The state of Chu attacked Wei. Zhang Yi said to King Hui of Qin, "It would be better to aid Wei and strengthen their power. If Wei prevails in battle, they will once again submit to Qin and will surely offer the lands beyond the Western River; if Wei is defeated, Wei will be unable to defend itself, and Your Majesty will certainly seize those lands." King Qin adopted Zhang Yi's counsel, dispatching ten thousand soldiers from Pishi and one hundred chariots to present to Wei. Wei's general Xi Shou defeated King Wei of Chu, but Wei's forces were exhausted and feared Qin, and indeed they offered the lands beyond the Western River.
💡 商战启示录
Zhang Yi's strategy reveals the dynamics of "borrowing force to strike" and the "win-win trap" in modern commercial warfare. When competitors clash, a third party can support one side to exhaust both parties' resources while consolidating its own position. For instance, in the ride-hailing sector, during the subsidy war between Didi and Kuaidi, Tencent and Alibaba each injected capital, ostensibly backing their respective camps, but in reality, they used these investments to expand their own payment market shares, ultimately facilitating a merger and maximizing their own interests. Zhang Yi's approach was similar: Qin aided Wei, appearing to assist an ally, yet in truth, it caused Wei and Chu to wear each other down, until Wei, weakened, was forced to cede territory. Modern enterprises can adopt this strategy as well—when competitors are locked in a prolonged struggle, offering "support" in exchange for strategic resources or market access, while ensuring their own costs remain controllable and retaining a contingency plan. The key, like Zhang Yi, is to precisely calculate the trajectory of the conflict, ensuring that regardless of victory or defeat, one reaps benefits. At the same time, this strategy warns enterprises that when accepting external support, they must remain vigilant about the benefactor's hidden motives, lest they become a pawn in someone else's game.