Detailed Story of 36 Strategies

The Story of the Thirty-Six Stratagems (Detailed Interpretation)

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APPENDIX:

The Story of the Thirty-Six Stratagems (Brief Introduction)

The First Stratagem - Concealing the Heaven to Survive the Sea ◎

The "heaven" in "Concealing the Heaven to Survive the Sea" It refers to the emperor, because in ancient times, the emperor was called the "Son of Heaven". When used in the art of war, "to conceal the sea from Heaven" means to hide a secret plan in an open action, so as to achieve the effect of surprise.

It is the use of camouflage to take advantage of the opportunity to take advantage of the opponent's inattention and act unexpectedly to catch them off guard.

Famous ones in ancient times include: Xue Rengui's concealment of the truth, Taishi Ci's strange plan to break out of Chu, King Zhuang of Chu's show of weakness to destroy the enemy, and He Ruobi's plan to cross the river.

The second plan is to encircle the Wei and save the Zhao ◎

"Encircle the Wei and save the Zhao" is a very successful battle in Chinese history, which advocates the enemy to avoid the real and the false, and is good at grasping the enemy's weaknesses, so that the enemy to be constrained, and thus the least cost to achieve the most complete success. It is Sun Bin's practice to utilize the enemy's elite to attack other countries, when the two armies are not able to hold each other, to take advantage of the gap to capture the enemy's home country, and when the enemy returns to his country, to strike them head-on and destroy them on the way.

Famous in ancient times are: Sun Bin's siege of Wei to save Zhao.

The third stratagem - borrowing a knife to kill a man

The stratagem of "borrowing a knife to kill a man" is to use other people's power to eliminate one's own enemy, in order to achieve the purpose of preserving oneself.

Using the stratagems of contradiction, antagonism, and dissimulation, one skillfully borrows the power of another country to defeat the enemy and can preserve one's own strength.

Famous ones in ancient times include: Cao Cao borrowed Sun Quan to kill Guan Yu, and Zheng Huan Gong borrowed a sword to kill his enemy.

The fourth stratagem is to wait for the enemy to come to the rescue.

The stratagem of "waiting for the enemy to come to the rescue" shows that when the enemy is strong, you don't necessarily have to use only the direct attack method, but to actively defend yourself, and slowly consume the enemy's vital forces, so that the enemy will become weak from strength to strength, and then wait for the right time to destroy the enemy in one fell swoop.

It is a strategy of taking advantage of a favorable situation, preventing the enemy from attacking, building up strength, and waiting for the enemy to be demoralized before taking the initiative to attack.

Famous ones in ancient times are: Sun Bin defeating the Wei army in Maling, Lu Xun waiting for Liu Bei by escaping.

The fifth plan is to take advantage of the enemy's difficulties and weaknesses to strike back, so that you can win the situation.

Taking advantage of a fire in a house to break in and loot the property, that is, the strategy of attacking the enemy when he is in danger and confusion.

Famous examples include Liu Bang's destruction of Xiang Yu, Qi's attack on Yan, and Song Xiang's benevolence.

The sixth strategy is to create a false impression, lure the enemy to make a wrong judgment, and then take action unexpectedly to destroy the enemy in one fell swoop.

Using ingenious methods to lure the enemy, make the enemy have a wrong impression, and then take advantage of the opportunity to destroy the enemy.

Famous examples in ancient times include the Battle of Guandu and Zhou Yafu's suppression of the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion.

The seventh plan is to create something out of nothing.

The beauty of the plan is that there is a falsehood in the truth, and there is a truth in the falsehood, so that the enemy will make a mistake in judgment, and then the enemy will be defeated by surprise.

The strategy of creating something out of nothing is to pretend that there is something in the absence of something, and to confuse the other side by using falsehoods and falsehoods.

The famous ones in the ancient times are: Zhang Gu borrowed arrows from a scarecrow, the Battle of Interlake, and Zhang Yi created something out of nothing.

The eighth plan - the secret of the Chencang ◎

"Secret of the Chencang" plan, is to false frontal attack to confuse the enemy, when the enemy gathered strength to defend, and then quietly sent troops detour to the rear of the enemy, to take advantage of the weakness of the enemy, so that the enemy was caught by surprise and failed.

