Guiguzi: Unraveling the Mystery of the Legendary Strategist and his Disciples

Guigu Zi, or Master Guigu, was referred to in Shi Ji or the Records of the Grand Historian, but not much was recorded about him in the book. Guigu is not his real name. He is called Guigu Zi because the place where he lives is called Guigu, the ghost valley in the region of Yinchuan during the spring and autumn period, All of the states were on edge and on alert because they might have to attack or counterattack their enemies at any moment. Du Guangting, a Taoist writer in the Tang period, alleges in Lu Yi Ji that Guigu Zi's real name was Wang Xu and he had lived as an immortal since the times of the Yellow Emperor. The book Guigu Zi, or The Sage of Ghost Valley, is a connection of ancient Chinese texts, compiled between the late Warring State period and the end of the Han Dynasty and is named for its author, Master Guigu. Guigu Zi is specialized in four fields, divination, art of war, art of persuasion, and Taoist way of self-cultivation. He is said to have taught around 500 students between 378 and 322 BC. To this day, there are still fortune tellers who claim that their skills are passed down by Guigu Zi. The well-known military strategists Pang Juan and Sun Bin learned the art of war from him. Sun Bin is a descendant of Sun Wu or Sun Zi, author of The Art of War. Sun Bin wrote his own Art of War and lived his life battling Pang Juan who removed his kneecaps and tattooed his face. I will tell the story of Pang Juan and Sun Bin later. Guigu Zi is also recognized as the first teacher specially associated with the art of persuasion. Su Qin and Zhang Yi are the most famous traveling persuaders and coalition advisors he has ever taught. Guigu Zi took shelter in the Ghost Valley just to find a few smart disciples who were willing to learn the way to achieve the Tao. Among all his students, Su Qin and Zhang Yi were the smartest in his heart. He wanted to make them immortal but the two were more interested in seeking fame in the human world. Guigu Zi was disheartened. A few days after Su Qin and Zhang Yi left him, he gave up the idea of teaching and left the Ghost Valley. Su Qin and Zhang Yi earned high repute for their rhetorical practices of Zong Heng, vertical and horizontal war strategies. Su Qin and his counterparts practiced Zong to advocate He Zong, or vertical alliance, while the Heng school represented by Zhang Yi advocated Lian Heng, or horizontal alliance. He Zong is effective for uniting the weak states to fight the strongest state while Lian Heng is effective for the strongest state to defeat the weakest states. When Pang Juan heard that King Hui of Wei was recruiting talents, he left the Ghost Valley and went to the state of Wei. He impressed King Hui with his proposals to strengthen the Wei state and to conquer the other six countries of the time. King Hui appointed him as a general in charge of the Wei army. Later, he led the Wei army to victories in battles against the smaller states such as Song, Lu and Zheng and became a highly respected figure in Wei. When Pang Juan went to Wei, Sun Bin stayed in the valley and waited for Pang Juan to recommend him to King Hui as he promised. During this time, Gui Guzi gave Sun Bin The Art of War written by Sun Wu and told him that whoever mastered The Art of War would not find a rival in the world. If a good person acquires it, he can benefit the world. On the contrary, if a wicked person acquires it, he will harm the world. Before Sun Bin left the Ghost Valley for Wei, Gui Guzi changed his name from Bin to Bin, which means to gout out the kneecap. Obviously, Gui Guzi already knew that Sun Bin would suffer such a punishment, but he couldn't tell him. Gui Guzi also told him that he would run into some difficulties at the beginning but he would eventually become famous in history and his chance to gain fame in the future was in the state of Qi, his hometown. He also gave Sun Bin a kit and told him not to open it until a critical moment occurred. It seems that everything is preordained. Pang Juan did not invite Sun Bin to join him because he knew Sun Bin was more capable and he was secretly jealous of Sun Bin. When Sun Bin was recommended by Mozi, a sage of the time, and eventually went to Wei, Pang Juan framed him for treason and reported him to King Hui of Wei who ordered Sun Bin to be executed. Pang pretended to plead for mercy on Sun's behalf and suggested to cut off his kneecaps and tattoo his face so that he would never be used by other countries for life. After the punishment, Pang Juan pretended to take pity on Sun Bin and took of him and tricked him into writing out The Art of War by Sun Zi. Pang Juan planned to kill Sun Bin as soon as he finished writing. Unexpectedly, the servant of Sun Bin who had sympathy on him got to know the truth and told him. At this critical moment, Sun Bin suddenly remembered the kit Gui Guzi gave him and opened it. It had three characters in it, asking him to pretend to be crazy. Sun Bin then feigned madness. Pang Juan attempted to test whether he had really become insane by locking him up in a pigsty. Sun appeared to enjoy himself there and even consumed pig feces, calling them delicious. Pang believed that Sun Bin was truly mad and lowered his guard. Sun Bin later escaped with the help of diplomats from the Qi State and escaped to Qi, where he lived in the home of General Tian Ji. Tian Ji often bet on horses with the King Wei of Qi, but unfortunately, his horses were not outstanding, so in all previous horse races, he always lost more than he won. After watching a few games, Sun Bin said to Tian Ji, I have a way for you to win. You can play with a big bet. In the first match, Tian Ji lost terribly, losing a thousand pieces of gold. However, Tian Ji won both the second and third rounds. The king was very surprised as his horses had always been better. Tian Ji said he had a guest named Sun Bin who gave him a good idea, using the worst horse of his to compete with the king's best horse, using the best horse to compete with the king's second best horse, and using the second best horse to compete the king's worst horse. King Wei was impressed and realized that Sun Bin was really a talent, so he wanted to offer Sun Bin a high position in Qi, but Sun Bin declined as he had been disabled and tattooed on the face. He only agreed to be an advisor. When the state of Wei attacked the state of Zhao later, the Zhao turned to the neighboring state of Qi for aid. Sun Bin advised King Wei to launch a military feint against the Wei capital instead of rushing to attack the besiegers head-on. The Wei army was forced to rush back reinforcements, indirectly relieving the siege of Zhao. This is where the famous idiom besieging Wei to rescue Zhao comes from. The Battle of Ma Lin took place in Ma Lin, currently Yishen County, Helan Province, in 342 BC. This battle is well recorded in history texts and is famous for the tactics of Sun Bin, known as the tactic of missing stoves. Sun Bin ordered soldiers to make fewer stoves every day. On the first day, there were enough stoves for 100,000 people. On the second day, there were only enough stoves for 50,000 people. On the third day, there were only stoves for 20,000 people left. Seeing this, Pang Juan, commander of Wei, judged that the Qi soldiers were running away from the army and decided to lead the elite cavalry to pursue the Qi army. Eventually, Pang Juan was lured to a narrow path at night, while his army was ambushed by 10,000 archers from Qi. Pang Juan committed suicide. After this battle, Sun Bin handed all 13 chapters of the Art of War by Sun Zi to King Xuan of Qi as the old king Wei passed away. He did not accept the reward from the king either. He went into seclusion. Sun Bin's Art of War is a military treatise authored by Sun Bin. The book was believed to be lost after the Han dynasty and although there were numerous references to it in post-contemporary texts, some historians still believed that the book was never written and could be a forgery. However, in April 1972, archaeologists excavated several fragments of scrolls from two tombs in Lingyi, Shandong province. Sun Bin's Art of War was found among the scrolls. The current edition of Sun Bin's Art of War contains 16 chapters with a total of 4,891 words. Sarah's History of China. See you soon.