Qi Jie 騎劫

Qi Jie 騎劫 was a general of the state of Yan 燕 during the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE). During the reign of King Zhao 燕昭王 (r. 312-279), general Yue Yi 樂毅 inflicted a heavy deafead on the state of Qi 齊 and prepared the near-total invation of that state by Yan.

Yet with the accession of King Hui 燕惠王 (r. 279-272) to the throne of Yan, a rift opened between sovereign and supreme general. The great strategist of Qi, Tian Dan 田單, managed to influence internal decisions at the court of Yan, and King Hui decided to replace Yue Yi by Qi Jie. The latter was not experienced in the many tricks of warfare, and fell victim to Tian Dan's famous "stratagem of the fire cows" (huoniu zhen 火牛陣). Tian Dan had the horn of 1,000 cattle equipped with daggers, and tied pitch-soaked straw to their tails. At night, the "torches" were lit and the cows directed towards the camp of the army of Yan at Jimo 即墨 (today's Pingdu 平度, Shandong). In the turmoil 5,000 troops were killed and the army of Yan utterly defeated. Qi Jue died on the battlefield, and Yan was thrown out of the land of Qi.