This plan is similar to that of the east-meets-west plan, which is to pretend to attack and lure the enemy's attention to concentrate on defense, while we are attacking from the other direction. This is the strategy of taking the enemy by surprise and attacking him unawares.

Famous in ancient times are: Han Xin's secret crossing of the Chen Cang, Lv Meng's skillful seizure of Jingzhou, and Deng Wen's ability to recognize and break the enemy's plan.

The ninth plan is to watch the fire from the other side of the river.

The plan is to watch the fire from the other side of the river, which means that when the enemy has an internal conflict, we don't need to rush to attack, but to wait for the enemy's internal conflict, so that they will hate each other and fight each other, and finally take their own lives, so that we don't need to use a single soldier to achieve the desired effect.

Watch the fire on the other side of the river, and keep still, no matter what happens, just quietly observe the changes.

Famous in ancient times is: Cao Cao watching the fire across the river.

The 10th stratagem is to hide a knife in a smile

The meaning of "hide a knife in a smile" is to pretend to be very friendly and full of sincerity, so that the other party will believe it is true and must be cautiously guarded, but in fact, it is a secret plan, actively preparing, and will take action as soon as there is an opportunity, so that the other party will be caught off-guard. To appear to be smiling and kind, so as to put people off guard, while secretly planning and preparing to defeat them in one fell swoop, is a tactic that is soft on the surface, but conceals a murderous intent.

Famous examples of this strategy include: Cao Cao's wit to get rid of problems, Jing Ke's show of goodwill to assassinate the King of Qin, and Guan Yu's carelessness in losing the state of Jingzhou.

The eleventh strategy - Li Dai Taozhi ◎

"Li Dai Taozhi" is used in the art of war, it is said that when the war situation will inevitably lead to losses, we must give up local interests to protect the interests of the overall situation.

It is the strategy of giving up the plum to gain the peach, that is, to maximize the victory with minimum loss.

Famous ones in the ancient times are: Sun Bin's team of horses against a team of horses, Cheng Ying's killing his son to repay his kindness, and Gong Zi Shou's plums instead of peaches.

The twelfth stratagem is to take advantage of the enemy's mistakes and seize all favorable opportunities to expand the battle and develop the victory.

This stratagem is to take advantage of the enemy's mistakes and seize all favorable opportunities to expand the battle and develop the victory.

This stratagem is to take advantage of the enemy's mistakes and seize all favorable opportunities to expand the battle and develop the victory.

The original meaning is, when you see a sheep on the road, you take it back by the hand, which means to take away someone's things when the other party is not paying attention.

Famous ones in ancient times are: Manchu Qing Dynasty took away Daming's rivers and mountains by hand, and spreading wealth along the road to save their lives.

The 13th stratagem - to beat the grass to frighten the snake ◎

The stratagem of "beating the grass to frighten the snake" reminds us that we should know clearly about the things that we have suspicions about, and wait for the clarification before we take action, or else it will be a total loss.

With a wooden stick, we can beat the grass around us, so that the snakes hiding in the grass will run away in fear, and then we can catch them. When the enemy is unknown, you should know the situation before you start the action, so that you will not fall into the ambush of the enemy.

The famous old saying goes: "The grass is a surprise to the magistrate.

This is the first time I've ever seen a person who has been in the same boat as me, and I'm not sure if I've ever been in the same boat before. As a military strategy, it means to seize every opportunity, even the seemingly useless can be utilized to gain the initiative and expand the results.

The original meaning is that something that has lost its usefulness comes back in another form.

Famous examples in ancient times include: Li Tiekou borrowed a corpse to return to his soul, Liu Bei plundered Shu to establish himself, and Tian Zichun demanded military power for the Lord.

The Fifteenth Strategy-The Tiger Leaves the Mountain ◎

The Tiger Leaves the Mountain is a strategy for mobilizing the enemy. It is a strategy to move the tiger away from the mountain, so that the enemy has a loophole in its deployment, and the enemy can take advantage of the loophole to enter the mountain, and then it can be easy to get the victory.

The tiger is the king of the mountain, so if you want to fight the tiger, you must first lure the tiger out of the mountain. The so-called tiger falls down and is bullied by the dog, because the tiger loses all its prestige after leaving the mountain. This phrase is used in strategy, that is to say, when the strong enemy has left its base, lost its advantage, and then attacked.

