Sun Bin

Life

Early life and service in Wei

Sun Bin was allegedly a descendant of Sun Tzu. Sun Bin excelled while studying military strategy under the hermit Guiguzi; he could recite The Art of War and identified by Guiguzi as a role model for other students. Pang Juan, a fellow student, became Sun's blood brother. Pang left to be a Wei general, and built a reputation through a few victories. Sun continued his studies before accepting a Wei recruitment offer to join Pang. Pang considered Sun to be more talented and knowledgeable, and became jealous.

King Hui of Wei sentenced Sun to death after Sun was framed for treason by Pang. Pang convinced King Hui to commute the sentence; Sun was branded and crippled by having his kneecaps removed. Pang attempted to entice Sun to compile a book on military strategy with good treatment, with the intent of killing Sun afterwards. Eventually, Sun discovered Pang's intentions and feigned insanity. As a test, Pang locked Sun in a sty where the latter ate animal faeces, calling them delicious. When Pang lowered his guard, Sun escaped with the help of Qi diplomats.

Service in Qi

Sun became a retainer (guest) to General Tian Ji in Qi. Sun came to the attention of King Wei of Qi during a racing competition. Sun noticed that while Tian Ji had good horses, he regularly lost the races against the King. Since the races were best-of-three, Sun advised Tian Ji to match his worst horse against the King's best, his best horse against the King's second-best, and his second-best against the King's worst horse. Sun's advice allowed Tian to win two of the three rounds. Sun entered King Wei's service on Tian's recommendation. King Wei appointed Sun as chief military advisor and Tian's deputy. Sun declined appointment as a commander since he could not ride a horse, due to his handicap, which would harm troop morale.

In 354 BC, a Wei army under Pang attacked Zhao and besieged the Zhao capital city of Handan. Zhao requested help from Qi, which dispatched an army led by Tian and Sun. The Qi army attacked the Wei capital city of Daliang (present-day Kaifeng) according to Sun's strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao". The Wei army withdrew from Handan to defend Daliang, and was ambushed and defeated by the Qi the Battle of Guiling.

In 342 BC, a Wei army led by Pang attacked Han, a Qi ally. Again, a Qi army deployed against the Wei led by Tian and using Sun's strategy. The Qi army feigned defeat in a series of skirmishes, while reducing the number of cooking stoves it used. The pursuing Wei overestimated Qi casualties based on the shrinking number of marks left by the stoves. At the Battle of Maling, the Qi ambushed and defeated the Wei in a narrow valley. The crown prince of Wei was captured, and Pang was killed. According to folklore, Sun carved "Pang Juan dies under this tree" on a tree in the ambush area. When Pang arrived, he lit a torch to examine the carving and was fired upon by the Qi using the light as a target; Pang was hit by multiple arrows and then committed suicide.

Sun retired due to politics in the royal court. He lived as a hermit in the later part of his life.