King Huai of Chu asked Zhang Yi, "I wish to attack Qin—what should I do?" Zhang Yi replied, "If Your Majesty wishes to attack Qin, it would be better to ally with Qin first and together plot against Han and Wei. Han and Wei lie in the Central Plains, the very pivot of the realm. If Your Majesty insists on attacking Qin, then Han and Wei will be seized with fear and will surely serve Qin with lavish tribute. Once Qin receives such rich gifts from Han and Wei, it will inevitably feel gratitude toward Your Majesty and grow close to Chu. Your Majesty may then take the opportunity to have Han and Wei serve Qin—Qin will surely rejoice, but Han and Wei will come to hold Your Majesty in contempt. Holding you in contempt, they will unite with Qin; and once Qin, Han, and Wei are united, Chu will stand alone. Alone, how can Chu hope to attack Qin? Therefore, Your Majesty would do better to ally with Qin and together plot against Han and Wei—this is the strategy of absolute safety." The King of Chu said, "Well spoken." Thereupon he formed an alliance with Qin.
💡 商战启示录
Zhang Yi's strategy embodies the classic wisdom of "leveraging alliances to avoid being caught between two fronts" in commercial warfare. He advised the King of Chu to abandon direct confrontation with the powerful Qin state, and instead ally with the formidable foe to first subdue the weaker, thereby consolidating his own position. In modern business, analogous cases abound. For instance, when JD.com faced suppression from e-commerce giant Alibaba, it did not choose to engage in a head-on, all-category battle. Instead, it forged a strategic alliance with Tencent (via the WeChat entry point), leveraging Tencent's traffic and social ecosystem to first deepen its advantages in 3C electronics, home appliances, and logistics, before gradually expanding its categories. This enabled JD.com to secure a firm foothold in Alibaba's shadow, avoiding the depletion of resources that a full-scale war would have entailed. Similarly, Didi and Kuaidi, after their early subsidy wars, chose to merge—a de facto "alliance with Qin" strategy—first unifying the domestic ride-hailing market before pursuing overseas expansion, thereby averting the scenario of two birds fighting and a fisherman reaping the spoils (as with Uber). The essence of business competition lies not in relentless frontal assault, but in astutely reading the times and circumstances, transforming threats into advantages through strategic alliances or temporary compromise—first resolving secondary contradictions or consolidating one's core base, then gradually pursuing greater ambitions. Had the King of Chu rashly attacked Qin, Han and Wei would surely have become Qin's wings, plunging Chu into multi-front warfare; likewise, a company that blindly challenges an industry titan risks being encircled by the broader ecosystem. Zhang Yi's counsel serves as a warning to entrepreneurs: when resources are unequal, one must adeptly borrow force to counter force, first securing survival before seeking growth, pursuing win-win outcomes through cooperation and reaching goals through indirection—this is the all-encompassing strategy.