Chapter 4: Chaos Stratagems

第四套：混战计

　

第十九计 釜底抽薪

extracting the firewood from under the cauldron

 

　

古：不敌其力，而消其势，兑下乾上之象。

　　

白：就是抽薪止沸，彻底根除的意思。换句话说，当敌人势力强大，我方无法以实力与其相对抗时，就要运用策略以削弱敌方的气势，进而屈服对方，出其不意的打击对方的弱点。

　　

英：

　　Take out the leading argument or asset of someone; "steal someone's thunder". This is the very essence of indirect approach: instead of attacking enemy's fighting forces, the attacks are directed against his ability to wage war.

 

第二十计 混水摸鱼

muddling the water to catch the fish; fishing in troubled waters

 

　

古：乘其阴乱，利其弱而无主。随，以向晦入宴息。

　　

白：原意是指搅混池水，使鱼儿昏头转向，然后加以捕捉。利用敌人内部混乱，失去主体性时再予以攻击，即可以轻易击溃对方。

　　

英：

　　Create confusion and use this confusion to further your own goals.

 

第二十一计 金蝉脱壳

slipping away by casting off a cloak; getting away like the cicada sloughing its skin

 

　　

古：存其形，完其势;友不疑，敌不动。巽而止蛊。

　　

白：在千钧一发之际，设法留下伪装的假像，以掩人耳目，然后暗中逃走，这种巧妙的脱身方法就是金蝉脱壳。

　　

英：

　　Mask yourself. Either leave one's distinctive traits behind, thus becoming inconspicuous, or masquerade as something or someone else.

　　This strategy is mainly used to escape from enemy of superior strength.

 

第二十二计 关门捉贼

catching the thief by closing / blocking his escape route

 

　

古：小敌困之。剥，不利有攸往。

　　

白：当贼跑到屋内时，将门窗关紧，让其无路可退，再加以捕捉，有瓮中捉鳖的味道。也就是说紧紧的包围对方予以一网打尽。

　　

英：

　　To capture your enemy, or more generally in fighting wars, to deliver the final blow to your enemy, you must plan prudently if you want to succeed. Do not rush into action. Before you "move in for the kill", first cut off your enemy's escape routes, and cut off any routes through which outside help can reach them.

 

第二十三计 远交近攻

befriending the distant enemy while attacking a nearby enemy

 

 

古：形禁势格，利从近取，害以远隔。上火下泽。

　　

白：照字面上的意思是说：与远方的国家缔交联盟，以攻击邻国。

　　

英：

　　It is known that nations that border each other become enemies while nations separated by distance and obstacles make better allies.

　　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.

 

第二十四计 假途伐虢

attacking the enemy by passing through a common neighbor

 

　

古：两大之间，敌胁以从，我假以势。困，有言不信。

　　

白：就是趁小国有危难的时候，藉著救援之名而加以并吞。

　　

英：

　　Borrow the resources of an ally to attack a common enemy. Once the enemy is defeated, use those resources to turn on the ally that lent you them in the first place.

 

Chapter 5: Proximate Stratagems

第五套：并战计

 

第二十五计 偷梁换柱

stealing the beams and pillars and replacing them with rotten timbers

 

　　

古：频更其阵，抽其劲旅，待其自败，而后乘之。曳其轮也。

　　

白：就是暗中将对方的主力调换，削弱战力的策略。和偷天换日、偷龙转凤的意义相同的。

　　

英：

　　Disrupt the enemy's formations, interfere with their methods of operations,  change the rules in which they are used to following, go contrary to their standard training.

　　In this way you remove the supporting pillar, the common link that makes a group of men an effective fighting force.

 

第二十六计 指桑骂槐

reviling/abusing the locust tree while pointing to the mulberry

 

　

古：大凌小者，警以诱之。刚中而应，行险而顺。

　　

白：势力强大者要使弱小者屈服，应不露痕迹，委婉的提出警告，是一种间接的指责方法。

　　

英：

　　To discipline, control, or warn others whose status or position excludes them from direct confrontation; use analogy and innuendo. Without directly naming names, those accused cannot retaliate without revealing their complicity.

 

第二十七计 假痴不癫

feigning madness without becoming insane

 

　

古：宁伪作不知不为，不伪作假知妄为。静不露机，云雷屯也。

　　

白：便是装成痴呆状，让对方消除戒心，其实内心非常的冷静，等最佳的时机就立刻行动。

　　

英：

　　Hide behind the mask of a fool, a drunk, or a madman to create confusion  about your intentions and motivations. Lure your opponent into underestimating your ability until, overconfident, he drops his guard. Then you may attack.

 

第二十八计 上屋抽梯

removing the ladder after the enemy has climbed up the roof

 

 

　　

古：假之以便，唆之使前，断其援应，陷之死地。遇毒，位不当也。

　　

白：以利益诱使对方深入困境后，再彻底的予以消灭，不留后路。和过桥拆板和过河拆桥意思是一样的。

　　

英：

　　With baits and deceptions, lure 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 the elements of nature.

