100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 4 3

Chapter 13 Sun Bin Surrounds Wei, Rescues Zhao and Kills Pang Juan
——Harming others will eventually harm ourselves When we communicate with others, we must treat each other with sincerity.If we do things that harm others and benefit ourselves for our own immediate benefit, we may gain an enemy while losing a friend. In this way, it will be ourselves who will suffer in the end.

During the Warring States Period, King Wei Hui was a capable monarch who attached great importance to talents.A man named Pang Juan came to his door and talked about the principles of making the country rich and the army strong. King Hui was very happy to hear that, so he worshiped Pang Juan as a general.

Pang Juan is very capable.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 had Sun Bin, a native of Qi who studied with Mr. Guiguzi, 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 told Pang Juan about Sun Bin, and asked Pang Juan to send someone to invite Sun Bin.Unexpectedly, Pang Juan had a bad heart, and framed Sun Bin in front of King Wei Hui for having an affair with the state of Qi.King Wei Hui was very angry and ordered Sun Bin to be tattooed on the face and gouged out two of his kneecaps.

An envoy from Qi State visited Wei State and secretly rescued Sun Bin and brought him back to Qi State.

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 Handan, the capital of the State of Zhao.In the second year, the state of Zhao asked for help from the state of Qi.King Qi Wei wanted to make Sun Bin a general, but Sun Bin hurriedly 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 worship Dr. Tian as 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 Daliang, the capital of Wei State. When Pang Juan heard this, he must abandon Handan and return to aid. We Waiting in the middle of the road, attacking head-on, will surely defeat him."

Tian Ji followed this strategy.Pang Juan suddenly heard that the state of Qi had gone to attack Daliang, and immediately ordered the troops to retreat.As soon as he retreated to Guiling, he encountered an ambush from Qi State.The two sides fought, and the Wei army was defeated.

The Qi army returned victorious, and the siege of Handan was lifted.

In 341 BC, Wei State sent troops to attack South Korea, and South Korea also asked Qi State for help.At that time, King Wei of Qi was dead, and his son King Xuan of Qi sent Tian Ji and Sun Bin to lead troops to rescue South Korea.Sun Bin resorted to his old method and went directly to attack Wei.

Pang Juan got the emergency document from his country, so he had to retreat and rush back.

Wei Guo conscripted a large number of troops, led by Prince Shen to resist the Qi army.But at this time, the Qi army had already retreated.Pang Juan inspected the place where the Qi army camped, and found that the camp occupied a large area.He asked people to count the cooking stoves, enough for 10 people to eat.Pang Juan was too shocked 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 for 5 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 3 to [-] stoves left.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 retreated and caught up.

We chased them all the way to Ma Ling, when it was getting dark.Maling Road is very narrow and uneven.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 largest tree uncut. Looking closely, the bark had been scraped off one side of the tree, revealing a piece of flesh. , there are still a few words written on it faintly, because the sky is dark, 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 take a look, on the trunk of the tree was written "Pang Juan died under this tree".

Pang Juan was taken aback, and quickly ordered to retreat, but it was 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 soldiers would arrive at Maling at this time, so he ambushed a group of archers in advance, and ordered them to shoot arrows together only when there was a fire under the tree.The Wei army was defeated, and Pang Juan had no choice but to draw his sword and commit suicide.

The Qi army took advantage of the victory to enter the Wei state again and captured Prince Shen.

Since then, Sun Bin's reputation has spread throughout the vassal states."Sun Bin's Art of War" written by him has been passed down to the present.

Wisdom Interpretation:

It is a big taboo in our dealings with people to see profit and forget righteousness, and to benefit ourselves at the expense of others.For hurting others, we will eventually pay the price for it.Pang Juan framed Sun Bin, and finally ruined his reputation, which is a good example.

(End of this chapter)