One Cry That Shakes the World

King Zhuang of Chu has spent three years in silence, feasting, doing nothing, letting his ministers despair. One minister dares to ask. The king answers: a bird that does not fly, flies high enough to touch the sky. The warrior who waits chooses the moment.

楚庄王沉寂三年——饮宴，无为，任大臣绝望。一位大臣敢于进谏。庄王答道：不飞则已，一飞冲天；不鸣则已，一鸣惊人。等待的勇士，是在选择时机。

Besiege Wei to Save Zhao

Sun Bin cannot face the enemy directly, so he attacks their home instead. The best generals do not fight the battle in front of them.

孙膑无法正面迎敌，于是攻击敌人的大本营。最高明的将领，不打眼前的仗。

Drawing Legs on a Snake

A soldier wins a jar of wine, then throws it away by adding legs to a finished snake. A warrior who cannot stop when the battle is won, loses.

士兵赢得一壶酒，却因给蛇添足而输掉一切。知止，是战士最难学的本领。

Tian Ji's Horse Race

Tian Ji races horses against the King of Qi and always loses. Sun Bin watches and asks to see both sets of horses. He tells Tian Ji: your horses are not weaker overall. They are just racing in the wrong order. Put your worst against the king's best. Lose that race. Then put your best against the king's middle, your middle against his worst. Tian Ji wins two of three. The same horses. The same track. A different arrangement of what was already there.

田忌与齐王赛马，屡战屡败。孙膑在旁观看，要求看过双方的马。他告诉田忌：你的马并非整体更弱，只是出场顺序不对。用你最差的马对王的最好的马，输掉那一局。再用你最好的对王的中等，你的中等对王的最差。田忌两胜一负。同样的马，同样的赛道，只是换了一种排列方式。

Playing the Yu Without Knowing How

Three hundred musicians play for the King of Qi, but one cannot play at all. When the new king demands solo performances, the fraud must flee. A warrior who bluffs in peacetime is exposed when the real battle comes.

三百乐师为齐宣王合奏，其中一人根本不会吹竽。新王要求独奏时，骗局败露，南郭先生落荒而逃。太平时欺骗，战时必然现形。

Know the Enemy, Know Yourself

King Wuling of Zhao has watched his infantry lose to nomad cavalry for years. He studies them: their horses, their dress, their weapons, how they move. Then he announces: Zhao's army will wear nomad clothes and fight on horseback. His ministers are appalled. This is undignified. This is un-Chinese. This is surrender to barbarians. The king asks one question: do you want to win, or do you want to look right? He overrules every one of them. Zhao becomes the dominant military power of its generation.

赵武灵王眼看步兵一次次败于北方游牧骑兵。他研究对方——马匹、服饰、武器、作战方式。然后他宣布：赵国军队将改穿胡服，改习骑射。大臣们大惊失色。此举有失体统，不合华夏礼仪，是向蛮夷低头。武灵王只问了他们一个问题：你们要赢，还是要体面？他驳回了所有人的反对。此后，赵国成为那一代最强大的军事强国。

Carrying Thorns to Beg Forgiveness

General Lian Po has mocked Lin Xiangru for too long. When he finally understands, he walks through the city bare-backed with thorns tied to his skin. The warrior who admits wrong is harder to defeat than the one who never does.

廉颇嘲笑蔺相如已久。当他终于明白真相时，袒背负荆，亲自登门请罪。能认错的勇士，比从不认错的更难被打败。

Strategising on Paper

Zhao Kuo knows every military text by heart, yet leads his army to catastrophe. The map is not the battlefield. Words are not wounds.

赵括熟读兵书，却在真实战场一败涂地。纸上得来终觉浅，绝知此事要躬行。

Three Men Make a Tiger

Pang Cong is about to leave the capital as a royal hostage. He asks the king a question: if one man said there was a tiger in the marketplace, would you believe him? No. Two men? The king hesitates. Three men? The king admits he would. Pang Cong says there is no tiger in the marketplace, and then he leaves. When he returns, the king has turned against him. The tiger was never there. It did not need to be.

