The state of Qin attacked Zhao, and the King of Zhao dispatched Zhao Cong to rescue the realm. Zhao Cong said to the king, "I request to strike the mighty foe with feeble forces, and to assail the numerous enemy with but a handful of troops—this is not my own ability, but rather the blessing of Your Majesty." The king replied, "I wish to hear your reasoning." Zhao Cong said, "When Qin attacks Zhao, it must first secure its outer positions before daring to advance deep. Now I beg to lead a surprise force around to their rear, while Your Majesty holds their front with the main army—thus Qin is certain to be defeated." The king said, "Excellent." Thereupon he sent Zhao Cong with fifty thousand troops to circle behind the Qin forces, while the king himself led another fifty thousand to face them head-on. When the Qin forces heard of this, they indeed divided into two parts to resist. Zhao Cong then struck one half of the Qin army with his surprise troops, and Qin suffered a great rout. Upon Zhao Cong's return, the King of Zhao rewarded him with a hundred yi of gold and enfeoffed him as Lord Wu'an.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy reveals the classic maneuver of "frontal containment, flanking surprise" in commercial warfare. Modern enterprises often become mired in frontal price wars or attritional resource battles, while overlooking their opponents' weak points. For instance, when JD.com contended against Suning and Gome, it did not engage them head-on in physical retail. Instead, it deployed online low pricing and its logistics network as a "surprise force," circumventing rivals' offline advantages and striking directly at their vulnerability of high channel costs, ultimately reshaping the market landscape. Zhao Cong's success lay in two key factors: first, accurately discerning the Qin army's disposition of "prioritizing external defenses"—a mirror of how competitors in business tend to fortify their core markets while neglecting non-core regions or emerging channels; second, allocating resources judiciously, using the main force to draw attention while the surprise force concentrated on a breakthrough—just as enterprises should avoid dispersing efforts across all fronts and instead focus resources on niche markets or innovative models where the opponent's defenses are thin. Furthermore, the King of Zhao's trust and delegation of authority underscores the need for leaders to grant their teams strategic latitude. In modern commerce, differentiated competition and flanking tactics—such as Pinduoduo's rise from lower-tier markets—are a continuation of this very strategy: not meeting strength with strength, but using surprise to create localized advantages, then progressively expanding the gains.