Sun Tzu's Art of War and the Thirty-Six Stratagems

Pang Cong returned to the Wei army camp and told Pang Juan what Sun Bin had said. Pang Juan pondered and said, "Crown Prince Shen has been favored by the King since childhood. It would be difficult for the King to agree to use Crown Prince Shen as a wager."

Pang Cong was about to refuse Sun Bin's challenge when Pang Juan stopped him, saying, "No need. I never expected Sun Bin to accept the challenge anyway. I wanted to test him. He's quite clever; he's remained calm despite winning two battles. If he gets carried away, I'll capture that brat!" With that, Pang Juan sighed softly, "Unfortunately, my prediction was right. He wants to drag this out. My 100,000 troops are stationed abroad for a long time; I can't afford to delay..."

Pang Cong asked Pang Juan how to force Sun Bin into a decisive battle. Pang Juan pondered for a moment and said, "Send some strong soldiers to plunder grain from the surrounding area."

Pang Cong asked, "Does Uncle mean that with food, we won't be afraid of Sun Bin dragging things out?"

"Most of the grain around Chenggao has been requisitioned by the Han army. Even if we manage to seize all the remaining grain, it will be a drop in the ocean for an army of 100,000." Pang Juan smiled and asked Pang Cong, "Do you know how to fish?"

At this point, Pang Juan mentioned fishing, and Pang Cong, puzzled, asked, "What does this have to do with fishing?"

"If you don't use bait when fishing, the fish won't bite. Sending troops to seize grain is like using bait to lure the South Korean army into battle."

The Wei army dispatched several thousand soldiers to forcibly seize grain from the surrounding civilians, initially ignoring the Han army. Pang Juan then ordered the Wei army not only to seize grain but also to kill, especially many Han people. Faced with their compatriots' blood flowing like rivers and corpses lying exposed in the wilderness, the soldiers in the Han camp finally lost their composure. Hundreds of soldiers disobeyed orders and rushed out of the camp. The Han crown prince ordered General Wu to immediately lead men to bring back the soldiers who had left the camp. Sun Bin instructed General Wu: "Not only must you intercept those soldiers, but you must also feign an attack on the Wei army that is seizing grain, and seize some grain from them. If Pang Juan's army attacks, retreat immediately; do not linger in battle."

Pang Juan's main force did not attack, as he feared Sun Bin was plotting something, and only sent 5,000 men. General Wu ordered his men to immediately retreat to their camp with the grain they had seized from the Wei army. A dozen or so Han soldiers, eager for revenge, refused to leave and insisted on continuing to pursue the Wei soldiers; their leader was a bearded captain.

General Wu intended to abandon the Korean soldiers, but a tall sergeant requested permission to intercept the bearded sergeant. General Wu, fearing being blocked outside the camp by the Wei army, refused. The tall sergeant grabbed General Wu's horse and said, "General Wu, the Wei army is small; we can stay."

General Wu stated unequivocally, "This is the strategist's order!"

"The strategist is not Korean and doesn't care about the lives of our Korean compatriots."

"The strategist is concerned with whether South Korea will win or lose!"

General Wu ordered the tall captain to release his horse, but the captain refused, pleading, "General Wu, I beg you, you can't abandon Big Beard and the others..."

General Wu ordered his soldiers to tie up the tall sergeant. The tall sergeant cried out, "General Wu, Sun Bin may not care about the lives of us Koreans, you shouldn't do this... you shouldn't..."

General Wu ignored the tall sergeant and led his troops back to the main camp.

The bearded captain and his soldiers, outnumbered, were surrounded by the Wei army in the woods and died a gruesome death. Following Pang Juan's orders, the Wei soldiers piled the bodies of the bearded captain and dozens of other Han soldiers outside the Han army camp gate. Inside the camp, the Han soldiers could only watch helplessly as their comrades lay dead, some filled with a sense of loss and despair, others consumed by vengeance and rage, especially the tall captain, who vowed to avenge his fallen brothers even at the cost of his life. The tall captain led his vengeful soldiers, weapons in hand, into the Han crown prince's tent.

