1
田單者，齊諸田疏屬也。 湣王時，單為臨菑市掾，不見知。 及燕使樂毅伐破齊，齊湣王出奔，已而保莒城。 燕師長驅平齊，而田單走安平，令其宗人盡斷其車軸末而傅鐵籠。 已而燕軍攻安平，城壞，齊人走，爭涂，以折車敗，為燕所虜，唯田單宗人以鐵籠故得脫，東保即墨。 燕既盡降齊城，唯獨莒、即墨不下。 燕軍聞齊王在莒，并兵攻之。 淖齒既殺湣王於莒，因堅守，距燕軍，數年不下。 燕引兵東圍即墨，即墨大夫出與戰，敗死。 城中相與推田單，曰：「安平之戰，田單宗人以鐵籠得全，習兵。」 立以為將軍，以即墨距燕。
Tian Dan was a distant relation of the Tian clan of Qi. During the reign of King Min, Dan served as a minor official in the marketplace of Linzi, unknown to anyone of importance. When Yan sent Yue Yi to attack and defeat Qi, King Min of Qi fled the capital and eventually took refuge in the city of Ju. As the Yan army swept through and conquered Qi, Tian Dan fled to Anping, where he ordered all his clansmen to saw off the protruding ends of their cart axles and cap them with iron sheaths. Soon after, the Yan army attacked Anping. When the walls were breached, the people of Qi fled, jostling for space on the roads. Their cart axles snapped and their vehicles broke down, and they were captured by the Yan forces. Only the Tian clan, thanks to their iron-sheathed axles, managed to escape and fled east to hold the city of Jimo. After Yan had taken the surrender of every city in Qi, only Ju and Jimo remained unconquered. When the Yan army learned that the King of Qi was in Ju, they concentrated their forces to attack the city. After Nao Chi killed King Min in Ju, the defenders nonetheless held firm and resisted the Yan army; for several years the city did not fall. Yan then led its troops east to besiege Jimo. The magistrate of Jimo marched out to give battle but was defeated and killed. The people within the city conferred and put forward Tian Dan, saying, "During the battle at Anping, the Tian clan survived intact thanks to their iron-sheathed axles. He understands the art of war." They appointed him general, and he used Jimo as his stronghold to resist Yan.
2
頃之，燕昭王卒，惠王立，與樂毅有隙。 田單聞之，乃縱反閒於燕，宣言曰：「齊王已死，城之不拔者二耳。 樂毅畏誅而不敢歸，以伐齊為名，實欲連兵南面而王齊。 齊人未附，故且緩攻即墨以待其事。 齊人所懼，唯恐他將之來，即墨殘矣。」 燕王以為然，使騎劫代樂毅。
Before long, King Zhao of Yan died and King Hui succeeded him. The new king bore a grudge against Yue Yi. When Tian Dan learned of this, he sent double agents into Yan to spread a rumor: "The King of Qi is already dead, and only two cities remain uncaptured. Yue Yi fears execution and dares not return home. He uses the campaign against Qi as a pretext, but his true ambition is to keep command of his army, face south, and make himself king of Qi. The people of Qi have not yet submitted to him, so he deliberately delays the attack on Jimo while he waits for his plans to ripen. What the people of Qi truly fear is that another general might come to replace him — then Jimo would be finished." The King of Yan believed the rumor and sent Qi Jie to replace Yue Yi.
