General Fei fought with Sun Bin only twice without authorization, once in Chenggao, Country of Han, where he fell for Sun Bin's “Empty City Trick”, and the second time was this time when he recaptured the capital. According to his calculation, this time should be foolproof, as long as he surrounded Zhong Li Chun, even if he lost Maling and Qi rebels, it was still a victory, but he was wrong again. He received Pang Juan's order when he was about to arrive at Cui Du, and he could no longer undo it, so he could only make up for his mistake by trying to recapture Cui Du before Pangcong's arrival.

  At dawn, General Fei's army rushed to Cui Du, the Qi army just left, the general under him asked him if he would chase after the Qi people, General Fei looked at the morning mist in front of him, he really didn't have the guts to fight with Sun Bin anymore, he decided to let the Qi people go.

  Wei's army soon arrived at Cui Du as well, General Fei asked Pang Juan for forgiveness, Pang Juan said to him with a gloomy face, “General Fei, do you know why I can't forgive you this time?”

  General Fei said guiltily, “Yes, I know, General Pei left Maling without authorization and spoiled Marshal's grand plan.”

  Pang Juan said, “No, you did not go after Zhong Li Chun.”

  General Fei hung his head and said, “I was afraid of falling for Sun Bin's tricks again ......”

  Pang Juan said in a deep voice: “It's not scary to lose to Sun Bin, what's scary is to be afraid of him from the heart, once this fear spreads throughout the army, we will never win in front of Sun Bin.”

  General Fei realized, but it was too late, he was executed on the spot by Pang Juan.

  Pangcong said to Pang Juan, “Uncle, we can't stop here, we should march into Maling and fight Sun Bin!”

  Pang Juan shook his head and said, “This is not the time for a duel here and now, the Qi army has been rested, and it would be very difficult to win if we fought within Qi territory.”

  “Then ...... when and where can we have a duel with Sun Bin?”

  “Transfer Sun Bin to leave Qi and have a duel with him within Wei.”

  “How does Uncle plan to transfer Sun Bin to leave Qi?”

  “Attack Country of Han.”

  The envoy of Wei, Zhao Dafu, came to Han capital to pay a visit to the King of Han with expensive gifts, he first greeted the King of Han on behalf of the King of Wei and expressed the friendship between the two countries, and then he offered to pick up the Crown Prince Shen of Wei to return to his country to visit the Queen of Wei, who was seriously ill. The King of Han was unwilling to let the Prince Shen return to his country, he knew that if the Prince Shen returned to his country, Wei would definitely invade Country of Han, but the love between mother and son is human nature, he did not want to offend Wei again, so he called on the court officials to discuss the solution. Dafu Zuo told the king of Han that he had a plan to keep Prince Shen in Country of Han without offending Wei.

  Dafu Zuo found some beautiful women and invited Prince Shen to drink and watch them dance. The beauties were dressed in short clothes, bare shoulders and legs, and danced with provocative gestures, but Crown Prince Shen was distracted.

  Dafu Zuo thought that Crown Prince Shen was not satisfied with these beauties. Crown Prince Shen shook his head and sighed, “Dafu Zuo, I am not going to hide it from you, my mother is seriously ill, so I can't go back to my country to visit my mother, but I am thousands of miles away from the drunkenness of the song, the world will say that I am unfaithful and unfilial.”

  Dafu Zuo comforted him, “Your Highness the Crown Prince came to Country of Han as a hostage, so that Wei and Han turned their enemies into friends, this is a great loyalty; the Crown Prince couldn't go back to visit his mother for the sake of the country, this is a great filial piety, how can you say that I am disloyal and unfilial?”

  Crown Prince Shen said emotionally, “A person can have many wives in his life, but only one mother, if this time the mother falls ill, how can my son be worthy of the mother's nurturing grace?” Prince Shen's eyes were a little moist, “Dafu Zuo, please help me put in some good words in front of King Han and let me go back, so as to fulfill my filial piety as a son, okay?”

  Seeing his condition, Dafu Zuo couldn't say anything else and promised to report to the King of Han.

