The Thirty-Six Stratagems The thirty-six stratagems, used both in real warfare and by "corporate warriors" , attributed to Sun

Tsu (of The Art of War fame), though he probably never came up with such a list (especially since the names of several strategies reference events from long after his death). That said, quite a lot of these are either in cluded in The Art of War or immediately deducible from it. Alternatively, and slightly more credibly, attributed to Zhuge Liang. Yes, that Zhuge Liang. Apparently he was such a great strategist that a book of strategies naturally had to have his name on it (he was also such a great strategist he go t retconned to being a full-on sorcerer). Strategy 36 most likely came first as the advice of a strategist: "Of the thirty -six (i.e. various) schemes, a tactical retreat would be the wisest course of ac tion". Later generations would then fill in the other thirty five using famous b attles from Real Life or Historical Fiction. More than a few of these may be considered dirty fighting. The stratagems are traditionally divided into six groups, for the situations in which they are best used. This page uses the translated names for the groupings taken from Lure the Tiger Out of the Mountains: The Thirty-Six Stratagems of Anc ient China, a compilation of the following in full-length book form written by G ao Yuan (and sadly now out of print). The names of the stratagems themselves hav e varied translations. These strategems are some of The Oldest Tricks In The Book. The List: Strategems When Commanding Superiority Deceive the heavens and cross the ocean: Mask your real goals with a fake goal u ntil your aims are achieved; the enemy will be so annoyed with the constant fals e alarms that they will consider future alarms Somebody Else's Problem. (This ru le is also used as a Chinese aphorism for "to pull the wool over someone's eyes" .) Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao: Avoid a head on battle with a strong enemy, and inst ead strike at his weakness (for example, a weaker ally) elsewhere. The name came from Qi forcing Wei forces to retreat from laying siege to Zhao's capital by la ying siege towards Wei's capital in 354-353BC. Kill With a Borrowed Knife: Cause damage to the enemy by getting a third party t o do the deed or causing an Enemy Civil War. Substitute Leisure for Labor: Have your troops well-prepared for battle, in the same time that the enemy is rushing to fight against you, ideally resulting in t heir exhausted troops running into your fresh soldiers on the terms of your choo sing. Loot a Burning House: The best time to attack an opponent is when they have thei r own problems to deal with. Though he who loots a burning house should be caref ul lest he become trapped inside. Clamor in the East, Attack in the West: Get the enemy to focus his forces elsewh ere, and then attack a position that would be weakly defended. Stratagems for Confrontation Create Something from Nothing: Make somebody believe there was something when th ere is in fact nothing, or vice versa (i.e. lie like a rug). Openly Repair the Walkway, but Sneak through the passage of Chencang: Deceive th e enemy with an obvious approach that will take a very long time, while surprisi ng him by taking a shortcut and sneak up to him. Observe the Fire from the Opposite Shore, or Sit on the Mountain and Watch the T igers Fight: Delay entering the field of battle until all the other players have become exhausted fighting amongst themselves, then go in at full strength and p ick up the pieces. Hide a Knife behind a Smile: Charm and ingratiate yourself to your enemy. When y ou have gained his trust, move against him in secret. (This rule is also used as a Chinese aphorism for someone with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.) Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree: Sacrifice short-term objecti ves in order to gain the long-term goal. (Peaches are associated with immortalit y; see eg. Journey to the West.)