3
樂毅因歸趙，燕人士卒忿。 而田單乃令城中人食必祭其先祖於庭，飛鳥悉翔舞城中下食。 燕人怪之。 田單因宣言曰：「神來下教我。」 乃令城中人曰：「當有神人為我師。」 有一卒曰：「臣可以為師乎？」 因反走。 田單乃起，引還，東鄉坐，師事之。 卒曰：「臣欺君，誠無能也。」 田單曰：「子勿言也！」 因師之。 每出約束，必稱神師。 乃宣言曰：「吾唯懼燕軍之劓所得齊卒，置之前行，與我戰，即墨敗矣。」 燕人聞之，如其言。 城中人見齊諸降者盡劓，皆怒，堅守，唯恐見得。 單又縱反閒曰：「吾懼燕人掘吾城外冢墓，僇先人，可為寒心。」 燕軍盡掘壟墓，燒死人。 即墨人從城上望見，皆涕泣，俱欲出戰，怒自十倍。
Yue Yi thereupon fled to Zhao, and the Yan officers and soldiers were filled with resentment. Tian Dan then ordered every household in the city to set out offerings to their ancestors in the courtyard before each meal. Flocks of birds swooped and circled above the city to feed on the offerings. The Yan troops marveled at this. Tian Dan seized the moment and proclaimed, "A spirit has descended to instruct me." He told the people of the city, "A divine being shall serve as my teacher." One of the soldiers said, "Might I serve as your teacher?" Then he turned and ran away. Tian Dan rose, led the man back, seated him in the place of honor facing east, and treated him with the deference owed to a master. The soldier protested, "I have deceived you, my lord. I truly have no abilities." Tian Dan replied, "Say nothing more of it!" And so he treated the man as his divine teacher. Whenever he issued orders, he invariably invoked the authority of the divine teacher. Then he spread a rumor: "My only fear is that the Yan army will cut off the noses of the Qi prisoners they have captured and place them in the front ranks to fight against us — then Jimo would surely fall." The Yan troops heard the rumor and did exactly as he had suggested. When the people in the city saw that every Qi prisoner who had surrendered had had his nose cut off, they were consumed with fury. They defended the walls with renewed determination, dreading above all else the prospect of being captured. Tian Dan again sent double agents to spread a rumor: "What I dread most is that the Yan troops will dig up the tombs outside our city walls and desecrate our ancestors. The very thought chills my heart." The Yan army dug up every grave mound and tomb and burned the corpses. The people of Jimo watched from atop the city walls, and every one of them wept. All burned to march out and fight, their fury multiplied tenfold.
4
田單知士卒之可用，乃身操版插，與士卒分功，妻妾編於行伍之閒，盡散飲食饗士。 令甲卒皆伏，使老弱女子乘城，遣使約降於燕，燕軍皆呼萬歲。 田單又收民金，得千溢，令即墨富豪遺燕將，曰：「即墨即降，願無虜掠吾族家妻妾，令安堵。」 燕將大喜，許之。 燕軍由此益懈。
Tian Dan knew his soldiers were ready. He took up tools and labored alongside them, sharing in their toil. He placed his own wives and concubines among the ranks and distributed all his food and drink to feast the troops. He ordered the armored soldiers to conceal themselves and had the old, the weak, and the women man the walls. Then he sent an envoy to negotiate terms of surrender with Yan. The Yan army all cheered in triumph. Tian Dan also collected gold from the people, amassing a thousand yi, and had the wealthy merchants of Jimo deliver it to the Yan general with the message: "Jimo is about to surrender. We beg only that you not plunder the families, wives, and concubines of our clans, but let them dwell in peace." The Yan general was overjoyed and agreed to their terms. From that point on, the Yan army grew ever more complacent.
5
田單乃收城中得千餘牛，為絳繒衣，畫以五彩龍文，束兵刃於其角，而灌脂束葦於尾，燒其端。 鑿城數十穴，夜縱牛，壯士五千人隨其後。 牛尾熱，怒而奔燕軍，燕軍夜大驚。 牛尾炬火光明炫燿，燕軍視之皆龍文，所觸盡死傷。 五千人因銜枚擊之，而城中鼓譟從之，老弱皆擊銅器為聲，聲動天地。 燕軍大駭，敗走。 齊人遂夷殺其將騎劫。 燕軍擾亂奔走，齊人追亡逐北，所過城邑皆畔燕而歸田單，兵日益多，乘勝，燕日敗亡，卒至河上，而齊七十餘城皆復為齊。 乃迎襄王於莒，入臨菑而聽政。
Tian Dan then gathered more than a thousand oxen from within the city. He had them draped in coverings of crimson silk painted with brilliant dragon patterns in five colors, and blades were lashed to their horns. Bundles of oil-soaked reeds were tied to their tails and set alight. He had dozens of openings cut through the city walls. Under cover of night, the oxen were released, and five thousand picked warriors followed behind them. The heat at their tails maddened the oxen, and they charged straight into the Yan camp. The Yan army was thrown into panic in the darkness. The torches at the oxen's tails blazed with dazzling light, and the Yan soldiers saw what appeared to be dragons bearing down upon them. Everything the beasts struck was killed or maimed. The five thousand warriors, with wooden gags clenched between their teeth to ensure silence, fell upon the enemy. From within the city, drums thundered and the old and weak beat on bronze vessels, raising a clamor that shook heaven and earth. The Yan army was utterly terrified and fled in rout. The men of Qi pursued and slew the Yan general Qi Jie. The Yan army scattered in chaos and flight. The men of Qi gave chase, pursuing the vanquished and routing the fugitives. Every city and town they passed through revolted against Yan and rallied to Tian Dan. His forces grew by the day. Pressing their advantage, they drove the Yan forces back until at last they reached the banks of the Yellow River, and all seventy-odd cities of Qi were restored to the kingdom. They then welcomed King Xiang from Ju, and he entered Linzi to take up the governance of the realm.