庞葱即将随太子入赵为质。临行前，他问魏王：若一人说街市有虎，大王信吗？不信。两人呢？大王犹豫了。三人呢？大王说，那便信了。庞葱说，街市本无虎——然后他离开了。庞葱归来时，魏王已对他心生嫌隙。那只虎从未存在，但无所谓。

Mao Sui Recommends Himself

Lord Pingyuan needs twenty capable men for a mission to Chu. He finds nineteen. Mao Sui steps forward. Everyone in the room knows his name but not his deeds. Mao Sui says: the reason a nail does not show is that it has never been put in far enough. Let me be put in. In Chu's court, when the negotiation stalls and the king refuses, Mao Sui draws his sword and holds it before the king, not to threaten, but to make the stakes plain. The alliance is sealed.

平原君需要二十位门客出使楚国，只找到十九人。毛遂自荐而出。众人认识他的名字，却不知他的本领。毛遂说：锥子之所以未能显露，是因为从未刺入囊中。请让我入囊。在楚国朝堂之上，谈判陷入僵局，楚王拒绝联盟，毛遂拔剑而起，直指局势利害。联盟就此达成。

The Humiliation of the Bridge

Young Han Xin is stopped by a bully who demands he fight or crawl under his legs. Han Xin crawls. Later, he commands the armies of Han. The warrior who knows which battles to skip wins the war.

少年韩信被地痞拦住，要么拔剑，要么从胯下钻过。韩信选择了钻过。后来，他统率汉朝大军。懂得跳过哪些战斗的勇士，才能赢得战争。

Break the Cauldrons, Sink the Boats

Xiang Yu orders every cooking pot smashed, every boat sunk. Victory or death. The warrior who removes escape finds a clarity comfort never gives.

项羽破釜沉舟，士兵知退路已绝，以一当十，大破秦军。

Cross at Chencang in Secret

Han Xin sends workers to rebuild the burned mountain road, loudly, visibly, for all to see. Meanwhile his army crosses through Chencang in secret. The enemy watches the distraction until it is too late.

韩信派工匠大张旗鼓地修复烧毁的栈道，让敌人清楚看见。与此同时，大军悄悄从陈仓渡过。敌人看着那个假目标，直到太迟才知。

A Battle with Backs to the River

General Han Xin positions his troops against the river with no retreat possible. Desperation becomes the warrior's sharpest weapon.

韩信背水列阵，置死地而后生。绝境之中，往往藏着最锋利的力量。

Besieged on All Sides

Xiang Yu hears Han soldiers singing the songs of Chu from every direction. The greatest warrior must also know when the fight is over.

四面皆楚歌声，项王知大势已去。识时务者，才是真正的英雄。

A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold

Ji Bu is a fugitive with a price on his head, but he is known as a man who never breaks his word. Even his enemies refuse to betray him. The warrior whose word is iron earns the protection of strangers.

季布是通缉逃犯，却以一诺千金著称。连敌人也不愿出卖他。言出必行的勇士，能赢得陌生人的庇护。

The Old Man Loses His Horse

The old man's horse runs away. Neighbours come to comfort him. He says: how do you know this is bad? The horse returns with a fine wild horse beside it. Neighbours congratulate him. He says: how do you know this is good? His son rides the wild horse and breaks his leg. Commiserations. He says: how do you know this is bad? War comes. Every able-bodied young man in the village is conscripted. His son, with the broken leg, stays home. A story about the limits of judgment and the reversibility of fortune.

老人的马跑了。邻人来安慰他——他说：你们怎么知道这是坏事？马回来了，还带来一匹好马。邻人道贺——他说：你们怎么知道这是好事？儿子骑野马摔断了腿。邻人又来安慰——他说：你们怎么知道这是坏事？战事来了，村里的壮丁悉数被征。儿子因腿伤留了下来。这是一个关于判断的局限，以及命运之可逆的故事。

Weightier than Mount Tai

Sima Qian defended a general in court. Emperor Wu had him castrated as punishment. He chose not to die, because he had not yet finished writing 史记. He lived in shame for years and kept writing. He finished it. The book outlasted every emperor who ever read it. A story about a man who chose to live in humiliation rather than die with honour, because the work was not yet done.