Famous examples include: Han Xin's Battle of the Backwaters, and Yu Daan's Battle of the Tiger from the Mountain.

The 16th stratagem is to catch the enemy in a fight, and if you force the enemy to go to the end of his rope, he will counterattack. And deliberately letting him live will, on the contrary, weaken his momentum and disintegrate his fighting spirit. Our side can then look for the right moment to conquer the enemy.

The strategy of retreating to advance, but suppressing the first with. In the encircling attack, deliberately indulging the enemy, not arbitrarily indulging the enemy, but first relax a little, not to force the enemy too tight, the so-called force is the soldiers against, vertical is the extinction of the potential, closely followed not to force, tired of its gas, scattered and then captured, soldiers without bloodshed .

Anciently known: Zhuge Liang seven captured seven Meng Yu, Zheng Wugong clever plan to destroy Hu Bang, Wang Yi siege of Kunyang.

The 17th stratagem - Throwing bricks to lure jade ◎

"Throwing bricks to lure jade" stratagem refers to the use of similar things to confuse, entice the enemy, lure the enemy into the trap, and then take advantage of the opportunity to defeat the enemy.

The meaning is: a strategy of using something of no value for something precious and valuable. It has the meaning of exchanging a small thing for a big thing or a cheap thing for a valuable thing.

Famous ones in ancient times are: Chang Jian begged for a poem, Liu Bang was rashly trapped, and the King of Wei threw a brick to attract jade.

The 18th stratagem - Capture the Thief and Capture the King ◎

The "Capture the Thief and Capture the King" stratagem believes in attacking the main force of the enemy army and capturing the enemy leader so as to disintegrate the enemy's overall strength. Once the enemy army loses its command, it will collapse without a fight. When drawing a bow, one should be self-reinforcing; when using arrows, one should use long ones; when shooting a man, one should first shoot his horse; when capturing a thief, one should first capture the king. When fighting, the enemy's main force should be destroyed first, and the enemy's fighting force can be disintegrated by capturing its leader first.

In ancient times, there are famous: Zhang patrol plan to capture Ziqi, Cao Cao wit to solve the crisis.

◎ 19th plan - kettle bottom to take away the salary ◎

"Kettle bottom to take away the salary" plan is when the two armies face each other, one side does not directly against the enemy's front to fight against the enemy. Instead, they try to find another way to weaken the enemy's momentum from the ground up, so that they can win with the weak.

It means to draw out the paycheck and stop the boil, to eradicate it completely. In other words, when the enemy is so powerful that we can't fight him with our strength, we need to use tactics to weaken the enemy's momentum, and then yield to the other side, striking at the other side's weaknesses by surprise.

Famous examples include: Wu Han's calm retreat from the enemy, Xue Changru's courageous demoralization of the enemy, and Cao Cao's burning of the crow's nest.

The twentieth trick is to take advantage of the chaos to win. Ancient Chinese militarists utilized this technique by first trying to muddy the water and then taking advantage of the enemy's confusion to eliminate them one by one.

The original meaning is to stir up the water of a pool, make the fish confused and then capture them. By taking advantage of the enemy's internal confusion and losing their subjectivity and then attacking them, you can easily crush them.

Anciently, it is known as: the plan of the two states of Yi.

The twenty-first stratagem is to take the cicada out of its shell

The original meaning of the phrase "take the cicada out of its shell" is: when the cicada is in the process of metamorphosis, the body of the cicada is removed from its shell and goes away, leaving the cicada's shedding shell hanging on the branch. When used in military context, it refers to the strategy of getting rid of the enemy through camouflage in order to achieve our strategic objectives.

This is a clever way to leave a disguise in the nick of time, to hide oneself from the eyes and ears, and then to escape secretly.

The famous ones in ancient times are: Liu Bang's Golden Cicada Shelling, Wang Shouren's plan to get away, and Qi Jinggong's disguise to get out of the trap.

The twenty-second plan - the door is closed to catch the thief ◎

"The door is closed to catch the thief" is to say that to the weak enemy to take the four sides of the encirclement, so that the enemy can be completely annihilated. Of course, if this strategy is used well, you can even encircle an enemy that is stronger than you are.

