Zhao Kuo Was No Armchair General

260 BC, Changping. The Qin paid a fortune for a single rumor: "The only one Qin fears is Zhao Kuo, son of Lord Ma Fu, if he is made a general." The whole city of Handan laughed at the young man who only knew how to read his father's books.

But in the handwriting on the rumor slip, Zhao Kuo spotted a flaw. The forger did not know that when Gongsun Long wrote the character "white," his final stroke was always half an inch too short.

He did not expose them. Instead, he followed Qin's script: he let them believe the change of command had succeeded, and led Bai Qi away from Yewang into the Dan River Valley.

Only on the night 470,000 men entered the camp did he begin to close the net.