司马迁在朝堂上为一名将领辩护。汉武帝以腐刑惩处他。他选择活下去——因为《史记》尚未写完。他在屈辱中写了数年，写完了。这部书比所有曾读过它的皇帝都活得更长。这是一个关于选择更难的路——活在耻辱中，而非死得体面——因为使命尚未完成的故事。

A Hundred Reports Are Worth Less Than One Look

Old general Zhao Chongguo, past seventy, is asked to advise on a frontier crisis from the capital. He refuses to give an opinion from maps and reports. He requests permission to go to the frontier himself. Emperor Xuan agrees. When he arrives he recommends not fighting at all, but farming the land instead. Everyone thinks he is wrong. He is right. The solution to a military problem was an agricultural one.

年逾七旬的赵充国，被召至京城就边境危机献策。他拒绝凭地图和奏报发表意见，请求亲赴前线。汉宣帝准奏。他到达后，建议的不是出兵，而是屯田。所有人都觉得他错了。他是对的。一个军事问题，解决之道竟是农耕。

Where There Is Will, the Thing Gets Done

Emperor Guangwu restored the Han dynasty from nothing. He was a prince reduced to farming who raised an army and reunited an empire. General Geng Yan spent years completing a campaign everyone had called impossible. When Geng Yan finally reported victory, the Emperor said: a man of will accomplishes in the end. He knew what it meant. He had done it himself.

光武帝刘秀从零开始重建汉朝——一个沦为农夫的王族之后，亲手拉起一支军队，重新统一天下。大将耿弇历经数年，完成了所有人都说不可能的战役。耿弇上报捷讯时，皇帝说：有志者，事竟成。他深知这句话的分量。因为他自己，就是这样走过来的。

Quench Thirst with Plums

Cao Cao's army has marched for days without water. He tells them there is a forest of plum trees just ahead: sour, juicy plums. Every soldier's mouth waters and they march another five li. A warrior who controls what others imagine, controls what they endure.

曹操的军队已数日无水。他说前方不远有一片梅林，酸甜多汁。每个士兵口中生津，又走了五里。控制别人想象的人，就能控制他们愿意承受的极限。

Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage

Liu Bei visits Zhuge Liang three times in the snow, refusing to leave without him. The warrior who perseveres earns the ally who changes everything.

刘备三顾茅庐，诚心感动卧龙。坚持不懈，方能请动真正的英才。

Borrowing Arrows with Straw Boats

Zhuge Liang sails into fog toward Cao Cao's fleet and returns with a hundred thousand arrows. A warrior outsmarts what he cannot outfight.

诸葛亮借大雾之力，以草船从曹营借得十万支箭。谋略，是最强大的武器。

Lost the Lady and the Army Both

Zhou Yu is the most brilliant strategist in Wu. His plan is perfect: offer Sun Quan's sister in marriage, lure Liu Bei to Wu, keep them both as hostages. He has thought of everything. Zhuge Liang has thought of everything else. Liu Bei marries the princess, is treated like a king, and leaves with her. Zhou Yu gives chase and loses soldiers. The most dangerous enemy of a brilliant plan is a better one.

周瑜是东吴最聪明的谋士。他的计策无懈可击：以孙权之妹为饵，将刘备诱入东吴，再将二人扣押。他什么都想到了。诸葛亮想到了其余的一切。刘备迎娶公主，享尽礼遇，扬长而去。周瑜追兵折损。一个绝妙计策最危险的敌人，是另一个更绝妙的计策。

Single Sword at the Banquet

Lu Su has set a trap at the banquet: soldiers hidden, wine ready. Guan Yu arrives with only a single sword, sits at the table, and speaks calmly. The trapped men become uncertain. Who traps whom depends on who is afraid.

