Stop Order
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Di Qing was a famous general under Emperor Renzong in the Song dynasty. Once his army pursued the enemy forces to the foot of a mountain after a victorious battle. Suddenly the enemy pressed closely together and stopped running. Di Qing ordered his troops to halt even though the soldiers wanted to charge forward. In the end, the enemy got away.
It turned out there was a deep valley on the other side of the mountain. Di Qing’s men regretted that they did not continue their pursuit.
“No, it wouldn’t be the wise thing to do,” said Di Qing. “If a fleeing enemy suddenly stopped and turned around to confront us, it could be a trick. We had already scored a major victory. We could afford to let go the remaining enemy. If we had run after them, we might have fallen into their trap. Then it would be hard to tell the fate of our troops. I would rather that we regret we did not pursue them than we regret we did not stop.”
Di Qing’s main objective in war was to win victory, not to push the enemy to the limit for some extra gain. He had won many battles but never suffered a major defeat because he was neither greedy nor arrogant when he was victorious.
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Wise Proverbs
- Think thrice before you act.
- 三思而后行。
- Caution is the parent of safety.
- 小心驶得万年船。
- An army which is cocksure about its invincibility is doomed to defeat.
- 骄兵必败。
Editor Says:
It is hard to stop when you are victorious. But gain often turns into loss because you don’t know where to stop.