I believe many people have explained it from the perspective of decision-making theory and game theory. Let me say it from the perspective of historical spread ~ The story of Tian Ji horse racing was first seen in Historical Records, the Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qi. We are all familiar with Historical Records, which is the earliest and most influential historical book in the twenty-four history of China. Because of its extensive and far-reaching influence, many stories in Historical Records are familiar to everyone today. Therefore, the horse racing story in Tianji was selected by Shiji, which is the first important factor to make it spread through the ages.
As we know, if a story wants to spread widely, just like a movie wants to be liked by the audience, the plot and characters are the most basic elements. Look at the characters first. Historical records? The Story of the Art of War by Sun Tzu actually describes the life experiences of three people ―― Sun Tzu, Sun Bin and Wu Qi. Sun Tzu is the author of Sun Tzu's Art of War, so it is unnecessary to introduce his name. Sun Bin is related to an idiom "wai Wei to save Zhao". Of course, encircling Wei to save Zhao is one of the 36 plans. Apart from the horse racing story in Tian Ji, Sun Bin is mainly famous for "Encircling Wei to Save Zhao".
Sun Bin's experience is legendary and tortuous. First, I studied in Guiguzi with a man named Pang Juan. Later, he was cheated by his old classmate Pang Juan and was flogged (that is, his kneecap was cut off). He fled from Wei to Qi and lived alone with Tian Ji. According to seniority, Tian Ji was Qi Weiwang's uncle and the ruler of Qi at that time. Later, he was the highest military commander who besieged Wei, and Sun Bin was his strategist. With their partners, they defeated Wei twice. And in the second battle of Maling, Sun Bin directly killed Pang Juan and captured Wang Wei, which greatly increased the national prestige of Qi, and Sun Bin's fame reached its peak!
Qi Weiwang, another protagonist of horse racing in Tian Ji, is also worthy of a great book. His wisdom was obvious when he reused Sun Bin, an outsider with mobility difficulties. In addition, Zou Ji, whom we are familiar with, satirized Qi Weiwang, the king of Qi, so he was a very wise monarch among the governors of various countries at that time. In fact, Qi's national strength and position are largely in his hands.
Finally, let's talk about the story itself. The biggest feature of Tian Ji horse racing is that it breaks our mindset and emphasizes adapting to the times. Generally speaking, we all have a habit or set of thinking, which is to compete with each other. This is also Tian Ji's original horse racing method, but because he is worse than Qi Weiwang in every game, he loses every time. But Sun Bin is different. He found another way, changed our consistent thinking, changed the traditional way of competition, and then won the Qi Weiwang. His thinking is actually Sun Tzu's Art of War, which is summed up in another sentence of Sun Bin, that is, "not conquering all forms with one form". In other words, everything is good, there will never be a fixed practice, there will never be a permanent and effective strategy, everything will be different because of people and things, and it is impossible to eat all over the world. His siege of Wei to save Zhao is the embodiment of this thought.
Excellent story protagonist, wonderful story content, and the propaganda of historical records, it is inevitable that Tian Ji horse racing will be spread through the ages.
Tian Ji, the general of Qi State, likes horse racing very much. On one occasion, he and Qi Weiwang agreed to have a match. They divided their horses into upper, middle and lower classes. In the competition, the superior horse is against the superior horse, the intermediate horse is against the intermediate horse and the inferior horse is against the inferior horse. Because Qi Weiwang's horses at every level are better than Tian Ji's, Tian Ji failed in three races. Tian Ji was very disappointed and prepared to leave the racecourse in dismay. Tian Ji's good friend Sun Bin is also in the crowd. At this moment, Sun Bin called Tian Ji, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Judging from the situation just now, the king's horse is not much faster than yours." Before Sun Bin finished, Tian Ji looked at him and said, "I didn't expect you to dig at me!"
Sun Bin said, "I'm not being sarcastic. If you fight him again, I can help you win. " Tian Ji looked at Sun Bin doubtfully. "You mean change horses?" Sun Bin shook his head and said, "Don't change it." Tian Ji said confidently: "That's not the same loss!" Sun Bin said confidently, "Just do what I think." Qi Weiwang proudly boasts about his horse. When he saw Tian Ji coming, he mocked Tian Ji: "What, are you still unconvinced?" Tian Ji said: "Of course not, let's play again!"
