Chapter 28 Tian Ji Horse Racing

In the winter of 355 B.C., an envoy of the State of Qi who was unknown in history met Sun Bin who was begging along the street in Daliang.The two exchanged a few words in Qi dialect, and the envoy of Qi State immediately realized that he had met a strange person.When he completed his mission and set off to return to Qi State, he packed Sun Bin in his luggage cart and easily escaped the border inspection of Wei State. After arriving in Linzi, Sun Bin was placed in the home of General Tian Ji. Tian Ji's surname is Tian, ​​so he is naturally a child of the Duke of Qi.However, this son of the public office has been unsatisfactory in the past two years, because his relationship with Xiangguo Zou Ji has not been handled well.Of course, this has nothing to do with Zou Ji's purge of officialdom.Tian Ji is neither a corrupt official nor a bastard. The conflict between him and Zou Ji is purely personal.

Many times, a relationship is not harmonious and does not need to be explained. In the spring of the next year, Sun Bin, as Tian Ji's guest, accompanied Tian Ji to participate in the horse racing meeting held in the suburbs of Linzi. Horse racing was an extremely popular aristocratic activity in Qi State at that time.The rules of the game are as follows: each side has three horses, and they compete three times respectively, with two wins in three rounds.King Qi Wei himself was also keen on this activity, and sent people to search and train several good horses to compete with bureaucrats and nobles in the arena.Every time Tian Ji gambles with King Qi Wei, he will definitely lose.

This time, without any suspense, he lost to King Qi Wei with a 3-0 record. But he soon returned to the arena and asked to compete with King Qi Wei again, and increased the bet tenfold. King Qi Wei looked at him for a long time with his neck tilted, and said, "Tian Ji, are you offering bribes to me in disguise?" Tian Ji said: "How dare a subordinate? Even if it is a bribe, it is a bribe to the ministers around you. How can anyone bribe you?" King Qi Wei said: "That's not okay. You must have changed three horses for another comparison. My horse has already run once. It's not fair."

Tian Ji said: "The horses are still the three just now, unambiguous." King Qi Wei sighed, and said: "Since you insist on doing this, then I can only accompany you. But it has been agreed in advance that you can't blame me if you are scolded by your wife when you go back." The game starts again. After the first round, King Qi Wei's horse won again, even more than the previous round. When it crossed the line, it was ten lengths ahead of Tian Ji's horse. King Qi Wei gave Tian Ji a mocking look: "No, Tian Ji, your horse's morale is low, and its performance is even worse than before!"

Tian Ji wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "It's hard to tell the outcome now, just wait and see." After the second game, Tian Ji's horse was a small victory. King Qi Wei let out a "huh" and said, "There is progress!" Tian Ji also seemed quite surprised, and said, "What a progress!" The third game started, both of them stared wide-eyed, and the whole audience watched the game nervously.I saw that the two horses were still going hand in hand at the beginning, and they were inseparable.After half the distance, Tian Ji's horse took the lead, first by a head, then by half a body.Seeing this, the jockeys of King Qi Wei frantically whipped their horses, trying to save the situation, but they were still a little short. They watched Tian Ji's horse win the race by a narrow margin.

"No, no!" King Qi Wei jumped up angrily, "Tian Ji, you must have done something wrong, otherwise it would be impossible to win the widow." Tian Ji said, "No." King Qi Wei said: "If you don't play tricks, how can you be so sure to increase the bet? Honestly, what kind of trick did you use?" Tian Ji said: "It's really not a trick. It's just...the servant Sun Bin gave me a little idea." "What idea?" "He divided your horse and your subordinate's horse into three grades: top, middle, and bottom. In the first round, the lower horse of the minister was against your top horse, so you lost a lot; in the second round, the top horse of the minister was against your middle horse. , so a small victory; in the third round, when the minister dismounted against you, it was another small victory. So...hehe!"

King Qi Wei was stunned for a while, and cursed: "Good Tian Ji, you actually hide such a capable person at home, and I don't recommend it to the widow! Invite him here immediately, the widow wants to see him." Sun Bin met King Qi Wei in this way. When the two met, I won't go into details if they asked about their relatives. The only thing that needs to be explained is that Sun Bin's ancestor, Sun Wu, was originally a branch of the Tian family of Qi State, so Sun Bin and King Wei of Qi can be regarded as the same ancestry. King Qi Wei heard about Sun Bin's story, and he sighed, but he was quite skeptical—that Pang Juan led the Wei army to conquer the east and west, and became famous all over the world.

With such doubts, he asked Sun Bin about several military issues. King Qi Wei first asked: "If the two armies are facing each other, they are evenly matched, and they are all ready to fight, how can I break the situation, sir?" Sun Bin replied: "You can send a small group of troops to harass, only allow defeat but not victory, lure the enemy to attack, let the enemy's weakness be exposed, and then concentrate on the assault." When King Qi Wei heard this, he knew something!Then he asked again: "If the strengths of the two sides are not equal, is there any principle to follow?"