When a thief runs into a house, close the doors and windows tightly so that there is no way for him to retreat, and then capture him, which has the flavor of catching a turtle in a jar. That is to say, tightly surrounded each other to be exhausted.

Famous ancient times: Qin and Zhao Changping battle, Fu Chai not cut off the root of the trouble.

The twenty-third stratagem is to attack the enemy from afar.

The stratagem of "attacking from afar" is that when the attempt to realize a military goal is limited by geography, the enemy in the vicinity is attacked first, and the enemy far away is united for a while. After the near enemy is captured, the far enemy will be defeated one by one.

Literally, it means: to make an alliance with a distant country in order to attack a neighboring country.

Famous examples include: Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) united the world by attacking from afar.

The twenty-fourth stratagem is to take a false road to conquer the State of Guo. In the case of a weak state in the midst of two strong states, when the enemy forces it to submit, we immediately send troops to help, take the opportunity to infiltrate the military force, control the situation, and then take the opportunity to launch a surprise attack, you can easily win. It can also be understood as the first use of A as a springboard to eliminate B, to achieve the purpose, and then back to even A together eliminated.

This is to take advantage of a small country's distress to annex it in the name of rescue.

Famous examples of this are: Zhao Yan's "Lip Death and Teeth Chill" and Duke Xian of Jin's "False Road to conquer Guo".

The 25th stratagem is to steal a beam and replace it with a column.

The stratagem of "stealing a beam and replacing it with a column" means to secretly replace the enemy's main force, and then take advantage of the opportunity to take control of the enemy or to annex it.

It is the strategy of secretly switching the opponent's main force and weakening the battlefield. It has the same meaning as stealing the sun and stealing the dragon and turning the phoenix.

Famous ones in ancient times include: Qin Shi Huang's strategy to destroy Qi, and Zhao Gao's pretense to establish Hu He.

The twenty-sixth stratagem - pointing at the mulberry tree and scolding the locusts ◎

The meaning of "pointing at the mulberry tree and scolding the locusts" is to intentionally take advantage of the faults of certain people, and through the punishment of these people, to warn those who do not obey one's own command.

The powerful, in order to bring the weak into submission, should give warnings without revealing themselves, euphemistically, as an indirect method of accusation.

Famous in ancient times are: You Meng resigned to warn King Zhuang, Sima Rang Tho to control the hearts of the people.

The twenty-seventh plan - the fake stupidity is not upside down◎

The "fake stupidity is not crazy", focus on the word "fake". The word "fake" means to disguise. The first thing I'd like to say is that I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do this, but I'm sure I'm going to be able to do it. When the time is right, the enemy will be surprised and attacked, and the enemy will be caught off guard, and will surely fail.

It is to pretend to be demented, so that the other side to eliminate wariness, in fact, the inner very calm, and wait for the best time to take immediate action, and pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger is synonymous.

Famous examples include: Sima Yi's fraudulent illness to deceive Cao Shuang, Di Qing's throwing money to boost the army's morale, and Yan Wang's fake dementia.

The 28th stratagem - "to draw the ladder from the house"

"Drawing the ladder from the house" is a military strategy to lure the enemy with a small advantage in order to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

This is a strategy of using small gains to lure the opponent into a deeper dilemma, and then eliminating him completely, leaving no way back. It means the same thing as "to remove the boards from the bridge" and "to remove the bridge from the river".

Famous ancient times: Song Taizu cup wine release military power, Xiang Yu kettle sinking boat plan.

The twenty-ninth plan - bluff ◎

The "blossom on the tree" refers to the tree originally did not have a flower, but you can borrow a fake flower embellished in the above, so that it is difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

When you are weak, you can borrow someone else's power or some other factor to make yourself look strong, so that you can bluff your way through the enemy.

When you are at a disadvantage, you can hide your own strength and pretend to be very powerful, so that the enemy will not be able to figure out the phase, so that you can win by surprise, which is quite a flavor of death and then survival.

The old famous: Li Shimin plan to save Emperor Yang of Sui.

This is the first time I've ever seen a person who has been in the world for a long time, and I'm not sure if I've ever been in the world for a long time. In military terms, it means to take advantage of the opportunity to support the allied forces to install your own forces, and then systematically and gradually control the allied forces.