鲁肃在宴席上布置了陷阱——伏兵埋伏，美酒备好。关羽只携单刀赴宴，落座，从容而谈。埋伏的士兵反而心生疑虑。谁是陷阱里的人，取决于谁更心虚。

Carelessness Loses Jingzhou

Guan Yu wins glory in the north and believes Jingzhou is safe behind him. Lu Meng watches, waits, and crosses the river in disguise. By the time Guan Yu turns back, the city he trusted himself to hold is gone.

关羽在北方连传捷报，以为身后的荆州稳如磐石。吕蒙悄悄观察，等待时机，伪装渡江。等关羽回头时，他以为自己守得住的城，已经失去了。

Step by Step, Camp by Camp

Huang Zhong is old. Everyone says so. He advances on Hanzhong camp by camp, refusing every invitation to rush. Xiahou Yuan waits on his mountain, expecting a reckless charge. It never comes. Huang Zhong waits too, until the moment Xiahou Yuan grows impatient and moves. Then he strikes. Patience is a weapon the young do not know how to use.

黄忠老了。人人都这么说。他一营一营地向汉中推进，拒绝冒进。夏侯渊据守山头，等着他莽撞冲锋。那一刻始终没有来。黄忠也在等——等夏侯渊按捺不住、主动出击的那一刻。然后他出手了。沉得住气，是年轻人还不懂得的武器。

Captured Seven Times, Released Seven Times

Zhuge Liang captures the proud southern leader Meng Huo seven times. Seven times he lets him go. After the seventh release, Meng Huo kneels by choice. The warrior who wins a battle stops an enemy. The warrior who wins a heart ends the war.

诸葛亮七次生擒孟获，七次放他离去。第七次被释放后，孟获跪地："你赢得了我的心。"赢得战斗能击败一个敌人。赢得人心才能终结战争。

Until the Last Breath

Zhuge Liang knows he is dying. He writes his final memorial to the young emperor, every sentence a lesson and every line a farewell, then leads the army north one last time. He will not return. He knows this. He goes anyway. Some duties do not end until the person does.

诸葛亮知道自己快死了。他向年轻的皇帝写下最后一份奏表——字字是教诲，句句是告别——然后再度率军北伐。他不会回来了。他知道。他还是去了。有些责任，不到生命终结，便不会终结。

Stake Everything on One Throw

Minister Wang Qinruo tells the Song emperor: abandon the north, or gamble everything on one battle. The emperor asks which is wiser. "A gambler who is losing," says Wang Qinruo, "stakes his last coin not because it is wise, but because there is nothing left to be careful about."

大臣王钦若对宋皇帝说：要么放弃北方，要么孤注一掷决一死战。皇帝问哪个更明智。"赌徒输到最后，"王钦若答道，"押上最后一枚铜钱，不是因为明智，而是因为已无谨慎的余地。"

The Drunkard's Mind Is Not on the Wine

Ouyang Xiu is demoted and sent to a remote prefecture far from the capital. He builds a pavilion in the hills, names himself the Old Drunkard, and writes an essay insisting he loves the wine and nothing else. But every line reveals what he is really thinking about: the landscape, the people, the life of service he has been denied. He says one thing. He means another. So does everyone.

欧阳修被贬至偏远小城，远离朝堂。他在山间建起一座亭子，自号"醉翁"，写文章说自己只爱饮酒，别无他求。但每一行字都泄露了他真正的心思——山水、百姓、那个被夺走的报国机会。他说的是一件事，心里装的是另一件。每个人都一样。

Worry Before the World Worries

Fan Zhongyan is in exile again when he is asked to write an essay for the Yueyang Tower. He writes about rain, and autumn, and the lake below. Then he writes the line that will outlast him by a thousand years: a true official worries before the people worry, and only rejoices after they rejoice. He wrote it in exile. He meant every word.

