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Basic Concepts:
Originally, to force the state of Wei (403 B.C.-225 B.C.) to withdraw its main forces from the state of Zhao (403 B.C.-222 B.C.) and relieve the besieged Zhao from the besieger of Wei by besieging Wei's base; to force the enemy to make a change from its offensive into the defensive by staying clear of the enemy's main forces and striking hard at its weak point in the enemy's empty rear; and, to make a serious threat to the base of an offensive opponent and force the offensive opponent to retreat in vain.
Also, some buyers in their business talks with sellers made deals based on the buyers terms in the end by smartly taking advantage of the competitiveness of the other similar sellers existed on the market.
Or, when encountering a powerful enemy, one may adopt the outflanking tactics to compel the enemy to divide its forces, and then, launch an attack against the enemy's weak link and put an end to the enemy.
Related Stories:
In the Period of the Warring States (770 B.C.-221 B.C.), the state of Wei, in its efforts to vie with the state of Zhao for controlling the smaller state of Zhongshan (414 B.C.-296 B.C., previously existed in current Shijiazhuang and Dingzhou of Hebei Province), dispatched its troops and encircled Zhao's capital city Handan (in current Handan of Hebei Province), thereby Zhao had to beg for the help from the state of Qi(1044 B.C.-221 B.C.); and Qi's famous Military Counselor Sun Bin (? 378 B.C.-302 B.C.), by creating the stratagem of "besieging Wei for rescuing Zhao", helped Zhao to lift the Wei's siege of its capital.
Based on 《 Historic Recording / Biography of Sun Bin》 written by Sima Qian (？145 B.C.-90 B.C.), a historian in the Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C.-8 A.D.), Wei and Zhao had long been fighting time and again in their efforts to control the tiny state of Zhongshan for evidently showing their power and ambition for the regional hegemony.
As early as in 432 B.C., Zhao Xiangzi （?-425 B.C.）, founder of Zhao and then controller of Zhongshan, proposed to select Ji Wen（?-144 B.C.）, chief of the local nomadic tribe of Xianyu （in current Zhengding of Hebei Province）, as a puppet ruler of Zhongshan, who was called Duke Ji Wen （Zhongshan Wengong） later, and to let the daughter of Wei's Monarch and Marquis Wei Si （Wei Wenhou, 472 B.C.-396 B.C.） to marry the Zhongshan ruler.
In this way, the two states of Zhao and Wei could achieve the goal of sharing the right in the joint control of Zhongshan.
However, Duke Ji Ku (Zhongshan Wugong,?-406 B.C.), successor of Duke JI Wen (Zhongshan Wengong), wallowing in luxury and pleasure, was a never-do-well ruler and Zhongshan under his rule was withering away.
In 406bc, the Wei's monarch took this opportunity and dispatched his massive troops to annihilate the already weak state of Zhongshan.
But after Wei's control of Zhongshan for 25 years, Duke Ji Heng (Zhongshan Huangong, 428 B.C.-353 B.C.), son of Duke Ji Ku, rallied his forces, fought against Wei and retored successfully the statehood of Zhongshan in 380 B.C.
Soon after the resurrection of Zhongshan, Zhao's new Monarch and Marquis Zhao Zhong (Zhao Chenghou,?-350 B.C.) took the opportunity of Zhongshan's weak foothold and attacked Zhongshan in 376 B.C. in an attempt to gain the sole control of the state.
In 354 B.C., the Wei's new king of Wei Ying (Wei Huiwang, 400 B.C.-319 B.C.),who was also ambitious for the regional hegemony, by using the excuse of Zhao's attack against Zhongshan, decided to make an expedition in person against Zhao in an attempt to regain Wei's sole control of Zhongshan.
Wei's famous General Pang Juan (?-341 B.C.), who was appointed as the chief general of the expedition, told the Wei's king that Zhongshan was a tiny state and it would be better to start with attacking Zhao directly.
By adopting the strategy of "killing two birds with one stone", Wei not only could deal a heavy blow to Zhao but also would get Zhongshan as well, Pang Juan added.
The Wei's king approved Pang Juan's proposal and allotted him an army of 80,000-strong as well as 500 war vehicles.
Pang Juan and his massive army moved to Zhao directly and Zhao's capital Handan was tightly encircled by the Wei's army, which made the city falling at any day.
On this critical moment, the Zhao's monarch was compelled to ask for help from the state of Qi in 353 B.C. with an offer that Zhongshan would be given to Qi as a gift after Wei's encirclement of the Zhao's capital lifted.
Qi's King Tian Qi (Qi Weiwang, 378 B.C.-320 B.C.), who was also intended to weaken his adversary of Wei and seek the regional hegemony, responded positively to the request from the Zhao's monarch as well as his Zhongshan offer.
Thereby, the Qi's king appointed the famous general of Tian Ji (birth & death years unknown) as the chief general and assigned the famous militarist of Sun Bin as the military counsellor to lead the Qi's army together for attacking Wei and rescuing Zhao.
Qi's Chief General Tian Ji was intended to move his troops north bound directly to Zhao's capital Handan, about 215 miles away; but his plan was discouraged by Qi's Military Counselor Sun Bin.