Turning from a passive state to an active one, and then taking control, has the same significance as taking over the host by clamoring, but it is done in a gradual way, and as soon as there is an opportunity, it is grasped, and then taken over the dominant power.

Famous in ancient times are: Liu Bang's humiliation, Sima's anti-passenger, Guo Ziyi's passive to active.

The thirty-first plan - the beauty plan◎

The beauty plan means that for the enemy who has a strong army, you have to subdue his commander in chief, and for the commander in chief who has a great deal of wisdom, you have to try to corrode his will. As long as the enemy's generals are demoralized and his soldiers demoralized, then the enemy army will have no fighting power. Therefore, by targeting the enemy's weaknesses and infiltrating and disintegrating them, it will be easier to destroy them.

Soldiers strong attack their generals, will be wise to cut down on their feelings, will be weak soldiers decadence, its momentum since the withering, in order to profit from the enemy, smooth and mutual protection. The beauty plan is to use beautiful women to confuse the opponent, so that he will indulge in pleasure and lose the will to fight.

Famous ones in the ancient times are: Xi Shi's charming Fu Chai, King Zhou's death by female sex, Sun Quan's posting of his wife and dismantling of his soldiers.

The thirty-second stratagem - the empty city stratagem◎

"The empty city stratagem" is a psychological tactic, mainly to take advantage of the enemy's suspicion of psychological weaknesses, in the strength of the empty, deliberately make no defense appearance, so that the enemy have doubts, do not dare to make a further attack, and thus to make their own danger into a safe.

This is a kind of psychological warfare, so that the enemy is suspicious, thinking that we have an ambush, and do not dare to attack, to pretend to disrupt the enemy's judgment, so that Axel retreated and lifted the crisis, which is the last resort, if the enemy is recognized, it may be a total loss of the army.

Famous in ancient times are: Zhu Geliang set up an empty city plan, Zhang Shougui empty city to retreat from the enemy.

The 33rd stratagem - the counter-intelligence stratagem ◎

The essence of the "counter-intelligence stratagem" is to skillfully utilize the enemy spies to serve your own side in turn.

The use of spies to disseminate false information in order to achieve the purpose of disassociation and division.

Famous examples in ancient times include: Chen Ping's disassociation of Fan Zeng, who was deposed, and Yue Fei's disassociation to break the robbers' army.

The thirty-fourth plan - the bitter flesh trick ◎

The "bitter flesh trick" is a special practice of the disassociation. The use of this plan, "self harm" is true, "other harm" is false, in order to true false. Your side should make a false impression of internal conflict intensification, and then send someone to pretend to be persecuted, and take the opportunity to penetrate into the enemy's internal espionage activities, in order to achieve the purpose of manipulating the enemy and striking the enemy. Deliberately injuring themselves, using blood and tears to exchange for the enemy's trust, and then counter-intelligence to subvert the enemy. The famous ones in ancient times are: Huang Gai's bitter meat trick, Wang Zuo's broken arm to say Wen Long, and Yao Li's assassination of Qing Ji.

The thirty-fifth plan - the chain of stratagems ◎

The "chain of stratagems" refers to the use of a number of stratagems, stratagems connected, one stratagem tired of the enemy, a stratagem to attack the enemy, so that any strong enemy, will be unbreakable.

It means to use one plan to confuse the enemy's judgment, and then to attack with another plan, so that one plan can make the enemy contradict each other internally, in order to achieve the purpose of defeating the enemy.

Famous in ancient times are: Wang Yun, Zhang Yi's ingenious plan to cross the world.

The thirty-sixth plan - to go for the best strategy◎

"Going for the best strategy" refers to the situation where the enemy and the enemy have a huge difference in strength, the party to take the initiative to retreat in a planned manner, to avoid the enemy's front for the time being. Then look for an opportunity to retreat to advance and win the battle with the weak.

Going for the top strategy is not the wisest strategy in the 36 Stratagems, but rather, when the situation is very dangerous, go just right, go to make people feel smart approach.

Famous ones in ancient times include Cao Cao's chicken rib tactic and Tang Daoji's walk to avoid the Wei army.