Stratagems for the Losing Battle敗戰計

兵強將智，不可以敵，勢必事先。事之以土地，以增其勢，如六國之事秦：策之最下者也。事之以幣帛，以增其富，如宋之事遼金：策之下者也。惟事以美人，以佚其志，以弱其體，以增其下怨。如勾踐以西施重寶取悅夫差，乃可轉敗為勝。

When the troops are strong and the general is wise, he cannot be met, and the force of things is such that you must serve him. To serve him with land and so add to his force, as the six states served Qin (秦), is the lowest of plans. To serve him with silk and tribute and so add to his wealth, as the Song served the Liao and the Jin, is a low plan. There remains only serving him with a beautiful woman, to loosen his will, to weaken his body, and to swell the resentment of those beneath him, as Goujian pleased Fuchai with Xi Shi and with precious things, and only then could turn defeat into victory.

虛虛實實，兵無常勢。虛而示虛，諸葛而後，不乏其人。如吐蕃陷瓜州，王君煥死，河西惱懼。以張守圭為瓜州刺史，領餘眾，方復築州城。版干裁立，敵又暴至。略無守御之具。城中相顧失色，莫有鬥志。守圭日：「徒眾我寡，又瘡痍之後，不可以矢石相持，須以權道制之。」乃於城上，置酒作樂，以會將士。敵疑城中有備，不敢攻而退。又如齊祖廷為北徐州刺史，至州，會有陳寇，百姓多反。廷不關城門。守陴者，皆令下城，靜座街巷，禁斷行人雞犬。賊無所見聞，不測所以，或疑人走城空，不設警備。廷復令大叫，鼓噪聒天，賊大驚，頓時走散。

The empty and the solid run together, and troops have no fixed shape of force. Being empty and showing that one is empty — after Zhuge Liang there have been no few such men. When the Tubo took Guazhou and Wang Junhuan died, Hexi was in dread. Zhang Shougui was made prefect of Guazhou, and he led the remnant and had just begun to build the prefectural wall again. The rammed earth frames were barely up when the enemy came suddenly once more. There was hardly a thing to hold the place with, and within the town men looked at one another and lost their color and had no will to fight. Zhang Shougui said, "They are many and we are few, and we are fresh from our wounds, so we cannot stand against them with arrows and stones. We must master them by an expedient." So he set out wine on the wall and had music played, and gathered his officers and men there. The enemy suspected there were defenses within the town, and dared not attack, and withdrew. So too when Zu Ting (祖珽) of Qi was made prefect of Beixuzhou and reached his prefecture, raiders from Chen (陳) happened to come in and many of the people turned against him. Zu Ting did not shut the town gates. He had all the men on the battlements come down from the wall and sit quietly in the streets, and he stopped the sound of passersby and of chickens and dogs. The raiders saw nothing and heard nothing and could not make out the reason for it, and some suspected the people had fled and the town stood empty, and they set no watch. Then Zu Ting had his men shout out, and the drumming and the war cries shook the sky, and the raiders were greatly startled and scattered and fled in a moment.

間者，使敵自相疑忌也；反間者，因敵之間而間之也。如燕昭王薨，惠王自為太子時，不快於樂毅。田單乃縱反間曰：「樂毅與燕王有隙，畏誅，欲連兵王齊，齊人未附。故且緩攻即墨，以待其事。齊人唯恐他將來，即墨殘矣。」惠王聞之，即使騎劫代將，毅遂奔趙。又如周瑜利用曹操間諜，以間其將；陳平以金縱反間於楚軍，間范增，楚王疑而去之。亦疑中之疑之局也。

To set a spy (間) is to make the enemy doubt and envy one another. To turn a spy (反間) is to use the enemy's own spy and so set them at odds. When King Zhao of Yan died, King Hui came to the throne, who had been ill pleased with Yue Yi since his days as crown prince. Tian Dan then let loose a turned spy who said, "Yue Yi is at odds with the king of Yan and fears he will be put to death. He wishes to join his troops together and be king in Qi, but the people of Qi have not yet come over to him. So for the time he slackens the attack on Jimo and waits on that business. The people of Qi fear nothing but that another general will come. Then Jimo is finished." King Hui heard it and at once replaced the general with Qi Jie, and Yue Yi fled to Zhao. So too Zhou Yu used Cao Cao's spies to set his generals at odds, and Chen Ping used gold to let loose turned spies among the Chu army and set them against Fan Zeng, and the king of Chu doubted him and cast him off. This too is the game of doubt within doubt.

