Who is Ren Zhang 任章?

Ren Zhang was a native of the State of Wei during the Warring States Period. His main period of activity was around 457 - 447 BC. He was a retainer of Wei Huanzi.

Philosophically, following Taoist thought, he put forward the view that to defeat someone, one must first assist them. He persuaded Wei Huanzi to meet the land demands of Zhi Bo (Zhi Bo, one of the six powerful ministers in Jin, demanded land from Wei Huanzi) to accelerate Zhi Bo's downfall. He said, "Demanding land for no reason will surely arouse fear in neighboring states; being insatiably greedy will make the whole world afraid. If you give him the land, Zhi Bo will become arrogant. Arrogant, he will belittle his enemies, while neighboring states, fearing him, will draw closer. With united forces facing an arrogant and belittle the enemy state, the fate of the Zhi clan won't last long. The *Book of Zhou* says, 'If you want to defeat it, you must first give it some support; if you want to take from it, you must first give it something.' You'd better give it to him to make Zhi Bo arrogant." (*Strategies of the Warring States - Wei Ce 1*). He believed that meeting Zhi Bo's land demands would intensify the contradictions between Zhi Bo and various parties and accelerate Zhi Bo's demise. His advice was accepted by Wei Huanzi, who ceded a township with ten thousand households to Zhi Bo, further stimulating Zhi Bo's desire for more land. "Zhi Bo was overjoyed. Then he demanded Cai and Gaoliang from the State of Zhao. When Zhao refused, he besieged Jinyang. Han and Wei rebelled externally, and the Zhao clan responded internally, and thus the Zhi clan perished" (ibid.). This is an example from the Warring States Period of applying the philosophical view of "If you want to defeat it, you must first give it some support; if you want to take from it, you must first give it something" to handle practical problems. This view of assisting first to defeat and giving first to take is also found in Chapter 36 of *Laozi*.