The tall sergeant angrily questioned the prince: "General, have you seen the bodies of our fallen brothers in front of the camp gate?"

The 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 opportunity."

"What opportunity are you waiting for?" The tall sergeant's eyes were already filled with murderous intent as he asked this question.

All the soldiers' eyes were filled with murderous intent as they awaited the prince's answer.

The crown prince was momentarily at a loss for words. The general beside him said disdainfully to the tall sergeant, "Don't ask him. He doesn't have the final say. Ask the strategist instead."

The tall sergeant stared at the crown prince and asked, "General, is that so?"

The crown prince knew that if he didn't obey these furious soldiers, anything could happen, so he decided to go along with it and let them go to find Sun Bin. Thus, he acquiesced to the general's words.

Sun Bin was deeply worried about the soldiers' riot. He knew that if he couldn't control their emotions, the consequences would be unimaginable. Just then, the tall sergeant led his soldiers angrily into Sun Bin's tent and surrounded him.

Upon hearing that Sun Bin was surrounded in his tent by rioting soldiers, Zhongli Chun immediately rushed over with several generals, only to be blocked by soldiers at the tent entrance. Zhongli Chun drew his sword and shouted at the soldiers, "Get out of the way! If you don't, I'll kill you all!"

The soldier, undeterred, retorted, "Kill me, and the strategist won't live either!"

A general pointed at the soldiers and said, "This is rebellion! Rebellion is a capital offense."

"We are willing to die as long as we can avenge our fallen brothers."

Faced with soldiers who were not even afraid of death, Zhong Lichun was extremely anxious, but there was nothing she could do. All she could do was silently pray that Sun Bin would get through the danger safely.

Sun Bin's tent was packed with soldiers exuding murderous intent. A tall captain stood in front of Sun Bin and said, "Strategist, we only have one question for you: do you want to avenge us?"

Sun Bin said, "Of course I want to. I not only want to avenge you, but also avenge myself."

"Alright, please lead us to fight Pang Juan."

"I can agree to that."

"Let's go into battle now."

"Not now."

A soldier in the crowd shouted, "We must fight today!"

"Yes, we must fight today!" the crowd echoed.

Sun Bin looked at the soldiers, their faces filled with murderous intent, and asked, "Do you really want revenge?"

One soldier said impatiently, "Nonsense, why would I come looking for you if I didn't want revenge?"

Another soldier shouted, "Don't listen to his nonsense! If he doesn't agree to fight, kill him!"

"Everyone, please quiet down." At this moment, the tall sergeant raised his hand to signal.

The tent fell silent.

The tall sergeant said to Sun Bin, "Strategist, if we don't fight today, the brothers won't agree."

Sun Bin pondered for a moment, then made up his mind and said, "Alright, we can go into battle today."

The tall sergeant knelt down with a thud.

The other soldiers also knelt down.

Sun Bin said, "Don't kneel yet, I haven't finished speaking."

The tall sergeant said, "Speak, strategist, we'll listen on our knees."

Sun Bin sighed, "You are kneeling to listen, so I should kneel to speak, but my knees have been crippled by Pang Juan, and I cannot kneel while I am alive, so I have no choice but to speak standing up."

The tall sergeant was moved and said firmly, "Strategist, we will definitely avenge you."

"You can't avenge me," Sun Bin shook his head.

"Strategist, don't you trust us?"

"I believe in you, but if we go into battle today, we are likely to die, and we may not return alive. How can we avenge ourselves?" At this point, Sun Bin couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"The strategist is just trying to scare us."

"I'm telling the truth. Tomorrow, your bodies, including mine, will lie in front of the camp gates just like those brothers who died today. I mean, if our South Korean army camp still exists..."

"The strategist is a master strategist, having defeated Pang Juan many times. Why do you only talk about defeat and not victory today?" the tall sergeant asked.

Sun Bin explained, "Pang Juan sent our brothers' corpses to provoke us and make us eager for revenge. People lose their minds when they are anxious and are prone to rashly going into battle. Those who rashly go into battle against a well-prepared and powerful enemy are bound to be defeated."

