Stratagems for the Joint Battle並戰計

陣有縱橫，天衡為樑，地軸為柱。樑柱以精兵為之，故觀其陣，則知精兵之所在。共戰他敵時，頻更其陣，暗中抽換其精兵，或竟代其為樑柱；勢成陣塌，遂兼其兵。並此敵以擊他敵之首策也。

An array has its lengthwise and its crosswise. The heavenly crossbeam (天衡) is the main beam, and the earthly axle (地軸) is the pillar. Main beam and pillar are made of the best troops, so by looking at an array you know where the best troops are. When you face another enemy together with him, make him change his array again and again, and draw off and change out his best troops in secret, or else stand in for his main beam and pillar yourself. The force of it comes together, his array caves in, and you take over his troops. This is the first stratagem for taking in this enemy so as to strike another.

率數未服者以對敵，若策之不行，而利誘之，又反啟其疑；於是故為自誤，責他人之失，以暗警之。警之者，反誘之也：此蓋以剛險驅之也。或曰：此遣將之法也。

When you lead a body of men who do not yet submit and face an enemy with them, if your plan does not go forward and you lure them with gain, that only stirs their doubt. So you feign a fault of your own and rebuke another man's failing, and thus warn them without saying it. To warn them is to lead them the other way round. This is driving them by hardness and by steepness. Some say: this is the way of sending out a general.

假作不知而實知，假作不為而實不可為，或將有所為。司馬懿之假病昏以誅曹爽，受巾幗假請命以老蜀兵，所以成功；姜維九伐中原，明知不可為而妄為之，則似癡矣，所以破滅。兵書曰：「故善戰者之勝也，無智名，無勇功。」當其機未發時，靜屯似癡；若假癲，則不但露機，則亂動而群疑。故假痴者勝，假癲者敗。或日：假痴可以對敵，並可以用兵。宋代，南俗尚鬼。狄青征儂智高時，大兵始出桂林之南，因佯祝曰：「勝負無以為據。」乃取百錢自持，與神約，果大捷，則投此錢盡錢面也。左右諫止，儻不如意，恐沮軍，青不聽。萬眾方聳視，已而揮手一擲，百錢旨面。於是舉兵歡呼，聲震林野，青亦大喜；顧左右，取百丁（釘）來，即隨錢疏密，布地而帖丁（釘）之，加以青紗籠，手自封焉。曰：「俟凱旋，當酬神取錢。」其後平邕州還師，如言取錢，幕府士大夫共祝視，乃兩面錢也。

He feigns not knowing, yet in truth he knows. He feigns not acting, yet in truth he cannot act, or else he is about to act. Sima Yi feigned sickness and a clouded mind to cut down Cao Shuang, and when he was sent a woman's headcloth he feigned asking leave of his lord, and so wore out the troops of Shu, and by this he succeeded. Jiang Wei attacked the Central Plain nine times, knowing well that it could not be done and yet doing it rashly, and this looks like folly, and by this he was ruined. The book of war says, "So in the winning of one who is good at war there is no name for wisdom and no merit for courage." While the moment has not yet opened, camp still and seem a fool. If you feign madness, you not only show the moment but move wildly and draw the doubt of everyone. So the one who feigns folly wins, and the one who feigns madness loses. Some say: feigning folly can be used against an enemy, and it can be used in handling troops as well. In the Song age the custom of the south honored the spirits. When Di Qing marched against Nong Zhigao and the great army had just come out south of Guilin, he made a show of praying. "Victory and defeat cannot be counted on." Then he took a hundred coins in his hand and made a bargain with the spirit: if there was to be a great victory, let every coin he threw fall face up. His attendants tried to stop him, fearing that if it did not fall out as he wished the army's spirit would sink. Di Qing would not listen. While ten thousand men craned to watch, he swung his hand and threw once, and all hundred coins fell face up. At this the whole army cried out for joy, and the sound shook the woods and the fields, and Di Qing too was greatly pleased. He turned to his attendants and had a hundred nails brought, and he fixed the coins to the ground with nails just as they lay, close or apart, and covered them with green gauze and sealed it with his own hand, and said, "When we come back in triumph, I will thank the spirit and take up the coins." Afterward he settled Yongzhou and brought the army back, and took up the coins as he had said, and the officers and gentlemen of his headquarters looked at them together, and they were coins with a face on both sides.

唆者，利使之也。利使之而不先為之便，或猶且不行。故抽梯之局，須先置梯，或示之梯。如：慕容垂、姚萇諸人慫秦苻堅侵晉，以乘機自起。

To egg a man on is to move him by gain. If you move him by gain and do not first make an opening for him, he may still not go. So in the game of taking the ladder away you must first set the ladder up, or at least show him a ladder. So it was when Murong Chui, Yao Chang and the rest egged on Fu Jian of Qin (秦) to invade Jin (晉), and rode the chance to rise on their own.

此樹根本無花而樹則可以有花，剪綵貼之，不細察者不易覺，使花與樹交相輝映，而成玲瓏全局也。此蓋布精兵於友軍之陣，完其勢以威敵也。

This tree has no flowers of its own, yet a tree may have flowers. Cut colored silk and stick it on, and one who does not look closely will hardly notice, and flower and tree shine on one another and make one whole of lovely work. This is the spreading of one's best troops through an ally's array, making the shape of his force whole so as to overawe the enemy.

為人驅使者為奴，為人尊處者為客，不能立足者為暫客，能立足者為久客，客久而不能主事者為賤客，能主事則可漸握機要，而為主矣。故反客為主之局：第一步須爭客位；第二步須乘隙；第三步須插足；第四足須握機；第五步乃成功。為主，則並人之軍矣；此漸進之陰謀也。如李淵書尊李密，密卒以敗；漢高視勢未敵項羽之先，卑事項羽，使其見信，而漸以侵其勢，至垓下一役，一舉亡之。

One whom others drive is a slave. One whom others set in a place of honor is a guest. One who cannot get a footing is a guest for the moment. One who can get a footing is a guest of long standing. One who stays long as a guest and cannot take charge of affairs is a lowly guest, and one who can take charge of affairs may little by little grip the working of things and become the host. So in the game of turning the guest into the host, the first step is to contend for the guest's place, the second is to ride the gap, the third is to get the foot in, the fourth is to grip the working of it, and at the fifth it is done. Once he is the host, he takes over another man's army. This is the hidden plan of advancing step by step. Li Yuan honored Li Mi in his letters, and Li Mi was undone by it in the end. The Han Gaozu, while his force was not yet a match for Xiang Yu, served Xiang Yu humbly and so won his trust, and little by little ate into his force, and at the single battle of Gaixia destroyed him at one stroke.