 

第二十九计 树上开花

putting artificial flowers on trees

 

 

　　

古：借局布势，力小势大。鸿渐于陆，其羽可以为仪也。

　　

白：当己方处於劣势的时候，隐瞒自己的实力，明明乏力却故作很有实力的样子，让敌方摸不清相，以便能出奇致胜，颇有置之死地而后生的味道。

　　

英：

　　Tying silk blossoms on a dead tree gives the illusion that the tree is healthy. Through the use of artifice and disguise, make something of no value appear valuable; of no threat appear dangerous; of no use appear useful.

 

第三十计 反客为主

turning from the guest into the host

 

 

　　

古：乘隙插足，扼其主机，渐之进也。

　　

白：由被动的状态转为主动，进而掌握到控制权，与喧宾夺主意义相同，是以渐进的方式进行，一有机会就立刻把握住，进而掌握主导权。

　　

英：

　　Usurp leadership in a situation where you are normally subordinate. Infiltrate your target. Initially, pretend to be a guest to be accepted, but develop from inside and become the owner later.

 

Chapter 6: Desperate Stratagems

第六套：败战计

　　

第三十一计 美人计

using seductive women to corrupt the enemy

 

 

　　

古：兵强者，攻其将;将智者，伐其情。将弱兵颓，其势自萎。利用御寇，顺相保也。

　

白：兵强攻其将，将智伐其情，将弱兵颓，其势自萎，以利御寇，顺而相保。美人计就是用美女来迷惑对方，使其耽溺於享乐，失去战斗的意志。

　　

英：

　　Send your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his camp. This  strategy can work on three levels.

　　First, the ruler becomes so enamoured with the beauty that he neglects his duties and allows his vigilance to wane.

　　Second, other males at court will begin to display aggressive behaviour that inflames minor differences hindering co-operation and destroying morale.

　　Third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot intrigues further exacerbating the situation.

　

第三十二计 空城计

presenting a bold front to conceal unpreparedness

 

 

 

古：虚者虚之，疑中生疑。刚柔之际，奇而复奇。

　　

白：这是一种心理战，让敌人心生疑虑，以为我方有埋伏，而不敢贸然出击，以佯装来扰乱敌人的判断力，使其嶨动退兵而解除危机，这也是不得已的办法，若被敌方识破的话，可能会全军覆没。

　　

英：

　　When the enemy is superior in numbers and your situation is such that you expect to be overrun at any moment, then drop all pretense of military preparedness, act calmly and taunt the enemy, so that the enemy will think you have a huge ambush hidden for them.

　　It works best by acting calm and at ease when your enemy expects you to be tense.

　　

第三十三计 反间计

sowing discord among the enemy

 

　

古：疑中之疑。比之自内，不自失也。

　　

白：利用间谍传播假情报，以达到离间分化的目的。

　　

英：

　　Undermine your enemy's ability to fight by secretly causing discord between him and his friends, allies, advisors, family, commanders, soldiers, and population. While he is preoccupied settling internal disputes, his ability to  attack or defend is compromised.

第三十四计 苦肉计

deceiving the enemy by torturing one's own man

 

　　

古：人不自害，受害必真。假真真假，间以得行。童蒙之吉，顺以巽也。

　　

白：故意伤害自己，利用血泪换取敌人的信任，再行反间颠覆敌人。

　　

英：

　　Pretending to be injured has two possible applications. In the first, the enemy is lulled into relaxing his guard since 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 mutual enemy.

第三十五计 连环计

coordinating one stratagem with another

 

　　　

古：将多兵众，不可以敌，使其自累，以杀其势。在师中吉，承天宠也。

　　

白：就是计上计，先用一个计谋混淆敌人的判断力，再以另一个计谋加以攻击，如此计中生计，使敌人内部互相矛盾，以达到击败敌人的目的。

　　

英：

　　In important matters, one should use several stratagems applied 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 fails, then the chain breaks and the whole scheme fails.

第三十六计 走为上计

decamping being the best; running away as the best choice

 

　　　

古：全师避敌。左次无咎，未失常也。　　

白：走为上策不是三十六计中最明智的计策，而是说当情况非常危险的时候，走到恰到好处，走到让人觉得聪明的　

英：

　　If it becomes obvious that your current course of action will lead to defeat, then retreat and regroup. When your side is losing, there are only three choices remaining: surrender, compromise, or escape.Surrender is complete defeat, compromise is half defeat, but escape is not defeat.As long as you are not defeated, you still have a chance.This is the most famous of the stratagems, immortalized in the form of a Chinese idiom: "Of the  Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best".

小伙伴们，这些富含古代军事思想和人生哲理的计策，在日常生活中也是可以灵活运用的。希望这篇文章能够帮助大家获得更好的生活~