"Then tell me, how can we win?"

"Stand up, stand up and I'll tell you."

The tall sergeant stood up. All the soldiers followed suit.

Sun Bin said, "You may have heard that I have studied the military treatise passed down by Sun Tzu. The treatise states that those skilled in warfare in ancient times first ensured that they were not defeated by the enemy, and then waited for an opportunity to defeat them. Although we have won twice, we have not crippled the Wei army. Overall, the enemy is still stronger than us. In order to avoid being defeated by Pang Juan, I have been holding firm these days. Pang Juan understands that it will be difficult to win if he attacks the main camp, so he lets the Wei army seize our grain. His aim is to lure us into battle. As long as we do not resist his temptation and continue to hold our ground, he will not be able to defeat us."

"We want to know when we can defeat the Wei people?" the squad leader asked.

"As long as there's an opportunity to take advantage."

"What if there's no opportunity to take advantage of it?"

"The art of war dictates that one should skillfully maneuver the enemy's generals and commanders, using deception to mislead them, so that the enemy will obey your commands; and use small gains to lure the enemy, so that they will come to seize them. At this point, the opportunity to defeat the enemy will arise."

"How does the strategist plan to mislead Pang Juan and lure the Wei army?"

"This is something only generals should know."

"We want to know too."

"With so many people talking, if this gets back to Pang Juan's camp, we won't be able to deceive him; instead, he will use us."

The tall sergeant turned to his soldiers and said, "You trust me, don't you?"

"We believe!" the soldiers said almost in unison.

The tall sergeant said, "Very well, please go back and let the strategist speak to me alone."

"If we all leave, the generals will arrest you," a soldier said worriedly.

The tall sergeant said, "If the strategist has a plan to win, I'm willing to be captured by the generals and have my blood sharpen their swords!"

Sun Bin looked at the tall squad leader for a moment, then said to the soldiers, "Go back now. I swear I will not punish your squad leader."

The soldiers remained hesitant.

The tall sergeant addressed the crowd: "To disbelieve the strategist's oath is to insult the strategist. Those who insult the strategist will no longer be my brothers."

The soldiers then turned and left the tent.

The soldiers had just left when Zhongli Chun and Doctor Shen slipped into the tent. Doctor Shen said to Sun Bin, "Strategist, these soldiers who violated military discipline should be severely punished."

Sun Bin said, "I have already promised them that I will not take any action."

"But the strategist often said that if those who violate military discipline are not punished, more people will be encouraged to violate military discipline."

"Today's situation is special, and special matters should be handled specially." Sun Bin looked at the tall squad leader and said to Doctor Shen and Zhong Lichun, "You two go out first. I have something to say to this squad leader alone."

Although Zhong Lichun was unwilling, she still went out with Doctor Shen.

Only Sun Bin and the tall sergeant remained in the tent. Sun Bin said to the sergeant, "I have a word to you: what I say today must not be told to anyone. If word gets out, tens of thousands of Korean soldiers will die without a burial place."

The tall sergeant nodded: "I understand... Strategist, please speak."

Sun Bin slowly said, "As I just mentioned, Pang Juan's purpose in seizing grain is to lure me into battle. I plan to turn the tables on him by sending an army of 5,000 men out each day to attack and then withdraw, but not all of them. Half of the soldiers will go out and not return, hiding in the dense forest. At night, these soldiers will secretly go to the Western Mountains, dozens of miles away from Chenggao. After several days, when there are more than 20,000 soldiers hidden in the Western Mountains, we will send 10,000 troops out to attack and severely strike the Wei army that is seizing grain. Pang Juan will surely send out a large force to fight us. Our attacking army will feign defeat and flee to the Western Mountains, luring the Wei army into our ambush zone."

The tall sergeant seemed to know a little about military strategy. He said to Sun Bin, "If Pang Juan's entire army is mobilized, the ambush troops at Xishan will not be able to withstand it."

