Tian Dan was preparing to attack the Di people, and went to visit Master Luzhong. Master Luzhong said, "General, if you attack the Di, you will not take them." Tian Dan said, "I once held an inner city of five li and an outer wall of seven li, leading remnant troops and defeated soldiers, and defeated the mighty state of Yan, restoring the territory of Qi. Now if I attack the Di and cannot take them, why is that?" Having said this, he mounted his carriage and left without taking his leave. Subsequently, he attacked the Di, but after three months, he still had not conquered them. The children of Qi sang a nursery rhyme: "A great cap like a winnowing basket, a long sword propping the chin—attacking the Di, we cannot take them, and bleached bones pile into small mounds." Only then did Tian Dan become afraid, and he went to ask Master Luzhong, saying, "Sir, you said at first that I could not take the Di—please let me hear your reasoning." Master Luzhong said, "When you, General, were at Jimo, when you sat, you wove grass baskets; when you stood, you grasped a spade. You cried out to your soldiers: 'There is no retreat! The ancestral temples will be destroyed! Our souls will be scattered! Where else can we return to!' At that time, you had the resolve to die, and your soldiers had no thought of survival. Hearing your words, there was none who did not wipe away tears and raise their arms, eager to fight to the death—this is why you were able to defeat Yan. Now, General, to the east you have the fief of Ye, to the west you have the pleasures of the Zi River region. You wear a belt of gold at your waist and gallop between the Zi and Mian rivers, knowing only the joy of living, without the resolve to face death—this is the reason you cannot win." Tian Dan said, "I have the resolve—Sir, remember my words." The next day, he roused his spirit and inspected the city walls, standing where arrows and stones flew thick, and taking up the drumsticks, he beat the drum to advance the attack. The Di then surrendered.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy reveals a core law of commerce: the rise or fall of an organization often hinges on the mindset and sense of crisis of its leader. When Tian Dan was in Jimo, trapped in a desperate situation, he shared hardships with his soldiers and inspired them to fight to the death, thus defeating the mighty Yan army. Yet when he was granted fiefdoms and indulged in comfort and ease, his fighting spirit slackened, and he could not conquer the Di stronghold for three months. In modern business, many entrepreneurs maintain a "heart of death" during their startup phase—Ren Zhengfei, for instance, toiled alongside his employees in a shabby factory in early Shenzhen, and Huawei rose because of it. But once success arrives, if one sinks into the comfort zone of a "golden belt," as Nokia did at its peak, over-relying on existing advantages while ignoring external threats, the result is obsolescence in the age of smartphones. Lu Zhonglian's counsel is this: leaders must return to the "front line," to stand where "arrows and stones fall." Elon Musk, during Tesla's production crisis, slept in the factory to oversee the assembly line, rekindling his team's sense of urgency and ultimately turning the tide. In business, comfort is the greatest enemy; only by sustaining hunger and a "heart of death" can a team break through in a fiercely competitive market. This tale reminds entrepreneurs: beware of complacency after success—actively cultivate a sense of crisis or a "second curve," or else, no matter how vast your scale, you will face the fate of "failing to conquer Di."