King Huai of Chu asked Zhang Yi, "I wish to seize the state of Qin—how shall I proceed?" Zhang Yi replied, "If Your Majesty desires to take Qin, it would be better first to provoke Qin into anger, and then attack it. Your Majesty may pretend to cede the land of Hanzhong to Qin, so that Qin is certain to be enraged; then, joining forces with Qi, Zhao, Wei, and Han, you may together strike at Qin, and Qin is sure to be defeated." King Huai of Chu said, "Well spoken." Thereupon he offered the land of Hanzhong to Qin. Qin, indeed enraged, sent forth its troops to attack Chu. King Huai of Chu then rallied the armies of the four states and routed the Qin forces at Danyang.
💡 商战启示录
The essence of this strategy lies in "provoking the enemy into rage, and uniting allies to overpower the strong," which in modern commercial warfare translates into the competitive approach of "luring the adversary deep, and forging alliances to counterbalance." Zhang Yi advised the King of Chu to use territorial concessions as bait, inciting Qin's fury and clouding its rational judgment, while covertly assembling a multi-state coalition to besiege the formidable foe with overwhelming force. This mirrors the business tactics of "retreating to advance" and "ecosystem alliances." For instance, during JD.com's price war against Suning, Liu Qiangdong publicly declared "zero gross margin for three years" on major appliances—an apparent sacrifice of profit margins that in truth provoked Suning into matching the cuts, draining its earnings, while simultaneously partnering with Tencent, Walmart, and other capital and traffic allies to mount a multi-dimensional siege, ultimately forcing Suning into strategic retreat. Another case is Huawei's early maneuvering in the 5G standards race: it deliberately ceded certain patents to giants like Qualcomm, fostering their complacency, while aligning with European operators and establishing a "united front" with Ericsson and Nokia. Through standards voting and technological alliances, Huawei reversed its patent disadvantage and ultimately seized dominance in the 5G era. The crux of this strategy lies in three principles: first, sacrificing peripheral interests (Hanzhong) to secure strategic initiative, rather than recklessly confronting head-on; second, inducing emotional volatility in the opponent, prompting erroneous decisions born of fury (Qin's invasion of Chu); and third, alliances are not improvised in times of crisis but premeditated, ensuring that the "four states" share common interests. Modern enterprises should learn that when provoked by giants, they ought not to counterattack rashly, but instead deploy "bait" to redirect the adversary's resources, while constructing a multilateral cooperation network—elevating isolated competition into systemic confrontation, thereby triumphing over strength through strategy.