The fable story of saving Zhao by besieging Wei (1) Source: The Art of War of Sun Tzu and the Biography of Wu Qi.
Meaning: attack the girder of the capital of Wei State to solve the danger of Handan, the capital of Yue State. It refers to all tactics that attack the enemy's rear and force the enemy to retreat.
During the Warring States Period, Wei Huiwang sent general Pang Juan to attack Zhao, and surrounded Handan, the capital of Zhao. Zhao immediately sent envoys to Qi for help. Qi Weiwang, the monarch of Qi, immediately appointed Tian Ji as the general and Sun Bin as the strategist, and sent troops to save Zhao.
Tian Ji intends to get to Handan as soon as possible, but Sun Bin doesn't agree. He said: "we should sort out the messy silk, don't just drag it out, untie the struggle and don't join it." It is better to drive the troops to Daliang, the capital of Wei (now Kaifeng, Henan), because Wei Jun's main force is now storming Handan in Zhao, and the country is empty. Wei Jun knows that we are playing Daliang, and they will definitely withdraw from Zhao and come back to help. In this way, it can help Zhao and attack Wei Jun, which is much more convenient than rushing to fight in Handan. "
Tian Ji adopted Sun Bin's plan and went straight to the girder. Wei Jun learned that, indeed as expected withdrawing troops to return home, Handan was cleared. The Qi army led by Tian Ji and Sun Bin set an ambush in Guiling ahead of time (now northwest of Changyuan County, Henan Province). Wei Jun retreated here, and the Qi army gave a call to arms and fought bravely. Wei Jun was exhausted from a long battle and was suddenly attacked, almost completely annihilated.
This battle is known as "encircling Wei to save Zhao".
The fable story of saving Zhao from Wei refers to the tactics of attacking the enemy's rear and forcing the attacking enemy to withdraw.
During the Warring States period, there were two famous military strategists. One is Sun Bin and the other is Pang Juan. They studied the art of war from the same teacher and later worked for Wei together. Pang Juan was petty and jealous of Sun Bin's military talent, so he tried his best to frame him, resulting in Sun Bin's kneecap being cut off. Later, Sun Bin was secretly rescued to Qi by Tian Ji, the general of Qi. Taking Wei to save Zhao is a war between Sun Bin and Pang Juan.
At that time, Wei took the lead in carrying out political and military reforms in many vassal States, and its national strength grew day by day, annexing some weak vassal States one after another. At that time, the vassal States whose national strength was comparable to that of Wei had Qi in the east and Qin in the west. Wei's neighbors, Zhao Guo and Guo Wei, are relatively weak.
In 368 BC, Zhao, with the support of Qi, sent troops to attack the vassal states of Wei to defend his country. Wei Huiwang sent general Pang Juan to lead nearly 100,000 troops to attack Handan, the capital of Zhao. Zhao had to ask Qi for help. Zou Ji, minister of Qi, advocated not saving, because it would consume the power of the country. However, Minister Duan Ganlun believed that if Wei defeated Zhao, Wei's power would be stronger and it would pose a threat to Qi, so he strongly advocated supporting Zhao.
Duan Ganlun's suggestion was adopted, with Tian Ji as the general and Sun Bin as the strategist, and 80,000 troops were sent to save Zhao. After analyzing the situation, Sun Bin, a military strategist, thought that Wei's army was very strong, and if it confronted Wei Jun, it would cause great losses to Qi, so it was necessary to avoid reality and be imaginary. While Wei's elite troops are outside, the capital of Wei will take advantage of the emptiness of defense to capture its capital, forcing Wei to save the girders, and Zhao's danger will naturally disappear.
In order to gain the strategic initiative, Sun Bin decided to give the enemy the illusion that Qi was weak. He deliberately sent incompetent officers to lead troops to attack Ping Ling, the military town of Wei, and the Qi army was defeated. Pang Juan, the general of Wei, thought that the Qi army was vulnerable, so he stepped up his attack on Zhao. He didn't expect the Qi army to attack the capital of Wei.
At the same time, Sun Bin personally led elite troops to attack the capital of Wei. After hearing the news, Pang Juan quickly withdrew from the front line that attacked Zhao and traveled long distances to defend the capital. Because of the lack of military forces, he was trapped in the encirclement of Sun Bin, and as a result, Wei Jun was beaten out of the water.
This is where the idiom "wai Wei to save Zhao" comes from.