Sūn Bìn 孙膑 Defeats the Army of Wèi 魏
With Mere Campfires

It was the era of the Warring States (period 04e), and the forces of the state of Greater Wèi 魏 were poised to attack the state of Hán 韩. The king of Hán sent a secret embassy to the state of Qí 齐 to ask for help in resisting the attack.

King Wēi 威 was the monarch of Qí, and he discussed the matter with his counselors.

Prime Minister SHĀNG Yì 商议 counseled King Wēi against helping. There was no point, he argued, in getting on the wrong side of a large state like Wèi, which was more powerful than Hán and surely destined to be the ultimate victor.

On the other hand General TIÁN Jì 田忌 argued in favor of helping Hán against Wèi. If Hán were taken over by Wèi, he argued, it would bring Wèi to the very doorstep of Qí, as well as making Wèi more powerful.

King Wēi could not decide which advice to follow, so he sought the advice of the military counselor SŪN Bìn 孙膑, a descendent of the famous SŪN Wǔ 孙武 who had written the famous work “Master Sūn’s Art of War” (Sūn Zǐ Bīng Fǎ 孙子兵法). Sūn Bìn was not only the scion of a distinguished military family, but had a reputation in his own right as a brilliant military strategist.

Sūn Bìn sided with General Tián. Wèi was already too powerful for comfort, and if it were allowed to conquer Hán, its power would only increase. Unfortunately, an intervention by Qí had only a poor chance of success.

The first step, Sūn decided, was to promise aid to Hán. That could encourage their soldiers. Next, Qí should wait to intervene until the Wèi forces were somewhat tired by fighting Hán.

King Wēi assigned Sūn Bìn and General Tián Jì to head the Qí forces. The forces of the state of Greater Wèi were headed by Supreme Commander Tàizǐ Shēn 太子申 and Military Counselor PÁNG Juān 庞涓.

The Wèi army was strong, and the Wèi soldiers all thought of the men of Qí as cowardly and likely to desert if the battle became rough.

The Qí army moved into position, and invaded the territory of Wèi in a preemptive strike. On the second day, Sūn ordered that the Qí forces light 100,000 cooking fires in their encampment. The third day, he ordered the number reduced to 50,000. On the fourth day, it ordered it reduced to 20,000.

The Wèi generals did not know how many Qí forces were facing them, and as the initially surprisingly large number of fires dropped off, it was clear that the predicted desertion among the men of Qí was confirming the stereotype.

General Páng accordingly ordered the Wèi forces to attack. What he did not know was that Sūn and Tián had assigned a massive Qí force to ambush the enemy in a narrow gorge called Mǎlíngdào 马陵道. When the Wèi advance guard entered the gorge, it suffered horrific casualties from the Qí forces lying in wait. Panicking, the remainder of the Wèi army fled or was defeated. And the Wèi Supreme Commander Tàizǐ Shēn was captured.

And thus the strategist Wū Bìn used the prejudices of his enemy as a powerful weapon against them.