General Pang Juan of the State of Wei had always come out worst in his battles against his former classmate Sun Bin. The mean-spirited general bore a strong grudge against the great military strategist， and was determined to defeat the Qi army and capture its great military advisor Sun Bin. Sun Bin， who had been fully aware of Pang Juan’s weaknesses， also wanted to wipe him out.
In 341 BC， Pang Juan led the Wei troops to attack the State of Han. The Han asked for help from the State of Qi. King Wei of the Qi State ordered General Tian Ji and Sun Bin to command an army to rescue the Han. Given that the State of Han was to the southwest of the Wei state and the Qi State was to the northeast of the state Wei， Sun Bin could not save the Han directly. Instead， he focused his attention on the capital of the Wei State， Daliang， which was then defenseless. Learning that Sun Bin was going to attack Daliang， Pang Juan hurriedly retreated from his attack on the Han. When he was back in the Wei State， the Qi army had already occupied some of its territory.
Pang Juan and his forces soon won the battle and the Qi troops fled. When he took over the camp of Qi， he discovered that the stoves its enemy had used for cooking could satisfy 100，000 people. Pang Juan thus estimated that the Qi forces numbered as many as 100，000 men. He turned pale with shock. On arriving at the next enemy camp， the Wei troops found enough cooking pots to feed 50，000 people. At the third camp， it turned out that there were stoves for an army of only 30，000. Pang Juan was extremely happy， and jumped to the conclusion that the Qi troops were so cowardly and scared that more than half of the soldiers had deserted after only three days’ fighting. He said to his men， “I’m sure we can wipe them out and capture Sun Bin alive within three days.” The Wei soldiers cheered at their general’s words.
Pang Juan， thirsty for victory， ordered his army to give chase to the Qi troops through the night. Arriving at the Maling Gorge， they found the path ahead was small and narrow with lofty and steep mountains on each side. Pang Juan sensed something was amiss. At that moment， a soldier came to report， “The mountain path had been blocked by rocks. We can’t proceed.” He ordered his men to move the rocks away， only to discover the trees beside the path had all been cut down except for a huge one. The general walked to it and found the bark had been removed. Some words seemed to be carved into its trunk.
Pang Juan got his men to light a torch so he could read the words on the tree. They read， “Pang Juan will die under this tree.” “We’re trapped！ Retreat！” he screamed in panic. At this point， the sound of horns was heard all around. It turned out to be the Qi troops， who had concealed themselves beside the path. Now they were firing hundreds of thousands of arrows all at once at their enemy. The arrows burst upon the Wei army like a tidal wave. Pang Juan was hit by a number of arrows. Knowing there was no escape， the general drew forth his sword and took his own life.
第一章 Openly Repairing the Plank Roads While Secretly March-ing Towards Chencang
In 206 BC， Liu Bang led his men to conquer and occupy Xianyang， the capital of the Qin Dynasty， putting an end to its rule. Xiang Yu， who boasted much stronger military power than Liu Bang， proclaimed himself Ruler of Western Chu， thus breaking his earlier promise that whoever managed to enter Guanzhong (the heartland of the Qin) first would be granted the title of “King of Guanzhong”. Liu Bang was quite displeased， but he could do nothing about it and had to swallow his anger. Xiang Yu later conferred the title of “King of Han” upon Liu Bang and granted him some remote infertile lands in Bashu and Hanzhong. Biting the bullet， Liu Bang decided to march westward to build up his strength there.
On Liu Bang’s way from Guanzhong to Hanzhong， Zhang Liang， one of his counselors， suggested burning all the plank roads they had past by. Wooden passages were often built along cliff paths in ancient times. According to him， this would prevent Xiang Yu’s troops from launching a sudden attack from the rear. It would also reassure him that Liu Bang would not return to Guanzhong to take his rightful title， and thus he might relax his vigilance. Taking Zhang Liang’s advice， Liu Bang burned all the plank roads leading to Guanzhong.
Liu Bang’s military strength increased greatly in the months after he came to Hanzhong. Eventually he decided to leave Hanzhong and try to wrest Guanzhong back from Xiang Yu’s hands. He then entrusted the deployment of his force to Han Xin.
Han Xin was an intelligent and strategically shrewd general who believed that any military move should take the enemy by surprise. He ordered the soldiers to restore the burnt plank roads in a very short time. This was a very arduous task， and many soldiers became exhausted and deserted. This resulted in their military service being prolonged.Xiang Yu’s force soon learned of Liu Bang’s movements. Sima Xin， who was in charge of guarding Guanzhong， hurried to send some of his men to seek out some intelligence. On their return， they reported to Sima Xin that Han Xin commanded many soldiers who were repairing the burnt plank roads very quickly， adding that the task had caused great hardship to their men and resulted in a lot of desertions， which was slowing down their progress. Hearing this， he felt much relieved. He believed Han Xin to be an incompetent leader and figured it would take him several years to complete the repairs.
Sima Xin relaxed and lowered his guard.
Actually， in the mean time， Liu Bang and Han Xin had secretly led a larger force to occupy Chencang via a small path， and were marching towards Guanzhong by way of Chencang. As the garrison of Guanzhong was completely unsuspecting， Han Xin and his army were able to rout the enemy and seize all of Guanzhong within three months.
From then on， Liu Bang held the upper hand on Xiang Yu in their power struggle. He soon defeated his rival and established the Western Han Dynasty.
King of Shu Seeks