6
襄王封田單，號曰安平君。
King Xiang enfeoffed Tian Dan and bestowed upon him the title Lord of Anping.
7
太史公曰：兵以正合，以奇勝。 善之者，出奇無窮。 奇正還相生，如環之無端。 夫始如處女，適人開戶； 後如脫兔，適不及距：其由單之謂邪！
The Grand Historian remarks: In warfare, one engages with the orthodox and achieves victory through the extraordinary. Those who master this art produce the extraordinary in inexhaustible measure. The extraordinary and the orthodox give rise to each other in turn, like a ring without beginning or end. At first one is as still as a maiden, so that the enemy opens his door; then one strikes like a hare set free, too swift for the enemy to resist — is this not precisely what is meant by Tian Dan!
8
初，淖齒之殺湣王也，莒人求湣王子法章，得之太史嬓之家，為人灌園。 嬓女憐而善遇之。 後法章私以情告女，女遂與通。 及莒人共立法章為齊王，以莒距燕，而太史氏女遂為后，所謂「君王后」也。
Earlier, when Nao Chi killed King Min, the people of Ju searched for the king's son Fa Zhang. They found him in the household of the Grand Historian Jiao, where he had been working as a gardener. Jiao's daughter took pity on him and treated him with kindness. In time, Fa Zhang secretly revealed his true identity to the girl, and she became his lover. When the people of Ju together established Fa Zhang as the King of Qi and used Ju as their stronghold against Yan, the daughter of the Grand Historian clan became his queen — the one known to history as the Queen Dowager.
9
燕之初入齊，聞畫邑人王蠋賢，令軍中曰「環畫邑三十里無入」，以王蠋之故。 已而使人謂蠋曰：「齊人多高子之義，吾以子為將，封子萬家。」 蠋固謝。 燕人曰：「子不聽，吾引三軍而屠畫邑。」 王蠋曰：「忠臣不事二君，貞女不更二夫。 齊王不聽吾諫，故退而耕於野。 國既破亡，吾不能存； 今又劫之以兵為君將，是助桀為暴也。 與其生而無義，固不如烹！」 遂經其頸於樹枝，自奮絕脰而死。 齊亡大夫聞之，曰：「王蠋，布衣也，義不北面於燕，況在位食祿者乎！」 乃相聚如莒，求諸子，立為襄王。
When Yan first entered Qi, they heard that a man named Wang Zhu of the town of Huayi was a worthy. The general ordered his army: "No one shall enter within thirty li of Huayi." This was done out of respect for Wang Zhu. Later, he sent a messenger to say to Wang Zhu: "Many of the people of Qi esteem your sense of righteousness. I wish to appoint you as my general and grant you a fief of ten thousand households." Wang Zhu firmly declined. The Yan commander replied, "If you will not comply, I shall lead my armies to slaughter the people of Huayi." Wang Zhu answered, "A loyal minister does not serve two lords, just as a virtuous woman does not take a second husband. The King of Qi would not heed my counsel, so I withdrew and tilled the fields. Now the state is destroyed and I could not preserve it; and now you would coerce me with armed force to serve as your general — that would be to aid a tyrant in his violence. Rather than live without righteousness, I would sooner be boiled alive!" He then tied his neck to a tree branch, strained with all his might until his neck snapped, and died. When the exiled officials of Qi heard of this, they said, "Wang Zhu was a mere commoner, yet his sense of righteousness would not allow him to face north and submit to Yan. How much more should this be true of those of us who held office and drew a salary!" They gathered together and went to Ju, where they sought out the royal heirs and established one of them as King Xiang.