Take the Opportunity to Pilfer a Goat: While carrying out your plans, be flexibl e enough to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself, however smal l, and avail yourself of any profit, however slight. (This is also used as an ap horism for Stealing From The Till or the Five Finger Discount.) Stratagems for Attack Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake: Do something without aim, but make it so sp ectacular to provoke a response of the enemy, thereby giving away his plans or p osition, or just taunt him. Do something unusual, strange, and unexpected as thi s will arouse the enemy's suspicion and disrupt his thinking. However, an imprud ent act will give your position or intentions away to the enemy. Borrow a Corpse to Resurrect the Soul: Revive something from the past by giving it a new purpose, or reinterpret it to your advantage. Lure the Tiger Down From the Mountain: Lure an opponent away from his field of a dvantage, thus separating him from his source of strength. To Catch Something, First Set it Free: Cornered prey will often mount a final De speration Attack; to prevent this, you let the enemy believe he still has a chan ce for freedom. Toss out a Brick to attract Jade: Bait someone by making him believe he gains so mething or just make him react to it and obtain something valuable from him in r eturn. To Capture the Bandits, capture their Leader: If the enemy's army is strong but is allied to the commander only by money or threats, then take aim at the leader ; the rest of the army will disperse or come over to your side. If, however, the y are allied to the leader through loyalty, then beware, the army can continue t o fight on after his death out of vengeance. Stratagems for Confused Situations Steal the Firewood from under the Pot: Take out the leading argument or asset of your target, denying your enemy the resources needed to oppose you. Stir up the Waters to catch a Fish: Create confusion and use this confusion to f urther your own goals. Slough off the Cicada's Golden Shell: Create an illusion to fit your goals and d istract others. (A secondary meaning for this rule would be Faking the Dead.) Shut the Door to catch the Thief: If you have the chance to completely capture t he enemy then you should do so, thereby bringing the battle or war to a quick an d lasting conclusion. Befriend a Distant State while attacking a Neighbour: When you are the strongest in one field, your greatest threat is from the second strongest in your field, not the strongest from another field, and thus the distant neighbor will make a good ally, however temporary. Obtain Safe Passage to conquer the state of Guo: Borrow the resources of an ally to attack a common enemy. Once the enemy is defeated, use those resources to tu rn on the ally that lent you them in the first place. This comes from Jin's conq uer over the states of Guo and Yu by bribing Yu's ruler to obtain a safe passage for Jin forces to conquer Guo in 658BC. Without Guo's protection, Yu was in tur n conquered by Jin in 655BC. Stratagems for Gaining Ground Replace the Beams with Rotten Timbers: Disrupt the enemy's formations, interfere with their methods of operations, change the rules which they are used to follo wing, go contrary to their standard training. Point at the Mulberry tree, but curse the Locust: To discipline, control, or war n others whose status or position excludes them from direct confrontation; use a nalogy and innuendo. Without directly naming names, those accused cannot retalia te without revealing their complicity. Feign Madness but Keep your Balance: Hide behind the mask of a fool, a drunk, or a madman to create confusion about your intentions and motivations. Lure them onto the Roof, then take away the Ladder: With baits and deceptions, l ure your enemy into treacherous terrain, then cut off his lines of communication and avenue of escape; to save himself, he must fight both your own forces and t he elements of nature. Deck the Tree with False Blossoms: Through the use of artifice and disguise, mak

e something of no value appear valuable; of no threat appear dangerous; of no us e appear useful. Exchange the roles of Host and Guest: Usurp leadership in a situation where you are normally subordinate. Infiltrate your target. Initially, pretend to be a gue st to be accepted, but develop from inside and become the owner later. Stratagems for Desperate Straits The Beauty Trap: Send your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his cam p. This strategy can work on three levels: First, the ruler becomes so enamored with the beauty that he neglects his duties and allows his vigilance to wane; se cond, other males at court will begin to display aggressive behavior that inflam es minor differences hindering co-operation and destroying morale; third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot intrigues, furth er exacerbating the situation. The Empty Fort Strategy: When the enemy is superior in numbers and your situatio n is such that you expect to be overrun at any moment, then drop all presence of military preparedness and act calmly so that the enemy will think you have hidd en reserves and want to trap them into the fort. Let the Enemy's own spy sow discord in the Enemy camp: Undermine your enemy's in telligence-gathering abilities by using his own spies against him or planting yo ur own agents among his. Injure yourself to gain the Enemy's trust: Pretending to be injured has two poss ible applications. In the first, the enemy is lulled into relaxing his guard sin ce he no longer considers you to be an immediate threat. The second is a way of ingratiating yourself to your enemy by pretending the injury was caused by a mut ual enemy. Chain Stratagems: In important matters, one should use several stratagems applie d simultaneously after another as in a chain of stratagems. Keep different plans operating in an overall scheme; however, in this manner if any one strategy fai ls, then the chain breaks and the whole scheme fails. If all else fails, Retreat: The best battle is one fought with your side never h aving to mobilize, but if it becomes obvious that your current course of action will lead to defeat, then retreat and regroup.