  After Dafu Zuo left, Dafu Zhao, who had come from Da Liang, advised Prince Shen to accept the beauty, saying that Marshal Pang had his own plan. Prince Shen said that he could not pretend to smile and sing and feast with the beauty. Zhao said that he had to pretend even if he couldn't, not only for his own sake, but also for the sake of the state of Wei.

  Dafu Zuo found some more attractive Country of Han beauties with more provocative dances. Crown Prince Shen was so energized that he watched the beautiful women dance with great interest and left them in the guest house.

  In the evening, the song ended. The beauty who led the dance stayed behind. She knelt down on Prince Shen's sleeping couch, spread the quilt, and then took off her own outer garment and lay on her side on the sleeping couch. Prince Shen walked in, saw the beauty on the sleeping couch, and couldn't help but be on fire, glaring angrily at the beauty, “Get out of here!”

  The beauty lying on the sleeping couch didn't move, with a flattering face, she playfully said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, the body of a lowly concubine, there are a hundred benefits, after you enjoy it, you won't drive me away ......”

  “If you don't go out again, I will kill you.” Prince Shen drew out his sword, his face full of murderous aura.

  The beautiful woman's face suddenly changed, immediately put on her outer clothes and walked out.

  Zhao Dafu walked in and gave Prince Shen an “ouch”, “How did you drive such a beautiful beauty away.”

  “I couldn't stand it.” Crown Prince Shen frowned in disgust, “I can't stand such a dirty trick of the Country of Han!”

  Zhao Dafu advised, “You have to suffer even if you can't stand it, it's a trick to get rid of them.”

  Prince Shen became agitated and sternly questioned Dafu Zhao, “If you can't go home to visit your seriously ill mother, how do you feel? If you have any heart left, how could you force a smile on your face and keep the company of a beautiful woman? What's more, the person who sends the beautiful woman was originally ill intentioned ...... to trick you, thanks to you guys for thinking of it!”

  Zhao Dafu laughed, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, don't get excited ......”

  Crown Prince Shen said angrily, “Can I not be agitated? Before the public, you let me pretend to smile, drink wine and watch the dance can be, this man and woman coitus kiss, is not to be able to pretend out? I can't pretend!”

  Dafu Zhao turned around and walked to the door, closed the door and returned to Crown Prince Shen, and said in a low voice, “Your Highness, the Queen is not sick at all, I am trying to get you to leave Country of Han.”

  Crown Prince Shen was stunned and quickly realized, complaining, “You should have told me earlier, you shouldn't have made me so anxious.”

  Zhao Daifu laughed, “If the Crown Prince wasn't in a hurry, the Country of Han would have suspected that the Queen's illness was a fake, and Marshal's next plan wouldn't have been able to convince the Country of Han.”

  “I can pretend to be in a hurry ......”

  “The Crown Prince is honest and has never been good at pretending, the marshal is worried that you won't be able to fake it.” Zhao Daifu laughed, “I don't think the marshal's worry is unnecessary, I let the crown prince force a smile on a beautiful woman, and the crown prince pretended not to look like one.”

  “Who said unlikeable? Sleeping with a woman and not acting like one, is that still a man?” Crown Prince Shen instantly changed his look and clapped his hands. An attendant pushed the door in and said, “Crown Prince, what are your orders?”

  “Go, you immediately call that beautiful woman who just left and have her spend the night with me.”

  From then on, Prince Shen spent day and night in the company of a beautiful woman, and never mentioned his return to his country again. The envoy of the State of Wei pretended to be very angry and intended to leave Country of Han, and Dafu Zuo specially gave him a pile of very valuable jewels. Dafu Zuo said to him, “Dafu Zuo, isn't this gift too heavy?”

  Dafu Zuo laughed and said, “It depends on what you say. If Dafu Zuo returned to his country and did not mention that the King of Han did not release the Crown Prince, but only said that the Crown Prince was obsessed with a beautiful woman, then this gift, instead of being too heavy, would be too light.”

  Dafu Zhao gladly accepted the precious pearl, and Dafu Zuo thought that the great work was accomplished.

