Battle of Maling The Battle of Maling ( 馬陵之戰 ) took place in Maling , currently Dazhangjia Town ( 大張家鎮 ) , Shen County ( 莘县 ) , Henan Province , in 342 BC during the Warring States period ( 476 - 221 BC ) . The combatants were the State of Qi , who fought on behalf of the State of Han , and the State of Wei . This battle is well recorded in history texts and is famous for the tactics of Sun Bin , known as the " Tactic of Missing Stoves " , in which one side is led to underestimate the other by creating an illusion of soldiers running away from the army . Pang Juan , commander of Wei , was lured to a narrow pass at night , where his army was ambushed by 10 , 000 archers from Qi . According to some sources , Pang Juan committed suicide whilst others say he was killed by Qi archers . Wei was defeated and its power decreased significantly thereafter , making the state unable to compete for Kingship of the Zhou Dynasty . In 342 BC , the state of Wei attacked the state of Han , and Han turned to its ally Qi for help . Sun Bin advised King Wei of Qi to provide military aid for Han , but only send out troops when the army of Wei has been depleted after prolonged fighting in order to preserve their own strength whilst garnering respect from Han . Han was misled to believe that they could rely on the army of their ally , Qi and thus fought without reserve . After a year of resistance , Han was no longer able to resist and asked for help from Qi a second time . Instead of sending troops to save Han directly , Sun Bin suggested they should aim for the capital of Wei , Daliang . When King Hui of Wei learned of the attack , he had to order Wei General Pang Juan , to retreat in order to defend against the oncoming army of Qi . Pang Juan was incensed at the news , because he was only days away from taking the capital of Han . King Hui of Wei appointed Prince Shen of Wei as Chief commander and Pang Juan as commander , and ordered an army of 100 , 000 to mobilize against Qi . Learning from the Battle of Guiling , Pang Juan ordered his troops to go around the Qi troops , to avoid getting ambushed in the main path . Pang Juan also ordered his troops to make haste to the capital , before Qi could set up any effective ambushes . Instead of rushing and trying to ambush the high morale Wei troops , Sun Bin decided to let a great majority of his troops rest . These Qi troops were ordered to move slowly back into Qi and prepare equipment for an ambush when needed . Sun Bin took a smaller force to face Pang Juan . Once the two forces drew close to each other , Sun Bin immediately ordered a retreat from Jin . In order to mislead his enemy , Sun Bin ordered his soldiers to make less stoves ( cookfires ) day by day . On the first day , Qi had enough stoves for 100 , 000 people ; on the second day , there were stoves for only 50 , 000 people . On the third day , there were only stoves for an army of 20 , 000 . As Pang Juan saw this , he judged that the soldiers of Qi were deserting their army and decided to pursue the Qi army with a small elite cavalry . This unit was overconfident following their recent victory in Han . As Qi retreated into their own territory , Sun Bin ordered his troops to abandon some of their heavy artillery . This further gave the impression of a state of confusion amongst the Qi army . As Qi arrived at Maling , Sun Bin noticed a heavily wooded and narrow pass that could be used for ambush . Estimating the arrival of Pang Juan around nightfall , he ordered his men to cut down a tree , remove its bark , and carve the words " Pang Juan shall die in Malingdao , under this tree " on its trunk . This was a proverb spoken by the teacher of both Sun Bin and Pang Juan ( both had been in the same class ) . Pang Juan had moved to Malingdao , and when he saw the warning message , he paid no attention , instead ordering the words to be scraped off . The army advanced when suddenly , a flush of Qi troops surrounded the Wei . In the darkness , Qi archers managed to shoot down many of the Wei soldiers , before the rest of soldiers charged in . The Wei troops did not expect Qi to still have so many troops under their command and were quickly overrun . Pang Juan , sensing his end was near , committed suicide . In some versions , Pang Juan was among the first of his troops to be shot to death . Even though Pang Juan had tricked Sun Bin and maimed him by removing his knee caps , Sun Bin felt very sad to see his former classmate dead . He had hoped they would make their relationship better after the battle . After the death of Pang Juan , Prince Shen was captured by Qi . The power of the state of Wei decreased considerably after this battle . Sources . " Records of the Grand Historian " Sima Qian