Someone said to King Zhao of Qin: "I am privately perplexed that Your Majesty thinks lightly of Qi and Chu and looks down upon Han. I have heard that when Your Majesty's armies win victories, enemy states tremble in fear. If Your Majesty considers it advantageous not to rescue other states, then all under heaven will know Your Majesty's intentions. Moreover, Your Majesty once employed stratagems in Yue, capturing Juzhang, and encountered peril at Mei. When Yue fell into chaos, Chu was able to survey the Laihu region in the south and possess Jiangdong. Calculating Your Majesty's achievements, the reason they came to pass is that Yue was in turmoil while Chu remained stable. Now that Your Majesty targets Han and Chu for attack, I fear the feudal lords will form a vertical alliance, and Your Majesty's state will be in danger.
In former times, the people of Qi attacked Chu and emerged victorious, breaking their armies and slaying their generals. In a second campaign, they seized eight cities. In a third, they humiliated Chu's altars of state in the south. At that time, Chu was still powerful enough to contend for hegemony over all under heaven, yet Qi ultimately prevailed over it—why? Because Qi was strong and Chu was weak. Now the strength of Qin is not merely comparable to that of Qi, and the weakness of Han and Chu is not merely comparable to Chu's former condition. If Your Majesty wishes to preserve all under heaven, nothing is better than to remain still and let others move. Moreover, rescuing Zhao by stationing troops at its outskirts means Zhao will submit without battle; rescuing Yan by guarding its territory means Yan will submit without battle.
I have heard: 'Be cautious and vigilant, growing more careful day by day; if one reverently follows the proper way, all under heaven may be possessed.' How do I know this is so? In former times, King Zhou served as Son of Heaven, leading a million armored soldiers of all under heaven. On the left they drank from the Qi River, on the right from the Huan River; the Qi was drained dry and the Huan ceased to flow, as they arrayed against King Wu of Zhou. King Wu led three thousand soldiers in plain white armor, and after a single day of battle, he breached Zhou's capital, seized his person, occupied his lands, and possessed his people—and none under heaven did not mourn.
Zhibo led the armies of three states to attack Zhao Xiangzi at Jinyang, breaching the river to flood the city. For three years, the city was on the verge of falling. Zhao Xiangzi consulted turtle divination, counted yarrow stalks, and observed the omens to discern what was advantageous and which state he might surrender to. He then dispatched Zhang Moutan. Zhang Moutan secretly left the city, undermined Zhibo's covenant, won over the armies of two states, and attacked Zhibo's territory, capturing Zhibo himself and completing Zhao Xiangzi's achievement.
Now Qin, cutting off the long and supplementing the short, spans several thousand li in every direction, with famous armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands or millions. In Qin's commands, rewards, and punishments, and in the advantages of its terrain, nothing under heaven can match it. With these to contend against all under heaven, all under heaven may be wholly annexed. I risk death to seek an audience with Your Majesty, to discuss the methods for breaking the vertical alliance under heaven, conquering Zhao, destroying Han, making Chu and Wei submit, drawing close to Qi and Yan, achieving the fame of a hegemon-king, and causing the four neighboring lords to come to court. Let Your Majesty try listening to my proposals. If with one action the vertical alliance is not broken, Zhao is not conquered, Han is not destroyed, Chu and Wei do not submit, Qi and Yan are not drawn close, the fame of a hegemon-king is not achieved, and the four neighboring lords do not come to court, then Your Majesty may execute me and display my body in the capital, as a warning to those who counsel their rulers without loyalty."
💡 商战启示录
The essence of this strategy lies in "overcoming motion with stillness" and "prudence in warfare," emphasizing that one should not lightly initiate conflict even when holding a position of strength. Instead, through strategic deterrence and diplomatic maneuvering, one dismantles the alliances of opponents, ultimately subduing their armies without engaging in battle. In the modern arena of commercial warfare, this corresponds to the "platform ecosystem strategy" and "competitive forbearance." For instance, when Huawei faced international sanctions and market encirclement, it did not recklessly clash head-on with its adversaries. Rather, through sustained investment in research and development—an equivalent of "severing the long to supplement the short"—and by constructing the HarmonyOS ecosystem alongside formidable 5G patent barriers, it bided its time for rivals to reveal their vulnerabilities, while simultaneously dissolving potential industry alliances through open cooperation. Likewise, when ByteDance expanded overseas and encountered coordinated suppression from giants such as Facebook, it refrained from immediate all-out confrontation. Instead, leveraging algorithmic superiority and localized operations, it advanced steadily and methodically, ultimately establishing a dominant position in the short-video domain. The lesson imparted by this strategy is as follows: when an enterprise commands advantages in resources and scale, it must not be provoked by transient challenges into rash action. Rather, like the King of Qin, it should assess the broader landscape, trading time for space, and through the deterrent power of "victory without battle"—be it patent litigation or mastery over supply chains—compel competitors to submit or collaborate, thereby avoiding attritional warfare and consolidating its industry leadership over the long arc of strategic competition.