《史记田单列传》英文版

《史记田单列传》英文版

Tian Dan

Tian Dan belonged to a distant branch of the royal house of Tian in the state of Qi. During the reign of King Min, he was a minor official in Linzi.

When Yue Yi,a general of the state of Yan, defeated the army of Qi, King Min fled from his capital to the city of Ju, while the soldiers of Yan advanced unopposed to conquer Qi. Then Tian Dan fled to Anping and ordered his clansmen to saw off the projecting ends of their chariot-axles and fit iron guards round the stumps. When the troops of Yan took Anping by storm, the men of Qi fled and, in the melee on the road, the other chariots' axles ends broke and their occupants were captured. Tian Dan and his kinsmen were theonly ones to escape, thanks to their reinforced axles, and they went east to defend Jimo. Alone of all the cities of Qi, Ju and Jimo were holding out against Yan.

As the men of Yan knew that King Min was in Ju, they attacked the city in strength. Nao Chi assassinated the king and defended Ju stubbornly, holding out against the besiegers for several years. Yan's troops then marched east to lay siege to Jimo. Its governor going out to give battle was defeated and killed.

The defenders at once chose Tian Dan to lead them, saying,\"In the battle of Anping, Tian Dan's kinsmenescaped because of the iron guards fitted to their axles. He understands warfare.\"They made him their commander to defend Jimo.

Soon after this, King Zhao of Yan died. His successor King Hui had an aversion to Yue Yi, and when Tian Dan knew this he sowed further dissension between them by declaring,\"Qi's king is dead and only two of its cities remain to be taken. But Yue Yi dares not return for fear of punishment. Under the pretext of subjugating Qi, he is hoping to combine his forces with those of Qi and make himself king here. He is delaying his attack so that the men of Qi may come over to his side. The one thing we fear is that another general might be appointed, for then Jimo must be destroyed.

The king of Yan believed this and made Qi Jie take over Yue Yi's command, and Yue Yi went back to Zhao, to the great indignation of the soldiers of Yan.

Then Tian Dan ordered the citizens of Jimo to sacrifice to their ancestors in the courtyard before each meal, sothat birds flocked down to the city to find food, to the astonishment of the besiegers.

\"I have been granted a divine revelation,\"announced Tian Dan. Then he told the citizens,\"A man with supernatural powers will be our teacher.\"

\"Can I be that teacher?\"cried a soldier, and was running off when Tian Dan stood up and led him to a seat facing east, treating him as a teacher.

\"I was fooling, sir,\"said the soldier.\"I have no special powers.\"

\"Hush!\"whispered Tian Dan. He treated the man as a teacher with divine

powers, and attributed all the orders he gave to his divine teacher. He also declared,

\"My one fear is lest the soldiers of Yan cut off their captives' noses and place these men in the front ranks against us. For then Jimo is doomed.\"

The men of Yan, hearing this, acted upon it. And when the defenders saw this mutilation of all who had surrendered, they were so angry that they resisted manfully, determined not to be captured.

To add fuel to the fire Tian Dan also said,\"Heaven help us if the invaders dig up the graves outside the city and defile our ancestors!\"

When the men of Yan dug up the graves and burned all the corpses, the defenders watching from the city wall wept with redoubled rage, longing to go out and fight.

Now that he knew that his men were ready for battle, Tian Dan himself set to work with them to repair the defenses, enrolling his wife and concubine in the ranks and sharing all his food and wine with the soldiers.

He ordered the men in armor to keep out of sight while the old, the weak and the women mounted the city walls and an envoy was sent out to treat for surrender. At this a great cheer went up in the enemy ranks. Tian Dan collected a thousand yi of gold from the people and made some wealthy citizens present this sum to the enemy general, saying,\"The city is about to surrender. We entreat you to spare our

wives, concubines and kinsmen, and let us live in peace!\"The Yan general very gladly agreed to this. And the invaders further relaxed their vigilance.

Then Tian Dan assembled more than one thousand bulls, swathed them in red silk, painted them different colors so that they looked like dragons, tied daggers to their horns and tied straw soaked in oil to their tails.

At night the straw was set alight and the bulls were let out through dozens of breaches in the city wall.

They were followed by five thousand stout fellows. Goaded into fury by their burning tails, the bulls charged the army of Yan, taking the invaders completely by surprise.

The flaming torches on their tails cast a lurid light, and to the men of Yan the bulls seemed like so many dragons sowing death and destruction. After them rushed the five thousand, their mouths gagged, followedby the inhabitants, shouting and drumming. The old and infirm beat so loudly on copper vessels that the tumult shook heaven and earth. Yan's forces fell back in terror. And when their general QiJie was killed, the enemy fled in confusion, pursued by the host of Qi. Every town and city they passed threw off Yan's yoke and flocked to Tian Dan's support.

Tian Dan's ranks swelled after each fresh victory, as Yan's grew daily weaker. When at last the enemy was thrown back to the river, all Qi's cities-seventy and

more-had been revovered. Then Tian Dan invited King Xiang back from the city of Ju to govern in Linzi, and the king enfeoffed him Lord of Anping.

The Grand Historian comments: In war, regular tactics are used to fight a battle and surprise tactics to win it. Skilled commanders show endless resourcefulness in devising an infinite variety of tactics, moving endlessly between regular and surprise ones. First passive as a young girl in face of the enemy, then swift as an escaped hare that cannot be overtaken-these were Tian Dan's surprise tactics.

Previously, when Nao Chi assassinated King Min, the citizens of Ju sought out the king's son Fazhang.

whom they found working as a gardener for Taishi Jiao.

The daughter of the family had taken pity on him and treated him well. He told her who he was, and theybecame lovers. After the citizens made him king of Qi to hold Ju against Yan, the girl became his queen with the title of Chief Lady.

When the forces of Yan first entered Qi, they heard that Wang Chu of Houyi was a virtuous man. An order was issued forbidding troops to go within thirty li of where he lived, and messengers were sent to him, saying.\"The men of Qi speak so highly of your virtue that we will make you a general with a fief of ten thousand households.\"When Wang Chu declined this offer, the envoys said,\"If you do not agree, we shall bring troops to wipe out this district.\"