Marquis Wenxin, Lü Buwei, desired to attack the state of Zhao to expand his fiefdom of Hejian. He dispatched Gangcheng Jun, Cai Ze, to serve in Yan for three years, after which Crown Prince Dan of Yan came to Qin as a hostage. Marquis Wenxin then requested Zhang Tang to serve as chancellor in Yan, intending to ally with Yan to attack Zhao and thereby enlarge Hejian. Zhang Tang declined, saying, "The journey to Yan must pass through Zhao; should the people of Zhao capture me, they would be rewarded with a hundred li of land." Marquis Wenxin departed displeased. The young retainer Gan Luo asked, "Why is my lord so disheartened?" Marquis Wenxin said, "I sent Cai Ze to serve Yan for three years, and the Yan crown prince has now arrived as a hostage. I personally requested Zhang Tang to become chancellor of Yan, yet he refuses to go." Gan Luo said, "I can make him go." Marquis Wenxin rebuked him, saying, "Even I could not persuade him myself—how could you possibly succeed?" Gan Luo replied, "Xiang Tuo at seven years of age became a teacher to Confucius. I am now twelve; my lord might as well put me to the test—why must you scold me so hastily?"
Gan Luo then went to see Zhang Tang and asked, "How does your merit compare with that of Lord Wu'an, Bai Qi?" Zhang Tang said, "Lord Wu'an's victories and conquests were beyond counting, his sieges and acquisitions beyond measure—my achievements are not his equal." Gan Luo asked, "Do you truly know your merit is inferior to Lord Wu'an's?" The reply came, "I know." Gan Luo continued, "When Ying Hou, Fan Ju, held power in Qin, how did his authority compare with that of Marquis Wenxin?" Zhang Tang answered, "Ying Hou was not as powerful as Marquis Wenxin." Gan Luo pressed further, "Do you truly know you are not as favored as Marquis Wenxin?" The reply was, "I know." Gan Luo then said, "In former days, when Ying Hou wished to attack Zhao, Lord Wu'an deemed it difficult, and as a result, he was strangled seven li from Xianyang. Now Marquis Wenxin personally requests that you serve as chancellor of Yan, yet you refuse—I cannot fathom where you will meet your end!" Zhang Tang said, "Then I ask you to lead me there!" Thereupon, he prepared carriages, horses, and valuables, and set a date for departure. Gan Luo said to Marquis Wenxin, "Lend me five carriages, and let me go ahead to announce this to Zhao on Zhang Tang's behalf."
Gan Luo went to see the King of Zhao, who came out to the outskirts to welcome him. Gan Luo asked the King of Zhao, "Have you heard that Crown Prince Dan of Yan has entered Qin as a hostage?" The King of Zhao said, "I have heard of it." Gan Luo continued, "Have you heard that Zhang Tang is to become chancellor of Yan?" The reply was, "I have heard of it." Gan Luo said, "The Yan crown prince's arrival in Qin shows that Yan does not deceive Qin; Zhang Tang's chancellorship in Yan shows that Qin does not deceive Yan. When Yan and Qin do not deceive each other, then an attack on Zhao becomes perilous. Their mutual trust has no other purpose than to attack Zhao and expand Hejian. Now, if Your Majesty would grant me five cities to enlarge Hejian, I shall request that Qin return the Yan crown prince and ally with mighty Zhao to strike at feeble Yan." The King of Zhao immediately ceded five cities to expand Hejian. Qin then returned the Yan crown prince. Zhao attacked Yan, seizing thirty-six counties of Shanggu, and apportioned one-tenth of them to Qin.
💡 商战启示录
Gan Luo, at the tender age of twelve, employed the strategies of "leveraging momentum" and "balancing power" to expand the State of Qin's territory in Hejian without deploying a single soldier. The core of his approach lay in: first, persuading Zhang Tang through an analysis of gains and losses (internal coordination); then, swaying the King of Zhao through information asymmetry and inducements of interest (external game-playing), ultimately achieving a redistribution of benefits among multiple parties. In modern commercial warfare, this strategy resembles a "leveraged buyout" or a "strategic alliance"—by ingeniously structuring the terms of a deal, one can achieve great results with minimal resources. For instance, a startup might exploit competition among industry giants, forging cooperation under the guise of "complementarity" while actually extracting resources; or, as in the merger of Didi and Kuaidi, leveraging capital pressure to force rivals into concession. Gan Luo's "informing Zhao first" was, in essence, a tactic to "manufacture urgency," leading the King of Zhao to misjudge the apparent alliance between Qin and Yan, and thus voluntarily cede territory. In business negotiations, one often influences an opponent's expectations by releasing "misleading signals" or maintaining "strategic ambiguity," much as Apple Inc. routinely keeps competitors on edge with its "mysterious new products." The true master of commercial strategy does not engage in direct confrontation, but rather exploits the contradictions among all parties to design a game-theoretic framework of mutual benefit (or unilateral dominance), thereby achieving optimal allocation of resources.