Feng Xuan, a retainer of Lord Mengchang, the prime minister of Qi, was once sent to collect debts from the fief of Xue. Before leaving, he asked, "After collecting the debts, what should I buy on my return?" Lord Mengchang replied, "Buy whatever our household lacks." Upon arriving in Xue, Feng Xuan pretended to issue Lord Mengchang's orders and burned all the debt contracts. The grateful villagers cheered, "Long live Lord Mengchang!"
After Feng Xuan returned, Lord Mengchang asked if the debts were collected and what he had bought. Feng Xuan replied that the prime minister's household lacked nothing except righteousness, so he burned all the debt contracts in the prime minister's name and bought back "righteousness." Lord Mengchang was displeased but could do nothing about it.
A year later, Lord Mengchang was dismissed from his post as prime minister by the King of Qi and had to return to Xue. Still over a hundred li from Xue, the people came out with their families to welcome him. Only then did Lord Mengchang see the precious "righteousness" Feng Xuan had bought for him and thanked him deeply. But Feng Xuan said to him:
"The cunning rabbit has three burrows, yet that only saves it from being killed by hunters or torn by beasts. You now have only one burrow, and cannot yet rest your head on a high pillow and sleep in peace."
At Feng Xuan's request, Lord Mengchang agreed to let him prepare two more refuges. Trusting his advisor, Feng Xuan traveled to the state of Wei and praised Lord Mengchang before King Wei. The king immediately dispatched envoys with lavish gifts and carriages to Qi, offering Lord Mengchang the position of prime minister in Wei.
Feng Xuan raced back to Xue before the envoys, warning Lord Mengchang, "Do not accept their offer." The Wei envoys came and went three times, yet Lord Mengchang refused each time. When the King of Qi learned of this, he hastily restored Lord Mengchang as prime minister and apologized to him. Thus, Feng Xuan had carved out the second safe haven for his master.
Afterwards, Feng Xuan suggested that Lord Mengchang ask the King of Qi to bestow the ancestral vessels of the former kings, and build an ancestral temple in Xue to enshrine them. This way, the King of Qi would send troops to protect Xue from invasion by other states. The King of Qi agreed. When the temple was completed, Feng Xuan said to Lord Mengchang:
“The three burrows are complete; now you can rest easy!” Later, the idiom “A Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows” came to mean leaving room for maneuver and having multiple contingency plans.
Source: *Strategies of the Warring States*, Chapter "Strategies of Qi IV"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "狡兔三窟" came to describe leaving room for maneuver and having multiple contingency plans.