Sun Bin said, "Yes." King Qi Wei said: "What should I do if I have many enemies and few enemies, and I am strong and my enemies are weak?" Sun Bin immediately bowed to King Qi Wei and said: "This is a question that a wise king would ask. The advantage is on your side, and you asked what to do carefully, which shows that you are very cautious about war, and it is a blessing for the country. Your servant His ancestor Sun Wuzi wrote the book of war. The first sentence is "Soldiers, important affairs of the country, the place of life and death, the way of survival, must be investigated." As a king, you must be cautious about war at any time, even if you look at It looks very sure, but you have to be careful, because the survival of the country is often only a matter of one thought."

Sun Bin went on to say: "If I have many enemies, it is best to deliberately put on a disorganized appearance, disturb the enemy's sight, and let the enemy feel that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it and take the initiative to fight. In this case, the enemy loses vigilance, just like eggs If we touch a stone, our army will take the opportunity to cover up and kill them, and we will win a complete victory." King Qi Wei asked again: "If the enemy is many and we are few, what if the enemy is strong and we are weak?" Sun Bin said: "Then the long soldiers are in the front, and the short soldiers are in the rear, and stand ready."

King Qi Wei said: "Then, can one strike ten?" Sun Bin said: "It can be done by attacking those who are not prepared for it and by taking it by surprise." King Qi Wei became interested, and asked again: "In my opinion, what are the main factors to be invincible on the battlefield?" This question is obviously different from the previous specific questions. The level of "Tao" is to test Sun Bin's understanding of the laws of war. Sun Bin replied very simply: "There are five elements of constant victory." That is to say, there are five elements of constant victory-one is the command of the commander-in-chief with full power, the other is knowing the conditions for winning or losing, the third is getting the support of the soldiers, the fourth is the general's concerted efforts, and the fifth is winning. It is to be able to correctly judge the enemy's situation. Now that the topic was opened, Sun Bin continued to talk without waiting for King Qi Wei to ask questions. "A large number of soldiers, a rich country, and excellent weapons are all favorable conditions for victory, but they may not necessarily win. The key is to master the laws of war. Since ancient times, excellent generals can make the enemy divide his troops, and can also make the enemy stand still. Therefore, Even when you are at a disadvantage, you can find opportunities to win. "If the terrain is flat, use chariots; if the terrain is dangerous, use cavalry; if you are on a high ground, use bows and crossbows. There is no such thing as an army that can run rampant in the world. The key is to use the right army according to local conditions. "Using the cavalry correctly can easily gain the initiative. When the enemy is not firmly established, send the cavalry to charge by surprise; if the enemy is already in formation, send the cavalry to go behind the enemy's formation to catch him unawares; after the enemy is scattered, the cavalry can pursue freely. In addition, In addition, the cavalry can also be used for strategic purposes, attacking the enemy's food roads, burning down the enemy's bridges, and plundering the enemy's villages... The advantage of the cavalry is that it can separate and combine, gather and disperse, come suddenly, roar Go, it's unpredictable. If the king wants to enrich the country and strengthen the army, he must give priority to the development of cavalry before he can compete with the princes. "Offense first, defense second. Passive defense is not as good as active offense. Although Sun Wuzi regarded siege as the most difficult thing in the world, my younger generation has a different understanding. For nearly a hundred years, countries in the Central Plains have been building Unprecedented large cities, with their large populations, gathering merchants, and rich accumulation, are places that military strategists must contend for. In daily training, siege should be taken as a key subject, and at the same time, research and development of siege equipment should be strengthened to effectively improve the strength of the troops. Siege ability." King Qi Wei was fascinated by this.Before they knew it, the two had been chatting for a whole day. King Qi Wei asked the last question: "I think the people will listen to me, what should I do?" Sun Bin smiled: "You must believe what you say, and the people will naturally obey." So far, King Qi Wei has completely convinced Sun Bin.He said to Sun Bin: "For the sake of the same clan, sir, please stay in Qi. I want to worship you as a general and lead the army of Qi." Sun Bin pointed to his non-existent feet, then pointed to the imprint on his face, and said, "If you have this honor, if you serve as a general, wouldn't it embarrass Qi?" "Then I invite you to be the military adviser of the widow, and make suggestions behind the scenes!" King Qi Wei didn't force it, and quickly threw out another plan. Sun Bin did not refuse any more, but made a request: "There must be a war between Qi and Wei. Before that war, please allow your subordinates to live in Tian Ji's mansion secretly and not show up in public. Moreover, your subordinates in Qi State The less people know about it, the better." "why?" "For Pang Juan." As Sun Bin said, he closed his eyes lightly, as if recalling his painful years in Daliang.