  As the days passed by, the Country of Han had already forgotten about Prince Shen's return to the country. On this day, Crown Prince Shen was having fun with his Country of Han beauties in the guest house, when Pangcong, who had traveled a long way, came in with a few guards.

  Pangcong said to Crown Prince Shen, “Your Highness the Crown Prince is indulging in beauty and refuses to return to visit the sick Queen, this is treasonous, the King is very angry and has ordered me to come and urge Your Highness the Crown Prince to return to the country, if Your Highness refuses to return to the country again, I will have to take the Crown Prince's head back.” He pulled out three bamboo slips and held them in front of Crown Prince Shen, “Your Highness, this is the Great King's brief order, please take a look.”

  When Pangcong came in, Dafu Zuo was also in the binghouse, and he didn't move to observe Pangcong and Crown Prince Shen.

  Prince Shen stretched out his trembling hand to take the brief order and read it, and said to Pangcong, “General Pang, you can't kill me .......”

  Pangcong snorted coldly and said, “I can not kill you, but you must return to the country with me.”

  Prince Shen turned around and said to Dafu Zuo standing behind him, “Dafu Zuo, help me, I don't want to die, beg the King of Han to let me go back.”

  Dafu Zuo still did not move, slowly said, “Your Highness, the crown prince, it is your own unwillingness to go .......”

  Prince Shen said anxiously, “Now I want to go ......” He knelt in front of Dafu Zuo, his voice in tears, “Help me, Dafu Zuo ...... I don't want to die, nor can I die ......”

  Dafu Zuo said, “Your Highness, it's not that I don't help, the opportunity has been missed, and now that you mention the matter of returning to the country, my king is afraid that he will not agree.”

  Pangcong snapped at Crown Prince Shen, “Your Highness, a great man dares to do the right thing, there is no need to grovel before the Country of Han.” He drew his sword, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, stand up and show them Country of Han that the people of Wei are all great men.”

  Crown Prince Shen did not stand up, he looked at Dafu Zuo with a begging gaze and said, “Dafu Zuo, you really refuse to help?”

  Dafu Zuo said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, there is really nothing I can do.”

  Prince Shen let out a long sigh, stood up, and said to Dafu Zuo hatefully, “Dafu Zuo, from the very beginning, you used beautiful women to confuse me, so that I would bear the name of being unfaithful and unfilial, and now that the king is going to execute me, you are doing nothing about it, you are purposely letting me die!”

  Dafu Zuo looked at him, not saying a word.

  Pangcong said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, don't blame others for confusing you, only blame yourself for forgetting filial piety.” He then said to Dafu Zuo, “Dafu Zuo, please take a few steps back, don't let the blood splatter on you.”

  Dafu Zuo took a few steps back, his eyes fixed on Pangcong.

  Pangcong slowly raised his sword and said to Crown Prince Shen, “Your Highness, I am rude.”

  The sword in Pangcong's hand was about to slash down when Dafu Zuo rushed forward and grabbed Pangcong's sword-wielding hand, saying, “General Pang, you can't kill him. I will definitely convince my king to let His Highness the Crown Prince go back.”

  Dafu Zuo reported Pangcong's intention to kill Prince Shen to the King of Han, who was at a loss as to what to do. Dafu Shen advised Han to ignore Pangcong, saying that Pangcong was only trying to scare them, and that Crown Prince Shen was the king of Wei's favorite son, and the king would not really kill Crown Prince Shen. Sima advised Han to ignore Pangcong on the surface and send his men to spy on him, so that if Pangcong really killed Prince Shen, he could be arrested on the spot on the charge of assassinating the Prince. The king of Han adopted Sima's suggestion.

  Two days later, Pangcong and his guards came to Binsha again, urging Prince Shen to return with him. Prince Shen said that Dafu Zuo had failed to convince the King of Han, and he asked Pangcong to wait a few more days.

  Pangcong drew his sword and threatened Prince Shen, saying, “I can wait, but the king won't allow me to, if you don't go, I'll have to kill you!”

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  The door of the Bin She House was violently pushed open and Country of Han soldiers swarmed in and surrounded Pangcong and his guards.

  Pangcong looked at the Country of Han soldiers and said, “There is no business for you Country of Han here, get out!”

