King Huai of Chu was about to release Zhang Yi back to his own state, yet he harbored misgivings lest the man do him harm. Turning to his ministers, he said, "Now that Zhang Yi has come, I wish to humiliate him, so as to display my majesty." His ministers remonstrated, saying, "That must not be done. Zhang Yi is a man of profound stratagem; moreover, Qin is mighty while Chu is weak. To insult him would surely incur Qin's resentment. Better to treat him with courtesy and observe his movements." The King, finding this counsel reasonable, received Zhang Yi with lavish gifts and honor.
When Zhang Yi was granted an audience, he said, "I have heard that Your Majesty intends to attack Qin. But Qin's terrain is perilous and its forces formidable—no easy conquest. If Your Majesty would heed my advice, I am willing to have Qin present beautiful maidens to attend upon you, so that the two states may forever be as brothers. Chu would be spared the suffering of war, and Qin could rest in peace. This would benefit both sides alike." The King was greatly pleased and thereupon made peace with Qin. Later, Zhang Yi returned to his own state, and in the end the King of Chu adopted his schemes—and for this, Chu reaped calamity.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy reveals the core principle of commercial warfare: recognizing the opponent's "sugar-coated bullets" and avoiding the forfeiture of strategic initiative for the sake of short-term gains. King Chu of Xiong, lured by Zhang Yi's promise of "beauty and marital alliance," abandoned his campaign against Qin—only to fall into Zhang Yi's scheme of horizontal alliances, ultimately finding himself isolated and bereft, losing territory and suffering humiliation. In modern business, similar cases abound. For instance, when a local enterprise faces competition from an international giant, the latter may propose alluring offers of "technological collaboration" or "market sharing," when in truth the aim is to undermine the local firm's independent R&D capabilities or monopolize its distribution channels—much like the early partnership between Google and Baidu. After Google withdrew from the Chinese market, Baidu gained short-term traffic but remained constrained in the long run by its technological dependency. Another case: a startup receives an acquisition offer from a tech titan. Should it covet only cash and resources while neglecting the value of its own data and user ecosystem, it often degenerates into a mere appendage of the giant's ecosystem—as with Nuance, which, after being acquired by Microsoft, saw its voice technology gradually absorbed into Azure, losing its independent brand influence. A sagacious leader, as the strategist would counsel, must not be beguiled by surface-level "win-win" rhetoric, but should delve deeply into the opponent's strategic intent. When necessary, one must dare to refuse the "sweetener," persist in building core competencies and diversifying one's layout, and only then avoid the fate of "King Chu undone by favor."