Hengshan Economic Warfare / 恒山之谋

Hengshan economic warfare / 恒山之谋 is the arms-and-grain case 《资治通鉴·周纪》75-4丨为什么说管仲才是经济战的鼻祖？ uses to extend 管仲’s interstate economic warfare branch. The episode says 齐国 first buys 恒山国 weapons at high prices, encouraging Hengshan people to chase armament income and neglect farming. Qi then buys grain at high prices, draws staple food into its own hands, closes passes, stops purchasing, and attacks after Hengshan’s food and production base has been distorted.

The case differs from the Lu/Liang cloth and Chu deer stories in 《资治通鉴·周纪》75-3丨古代的经济战争能有多可怕？ because it involves both strategic goods and staple food. Arms production gives Hengshan a visible strength, but high prices turn that strength into overconcentration; grain buying then removes the basic buffer needed to survive a shock.

Key Claims

• Economic war can target strategic production as well as ordinary consumer goods.
• Artificially attractive demand can make a rival over-specialize in the buyer’s chosen sector.
• Grain acquisition matters because the attack works only when the rival’s food resilience has been reduced.
• Border closure and military action convert earlier market distortion into coercive pressure.
• The episode treats the case as a “currency war” or financial-statecraft example, but the wiki keeps that label source-scoped.

Connections

• 恒山国 - target state in the case.
• 管仲, 齐桓公, and 齐国 - source strategist, ruler, and operator.
• 跨国经济战, 需求诱导式弃农, and 粮食与封边胁迫 - broader economic-war mechanisms.
• 价格信号调控物流 - high-price steering of arms and grain flows.
• 富民优先的经济治国 - constructive mirror: the same awareness of food and labor fragility supports domestic strength.