間者，使敵人相疑也；反間者，因敵人之疑，而實其疑也；苦肉計者，蓋假作自間以間人也。凡遣與己有隙者以誘敵人，約為響應，或約為共力者，皆苦肉計之類也。如：鄭武公伐胡而先以女妻胡君，並戮關其思；韓信下齊而驪生遭烹。

To set a spy is to make the enemy doubt one another. To turn a spy is to use the enemy's doubt and make that doubt solid. The stratagem of wounding one's own flesh is feigning that one's own side has been set at odds, so as to set another at odds. Every case of sending a man who is at odds with you to lure the enemy, with a promise to answer him from within or a promise to join strength with him, is of the kind of the stratagem of wounding one's own flesh. So Duke Wu of Zheng, meaning to attack Hu (胡), first gave his daughter in marriage to the lord of Hu (胡君), and killed Guan Qisi besides. And when Han Xin brought Qi down, Li Yiji was boiled to death.

龐統使曹操戰艦勾連，而後縱火焚之，使不得脫。則連環計者，其結在使敵自累，而後圖之。蓋一計累敵，一計攻敵，兩計扣用，以摧強勢也。如宋畢再遇嘗引敵與戰，且前且卻，至於數四。視日已晚，乃以香料煮黑豆，布地上。復前搏戰，佯敗走。敵乘勝追逐。其馬已饑，聞豆香，乃就食，鞭之不前。遇率師反攻，遂大勝。皆連環之計也。

Pang Tong had Cao Cao's warships hooked and linked together, and then set fire to them and burned them so that they could not get free. So in the stratagem of linked rings the knot of it lies in making the enemy bind himself, and then plotting against him. One stratagem binds the enemy and one stratagem strikes him, and the two stratagems are worked together to break a strong force. Bi Zaiyu of the Song once drew the enemy into a fight, going forward and falling back three or four times over. Seeing that the day was already late, he boiled black beans with spices and strewed them on the ground, then went forward and fought again and feigned defeat and fled. The enemy pursued on the strength of their win, but their horses were already hungry, and when they caught the smell of the beans they set to eating, and the whip would not move them on. Bi Zaiyu led his troops about and struck back, and so won a great victory. These are all stratagems of linked rings.

敵勢全勝，我不能戰，則必降，必和，必走。降則全敗，和則半敗，走則未敗。未敗者，勝之轉機也。如宋畢再遇與金人對壘，度金兵至者日眾，難與爭鋒。一夕拔營去，留旗幟於營，縛生羊懸之，置其前二足於鼓上，羊不堪懸，則足擊鼓有聲。金人不覺為空營，相持數日，乃覺，欲追之，則已遠矣。可謂善走者矣！

When the enemy's force is wholly the stronger and I cannot fight, then I must surrender, or make peace, or run. To surrender is to lose wholly. To make peace is to lose by half. To run is not yet to have lost. Not to have lost is the hinge on which winning turns. When Bi Zaiyu of the Song faced the men of Jin across their lines, he reckoned that the Jin troops were growing more numerous by the day and that it was hard to contend with their point. In a single night he pulled up his camp and left, leaving the banners standing in it, and he tied up live sheep and hung them with their two forelegs set on the drums. The sheep could not bear to hang there, and their feet beat the drums and made a sound. The men of Jin did not realize the camp was empty, and they stood facing it for several days before they saw it, and when they wished to pursue he was already far off. He may well be called a man who knew how to run!