Battle of Maling
| date | 342 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | Dazhangjia (大 張家 鎮), Shen (莘縣) District, Henan |
| output | Victory of qi |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 120,000 | 100,000 infantry and cavalry |
| losses | |
|
low |
100,000 dead |
The Battle of Maling ( 馬陵 之 戰 ) took place in Maling, today Dazhangjia (大 張家 鎮), Shen District (莘縣) in Henan Province , between the states of Wei and an alliance of the states of Qi and Han . The records of the battle are passed down in great detail. In particular, the lack of hobs tactics of General Sun Bin , a direct descendant of Sun Tzu , received a special recognition even from the then historians.
Pang Juan , commander in chief of Wei State, was ambushed by 10,000 Qi State archers in a narrow mountain pass. Due to the suicide of Pang Juan in the battle, the state of Wei lost its most experienced general and as a result of the military defeat could not claim the royal crown during the time of the Zhou dynasty (周朝).
Siege of Han by the Wei
In the year 342 BC Wei attacked Han state, whereupon Han asked Qi state for help. The Qi General Sun Bin advised his King Yinqi Han to provide military support. However, out of respect for Han, military aid was only to be granted until Weis’s troops were so decimated that a victory for Han seemed possible.
Wei, mistakenly believing that he had a loyal ally in Qi, attacked Han with his entire force, without stationing sufficient reserves in the hinterland. After a year of unsuccessful resistance against Wei's troops, Han Qi asked for help again. At this point, Sun Bin decided to intervene in the conflict and attack the capital of Wei, Daliang .
When the king of the Wei, Hui , heard of the ally's attack, he ordered his general Pang Juan to break off the siege of the capital Hans in order to forestall the forces of the qi. Pang Juan was angry about the Qi attack, as the Han capital was on the verge of surrender, but he returned to Daliang anyway. King Hui mobilized 100,000 men to defend the capital and appointed Shen as commander-in-chief and Pang Juan as commander of the newly formed troops.
In order not to commit the same mistake as in the Battle of Guiling , Pang Juan ordered his troops to avoid direct confrontation with the qi and to bypass it. At the same time, the withdrawal to Daling should be done as soon as possible to avoid possible ambushes . For his part, however, Sun Bin expected an ambush and relocated the majority of his troops to the capital Qi. With a small force he wanted to seek direct confrontation with his former classmate Pang Juang. When the two finally faced each other, Sun Bin withdrew to lure the enemy into an ambush.
Ambush and death of Pan Juan
In order to deceive Pang Juan about the true number of his troops, Sun Bin instructed his soldiers to light fewer campfires for the stoves each day. On the first day of the following retreat, Pan Juan had to assume 100,000, on the second 50,000 and on the third day 20,000 enemy soldiers. In the dark about the true strength of the troops Qi Pan Juan followed his opinion, contained in the resolution of desertion affected enemy army with its highly motivated elite cavalry. In order to further deceive the enemy, Sun Bin left parts of his heavy artillery behind after reaching his own territory . At a narrow, heavily forested mountain pass near the city of Malingdao, he finally set the decisive trap for Pang Juan. In order to evidently provoke his opponent, he had a tree felled, debarked and the words Pang Juan will die under this tree in Malingdao engraved.
When Pang Juan Malingdao reached the pass at nightfall, he saw the engraved words but did not attach great importance to them and had them removed. Shortly afterwards, he and his army were trapped by qi and defeated. In the battle that took place at night, the now outnumbered Wei army was first decimated by archers and finally overrun by Qi's foot troops. Pang Juan, who faced defeat, died of suicide . According to some accounts, Pang Juan was one of the first to be fatally struck by an enemy arrow. Sun Bin was deeply saddened by the death of his classmate as he had hoped that the relationship between the two would improve after the battle.
Result
After the defeat and death of Pang Juans, the rest of Weis' troops were wiped out and Prince Shen captured by the Qi. The influence and power of Wei lost much of its importance after this battle. Weis's claim to the royal crown at the time of the Zhou dynasty (周朝) was also lost.
