t follow them; if the enemy retreats back to his own country, don''t block them. If you pursue an enemy who pretends to be defeated, you will fall into his trap; if you intercept an enemy who returns to his own country, he will fight with you for his life. Pang Juan still has an army of 80,000 men, so even if he doesn''t fall into his trap, if he fights for his life, he will lose both of them. Furthermore, we have been fighting with Pang Juan for many days, and Country of Han is very tired. Both the country and the people need to recuperate for future battles. Therefore, it is better to let Pang Juan return to Wei.”
Note: “throw a brick to attract jade” is the seventeenth plan in the 36th plan, and the name of the plan is taken by later people. “Throwing bricks” refers to throwing small profits as bait, and ‘luring jade’ is the purpose. Pang Juan used “Throwing Brick to Lure Jade” plan to grab grain as bait to try to lure Sun Bin into battle; Sun Bin also “Throwing Brick to Lure Jade”, he is more skillful than Pang Juan in that before “Throwing Brick” to lure the enemy, first show the fake and hide the real to confuse the enemy. Sun Bin also “threw a brick to attract jade”, he was more skillful than Pang Juan in that before he “threw a brick” to lure the enemy, he first showed the falsehood to confuse the enemy, Pang Juan was fooled and 20,000 troops were lured into the pre-set ambush circle To know how Pang Juan competes with Sun Bin again, please read next time: “Fishing in troubled waters”.