Lord Mengchang (simplified Chinese: 孟尝君; traditional Chinese: 孟嘗君; pinyin: Mèngchángjūn; died 279 BC), born Tian Wen, was an aristocrat and statesman of the Qi Kingdom of ancient China, one of the famed Four Lords of the Warring States period.

[4] One day, the young Tian Wen warned his father that although their lives had dramatically improved over the years, the family clan was in a short supply of intelligent counsellors.

King Zhaoxiang had heard so much about the young lord that he wanted to appoint him as the new Chancellor of Qin.

In exchange for her aid, the woman asked for the snow fox fur coat which Lord Mengchang had already given to the king as a gift when he first arrived in Qin.

By midnight of the next day, he had reached Hangu Pass—the last checkpoint of Qin before entering the territories of Qi.

King Zhaoxiang had immediately regretted letting Lord Mengchang go and a small army was chasing him to bring him back.

Instead, the adviser told the chancellor that it was in the interest of Qi to allow Qin to grow in power.

As his adviser predicted, King Zhaoxiang gave Qi the land and not a single drop of blood was shed among the four states.

One of the well-known Chinese four-character proverbs is 狡兔三窟 (pinyin: jiǎo tù sān kū), or "a crafty rabbit has three burrows.

"[citation needed] It means that a smart rabbit should always have several ways to escape a predator; that is, people should have more than one plan to fall back on.

One day, Lord Mengchang asked Feng Xuan to go to the local county to collect overdue taxes.

In the county, Feng Xuan made all the wealthy people pay the overdue taxes, but burned all the I.O.U.s for the poor peasants.

He told the peasants that Lord Mengchang cared for them and hoped that they would prosper in the coming years.

A few years later, when Lord Mengchang was forced to flee from the Qi, these people of Xue welcomed him with flowers and food.

King Xiang was very impressed and told Feng that he could mobilize his army to protect Xue if the young lord were willing to come serve him.

He told King Min that the State of Wei was ready to mobilize its army to occupy Xue, and that if King Min wanted to keep Xue within the control of Qi, he needed to send more gold and troops to Lord Mengchang.