The Plum Tree Sacrifices for the Peach Tree …
The recent round of demonstrations in Hong Kong brings into focus the Tiananmen Square incident in May 1989.
The demonstrators there realised there was great personal danger in opposing themselves to the will of the Communist Party hardliners.
Like the plum tree they were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, the cause of democratic reform in China.
The burning question now is; are the demonstrators in Hong Kong willing to sacrifice themselves for the same cause?
During the Han dynasty during the Waring States Period (476 – 221 B.C.) the forces of Chi, under the command of General Tian and Sun Bin were marching towards Wei’s capitol while the Wei army was fighting elsewhere.
The Wei commander on hearing of this ordered his army to quickly return and defend their capitol.
Sun Bin’s spies reported they were hastening to return to Wei in three groups of unequal strength.
General Tian suggested that they could use the strategy of the three horses (see page: ‘The Art of War’) against Wei’s three armies however Sun Bin advised him not to, saying the objective here was not to have two wins, but rather to destroy the greatest number of enemy troops.
Sun Bin then divided Chi’s troops into three units, using his weakest force to fight the enemy’s strongest, the middle force was sent to fight Wei’s middle force, and the strongest to fight the weakest group.
The first two groups needed to pick the ground carefully to be able to prolong the battle.
Chi’s strong group quickly destroyed the enemy’s weak force and then joined the middle force to create a force strong enough to overwhelm Wei’s middle force.
The two groups then made haste to assist Chi’s weakest group which has been suffering fearful losses in holding off the strongest of Wei’s army.
Together they crushed the last of Wei’s forces and achieved a complete victory.
Victory was dependent on two things: the soldiers of the weakest force being willing to fight valiantly in an unequal contest, enabling the other forces to achieve quick and easy victories and Sun Bin’s ingenious ability to identify the primary objective of the encounter.
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