King Huai of Chu was about to let Zhang Yi leave the state of Chu, but fearing that Zhang Yi would bring harm to Chu, he first said to him, "If you leave me and go to Qin, you will surely become a scourge to Chu." Zhang Yi replied, "Your Majesty need not worry. I have heard it said: When a neighboring state possesses a sage, it becomes a source of anxiety for its enemies. Now that Your Majesty regards me as a scourge, I beg to depart at once. Let Your Majesty set aside concern, for I shall yet work for the benefit of Chu." When Zhang Yi arrived in Qin, the King of Qin said to him, "The King of Chu desires to have you—what will you offer me in return?" Zhang Yi answered, "I have heard it said: To present a gift to a ruler is not as good as presenting a gift to the state; to present a gift to the state is not as good as presenting a gift to the ruler. I beg to offer Your Majesty the King of Chu himself, so that he may have no anxiety toward the east and instead serve Qin in the west. If the King of Chu heeds my counsel, then Chu will surely become Qin's eastern vassal; if he does not, I shall request that the armies of Qin, joined with Han and Wei, be sent against him. The King of Chu will surely obey me." The King of Qin then dispatched Zhang Yi back to Chu. Zhang Yi persuaded King Huai of Chu, saying, "If Your Majesty can truly follow my advice—closing the passes and severing the alliance with Qi—I shall offer the six hundred li of the Shangyu region, present Qin maidens to serve as your humble handmaids, and have Qin and Chu exchange brides and grooms, becoming brother states forever. Thus you will weaken Qi to the north and strengthen Qin to the west—no plan could be more advantageous than this." King Huai of Chu, overjoyed, agreed. All his ministers came to offer congratulations, save Chen Zhen alone, who mourned. The King said angrily, "Without dispatching a single soldier, I have obtained six hundred li of land—why do you mourn?" Chen Zhen replied, "It is not so. As I see it, the Shangyu lands will not be won, and Qi and Qin will unite; and should Qi and Qin unite, calamity is certain to follow." The King said, "What grounds have you for this?" Chen Zhen said, "The reason Qin values Chu is that Chu has the support of Qi. Now if you close the passes and break with Qi, Chu will stand alone. Why would Qin covet a solitary state and grant it six hundred li of Shangyu? When Zhang Yi returns to Qin, he will surely betray Your Majesty—thus to the east you will sever ties with Qi, and to the west you will invite disaster from Qin, losing both ends while gaining no land. I privately think that for Your Majesty, a better course would be to ally secretly with Qi while appearing to break off relations, and to send a man to follow Zhang Yi. If the land is truly granted, then it will not be too late to break with Qi; if it is not granted, then we may secretly ally with Qi and make our plans accordingly." The King of Chu said, "I hope Master Chen will hold his peace and say no more—wait until I have obtained the land." When Zhang Yi returned to Qin, Qin sent an envoy to receive the territory. Zhang Yi said to the Chu envoy, "I have a fief of six li, which I wish to present to your King." The envoy reported this back to the King of Chu, who flew into a rage and raised an army to attack Qin. Qin allied with Qi, and Han followed suit, and the Chu army suffered a great defeat.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy reveals the fatal lesson in commercial warfare of trusting an opponent's promises too readily and undervaluing the strength of alliances. King Huai of Chu, coveting the "six hundred li of land" verbally promised by Zhang Yi, rashly severed ties with the state of Qi—only to be outmaneuvered by Zhang Yi's empty-handed scheme, receiving a mere six li instead. Having unilaterally broken his alliance, he found himself isolated and ultimately suffered a crushing defeat. In modern business, similar cases abound: a startup, lured by a giant corporation's "intent to collaborate," abandons its existing strategic partners, only to receive token resources from the giant while losing its own bargaining power and falling into a passive position. Chen Zhen's strategy of "secretly allying with Qi while publicly breaking with it" corresponds to the concept of "risk hedging" in commercial warfare—before securing assured gains, one should not dismantle existing alliances or core assets, but may discreetly prepare contingency plans. Zhang Yi's brilliance lay in exploiting information asymmetry and King Huai's greed, using "promises" as leverage to achieve low-cost expansion. The lesson for entrepreneurs is clear: when faced with tempting proposals, one must verify the counterpart's capacity to deliver and true intentions, while safeguarding one's own ecosystem position—avoiding total ruin from over-reliance on a single point. True business wisdom lies in balancing aggression with defense, never sacrificing long-term strategic foundations for short-term enticements.