Befriend the Far, Strike the Near
Qin keeps hurling armies past Han and Wei to bleed distant Qi, fattening the states caught in between — until Fan Sui stops it: friend the far, swallow the near, and every inch beside you stays yours.
Spend yourself on the far enemy and the near one eats you. Every inch beside you is the only inch you keep.
The wool-factor had an enemy in Linzi he had never laid eyes on, and he spent the whole morning bleeding himself white on it.
He paid a carter to carry word south that the Linzi man's fleeces were moth-eaten; paid a tout to underbid a house three hundred li off he would never see; sent good silver away to nip a stranger one coin at a time. The enemy felt none of it. Distance ate every blow before it landed.
Dog was not watching the factor. He was watching the soft, patient man at the next mat, who had — while the factor's eyes were fixed on Linzi — taken three of his regulars and was wrapping a fourth's cloth as they spoke. "That one," Dog said. "He's eating him. And he's close enough to touch."
"A man climbed out of a beating once to tell a king the same thing," the Wu said. "You leap over the states at your shoulder to bleed a kingdom across the world, and the only ones who fatten are the men in between. Friend the far. Eat what's near. Every inch beside you stays your inch."
"Tell the factor," Dog said.
"He'd thank me and go back to Linzi. A far enemy never wins, so the quarrel never ends, and he never has to turn and see whose hand is in his purse."
They went out past the patient man, who did not look up. The Wu walked a while without saying which way she thought her own road ran, which was answer enough, and the boy did not ask.
The history. From the Shiji (chapter 79). Fan Sui, smuggled into Qin after a slander nearly beat him to death in Wei, told King Zhao that his chancellor the Marquis of Rang was leaping over Han and Wei to attack distant Qi at Gangshou — a folly that could only exhaust Qin and fatten the two states caught in between. Look at King Min of Qi, he said: Qi shattered Chu's armies and stretched its borders a thousand li, yet gained not an inch, because the land it won only fed Han and Wei, and Qi was crushed for it — that is lending weapons to bandits and provisioning thieves. Better to befriend the distant and attack the nearby: every inch you gain is your inch, every foot your foot. King Zhao made him Guest Minister and turned Qin's arms first on Wei at its shoulder, taking Huai. 遠交近攻, "befriend the far, attack the near," is still the proverb for taking the ground beside you before the prize across the world.
The figure. ䷌ Fellowship with Men (Tong Ren) · line 4 — Climbing the wall, but cannot attack. Good fortune. Approaching conflict, but recognizing you can't win—and stopping. Wisdom in not attacking.
The reading. Befriend the far, strike the near. The scene gives it a wool-factor bleeding himself white against an enemy three hundred li off while the patient stall at his elbow quietly eats his trade — distance is the very thing that keeps the quarrel safe and endless. The Wu names the correction and then feels it turn on her: she has aimed the boy at a far refuge for years while the men who could unmake him stand near enough to touch.
Source: Shiji 79 · State of Qin (秦) · Hexagram ䷌ Fellowship with Men · line 4
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