Zhao Jianzi, a renowned general of the State of Jin, prepared to attack the State of Qi. He declared: "Anyone in the army who dares to dissuade me will be sentenced to death."
A warrior named Gong Luwang, clad in armour and holding a sharp weapon, burst into laughter upon seeing Zhao Jianzi.
"Why are you laughing?" Zhao Jianzi asked urgently.
"I recalled something amusing," Gong Luwang replied.
Jianzi said sternly, "Military orders are no joke. Explain yourself, and I shall spare you. Otherwise, you face death."
Calmly, Gong Luwang told a story: "It was the season for gathering mulberries. My neighbor, a man, went to the fields with his wife. In the depths of the mulberry groves, he spotted another woman. He chased after her but failed to catch her and returned disheartened. By then, his wife had already left him in anger. I laugh at my neighbor who, failing to catch the stranger, lost his own wife and ended up alone."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jianzi seemed to awaken from a dream. He reflected, "If I attack another state now and possibly fail, I would become a general of a subjugated state."
Consequently, he ordered his troops to withdraw and return home.