Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is
about to advance.
“As though they stood in great fear of us,” says Tu Mu. “Their
object is to make us contemptuous and careless, after which they
will attack us.” Chang Yü alludes to the story of 田單 T‘ien Tan of
the Ch‘i State, who in 279 B.C. was hard-pressed in his defence of
卽墨 Chi-mo against the Yen forces, led by 騎劫 Ch‘i Chieh. In ch.
82 of the _Shih Chi_ we read: “T‘ien Tan openly said: ‘My only
fear is that the Yen army may cut off the noses of their Ch‘i
prisoners and place them in the front rank to fight against us;
that would be the undoing of our city.’ The other side being
informed of this speech, at once acted on the suggestion;
but those within the city were enraged at seeing their
fellow-countrymen thus mutilated, and fearing only lest they
should fall into the enemy’s hands, were nerved to defend
themselves more obstinately than ever. Once again T‘ien Tan sent
back converted spies who reported these words to the enemy: ‘What
I dread most is that the men of Yen may dig up the ancestral
tombs outside the town, and by inflicting this indignity on our
forefathers cause us to become faint-hearted.’ Forthwith the
besiegers dug up all the graves and burned the corpses lying in
them. And the inhabitants of Chi-mo, witnessing the outrage from
the city-walls, wept passionately and were all impatient to go out
and fight, their fury being increased tenfold. T‘ien Tan knew then
that his soldiers were ready for any enterprise. But instead of a
sword, he himself took a mattock in his hands, and ordered others
to be distributed amongst his best warriors, while the ranks were
filled up with their wives and concubines. He then served out all
the remaining rations and bade his men eat their fill. The regular
soldiers were told to keep out of sight, and the walls were manned
with the old and weaker men and with women. This done, envoys were
despatched to the enemy’s camp to arrange terms of surrender,
whereupon the Yen army began shouting for joy. T‘ien Tan also
collected 20,000 ounces of silver from the people, and got the
wealthy citizens of Chi-mo to send it to the Yen general with the
prayer that, when the town capitulated, he would not allow their
homes to be plundered or their women to be maltreated. Ch‘i Chieh,
in high good humour, granted their prayer; but his army now became
increasingly slack and careless. Meanwhile, T‘ien Tan got together
a thousand oxen, decked them with pieces of red silk, painted
their bodies, dragon-like, with coloured stripes, and fastened
sharp blades on their horns and well-greased rushes on their
tails. When night came on, he lighted the ends of the rushes, and
drove the oxen through a number of holes which he had pierced in
the walls, backing them up with a force of 5000 picked warriors.
The animals, maddened with pain, dashed furiously into the enemy’s
camp where they caused the utmost confusion and dismay; for their
tails acted as torches, showing up the hideous pattern on their
bodies, and the weapons on their horns killed or wounded any with
whom they came into contact. In the meantime, the band of 5000 had
crept up with gags in their mouths, and now threw themselves on
the enemy. At the same moment a frightful din arose in the city
itself, all those that remained behind making as much noise as
possible by banging drums and hammering on bronze vessels, until
heaven and earth were convulsed by the uproar. Terror-stricken,
the Yen army fled in disorder, hotly pursued by the men of Ch‘i,
who succeeded in slaying their general Ch‘i Chieh.... The result
of the battle was the ultimate recovery of some seventy cities
which had belonged to the Ch‘i State.”
Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs
that he will retreat.
I follow the original text here, also adopted by the _T‘u Shu_.
The standard text reads 辭詭而强進驅者退也 on the strength of Ts‘ao
Kung’s commentary 詭詐也, which shows that his text included
the word 詭. Strong as this ground is, I do not think it can
counterbalance the obvious superiority of the other reading in
point of sense. 詭 not only provides no antithesis to 卑, but makes
the whole passage absurd; for if the language of the enemy is
calculated to deceive, it cannot be known as deceitful at the
time, and can therefore afford no “sign.” Moreover, the extra word
in 强進驅者 (an awkward locution, by the way) spoils the parallelism
with 益備者.