  Dafu Zuo walked in at a slow pace and said, “General Pang, you are wrong, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is our Country of Han's hostage, we can't just ignore it if you want to kill a hostage.”

  Pangcong sneered, “Dafu Zuo, what I'm killing isn't a hostage, it's an unfaithful and unfilial rebel.”

  Dafu Zuo smiled slightly and said, “It's all the same ...... General Pang, in order to protect the hostages, I have to apologize to you ......” He ordered the surrounding Country of Han soldiers: “Arrest them.”

  The Country of Han soldiers were about to come forward when Pangcong suddenly grabbed Prince Shen, put his sword on his neck, and said to the Country of Han soldiers, “If you dare to grab me, I will kill him now.”

  The Country of Han soldiers could not help but stop.

  Crown Prince Shen looked at Pangcong in horror and pleaded with Dafu Zuo, “Dafu Zuo, save me .......”

  Dafu Zuo was calm and collected, saying, “Don't panic, Your Highness the Crown Prince, he doesn't dare to kill you.”

  Pangcong sneered, “With the Great King's order, there is nothing I dare not do!”

  He pressed the sword in his hand as hard as he could, and blood slowly flowed out of Crown Prince Shen's neck.

  Prince Shen screamed miserably, “Dafu Zuo, quickly tell him to stop, tell him to stop ......”

  Dafu Zuo pretended to be calm and said, “General Pang, if you kill Prince Shen, you won t be able to live ...... to let go of the Prince.”

  Pangcong coldly smiled and said, “If I let go of the crown prince, it is disobedience to the king's order, go back to die, rather than go back to be executed by the king, it is better to die here with a bang. If I die in your hands, I will not only be famous in the world, but also find an excuse for my uncle to attack Country of Han, and he will make your whole Country of Han to be a martyr for me!”

  Dafu Zuo was dumbfounded.

  Prince Shen begged again, “Dafu Zuo, you and I are friends, you can't let him kill me, you must save me ......”

  Dafu Zuo was silent for a moment and had to order the soldiers, “You guys go out.”

  The soldiers withdrew one after another.

  Dafu Zuo said to Pangcong, “Tell us your conditions.”

  Pangcong said, “I already said it last time, let me take him back.”

  “I need time to convince the Great King.”

  “You've already been given two days.”

  “Give me two more days.”

  Pangcong did not allow for negotiation and said, “One day.”

  Dafu Zuo looked at the sword in Pangcong's hand and said, “Fine, one day is one day.”

  Pangcong said, “Also, I will be staying with His Highness the Crown Prince. The guest house will be guarded by my guards, and no Country of Han soldiers will be allowed to enter the guest house again.”

  “You are not trusting us.”

  “Villain first, then gentleman.”

  “Fine, I promise.”

  Pangcong let go of the crown prince, who fell to the ground as if paralyzed.

  Dafu Zuo had botched the job, and the King of Han was so furious that he scolded him for being dumber than a pig. The King of Han summoned the important ministers of the court again to discuss how to deal with this matter.

  Dafu Zuo said, “Dafu Zuo shouldn't have been so smart as to use the beauty plan in the first place; if he had just rejected Wei's request, he wouldn't have gotten into the trouble he is in now.”

  The king of Han did not want to mention the beauty issue again, the beauty plan he had been very strong support, he said to Dr. Shen: “the past should not be mentioned again, you say what to do now?”

  Dafu Shen said, “I still have the same idea, ignore them.”

  Dafu Zuo said, “Ignoring them won't work, Pangcong has already done this to Prince Shen's neck, you haven't seen it, the blood flowed straight out, Prince Shen fainted on the spot.”

  “Isn't he not dead yet?”

  “He didn't die this time, next time Pangcong will definitely kill him.”

  “Pangcong won't, he's threatening us .......”

  King Han interrupted Dafu Shen and said, “What if Pangcong really kills Crown Prince Shen? I summoned you here so that you can think of a way to neither let Crown Prince Shen die nor let him go.”

  Dr. Shen said, “Your Majesty, if you ignore them, Crown Prince Shen will not die and cannot leave.”

