Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao
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In 354 BC, the king of Wei appointed Pang Juan to invade Zhao. Pang Juan led an army of five hundred chariots and headed directly to Zhao to besiege its capital Handan (city in Hebei). The siege of Zhao lasted more than one year without success. Then the king of Zhao appealed to Ci for help. The king of Ci agreed and appointed Tian Ji as the general and Sun Bin as the military advisor to head the Ci army to rescue the besieged Handan (city in Hebei).
Previously, Sun Bin and Pang Juan had both been disciples studying military strategy under the same master. Both of them became experts, but Sun Bin was more talented than Pang Juan, and Pang Juan was jealous of Sun Bin as a result. Through a vicious plot Pang Juan had Sun Bin's legs broken and his face tattooed so that Sun Bin could never walk again nor appear in public out of shame. Afterwards, Sun Bin pretended to have gone mad and fled to Ci with the help of a diplomat of Ci.
Tasked with the mission to save Handan (city in Hebei), Tian Ji wanted to attack Handan (city in Hebei) immediately. But Sun Bin advised against this. He told Tian Ji, "The elite army of Wei is camped outside Handan (city in Hebei) right now. If we attack them directly, we would be attacking into their strength. However, there is only a minimal force defending Wei right now. So if we attack Wei instead, we would be exploiting this weakness, and the army of Wei would be forced to return to defend their capital. This would lift the siege of Zhao automatically, achieving our first goal. In addition, we can ambush the returning army of Wei halfway and they would suffer losses.''Tian Ji followed Sun Bin's advice, and everything happened as Sun Bin said it would. Once the army of Ci appeared outside Wei, the army of Wei immediately left Handan (city in Hebei) for home. On their way back, the army of Wei was ambushed by theCiarmy at Guei Ling and was defeated. Pang Juan was forced to retreat to Dai Liang. The siege of Zhao was thus lifted. This is the famous history of "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao."
Strategy 2 : Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao
Avoid attacking the enemy's strength directly. Instead, attack its weakness in order to seize the initiative of battle, thereby achieving the best outcome with the least cost.