范仲淹再度身陷贬谪，却受邀为岳阳楼作记。他写了风雨，写了秋色，写了楼下的湖。然后他写下了那句传颂千年的话：先天下之忧而忧，后天下之乐而乐。他在流放中写下这句话。他字字句句，都是真心。

Iron Face, No Favourites

Bao Zheng does not smile. People say he has smiled once in his life. As a judge, he has prosecuted the emperor's own relatives, powerful ministers, officials who had never been challenged before. He treats every case the same: the powerless as the powerful, the powerful as the powerless. Justice is not about who you are. It is about what you did.

包拯不苟言笑。人们说他一生只笑过一次。身为官员，他弹劾过皇亲国戚，参倒过权贵重臣，审判过从未被人挑战的高官。每一个案子，他一视同仁——弱者与强者同等，强者与弱者同等。公正，与你是谁无关，只与你做了什么有关。

The Bamboo Already Complete Within

Wen Tong's bamboo paintings are the finest anyone has seen. People ask how he does it. He pauses before he picks up the brush, sometimes for a long time. Then he paints without hesitation, without correction, without stopping. His secret: before the brush moves, the bamboo is already complete in his mind. He does not paint bamboo. He reveals it.

文同画的竹子，无人能及。有人问他如何做到。他在提笔前总要停顿——有时停很久。然后一气呵成，不犹豫，不修改，不停顿。他的秘密：笔未动时，竹已在胸中长成。他不是在画竹，而是在将它显现出来。

Cannot See the True Face of Mount Lu

Su Shi climbs Mount Lu from every direction: south, north, ridge and valley. Each view is different. None is the whole. Standing on a peak, he realises: he cannot see the mountain because he is on it. You cannot see what you are standing inside. This is the problem with pride, with grief, with every certainty a person has ever held too close.

苏轼从四面攀登庐山——从南，从北，从山脊，从山谷。每个方向都是不同的景象，没有一处是全貌。站在山顶，他忽然明白：他看不见这座山，因为他就在山中。你看不清你身处其中的东西。这是骄傲的问题，是悲伤的问题，也是一个人曾经过于执着的每一种确信的问题。

Forced onto Liangshan

Lin Chong is a captain of the Imperial Guard, a good man with a good life. Step by step, powerful enemies frame him, exile him, try to kill him. He endures each blow. But there is a last blow. The night he burns the grain depot, Lin Chong stops enduring.

林冲是禁军教头，一个好人，过着好日子。一步步地，权贵陷害他、流放他、追杀他。他一次次忍耐。但总有最后一击。那个火烧草料场的夜晚，林冲不再忍了。

Serve the Country with Utmost Loyalty

Before Yue Fei leaves for the front, his mother takes a needle and inks four characters into his back: serve the country with utmost loyalty. He will never forget them. Twenty years later, his enemies find a way to stop him that no enemy on the battlefield ever could.

岳飞出征前，母亲用针将四个字刺入他的背上：精忠报国。他永远不会忘记。二十年后，有人用一种战场上的敌人从未能做到的方式，将他终结。

The Plot by the East Window Is Exposed

Qin Hui and his wife sit by the east window, planning how to destroy Yue Fei. "This plan," says his wife, "can never be spoken of again." But plans whispered in east windows find daylight. The conspirators are remembered not for winning, but for what they destroyed.

秦桧与妻子坐于东窗之下，密谋如何害死岳飞。"此事，"其妻说，"永不可再提。"然而东窗前的密谋总有见光之日。那些阴谋者被人记住——不因他们的胜利，而因他们所毁之人。

Since Ancient Times, Who Has Not Died

Wen Tianxiang is the last general still fighting for the Song. He is captured by the Mongols. They offer him a position, then a title, then his freedom. He refuses every time. In prison he writes 正气歌, a poem about moral courage that has outlasted every dynasty since. He is executed. His answer to every offer was always the same: since ancient times, who has not died? Let my heart of loyalty shine in the pages of history.

文天祥是最后一位为南宋而战的将领。他被元军俘虏。对方先给官职，再许高位，再许自由。他一次次拒绝。在狱中，他写下《正气歌》——一首关于浩然之气的诗，流传至今，历经朝代而不衰。他被处决。对每一次劝降，他的回答始终只有一句：人生自古谁无死，留取丹心照汗青。