  The king of Han asked, “What if he dies?”

  Dafu Shen said, “My humble servant will die with him.”

  King Han's face sank and he said, “You are talking nonsense, can you bring him back to life by dying?” He said to Dr. Sima, “Dr. Sima, what's your best idea?”

  Dafu Sima said, “Your Majesty can send troops to surround Binsha and force Pangcong to release him.”

  Dafu Zuo said, “Pangcong he is not afraid of death, it is useless to force him.”

  Sima Dafu smiled slightly and said, “My purpose is not really to make him release the people, so that if he really kills Prince Shen, he is bound to do it; if it's a fake, the truth will also be revealed.”

  King Han asked, “What if Pangcong really kills Prince Shen?”

  Sima Dafu looked at Dafu Zuo and Dafu Shen, and said to the King of Han, “I would like to tell the King alone.”

  Following Sima Dafu's plan, General Wu commanded the Country of Han soldiers to surround Prince Shen's bin house. Prince Shen could not help but feel a little alarmed and asked Pangcong, “General Pang, what should we do?”

  Pangcong was calm and composed and said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince need not panic, I have my own way.”

  General Wu barged in with over a dozen soldiers and said to Pangcong nonchalantly, “Please hand over Crown Prince Shen.”

  Pangcong smiled and said, “So the King of Han doesn't agree to let the Crown Prince go back with me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know that if he can't return, I will have to kill him.”

  “I know, Dafu Zuo told me everything.”

  Pangcong drew his sword.

  General Wu's soldiers also drew their swords.

  Pangcong's guards drew their swords almost simultaneously.

  General Wu said to his soldiers “: we are here to ask for people, not to fight, put away your swords.”

  General Wu's soldiers put away their swords.

  Pangcong said to his guards, “Put away your swords too, I don't want to see you fight either.”

  Pangcong's guards also put away their swords.

  General Wu said, “General Pang, it's time to put away your swords as well.”

  Pangcong smiled and said, “My sword is different from theirs, it is used to carry out my king's orders.” He said as he turned violently and stabbed at Prince Shen.

  The sword in Pangcong's hand stabbed Prince Shen's abdomen deeply, splattering blood. Crown Prince Shen cried out, tightly covering his abdomen, looking resentfully at Pangcong, sucking in a breath and saying, “General Pang, you ......”

  Pangcong pulled out his sword, wiped the blood off of it and said, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, don't blame me, it was Country of Han who forced me to kill you.”

  Crown Prince Shen raised his bloodstained hand to point at Pangcong tremblingly, “I ...... won't let ...... you go,” before he finished speaking, he fell headfirst to the ground.

  Pangcong put away his sword and said to General Wu, “General Wu, you may take His Royal Highness away.”

  General Wu, who was in a daze, came back to his senses and was about to step forward when Pangcong stopped in front of him again and said, “Wait.”

  Pangcong walked over to Crown Prince Shen, reached out and tried his hand in front of his nose, and turned back to General Wu, “General Wu, he's not dead yet, I can't give you ...... yet,” he said as he drew his sword again.

  At this time, someone outside the room said in a loud voice, “General Pang, stay under the sword.”

  Pangcong looked up as Dafu Sima and a Country of Han eunuch walked quickly into the house.

  Dr. Sima glared angrily at General Wu and the others, “Who told you to come?”

  General Wu replied, “Dafu Zuo.”

  “Dafu Zuo has no right to call on the army!”

  “He said it was the king's order ......”

  “He is falsely transmitting the king's order.” Sima Dafu drew out a brief order and said sternly, “The king's order is here, withdraw!”

  General Wu looked at the simple order in Sima Dafu's hand, said “Yes”, and turned to exit with his soldiers.

  Dr. Sima bowed to Pangcong and said with a smile, “General Pang, the King has agreed to allow His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to return to the country.” He turned back to the Imperial Dafu, “Imperial Dafu, hurry up and treat His Highness the Crown Prince's injuries.”

  Pangcong stopped the Imperial Dafu with his sword and said to Dr. Sima, “You can't fool me, the King of Han wouldn't have transformed so quickly.”

