The General Who Rebuilt Qi from Ruins
When Yan captured Qi and reduced it to two cities, one man saved the kingdom — using fire, faith, and a clever trick with fish to rally his people.
Tian Dan was an unknown Qi official when Yan captured almost the entire kingdom. Only two cities remained. Tian Dan was in one of them. He began one of the most remarkable defensive campaigns in Chinese history. He sent gold to the Yan general with gifts — making him suspicious of his own soldiers. He burned his own city's buildings and buried his own relatives to make his soldiers angry. He sent oxen painted with patterns into the enemy lines with torches tied to their tails — the panicked oxen charged the Yan camp in terror. The night attack broke the siege. Tian Dan rallied all the remaining Qi soldiers and counter-attacked. City after city fell back to Qi. Tian Dan saved the kingdom from extinction. King Xiang of Qi made him Lord of Anling.