Battle of Guiling

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Battle of Guiling
Part of Warring States period
Date 354 - 353 BC Location Handan, Daliang, and Guiling (Modern-day Handan, Kaifeng and Changyuan of Henan) Result Qi victory
Belligerents
State of Qi, State of Zhao	State of Wei
Commanders
Tian Ji and Sun Bin	Pang Juan
Strength
80,000	80,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

The Battle of Guìlíng (桂陵之戰) was fought between the states of Qí and Wèi in the Warring States period of Chinese history. In 354 BC, an army from Wèi was laying siege to Handan city, the capital of State of Zhao. The next year, Zhao turned to Qi for help. Tian Ji and Sun Bin, acting as co-commanders of Qi, led an army to save Zhao. Judging that the best Wei troops were besieging Handan, Sun Bin led his army directly to the Wei capital, Daliang. Wei general Pang Juan was forced to return his soldiers back to Daliang. They were ambushed and defeated at Guiling by Sun's army and Pang Juan was taken prisoner.

This battle gives rise to a well-known proverb, "Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao" (圍魏救趙), which is also included as one of the Thirty-Six Strategies.

[edit] Sources

• Records of the Grand Historian