唐玄宗時有位進士叫做張巡，在安史之亂時他奉命討伐叛賊，由於他擅於用兵，所以將反賊打得落花流水。不過，敵軍雖然死傷慘重仍不肯退兵，這時，張巡便想到只有擒住賊王才能結束戰爭。當時敵軍主將是尹子奇，可是，張巡無從得知對方主將是誰？最後他想到一個辦法，他命令所有士兵將麥稈前端全削尖，並把麥稈當箭攻擊敵軍。敵軍一看到射來的箭竟然是麥稈，心想對方一定是箭都用完了，才會出此下策。於是，就撿起地上的麥稈，跑去向主將報告這個好消息。而張巡早就在一旁觀察敵情，並且命令神射手南霽雲，只要看到麥稈給誰，就向那個人射箭。南霽雲一箭射中了尹子奇的左眼，敵軍見主將受重傷，個個慌了手腳，敵軍只好停止進攻。
三十六計之第十八計：擒賊擒王
捉住敵軍的主將，可以達到瓦解敵軍主力的作用，因為主將是整個軍隊的指揮中心，失去中心的軍隊，必定像一盤散沙一樣，潰不成軍。
The An Shih Rebellion happened during the Tang Dynasty. Jhang Syun was the general in charge of defeating the rebels. Because he was an expert in military strategy, Jhang Syun defeated the rebel army in battle. The rebel army suffered significant casualties. However, they refused to retreat despite the huge loss. At this point, Jhang Syun realized that the only way to end the war is to capture the leader of the rebel army.
The rebel leader was Yin Zih Ji. But Jhang Syun did not know that, and he wanted to find out. So he came up with a strategy. He ordered all the soldiers to sharpen the end of the dried wheat stalks and use them as arrows to shoot at the rebels. When the rebel army saw that the defenders were using wheat stalks as arrows, they felt certain that Jhang Syun's archers must have ran out of arrows. So they all picked up the wheat stalks and ran to report this good news to Yin Zih Ji.
Unknown to the rebels , all their movements were being watched by Jhang Syun. He had ordered his best archer to shoot at whomever the rebels presented the wheat stalks to. As a result, an arrow hit Yin Zih Ji right in the left eye, leaving him badly wounded. The spectacle of their leader's injury created chaos among the rebels. As a result they stopped fighting.
Strategy 18 : Defeat the Enemy by Capturing Their Chief
Capturing the general of the enemy can destroy the enemy's fighting capability. This is because the general is the one who commands and controls the whole army. An army without its general is as weak and amorphous as sand.