Qi Weiwang said contemptuously, "Come on then!" With a gong, the horse race started again. Sun Bin let Tian Ji fight the good horse with the bad horse in Qi Weiwang, and lost the first race. Then the second scene. Sun Bin let Tian Ji ride the first horse against the midstream horse in Qi Weiwang and won the second race. Qi Weiwang has a little panic. In the third game, Tian Ji won another game against Qi Weiwang's inferior horse. This time, Qi Weiwang was dumbfounded. As a result, Tian Ji won two games, lost one and won Qi Weiwang. It's the same horse. As long as you change the order of appearance, you can turn defeat into victory.
This is a text I learned in primary school. I think it must have a purpose to include this article in the textbook. This is a famous example in the history of China, which reveals how to use one's own advantages to deal with one's opponent's weaknesses and win the competition.
The same event can have different interpretations. We should see that Sun Bin's thinking is out of inertia, and we should also know that it is using rules. But in the real society, for better competition and cooperation, horse racing in Tian Ji is not desirable.
It is not advisable for many people to talk about war. Soldiers are treacherous. War is life-and-death, and there are almost no rules to restrain it, while modern competition and cooperation are strictly restricted by the legal system and morality.
Looking at the article itself, since it is mentioned that there are three kinds of horse racing: upper, lower and middle, it is necessary for us to infer that there are such established rules for betting on horses in ancient times. This kind of reasoning is necessary, otherwise there may be no point in horse racing regardless of rank: there must be differences in the ability of horses, and if the two sides are equal in strength, which round will win which horse will become a complete opportunity. So Sun Bin's practice can be understood as using rules.
This may be necessary in the war years, but in the current market economy era, this kind of behavior is absolutely not desirable. Let's simply take horse racing as an example. Today I won like this, and then others won with me. In the end, people found that horse racing became meaningless luck. Can horse racing still be carried out well? It may have become an argument. Therefore, in the cooperation and competition of modern society, we need to have the spirit of contract. In the course of the game, it is possible to get a lot of benefits if you violate the rules. Without the spirit of contract, cooperation will only break down, and competition will only become malicious competition or even a fatal attack on the other side. Tian Ji horse racing itself is a good story, but it is better to believe in books than not to have any. To have your own thinking, there are certain conditions for the rationality of various viewpoints. As a text, educators should dig deeper and let students open their hearts instead of cramming education. As an adult, you shouldn't go online and say that Sun Bin's wisdom is "evil wisdom". Again, he is engaged in the military, does not praise benevolence and righteousness, and is not good at jumping to conclusions.
From an economic point of view, it can be explained by decision theory and game theory. First, explain these two concepts:
Decision theory: For a given strategy (Qi Weiwang's strategy), find out its characteristics and logic, and study the corresponding optimal strategy (Sun Bin-Tian Ji's strategy).
Game theory: the study of how individuals win when there are multiple opponents (≥ 1) and multiple strategies.
In this story, Tian Ji wins easily with a simple strategy, but what will happen if Qi Weiwang is mentally retarded? Simply put, it's like two people playing with scissors, rock and paper. I'll see what happens if you finish it first. How to talk about fairness? This is a typical application of decision theory.
In fact, under the real situation, after the failure of the King of Qi once, he will realize the problem next time and will not actively expose his riding order, so Sun Bin's strategy will fail. At this time, the "Tian Ji Horse Racing" will constitute a "two-person zero-sum game" problem, that is, the sum of the benefits of both parties is zero, and the benefits of one party are equal to the losses of the other party.
The reason why this story can be passed down through the ages is that the viewpoints of decision-making theory and game theory reflected in the story are widely used in economics and sociology. At the same time, we also apply decision theory and game theory to the daily communication between people. The whole society is a huge prisoner's dilemma, isn't it?
This shows that a person's strength is very important, but wisdom is also very important. He can only lose once by using his weakest link and others' strongest ability, but he can also win by using his strongest link to suppress others' weak links in turn. Unfortunately, the allusions created by China people are sometimes seldom used by themselves. This applies to sports events, but the national football team doesn't play cards in a routine way, so it is out early every time.