Catch the leader first
To untie a tight knot.
Everything will blossom itself later.

To achieve victory, you must first capture the leader. To identify the leader, it is necessary to monitor the commands that determine the movements of troops, and not the banners and standards.

If you win, take everything you can. Taking a small prey and passing by a large one may be beneficial for ordinary warriors, but not for commanders and leaders.

This was during the An Lushan Rebellion, the largest military conflict in China during the Tang Dynasty. On the side of the dynasty, the troops were commanded by Zhang Xun. He showed great tactics in battle against Yin Ziqi, the rebel warlord.

In a lightning attack, his army was able to weaken the rebels. However, Zhang Xun's main goal was to destroy the warlord Yin Ziqi. But he could not identify the commander in the crowd of rebels. Therefore, Zhang Xun ordered his warriors to use rue stalks as arrows. This allowed Zhang Xun to prolong the battle and understand who was the most important among the militia.

The rebel warriors realized that the rue arrows did not harm them and decided that the enemy had used real arrows. They all rushed to Commander Yin Ziqi to tell him the good news. However, as a result, they gave away his location to the enemy, who was monitoring their movements. Thanks to this, Zhang Xun was able to find out Yin Ziqi's identity and ordered a real arrow to be shot at him. The arrow hit the commander's left eye. The unexpected injury of the leader led the militia army into panic. They didn't know who would lead them forward now.

Commander Yin Ziqi had to admit defeat. He could no longer control the rebel army and, together with his army, quickly retreated. The rebellion in the Tang Dynasty was soon suppressed.