田單列傳

Tian Dan was a distant kinsman of the Tian ruling house of Qi. During the reign of King Min, Tian Dan served as a minor market official in Linzi and was unknown. When Yan sent Yue Yi to invade and shatter Qi, King Min fled and eventually took refuge in the city of Ju. The Yan army drove deep into Qi and overran the country. Tian Dan escaped to Anping, but before doing so he ordered all his clansmen to saw off the protruding ends of their cart axles and cap them with iron sleeves. Soon after, the Yan army attacked Anping. When the walls were breached, the Qi refugees fled, fighting for space on the roads. Their axle-cap pins snapped and their carts broke down, and they were captured by Yan. Only Tian Dan's clansmen, thanks to their iron-capped axles, managed to escape. They fled east and took shelter in Jimo. After Yan had compelled the surrender of every city in Qi, only Ju and Jimo remained unconquered. The Yan army learned that the King of Qi was at Ju and concentrated its forces to attack there. After Nao Chi murdered King Min at Ju, the defenders nonetheless held firm and repelled the Yan army for several years. Yan then shifted its forces east to besiege Jimo. The commandant of Jimo rode out to give battle and was killed. The people inside the city consulted with one another and chose Tian Dan, saying: "At the battle of Anping, Tian Dan's clansmen survived thanks to the iron axle-caps — he understands military matters." They installed him as general, and from Jimo he resisted Yan.

Shortly after, King Zhao of Yan died and King Hui succeeded him. King Hui had a longstanding rift with Yue Yi. Tian Dan heard of this and planted disinformation agents in Yan, spreading the word: "The King of Qi is already dead — only two cities remain untaken. The reason Yue Yi has not stormed them sooner is that he fears punishment and dares not return. He uses the campaign against Qi as a pretext, but his real intention is to keep the army intact, face south, and make himself King of Qi. The people of Qi have not yet submitted to him, so he is deliberately slowing the attack on Jimo while he waits for his moment. What Qi truly fears is that a different general might come — then Jimo would be finished." The King of Yan believed this and sent Qi Jie to replace Yue Yi.

Yue Yi thereupon defected to Zhao. The Yan soldiers were resentful at the change. Tian Dan then ordered everyone inside the city to make offerings to their ancestors in the courtyard whenever they ate. Flocks of birds swooped and circled over the city, diving down to feed on the offerings. The Yan soldiers marveled at this. Tian Dan then spread the rumor: "A spirit has come down to instruct me." He told the people inside the city: "A divine being will serve as my teacher." One soldier said: "Could I serve as the teacher?" and turned to run away. Tian Dan rose, led him back, had him sit facing east, and treated him with the deference due a teacher. The soldier said: "I was deceiving you, sir — truly I have no abilities." Tian Dan replied: "Say nothing more!" and continued to treat him as his teacher. Whenever he issued orders, he invoked the authority of the Divine Teacher. He then let it be known: "My only fear is that the Yan army will cut off the noses of the Qi prisoners they have taken and place them in the front ranks to fight against us — then Jimo would surely fall." The Yan troops heard this and did exactly that. When the people inside the city saw that every Qi soldier who had surrendered had been mutilated, they were enraged. They defended the walls with fierce resolve, terrified of being captured. Tian Dan then planted another false rumor: "I fear that the Yan forces will dig up the graves outside our city walls and desecrate our ancestors — that would be truly chilling." The Yan army proceeded to dig up every burial mound and burn the corpses. The people of Jimo watched from the walls, all of them weeping. They begged to sally forth and fight, their fury increased tenfold.

Tian Dan saw that his soldiers were ready to be used. He personally took up tools and worked alongside the troops, assigning his own wives and concubines to the military ranks. He distributed all available food and drink to feast the soldiers. He ordered the armored troops to hide and stationed only the old, the weak, and the women on the walls. He sent an envoy to negotiate surrender with Yan. The Yan army shouted in triumph. Tian Dan then collected gold from the citizens — a thousand yi in all — and had the wealthy men of Jimo present it to the Yan general with the message: "Jimo is about to surrender. We beg that you not pillage our families and wives, but let them remain in peace." The Yan general was overjoyed and agreed. The Yan army grew ever more lax.

Tian Dan then gathered over a thousand oxen from within the city. He draped them in crimson silk painted with multicolored dragon patterns and bound blades to their horns. He smeared their tails with grease, bound them with bundles of reeds, and set the ends alight. He had dozens of holes cut through the city wall and released the oxen at night, with five thousand warriors following behind them. When the fire reached their tails, the oxen went mad with pain and charged into the Yan camp. The Yan army was thrown into panic in the darkness. The blazing torches on the oxen's tails cast a dazzling light, and the Yan soldiers saw nothing but dragon-marked beasts — everything they touched was killed or wounded. The five thousand warriors attacked with gags in their mouths to maintain silence, while from the city walls came the crash of drums and the roar of the defenders. Even the old and the weak beat on bronze vessels, and the noise shook heaven and earth. The Yan army was utterly terrified and broke in rout. The Qi forces cut down General Qi Jie. The Yan army scattered in chaos, and the Qi forces pursued the fleeing and hunted the defeated. Every city and town they passed through revolted against Yan and rallied to Tian Dan. His army grew larger by the day. Pressing the advantage, with Yan suffering defeat upon defeat, they drove all the way to the Yellow River. All seventy-odd cities of Qi were recovered. Tian Dan then welcomed King Xiang at Ju and escorted him into Linzi to resume governance.

King Xiang enfeoffed Tian Dan with the title Lord of Anping.

The Grand Historian comments: In war, one engages with the orthodox and wins with the unorthodox. Those who excel at it produce the unorthodox without limit. The orthodox and the unorthodox generate each other ceaselessly, like a ring with no end. At first one is like a maiden, so that the enemy opens his door; afterward one is like a hare bolting from its den, so that the enemy cannot resist in time — is this not a description of Tian Dan?

When Nao Chi first murdered King Min, the people of Ju searched for King Min's son Fazhang and found him in the household of the Grand Scribe Jiao, where he was working as a garden laborer. Jiao's daughter took pity on him and treated him well. Later Fazhang confided his true identity to the girl, and she became his consort. When the people of Ju together installed Fazhang as King of Qi and used Ju as a base to resist Yan, the daughter of the Grand Scribe became queen — the one known as "Queen Junwang."

When Yan first invaded Qi, the troops heard that Wang Zhu of Hua township was a worthy man and issued orders that no soldier was to enter within thirty li of Hua township, on Wang Zhu's account. Then they sent a messenger to Wang Zhu, saying: "The people of Qi greatly admire your righteousness. We will make you a general and enfeoff you with ten thousand households." Wang Zhu firmly declined. The Yan envoy said: "If you refuse, I will bring the entire army to slaughter Hua township." Wang Zhu replied: "A loyal subject does not serve two lords; a virtuous woman does not take a second husband. The King of Qi refused to heed my counsel, so I withdrew and plowed the fields. Now the state is destroyed and I could not save it. And you would compel me with force of arms to serve as your general — that would be helping a tyrant in his cruelty. Rather than live without honor, I would sooner be boiled alive!" He then looped his neck-cloth over a tree branch and hanged himself. When the exiled grandees of Qi heard of this, they said: "Wang Zhu was a commoner, yet his sense of honor would not let him face north and serve Yan — how much less should those of us who hold rank and receive stipends!" They gathered together at Ju, sought out the king's son, and installed him as King Xiang.