To Defeat the Opponent with a Surprising Action

During the Warring States Period, Yue Yi, senior general of Yan State, united the troops from Qin State, Zhao State, Yan State, Wei State and Han State, to attack Qi State. Qi was defeated greatly and only kept two cities, Ju and Jimo, in hand.

Because the governor of Jimo died in a defending battle, Tian Dan was appointed commander of the Qi troops to defend the city.

He had succeeded in defending Jimo for three years because of his mastery of military science and strategies as well as his popularity among the people. But Tian Dan understood that it was impossible to defeat the powerful Yan troops totally by using military force alone. So Tian Dan then spread the rumor that Yue Yi, was very ambitious and it worked. The King of Yan suspected Yue Yi and replaced him with Qi Jie. Qi Jie, who knew little about war, was a savage and cruel man. The Yan soldiers were not satisfied with him. Needless to say, the soldiers' morale lowered.

Aware of this situation, Tian Dan felt it was the right time to counterattack. On the one hand, Tian Dan spread the rumor that the Heaven would bless Qi State. On the other hand, he hid all his best troops and sent the old and weak ones to guard the city with women. At the same time, he sent some people to Qi Jie with gold and bribed him to spare their lives if the Yan troops took over the city. All this lulled the Yan troops into a false sense of confidence.

Then Tian Dan gathered more than 1,000 oxen covered with cloth in various colors. Long, sharp knives were tied to their horns, and reeds soaked in oil to their tails. At midnight, Tian Dan's soldiers lit the reeds and drove all the oxen toward the Yan camps. And at the same time, Tian Dan's five thousand best soldiers launched a furious attack.

The Yan troops were terrified by the strange beasts, some trampled to death, some stabbed by sharp knives and some killed by the attackers. Qi Jie was captured and then sentenced to death. The Yan troops were greatly defeated and Tian Dan's army chased them and reoccupied the territory lost before.

This idiom means defeating the enemy in the war with unexpected and wonderful tactics and strategies.