  Dafu Sima said, “General Pang, it's not that the king has transformed so quickly, it's ......” He looked at the people around him and said, “Save the Crown Prince first, I'll explain it to you later.”

  Pangcong hesitated.

  Sima Dafu said anxiously, “General Pang, I won't lie to you, if Crown Prince Shen dies, it won't do us Country of Han any good.”

  Pangcong retrieved his sword and said, “Fine, I'll believe you this time, if you lie to me again, I can kill him again.”

  The Imperial Dafu came to Crown Prince Shen, flipped open his eyelids and looked at them, and said to Dr. Sima, “Dr. Sima, it's not too late.”

  Dr. Sima sighed in relief, then pulled Pangcong aside and said quietly, “General Pang, I'm not going to lie, Dafu Zuo is a spy that Sun Bin has planted in Country of Han.”

  Pangcong froze and asked, “Is there any proof?”

  Dafu Zuo nodded, “Sun Bin bribed him when he was in Country of Han, then Sun Bin sent a spy from Qi to bring him a secret letter promising to recommend him as a prime minister in front of the King of Qi, Dafu Zuo had previously been spying on the position of Prime Minister in Country of Han, and my King never agreed to it, and he was so upset about it that he defected to Sun Bin.”

  “Defecting to Sun Bin has no good results.”

  “General Pang is right,” Sima Dafu Zuo nodded his head, ”Regarding Crown Prince Shen's return to Country of Han, Dafu Zuo has been making trouble out of it, he said that Queen Wei wasn't sick at all, and that Marshal Pang was using it as an excuse to ask for the hostage back, and then to invade Country of Han.”

  “He lied.” Pangcong said angrily.

  “General Pang rest his anger, I know he's lying ...... His purpose is to separate Han and Wei, so that we'll fight each other so that Sun Bin can reap the benefits.”

  “Then why did you all delay in discovering his plot?”

  “None of us expected that Dafu Zuo would sell out Country of Han for fame and fortune. Thanks to General Pang, we were able to see his true colors.”

  Pangcong was stunned and said, “I didn't do anything.”

  Sima Dafu Zuo said, “General Pang was ordered to kill Crown Prince Shen, the king felt that there must be something fishy going on, and asked me to secretly investigate, and finally found evidence that Dafu Zuo had defected to Sun Bin, Dafu Zuo saw that things were about to be exposed, and under the pretense of the king's order, he moved his army to force Crown Prince Shen to be killed. ...... Luckily, I was able to come at the right time, or else we would have a hard time defending against General Pang. will have a mouth to defend.”

  “Then what does King Han intend to do with Dafu Zuo?”

  “Execute Dafu Zuo, and send someone with Dafu Zuo's corpse to accompany the general to Wei to apologize to the king of Wei.”

  Although Pangcong felt amusement in his heart, his face was expressionless as he said, “If that's the case, I can trust you.”

  Dafu Zuo was executed by the King of Han, and Pangcong finally returned to the State of Wei with the injured Crown Prince Shen. Pangcong laughed at the South Koreans for being smart, and then mobilized his army to prepare for an attack on the Country of Han, and in order to paralyze the King of Han, he asked Pangcong to send someone back to the King of Han to tell him that the King of Wei was very angry about Sun Bin's bribe of traitors to separate the two countries of Han and Wei, and that he was determined to pour in the best of his army to crusade against the Qi State.

  When the King of Han heard the news that Wei was going to invade Qi, he thought that his plan was successful and Country of Han could rest on its laurels. The king thought that he had succeeded in his plan and that Korea would be able to rest on its laurels, but Dr. Sima laughed and said, “The king can not only rest on his laurels, but also watch the fire from the other side of the river and reap the benefits.”

  Note: The “The Stratagem of Self-Inflicted Injury” is the thirty-fourth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, which means that self-sacrifice, which seems to be “against common sense”, is used to deceive the enemy. Pang Juan used this stratagem to deceive the officials of Country of Han, so that Prince Shen could leave Country of Han. To find out what happened next, please read the next installment: “Watching the Fire from the Other Side of the Shore”.