围魏救赵

圍魏救趙

wéiwèijiùzhào

idiom

Meanings

1 besiege Wei to rescue Zhao
2 to relieve a besieged ally by attacking the attacker's base

Characters

to surround / besiege

Examples

他用围魏救赵的计策解决了这场危机。

Tā yòng wéiwèijiùzhào de jìcè jiějué le zhè chǎng wēijī.

He resolved the crisis with a besiege-Wei-to-rescue-Zhao strategy.

这种围魏救赵的打法在商战中也很常见。

Zhè zhǒng wéiwèijiùzhào de dǎfǎ zài shāngzhàn zhōng yě hěn chángjiàn.

This kind of indirect-counterattack tactic is common in business warfare too.

Tips

history

From 《史记·孙子吴起列传》: during the Warring States, Wei besieged Zhao's capital Handan. Rather than relieve Handan directly, Qi's strategist Sun Bin (孙膑) marched on Wei's capital Daliang, forcing the Wei army to rush home — and defeated it on the way. The original indirect approach.

Stroke Order

围 wéi

魏 Wèi

救 jiù

赵 Zhào