The Story of Sun Bin and Pang Juan

Pang Juan and Sun Bin were classmates and studied the art of war together. Pang Juan later served in the state of Wei as a general of King Hui of Wei, but he thought that his talent was not as good as Sun Bin's, so he secretly sent someone to invite Sun Bin to the state of Wei to keep an eye on him.

After Sun Bin arrived in Wei, Pang Juan was jealous of his talent, so he fabricated a crime and sentenced Sun Bin to "Bin" punishment and tattooing, and chopped off both of Sun Bin's feet, wanting to bury him in the world and not be known. When Qi's envoys traveled to Daliang, the capital of Wei (present day Kaifeng City, Henan Province), Sun Bin secretly visited Qi's envoys as a torturer and impressed him with his words.

The Qi emissary thought Sun Bin was extraordinary and secretly carted him back to Qi. Sun Bin who fled to Qi was appreciated by Tian Ji, so he stayed under Tian Ji as a disciple.

The story of Sun Bin and Pang Juan is recorded in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian - Volume 65 - Biography of Sun Zi Wu Qi".

The story that Sun Bin and Pang Juan's master was Gigu Zi comes from Feng Menglong, a novelist of the late Ming Dynasty.

Expanded information:

Sun Bin's Military Thought

Sun Bin's military thought is mainly centered on Sun Bin's Art of War. In terms of the view of war, Sun Bin advocates attaching importance to and treating war with caution. He emphasized that war is an important means of solving problems in the political life of a country, and that only with strong force as a guarantee can a country be stable, rich and strong. However, he was against militarism, pointing out that a victory in battle can save a country on the verge of extinction, but a defeat will also lose the land and jeopardize the country's grain, and a single-minded war is bound to perish and bring shame to oneself, so war must be treated with caution, and must not be used or abused.

Sun Bin advocated actively preparing for war to win so as to suppress war by war. He pointed out that political and economic conditions are the basis for deciding whether to win or lose the war, "strong army" must be "rich country" first, only with strong political and economic backing can we do "prepare and then move". "He also pointed out that the heart of the people and the heart of the army is the foundation of the military. He also pointed out that the people's hearts and minds of the military is the decisive factor in achieving victory in the war, so the war must be responsive to the people's hearts and minds of the military, to do "get the crowd", "get the crowd".

Baidu Encyclopedia - Pang Juan

Baidu Encyclopedia - Sun Bin