King of Chu dispatched Jing Li as an envoy to the state of Qin. A retainer said to the King of Qin, "Jing Li is a minister greatly favored by the King of Chu. It would be wise for Your Majesty to detain him and use him to bargain for territory from Chu. If the King of Chu agrees, you shall gain land without waging war; if he refuses, then put Jing Li to death and sever all amicable ties with Chu. In that case, Chu will surely be enraged and attack Qin, allowing Your Majesty to set the two states at war with each other." The King of Qin thereupon detained Jing Li.
Jing Li then sent a messenger to persuade the King of Qin, saying, "I perceive that Your Majesty's prestige in the eyes of the world shall diminish, and no territory shall be gained either. When I set out on my mission, I heard that Qi and Wei both wished to cede lands of Qin in exchange for peace. Why does Your Majesty not use me as a hostage to demonstrate good faith toward Qi and Wei? If I am allowed to return to my own state, then the alliance between Chu and Qin shall be firmly secured, and Qi and Wei will surely follow Your Majesty's commands as well. If, however, Your Majesty detains me, you will show the world that you are a sovereign who breaks his word. Then Chu will surely hold Qin in contempt, while Qi and Wei will each seek to acquire territory for themselves, and Your Majesty's lands shall be placed in grave peril."
The King of Qin said, "Well spoken." Thereupon he released Jing Li and allowed him to return to Chu.
💡 商战启示录
Jing Li's strategy for extricating himself can be viewed in modern business as a masterful exercise in "crisis public relations" and "interest restructuring." When an enterprise or individual is threatened by competitors or partners wielding leverage, direct confrontation often leads to mutual destruction. Instead, Jing Li chose to step outside the framework his opponents had preset, redefining the threat of "detaining a hostage" as "an opportunity to demonstrate integrity and build cooperation." He astutely pointed out that the detention would damage the King of Qin's international credibility and trigger a chain reaction from Qi and Wei—a "domino effect" equivalent to the "risk warning" in modern commercial warfare: illuminating for the other party the systemic losses their short-sighted actions would incur. For instance, if a tech company were threatened by a supplier cutting off chip supplies, and it could, like Jing Li, demonstrate that such a cutoff would not only forfeit long-term orders but also scare away other potential clients by undermining supply-chain credibility—even inviting exclusion from industry alliances—it could compel the other side to reassess the calculus of costs and benefits. Jing Li's brilliance lay not in pleading, but in offering the King of Qin an alternative: "Keep me as a hostage and use this to forge goodwill with Qi and Wei." This is tantamount to creating a "third path" in negotiation, shifting the core conflict and transforming a passive position into proactive maneuvering. The lesson for modern business decision-makers is clear: when faced with coercion, do not fight on the battlefield your opponent has chosen; instead, redefine the rules of the game, dissolve the crisis by appealing to the other party's own interests, and turn threats into opportunities for mutual gain.