Sun Bin told Tian Jin: "Now Wei is in a war against Zhao; and all Wei's crack forces must have turned out in full strength abroad and left behind home with all their aged and weak soldiers."
"It's better for you to lead the Qi's army to rush for attacking the Wei's capital city of Daliang (in current Kaifeng of Henan Province)," he continued.
"In this way," he highlighted, "Wei's troops will definitely give up their encirclement of Zhao's capital Handan and withdraw their troops to their home for their own rescue."
"In this way," he continued, "we not only can lift the Zhao's encirclement with one stroke for sure, but also make Wei's troops fatigued."
"If we make an ambush for Pang Juan on his way home, the Wei's fatigued troops will surely be defeated," he added.
Qi's Chief General Tian Ji fully accepted the military counselor's strategy,changed his plan and moved his troops west bound in the direction of Wei's capital Daliang, about 310 miles away.
On their way to Wei's capital Daliang, Qi's army also launched feint attacks against the two Wei's military strongholds of Pingling (in current Dingtao of Shandong Province) and Xiangling (in current Xiangfen of Shanxi Province); and then they formed an encirclement of the Wei's capital.
Pang Juan, who was far away at encircled Zhao's capital Handan, did't care a lot about the feint attacks at Pingliang and Xiangliang by Qi's army.
However, Qi's later encirclement of Wei's capital Daliang made the Wei's king frightened; and he issued an order right away to Pang Juan, asking him to make a rapid return to the Wei's capital for rescuing.
Pang Juan, who was very angry on hearing Qi's encirclement of the Wei's capital and acting in accordance with his king's order, immediately withdrew his main force from the encircling Zhao's capital and started making a rapid march south bound, day and night, from Handan to Daliang, about 190 miles away.
At the time when General Pang Juan was on his way home for the rescuing mission of Wei's capital Daliang, just as the Qi's military counselor expected, the Qi's main force was starting to move to Guiling (in current Changyuan of Henan Province),which was about 50 miles away from Daliang and the only way home for Pang Jun, to prepare an ambush for intercepting the Wei's retreating troops from Handan.
And, the Wei's fatigued troops, after a long and arduous journey led by Pang Juan, were utterly routed in the ambush at Guiling by Qi's main forces; and, the badly defeated Pang Juan had to clear up his messy situation and returned to Wei's capital Daliang with the remnants of his routed troops.
The Qi's army, acting in accordance with the strategy smartly formulated by Sun Bin, won a great victory in "Guiling Interception Battle", which was famous in Chinese history, and helped Zhao to lift the encirclement of its capital Handan.
Brief Profile of Protagonist:
According to 《Historic Records / Biography of Sun Bin》 written by Sima Qian,this story's protagonist Sun Bin might be born in 378 B.C. and his native place was in between the two Qi's towns of Eyi（in current Yanggu County of Shandong Province） and Juanyi （in current Juancheng County of Shandong Province）.
Sun Bin, with an original name of Sun Boling, was a descendant of Sun Zi (? 545 B.C.-470 B.C.), a saint of China's military science.
The 18-year-old Sun Bin, together with Pang Juan, used to be the war-art students of Guiguzi (? 400 B.C.-320 B.C.), the founder of the strategies in the Period of Spring and Autumn (770 B.C.-476 B.C.) of China.
Three years later, Pang Juan, who became a Wei's general, cheated his classmate Sun Bin to Wei.
Pang Juan, who was jealous of the able and talented Sun Bin, fabricated charges against Sun Bin and inflicted a cruel punishment of disabling his legs and ruining his face, in an attempt to make his talents to be obliterated in the world forever by forcing him struggling in the lifelong pains.
Sun Bin, handicapped but firm in spirit, found a way in Daliang to successfully get contact with an envoy from his home state of Qi.
Through the communication between the two sides, Sun Bin made the Qi's envoy recognized his unusualness; and thereby, the Qi's envoy made use of a carriage and smuggled Sun Bin back to Qi in 355 B.C..
Later, the Qi's smart king appointed Sun Bin as Qi's military counselor, and provided him with ample scope for showing his abilities.
After Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan at Guiling in 354 B.C. by formulating the stratagem of "besieging Wei for rescuing Zhao", Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan again at Maling (in current Fan County of Henan Province) 13 years later in 341 B.C. by use of a stratagem of "decreasing military cooking fire pits for luring the enemy", which made Pang Juan felt extremely shameful and committed a suicide right at the battlefield.
And, the victories in both "Guiling Battle" and "Maling Battle" won by Qi's famous militarist Sun Bin, helped the Qi's king to make his state as a hegemonic power for a period of time among the most powerful seven states.
And, before long, Sun Bin retired at the height of his official career and backed to his native place to start writing his military works 《Sun Bin's Art of War》, which was the glorious embodiment of the outstanding military thought in ancient China.
In 302 B.C., Sun Bin died at the age of 76; and his tomb was built at Sun's Garden Village, about 12 miles northeast of Juanchen City in Shandong.
These stories mainly showed that Sun Bin, a famous militarist in the Period of Warring States, by use of his own created stratagem of "besieging Wei for rescuing Zhao", helped Zhao to lift Wei's encirclement of its capital Handan; and from then on, this stratagem has become an often used tactics in China for luring the enemy to submit in the following 2,000 and more years.