introduction
Throughout the ages, the final fate of many powerful ministers in history has been dismal, because ministers with too much power and too much prestige can easily threaten the throne. A king will not allow anyone to threaten his position, and even if his own son rebels, he will punish his son severely in disregard of his father's and son's feelings.
The story of Tianji horse racing must be known to everyone, this is a very wonderful and wise story. In this story, King Qi and Tian Ji had a horse race, and King Qi's horse was better than Tian Ji's, and if he played in the normal order, Tian Ji would undoubtedly lose.
Tian Ji adopted the strategy of the military man Sun Zhen, using his inferior horse to beat king Qi's superior horse, losing a round first, and then using his superior horse to win the king of Qi's medium horse, and his own middle horse to win the inferior horse of the king of Qi. With two wins in three sets, Tian Ji won the King of Qi and won a thousand gold.
After Tian Ji won the Qi King, the Qi King was very strange, because before the Qi King and Tian Ji raced horses, the Qi King won, and in terms of horse performance, the upper horse, the middle horse, and the lower horse of the Qi King were stronger than the upper, middle and lower horses of Tian Ji. Just because Sun Bin exchanged the order in which Tian Ji's warhorses went to battle, Tian Ji won the victory that originally belonged to the King of Qi.
After Tian Ji won the horse race, he introduced Sun Zhi to the King of Qi, and told the King of Qi that the reason why he could win himself was the credit of Sun Yuan, and pointed out that Sun Zhi was a great talent, hoping that the King of Qi could reuse him. At that time, the demand for talents in the Warring States countries was very strong, and seeing that there were great talents appearing around him, the King of Qi chose to reuse Sun Bing.
Sun Bing's acquaintance with Tian Ji was also due to a coincidence. At that time, when the emissaries of the State of Qi went to the State of Wei in large numbers, they encountered the fallen Sun Zhen. Previously, Sun Bing's classmate Pang Juan was jealous of Sun Bing's talent and dug out Sun Bing's kneecap. Sun Bing asked for help from the emissaries of the State of Qi, and the emissaries of the State of Qi saw that Sun Bing was indeed talented, and tried to help Sun Bing leave the State of Wei and introduced him to Tian Ji.
Tian Ji was a general of the State of Qi at that time, and he did not judge people by his appearance, and admired Sun Zhi after learning his true talents. The reason why Tian Ji was able to win the Qi King, Sun Zhen's plot behind it was the key. After Tian Ji raced horses, Sun Zhen was reused and served the State of Qi.
Unexpectedly, a few years after Tian Ji's horse racing, Tian Ji's fate had changed greatly, and although he could win the King of Qi, he eventually lost his career. Because Tian Ji was framed by others, he had no choice but to flee to the Chu Kingdom in order to survive, what was going on?
In 353 BC, the Battle of Guiling broke out, and the King of Qi planned to use Sun Zhi as the commander, but was resigned by Sun Bin because of his physical disability, and suggested that the King of Qi ren Tian Ji as the main general, make himself a military master, and obtain the permission of the King of Qi. Under the plot of Sun Zhen, Tian Ji adopted the method of encircling Wei to save Zhao, defeated Pang Juan at Guiling, and won the war.
Soon, in the Battle of Maling, Sun Bing and Tian Ji once again adopted the same tactics, taking advantage of Pang Juan's contempt for the State of Qi, taking the initiative to show weakness and lead Pang Juan to lead the main force to the bait, and finally Pang Juan's army was ambushed by the Qi army at Maling, and the elite of the State of Wei was destroyed. In this battle, the State of Wei was seriously injured, and since then it has withdrawn from the battle of the Warring States hegemony, and the State of Qi, which won the Battle of Maling, has become the new hegemon of the Warring States and dominates the East.
Sun Bin was not only a military expert, but also very strong in observing people's colors, and Sun Zhi knew that Tian Ji and Zou Ji had always been at odds, and the two were in the same situation. Zou Ji was an important figure in the State of Qi at that time and was deeply trusted by the King of Qi. After the Battle of Maling, Sun Zhi advised Tian Ji not to disarm and return to the State of Qi, but to be prepared to prevent Zou Ji from being framed.
However, Tian Ji did not have any heart, he thought that if he won the battle, he would definitely be rewarded by the King of Qi, so he rejected Sun Zhen's suggestion. In order to overthrow Tian Ji on Zou Ji's side, he first asked his subordinates to find someone to divinate, and let his subordinates falsely report that they were Tian Ji's generals.
Zou Ji's intention was already very obvious, he just wanted to spread rumors, so that King Qi felt that Tian Ji wanted to take his throne. In a hurry, King Qi did not think much about it, the first thing he thought about was how to keep his throne, and he wanted to send someone to remove Tian Ji.
After all, Tian Ji also had some power in the State of Qi, and after learning that the King of Qi was going to kill him, he was very panicked, and in a hurry, he fled the State of Qi and fled to the State of Chu overnight. In the Chu state, Tian Ji gained a fiefdom, where he was able to live a peaceful life.
epilogue
Behind the story of "Tian Ji Horse Racing", Tian Ji won the race, but lost his career. In the face of power, the King of Qi chose to believe in Zou Ji and jealous of Tian Ji, who was already a master of high merit, he did not know how to protect himself, nor did heed Sun Zhen's advice, and finally could not stay in the State of Qi and fled far away from the State of Chu.
On the encounter of Tian Ji, it also makes us understand a truth, the heart of defense is indispensable, pay attention to the villains around you, even if you are bright and upright, you can't protect the villains around you to frame yourself. At this time, because I had made preparations in advance, the villain's conspiracy and treacherous schemes could not succeed.
References include "Warring States Policy", "Tianji Horse Racing", etc