11. A Wily Chinese Strategist
Zhuge Liang (181-234) was a wily chancellor and military strategist during China’s Three Kingdoms Period. One of his exploits took place in 208 during the buildup to a climactic battle between rival armies that were separated by the Yangtze River. Zhuge Liang’s rivals maneuvered him into committing himself to furnish 100,000 arrows within a few days.
It was a seemingly impossible task, but after mulling it over, Zhuge Liang came up with a daring plan to pull it off. He gathered a flotilla of riverboats, lined them up with bales of wet straw, and instructed the crews what he expected from them.