Shutting the Door to Catch the Thief, 关门捉贼 - 36 Strategies
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36 Strategies - Strategy No 22: Shutting the door to catch the thief, 关门捉贼
Original: 小敌困之。剥，不利有攸往。
Modern: 对于弱小之敌，应包围起来歼灭。小股敌人力量虽弱，但行动灵活，不宜穷追不舍。
English: The best way to capture a weak enemy is to have him surrounded. It is not advisable to pursue a weak enemy because it is agile in movement. This will only exhaust one's strength and make on vulnerable.
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During the Warring States period, The Qin army set out to attack the State of Zhao and they were stopped at Chang Ping. The Zhao general that was in-charge of defence was General Lian Po. General Lian Po saw that the Qin army was large so he ordered his troops to stay in defense position and avoid fighting the Qin army head-on. There was no fighting for four months. The Lord of Qin was getting impatient so he sought the advice of his advisors. Fan Sui suggested sowing discord between the Lord of Zhao and the General Lian Po. Lord of Zhao fell for the plot and ordered that General Zhao Kuo to take over General Liao Po who was believed to be a prodigy in war strategies then but lack experience severely.
When General Zhao Kuo took over, he took an offensive position instead. Now Qin General Bai Qi pretend to lose to General Zhao Kuo on the first few battles. This made Zhao Kuo very haughty so much so he sent a letter to the Qin army and proposed a final battle where winner takes all. This fitted the plan of General Bai Qi very well and Bai Qi ordered several troops to surround the Zhao's camp. The next day, Zhao Kuo rode out of the camp with his main troops. Being arrogant, Zhao Kuo did not detect that the Qin army was luring them deeper into Qin's territory, away from their camp. When they reach the Qin camp, the Qin army 'hide' inside their camp and refused to come out and engaged the Zhao's army. The stalemate went on for a few days, then news traveled to Zhao Kuo, that the Zhao's camp has been taken over by the Qin troops and their supply route has been cut off. With the Zhao's supply route cut off, the Qin army had the Zhao's army surrounded for forty six days. During this time, the Zhao army had to kill each other for food and Zhao Kuo made unsuccessful attempts to break through the tight barricade. In the end, Zhao Kuo died during the last attempt and with the general dead, the 400,000 troops surrendered to Qin army. But alas, the Zhao army was too large an army for Qin to take it as its own, so all of them were buried alive. The State of Zhao never recovered from this bitter defeat.
战国后期，秦国攻打赵国。秦军在长平（今山西高平北）受阻。长平守将是赵国名将廉颇，他见秦军势力强大，不能硬拼，便命令部队坚壁固守，不与秦军交战。两军相持四个多月，秦军仍拿不下长平。秦王采纳了范睢的建议，用离间法让赵王怀疑廉颇，赵王中计，调回廉颇，派赵括为将到长平与秦军作战。赵括到长平后，完全改变了廉颇坚守不战的策略，主张与秦军对面决战。秦将白起故意让赵括尝到一点甜头，使赵括的军队取得了几次小胜。赵括果然得意忘形，派人到秦营下战书。这下正中白起的下怀。他分兵几路，指挥形成对赵括军的包围圈。第二天，赵括亲率四十万大军，来与秦兵决战。秦军与赵军几次交战，都打输了。赵括志得意满，哪里知道敌人用的是诱敌之计。他率领大军追赶被打败了的秦军，一直追到秦壁。秦军坚守不出，赵括一连数日也攻克不了，只得退兵。这时突然得到消息：自己的后营已被秦军攻占，粮道也被秦军截断。秦军已把赵军全部包围起未。一连四十六天，赵军绝粮，士兵杀人相食，赵括只得拼命突围。白起已严密部署，多次击退企图突围的赵军，最后，赵括中箭身亡，赵军大乱。可惜四十万大军都被秦军杀戮。这个赵括，就是会“纸上谈兵”，在真正的战场上，一下子就中了敌军“关门捉贼”之计，损失四十万大军，使赵国从此一蹶不振。