✉️ Story 12 : Taishi Ci's Breakthrough

✉️ Story 12 : Taishi Ci's Breakthrough

During the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out. General Taishi Ci was returning from Liaodong to visit his mother. However, the governor of Beihai, Kong Rong, was surrounded by Yellow Turban rebels led by Guan Hai, and Taishi Ci was unable to escape. Taishi Ci thought: "There are too many Yellow Turban rebels outside the city; if I force my way out, I won't succeed." So he devised a plan: he found a few soldiers to carry an archery target. They followed him, and he swaggered to the city gate and walked out.

The Yellow Turban rebels, thinking he was trying to break out, prepared to intercept and kill him. But Taishi Ci simply went to the trenches outside the city, stayed by the moat, and practiced archery. After practicing, he went back into the city to rest. He did the same thing the next day, and some Yellow Turban soldiers stopped paying attention to him. Taishi Ci did this every day afterward. After some time, the Yellow Turban soldiers all assumed Taishi Ci was just a fellow archer practicing. Then one day, Taishi Ci went outside the city to practice archery. Finding no Yellow Turban soldiers paying him any attention, he suddenly mounted his horse and galloped out of the city.

The key to Taishi Ci's success was: "What is commonplace is not suspected." What is frequently seen will not be doubted. By using this public deception to lull others into a false sense of security, the Yellow Turban soldiers became careless.

1. How would an amateur siege force typically besiege a city?

2. When facing a besieged defender, what timing is crucial when requesting reinforcements?

3. How can the feasibility of various proposals be verified? (Reference: Taishi Ci's proposal and Kong Rong's response)

4. How can the timing of implementing various proposals be verified? (Reference: Taishi Ci's proposal and Kong Rong's response)

5. What is the key to making the enemy complacent? (Reference: Taishi Ci's strategy against the Yellow Turban Army)

1. How would an amateur siege force typically besiege a city?

They simply ordered all their men to besiege the city. There was no formation, no organization of the troops. They didn't assign specific units of ten men, one hundred men in shifts, or one thousand men to each section of the wall; they didn't observe wind direction, monitor the interior and exterior, or prepare for defense.

As expected, this was an amateur siege force, lacking in: the ability to simultaneously manage supplies and scouts; information gathering; decision-making; communication with local residents; implementation of rules, lifestyle, and values; hygiene; camp management (including responsibility for living areas); logistics; procurement of supplies; personnel systems; management hierarchy; tiered responsibility; currency system; reward system; reward and punishment system; weapon preparation; engineering equipment preparation; siege weapon preparation; intelligence gathering; intelligence stations; intelligence warfare…

2. When facing a besieged defender, what timing is crucial when requesting reinforcements?

If the initial siege is not tight, request reinforcements immediately. As the siege tightens, select highly skilled generals. Divide the forces into two or three units. One unit feigns an attack to distract the enemy. Another unit breaks out from the weakest point in the defenses. Alternatively, use the first decoy unit to lure the enemy forces away, concentrating them in a specific area before launching an attack. For example: Prepare three troops first. The first is for probing, the second for seizing the opportunity.

3. How to verify the feasibility of various proposals? Reference: Taishi Ci's proposal, Kong Rong's response

Don't abandon a breakout or all-out attack based on fear. First, test the strength and weakness of the enemy's forces in various locations. Send out armed troops for a quick test. If it proves useful, then seize the opportunity to attack or break out, instead of just listening to others' opinions and thinking it won't work.

4. How to verify the timing of implementing various proposals? Reference: Taishi Ci's proposal, Kong Rong's response

Send out small units to try it.

Don't avoid trying because of fear.

5. What is the key to making the enemy complacent? Reference: Taishi Ci's approach to the Yellow Turban Army

Do the same thing repeatedly every day, causing the enemy to misjudge your true intentions and the timing of your attack.