Sun Bin said, "We have 30,000 troops in our main camp and another 10,000 in Chenggao City. Pang Juan's army will not dare to send out all of them; at most, they will send out 20,000 troops."

"There are only 10,000 men left in the main camp, where did the 30,000 come from?"

Pang Juan was unaware that there were 20,000 ambushes in Xishan; he thought these soldiers were still inside the main camp.

The tall sergeant suddenly understood and said, "I understand now. The reason why the strategist pretended to be innocent and concealed the truth to confuse the enemy was twofold: first, to lure them into a trap, and second, to restrain Pang Juan and prevent him from sending out too many troops, so that our ambush would not be able to take them down."

Sun Bin nodded approvingly and said, "You are very smart. If you were to become a general, you would definitely be a good one."

"It is truly a blessing for Korea to have strategist Sun Bin." The tall soldier sighed deeply, bowed to Sun Bin, and said, "Strategist, farewell."

Sun Bin instructed him again: "Remember, you must not tell anyone what I said today."

The tall sergeant confidently declared, "Don't worry, strategist. What you said today will remain firmly in my heart forever!" With that, he turned and walked out of the tent.

As soon as the tall sergeant stepped out of Sun Bin's tent, he was surrounded by soldiers waiting outside, who bombarded him with questions:

"What did the strategist say?"

"Is the strategist confident of defeating Pang Juan?"

"When will we go into battle?"

The tall sergeant called out to his soldiers, "Brothers, be quiet, let me explain slowly."

The general guarding outside the tent walked over and said to the tall sergeant, "Don't talk about it here, go back and talk about it."

The tall sergeant replied, "General, I'll just say a few words, and then I won't say another..." He turned to his soldiers and said, "Brothers, we should have trusted the strategist long ago. Pang Juan has never defeated him, and this time, the strategist is still the victor!"

One soldier said, "Sergeant, could you explain in more detail?"

The tall sergeant shook his head and said, "I've promised the strategist I won't tell anyone... But I can tell you one thing: as long as you follow the strategist's orders, you will win." The tall sergeant looked at everyone and continued, "There's one more thing: from now on, none of you must violate military discipline and cause trouble like we did today." He swept his gaze across the soldiers, "Anyone who causes trouble again will suffer the same fate as me..."

As he spoke, he drew his sword and plunged it into his abdomen, causing blood to gush out.

The soldiers were stunned as they watched the tall sergeant slowly fall to the ground. Someone cried out, "Sergeant!" The others then snapped out of their daze and rushed forward.

Hearing the soldiers' exclamations, Sun Bin stepped out of the tent, squeezed into the crowd, embraced the tall sergeant's head, and softly called to him.

The tall sergeant slightly opened his eyes and looked at Sun Bin. Sun Bin scolded him with heartache, "You shouldn't have done that..."

The tall sergeant, enduring excruciating pain, said haltingly, "Violating military discipline...should be...punished."

"I promised I wouldn't punish you."

"So...I'll die...If I don't die...it won't be enough...to uphold...the dignity of military discipline..."

Sun Bin looked silently at the squad leader who had fought alongside him in countless battles, a man he had only just met.

"Furthermore... I also want to reassure the strategist... that your plans... will never... leak... out... while they're with me..."

As he spoke, the tall sergeant closed his eyes with a smile on his face.

Sun Bin could no longer hold back, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Following Sun Bin's plan, the Han army launched attacks daily, sending out several thousand troops to fight and then retreating. Some troops returned to their main camp, while others hid in the forest and quietly moved into the western mountains at night. Pang Juan believed that Sun Bin's plan was to exhaust the Wei army and did not take it seriously. He ordered his troops to kill more Han people while preparing for a major battle.

When the army at Xishan had amassed 20,000 men, Sun Bin dispatched 10,000 to attack the Wei army. Pang Juan initially refrained from sending troops, intending to wait until the Han army was further from their main camp. The Han army, caught up in the fighting, ventured far from their camp. Pang Juan ordered Pang Cong to lead 20,000 troops, splitting them into two groups: one to cut off the Han army's retreat route, and the other to intercept and defeat the attacking Han army. Pang Cong demanded more troops from Pang Juan to annihilate the remaining Han troops. Pang Juan replied, "Sun Bin is always cunning; we must reserve sufficient forces to deal with the 30,000 Han troops remaining in the main camp."

