Immobilizing the Troops and Not Throwing Them into Battle

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Wei State, small and weak, was forced to be the puppet of its powerful neighbor, Jin State. In order to put a final end to the humiliating position, Duke Ling of Wei State, planned a new alliance with Duke Jing, the ruler of Qi State.

Hearing that, the minister of Jin State, Zhao Yang, mustered troops and planned to attack Diqiu, the capital of Wei State. At the same time, he sent an official, Shi Mo, to investigate Wei State, and instructed him to return with information within a month's time.

But Shi Mo did not return on time. Some people of Jin called for an immediate military attack against Wei State, but Zhao Yang resolutely refused to act in haste.

Half a year later, Shi Mo returned and described how Duke Ling raised his people's resistant emotion against Jin State. The Duke assigned his minister Wang Sungu to send a declaration to the people that Jin had claimed a son or a daughter from each family as hostages, and it aroused widespread cries and snarls.

Later he assigned Wang Sungu to choose a number of imperial clans' and officers' daughters, and prepared to send them to Jin. Finally, tens of thousands of Wei citizens blocked in the way, and they indignantly vowed to fight against the Jin troops until death instead of a humiliating surrender.

In addition, Confucius had arrived there, and at present his disciple Zi Gong was offering advice and strategies for Wei State.

Finally, Shi Mo said,“Now there are a lot of virtuous officials in Wei State, and the Wei citizens' resistant emotion against Jin is very powerful. If Jin declares war against Wei at this point, Jin will be sure to suffer severe damage.”

Zhao Yang agreed. He thought that it was not the time to attack Wei. So he decided to postpone military action and to wait for a more opportune moment.

This idiom means immobilizing the troops temporarily to wait for a more opportune moment. It can also express the hesitation to take action after an order has been given.

It tells us that we must keep a stiff upper lip before we make a great decision and never be imprudent.