Su Li said to the King of Zhou, "The one who defeated Han and Wei, slew Xi Wu, attacked Zhao, and seized Lin, Lishi, and Qi—all these deeds were wrought by Bai Qi. He excels in the art of war and is aided by Heaven's favor. Now he marches against Daliang, the capital of Wei; Daliang is sure to fall, and once it falls, the state of Zhou will be in peril. It would be better for you to thwart him. You may speak to Bai Qi thus: 'In Chu there was a man named Yang Youji, skilled in archery. Standing a hundred paces from a willow leaf, he shot and struck it every time, and all around praised him. A passerby said, "Well shot! One could teach you the art." Yang Youji replied, "All men say I am good, yet you speak of teaching me—why not take the bow and shoot yourself?" The man said, "I cannot teach you the trick of bracing left and bending right, but to shoot a willow leaf and hit it a hundred times without fail—if you do not rest while fortune favors you, soon your strength wanes, the bow bends awry, and one miss undoes all your former merit." Now you, Bai Qi, have defeated Han and Wei, slain Xi Wu, and marched north to take Lin, Lishi, and Qi from Zhao—all these are your triumphs. Your achievements are already manifold. Yet now you lead Qin's troops beyond the passes, traverse the Two Zhou, trample upon Han, and press toward Daliang. If one assault fails, all your past glory is wiped away. Better that you plead illness and remain at rest.'"
💡 商战启示录
The essence of this strategy lies in "retiring after achieving merit" and "risk control." Bai Qi won consecutive victories, yet Su Li used the metaphor of "Yang Youji shooting arrows" to warn that after hitting the target a hundred times without fail, forcing another shot might fail due to depleted strength, undoing all prior accomplishments. This mirrors modern business, where many enterprises or entrepreneurs, after successive successes, easily fall into "path dependence" and "overconfidence," blindly expanding or challenging high-risk projects, ultimately leading to corporate crises. For instance, Nokia, once a mobile phone giant, achieved tremendous success in the feature phone market but failed to transition to smartphones in time, clinging to its old advantages, and eventually saw its market share eroded by emerging forces like Apple and Android, losing everything it had built. Another case is LeEco, where Jia Yueting aggressively expanded simultaneously across video, mobile phones, automobiles, and other sectors, dispersing resources and losing control of risks, ultimately resulting in a capital chain rupture. Su Li's advice essentially advocates "taking profits" and "strategic contraction"—that is, after achieving phased victories, one should assess the risk-reward ratio of subsequent actions, and when necessary, "feign illness and withdraw," preserving strength to avoid a single decision error destroying long-accumulated achievements. In modern business warfare, enterprises should establish risk warning mechanisms, maintain prudence during expansion, and know when to pull back, thereby ensuring sustained success.