After Pang Cong's army clashed with the Han army, they quickly gained the upper hand. The Han army fled in disarray towards the western mountains, with Pang Cong leading his troops in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, there was no movement from the Han army camp or the city of Chenggao. Pang Juan was puzzled, thinking: "We've defeated over ten thousand Han soldiers; will Sun Bin just stand by and do nothing?" Then, he heard from a Wei general that a few days ago, Han soldiers had rioted, insisting on fighting, and a platoon leader had died. He guessed that the Han soldiers fleeing to the western mountains were acting on their own, and he couldn't help but feel smug, thinking that if that were the case, even Sun Bin, with his extraordinary abilities, would find it difficult to reverse the defeat.

Contrary to Pang Juan's wishes, he never expected that so many Han troops were lying in ambush at Xishan. Pang Cong's 20,000 troops were ambushed by tens of thousands of Han troops at Xishan and almost all of them were wiped out. Pang Cong desperately broke through the encirclement and survived by chance, but he was seriously wounded.

Lying on his sickbed, Pang Cong said to Pang Juan with a sense of guilt, "Uncle, I am so incompetent."

"It's my uncle who's incompetent," Pang Juan sighed.

"Uncle, next time I compete with Sun Bin, I will be more careful."

"Son, go back to China and take good care of your injury. Once you're fully recovered, we'll talk about it later."

"Uncle, I will not return to the country. I want to stay by your side and watch you defeat Sun Bin."

"I'm going back to China too, and our army is all going back to China."

Pang Cong said anxiously, "Uncle, we still have 80,000 troops. We can defeat Sun Bin. We can't leave..." Pang Cong became more and more agitated as he spoke, and his body involuntarily moved. A sharp pain shot through his wound, and he cried out.

Pang Juan pressed Pang Cong down with concern, urging, "Child, don't move, you're badly injured..."

Large beads of sweat rolled down Pang Cong's forehead as he murmured, "Uncle, I'm not reconciled... I'm not reconciled..."

Pang Juan's heart was heavy. He said, "Uncle is even more unwilling... But now, the battle cannot be won quickly, and it cannot be dragged out... No matter how unwilling he is, he has to leave..."

The Wei army retreated, and the Crown Prince of Han was overjoyed, wanting to lead the entire army in pursuit of Pang Juan. Sun Bin objected. The Crown Prince asked, "Pang Juan was defeated and fled in panic, why can't we pursue him?"

Sun Bin said, "Pang Juan is retreating, not defeated. Even if he is defeated, it's just a feigned retreat. The Art of War says, 'When the enemy feigns a retreat, do not pursue; when the enemy retreats back to their own country, do not intercept them.' If you pursue an enemy feigning a retreat, you will fall into their trap; if you intercept an enemy retreating back to their own country, they will fight you to the death. Pang Juan still has 80,000 troops. Even if we don't fall into his trap, if he fights desperately, both sides will be severely damaged. Furthermore, we have fought Pang Juan for many days, and the state of Han is exhausted. Both the country and its people need rest and recuperation to prepare for future battles. Therefore, it is best to let Pang Juan return to Wei."

Note: "Throwing a brick to attract jade" is the seventeenth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, its name given by later generations. "Throwing a brick" refers to offering a small gain as bait, while "attracting jade" is the objective. Pang Juan used this strategy, offering to seize grain as bait to lure Sun Bin into battle. Sun Bin also used "throwing a brick to attract jade," but his superior strategy lay in his use of deception before luring the enemy. Pang Juan, unaware of the deception, fell for it, and his 20,000 troops were drawn into a pre-arranged ambush. To find out how Pang Juan would further challenge Sun Bin, please read the next chapter: "Fishing in Troubled Waters."