During the decline of the sacred dynasty, many clans established their own states and fought each other.
Prince Yuan, the prime minister of Chu, after his brother King Wen of Chu died, greatly desired to possess the beautiful widow Lady Wen.
He tried various ways to please her, but Lady Wen remained unmoved.
So he wanted to achieve great deeds, show his ability, and thereby win Lady Wen’s favour.
In a certain year of the sacred dynasty, Prince Yuan personally led six hundred chariots, in a mighty array, to attack Zheng.
The Chu army successively captured several cities and pressed straight to the Zheng capital.
Zheng’s national strength was weak, and the capital was especially empty of troops, unable to resist the Chu advance.
Zheng was in peril. The ministers were panicked. Some advocated surrender and peace, some a fight to the death, some holding firm awaiting aid.
None of these proposals could resolve the national crisis.
The high minister Shu Zhan said, “Peace and decisive battle are not the best strategies. Holding firm awaiting aid is feasible. Zheng has an alliance with Qi. Now in difficulty, Qi will send troops to help. But mere talk of holding firm may not hold. Prince Yuan attacks Zheng actually to seek merit and fame to please Lady Wen. He is certain to be impatient for success and especially afraid of failure. I have a plan to repel the Chu army.”
Zheng followed Shu Zhan’s strategy and made arrangements in the city.
They ordered all soldiers to hide in ambush, not letting the enemy see a single soldier.
Shops were to open as usual, people came and went normally, not allowed to show a trace of panic.
The city gates were flung wide, the drawbridge lowered, presenting a completely undefended appearance.
The Chu vanguard reached the Zheng capital walls and, seeing this, grew suspicious. Could there be an ambush in the city, luring us into a trap? They dared not act rashly and waited for Prince Yuan.
Prince Yuan arrived at the walls and also found it very strange.
He led his generals to a high point outside the city to observe. He saw the city indeed empty but faintly glimpsed Zheng banners and armoured soldiers.
Prince Yuan thought there was deceit and must not attack rashly. He would first enter the city to probe reality, so he held his troops motionless.
At this time, Qi received Zheng’s plea for aid and had already joined forces with Lu and Song to rescue Zheng.
Prince Yuan heard the report and knew that with three states’ troops arriving, Chu could not win.
Fortunately, they had won several battles. It was better to withdraw quickly.
He feared that during withdrawal, Zheng troops would pursue from the city, so he ordered the whole army to withdraw overnight, men with bits in mouths, horses with muffled hooves, making no sound.
All camps were left intact, banners still flying.
The next morning, Shu Zhan ascended the walls and looked, saying, “The Chu army has withdrawn.”
The crowd saw enemy camp banners fluttering and did not believe the army had gone.
Shu Zhan said, “If there were people in the camps, how could there be so many birds circling up and down? He also used an empty city stratagem to deceive me and withdrew in haste.”
Ji Ning had never heard of Chu or Zheng, but in sacred dynasty history, there was indeed a very chaotic period.
At that time, countless small states arose and fought endlessly.
Of course, he did not care about these. What he found most exquisite was the strategy used in this story.
Though bold, in actual strategy, risk often coexists with opportunity, benefit, and success. “Without entering the tiger’s den, how to get the tiger cub?” The cleverness of this plan lay in skilfully, timely grasping the opponent’s strategic background, psychological state, personality traits, and so on, adapting to time, place, and person with unusual tactics to resolve one’s crisis.
And the current opportunity was perfectly suitable.
Beimo City was empty and indeed weak.
But Sikong Zun was suspicious by nature and, moreover, lacked absolute control over the army. In this situation, he absolutely dared not act rashly.
In this way, the chance of success for this plan was very high.
The original underestimation of Ling Xiao instantly turned to admiration.
Ji Ning stood directly from his seat, then knelt on one knee and said, “Just now I inwardly mocked the young master for being presumptuous, but after hearing the young master’s words, I am extremely impressed. What is the name of this strategy?”
“The empty city stratagem!”
Ling Xiao smiled. “Sikong Zun is not only suspicious, but at this time they are also exhausted. As long as the general arranges properly, when our side cannot hold the city, deliberately expose to the enemy that our city is empty. This is the so-called ‘make the real real, make the empty empty’.
The enemy will grow suspicious and hesitate further. This is the so-called ‘doubt breeds doubt’.
We can let Sikong Zun lead troops through Beimo City and then station in the outer camps. Even if afterwards Sikong Zun realises the truth of the empty city stratagem, he can do nothing about it.
Of course, this plan is not one hundred percent successful. If it fails, we would probably have to fight bloody battles in the city. So the combat equipment that should be prepared must still be prepared.”
“Naturally.”
Ji Ning nodded.
Once all arrangements were complete, Ling Xiao went out of the city to inform Sikong Zun, allowing Sikong Zun to lead troops in.
Even Ji Ning came out to welcome them.
Sikong Zun was puzzled.
How had Ling Xiao only been inside for less than half an hour, yet Ji Ning’s attitude changed so greatly?
Could there be deceit in the city?
He was naturally suspicious, so when entering the city, he observed carefully and cautiously.
He found everything in the city orderly. People did what they should, but most soldiers were nowhere to be seen.
Faintly, he could hear the sound of weapons. Judging by the noise, there were probably at least forty or fifty thousand.
If conflict arose, they would be turtles in a jar.
He had originally wanted to cause trouble, but now he completely dared not.
“Could the intelligence be wrong? Wasn’t it said that Beimo City was full of wounded soldiers?”
Despite this thought, since Sikong Zun dared not confirm, he dared not act lightly.
By the time he came to his senses, the army had already exited the north gate and reached the pass one li outside Beimo City.
At this point, it was too late to investigate the city situation.
“That was nerve-wracking.”
Ling Xiao’s forehead was now covered in cold sweat. He was, after all, just talking on paper. Whether Sikong Zun would fall for it was unknown.
In fact, usable troops in the city were only about ten thousand. If real fighting started, they would definitely suffer.
Fortunately, everything went very smoothly.
Of course, this was also due to Ji Ning’s proper arrangements, perfectly making Sikong Zun believe a large number of soldiers were in ambush.
“Hahaha, young master’s wonderful plan truly impresses me.”
Seeing Sikong Zun settle in the pass, Ji Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The most difficult problem was solved. What later difficulties could not be overcome?
“General, please stop praising me. Just now I was really nervous to death.”
Ling Xiao wiped the sweat from his forehead.
After all, if this plan failed, it would truly be irrecoverable doom.
“Success is good. The battlefield is like this. You cannot have one hundred percent success rate. As long as there is thirty percent chance, you must do it. Otherwise, missing the timing leads to endless regret.”
In Ji Ning’s view, Ling Xiao’s move was extremely beautiful. Truly accomplished in both civil and military arts.
It was a pity he had no daughter. If he had, he would marry her to Ling Xiao no matter what.
