Chapter 31 30 Sun Bin and Pang Juan Fight Wits

King Wei Hui also followed Qin Xiaogong's example and wanted to find a talent like Shang Yang.He spent a lot of money to attract the world's heroes.At that time, a man named Pang Juan from the state of Wei came to see him and told him some principles of making the country rich and the army strong.King Wei Hui was very happy to hear that, so he made Pang Juan a general. Pang Juan really has some skills.He trained soldiers and horses every day, starting with several small nearby countries, and won several victories in a row, and later even Qi was defeated by him.From then on, King Wei Hui trusted Pang Juan even more.

Pang Juan thought he was a great capable person.But he knew that he had a classmate, Sun Bin (sound bin), from the state of Qi, who was better than him.It is said that Sun Bin is a descendant of Sun Wu, the great general of Wu, and he is the only one who knows the ancestral "Sun Tzu's Art of War". King Wei Hui also heard about Sun Bin's reputation, and once mentioned Sun Bin to Pang Juan.Pang Juan sent someone to invite Sun Bin to work with him in the state of Wei.How did he know that Pang Juan had bad intentions, and secretly framed Sun Bin in front of King Wei Hui for infidelity with the state of Qi.King Wei Hui was very angry and convicted Sun Bin, tattooed on Sun Bin's face, and gouged out two of his kneecaps.

Fortunately, an envoy from the state of Qi visited the state of Wei and secretly rescued Sun Bin and brought him back to the state of Qi. General Tian Ji of the State of Qi heard that Sun Bin was a talented general and recommended him to King Wei of Qi.King Qi Wei is also reforming himself.After he discussed the art of war with Sun Bin, he was greatly appreciated, and he only wished he hadn't met sooner. In 354 BC, King Hui of Wei sent Pang Juan to attack the State of Zhao and besieged the capital of the State of Zhao, Handan (pronounced handan, now southwest of Handan, Hebei).In the second year, Zhao Guo asked King Qi Wei for help.King Qi Wei wanted to worship Sun Bin as a general, but Sun Bin quickly declined and said:

"No. I am a disabled person who has been tortured. If I become a general, I will make people laugh. Your Majesty, please ask Dr. Tian to be a general." King Wei of Qi worshiped Tian Ji as a general and Sun Bin as a military adviser, and sent troops to rescue Zhao Guo.Sun Bin sat in a car with a tent and helped Tian Ji come up with ideas. Sun Bin said to Tian Ji: "Now Wei State is using all its elite troops to attack Zhao State. Most of the country is old, weak and disabled. It is very empty. Let's attack the Wei State Liang. When Pang Juan heard this, he must abandon Handan and run back. We'll wait halfway, and we'll hit him head-on, and we'll beat him."

Tian Ji followed this strategy.Pang Juan's army had captured Handan, and suddenly heard that the state of Qi had gone to attack Daliang, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat.Just retreated to Guiling (northwest of Changyuan, Henan Province today), and encountered soldiers and horses of Qi State.After two strikes, Pang Juan was defeated. The Qi army returned victorious, and the siege of Handan was lifted. In 341 BC, Wei Guo sent troops to attack South Korea.South Korea also asked Qi for help.At that time, King Qi Wei was already dead.His son King Xuan of Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Bin to lead troops to rescue South Korea.Sun Bin used his old method again, instead of saving Han, he went directly to attack Wei.

Pang Juan got the emergency document from his own country, so he had to retreat and rush back. The soldiers and horses of Qi State had already entered Wei State. Wei Guo mobilized a large number of troops, led by Prince Shen, to resist the Qi army.At this time, the Qi army had retreated.Pang Juan inspected the place where the Qi army camped, and found that the Qi army's camp occupied a large area.He asked the people to count the cooking stoves, enough for 100,000 people to eat.Pang Juan was too scared to speak. The next day, Pang Juan led the army to the place where the Qi army camped for the second time. After counting the stoves, there were only enough stoves for 50,000 people.

On the third day, they chased to the place where Qi's army camped for the third time, counted the stoves carefully, and found that there were only 20,000 people left to use them.Pang Juan was relieved now, and said with a smile, "I knew that Qi's army was cowards. It took only three days for the one hundred thousand troops to arrive in Wei, and more than half of them escaped." The Qi army followed the route and caught up. I chased them all the way to Maling (now southeast of Daming County, Hebei Province), and it was just getting dark.Maling Road is very narrow, and there are obstacles along the road.Pang Juan wished to catch up with Qi's army in one step, so he ordered the army to rush forward in the dark.Suddenly the soldiers in front came back and reported: "The road ahead is blocked by a log!"

Pang Juan stepped forward to take a look, and sure enough, he saw that all the trees beside the road had been cut down, leaving only the biggest one uncut. Looking closely, the bark had been scraped off one side of the tree, exposing a piece of flesh. There are still a few large characters written on it faintly, but because of the dark sky, I can't see clearly. Pang Juan asked the soldiers to bring fire to illuminate them.Some soldiers lit torches.Taking advantage of the firelight to see, on the trunk of the tree was written: "Chong Juan died under this tree." Pang Juan was taken aback, and quickly ordered the soldiers to retreat, but it was already too late.I don't know how many arrows are around, shooting at Wei Jun like migrating locusts.For a while, there was a roar of killing on both sides of Maling Road, and there were soldiers from Qi State everywhere.

It turned out that this was a trick set by Sun Bin. He deliberately reduced the number of stoves every day to lure Pang Juan to catch up.He calculated that Wei Bing would arrive at Ma Ling at this time, and had ambushed a group of archers in advance, and ordered them to shoot arrows together only when there was a fire under the tree.Pang Juan had no choice but to draw his sword and commit suicide. The Qi army took advantage of the victory to defeat the Wei army and captured Wei's crown prince, Shen Ye. After this fight, Sun Bin's reputation spread throughout the vassal states."Sun Bin's Art of War" written by him has been passed down to the present.