The art of yin and yang
In the field of tactics, the way of Yin and Yang is about the relationship between exterior and interior. In a narrow sense, Machiavelli's technique of yin and yang is the technique of "covering the interior with the exterior", decorating the yin with the exterior, hiding the essential yin with the exterior, confusing each other with superficial phenomena and protecting themselves.
The story of Liu Bei's seeking for the end of Cao Cao and Yang in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is enough to explain to us what the art of Yin and Yang is. After Lu Bu was killed, Liu Bei secretly asked Dong Cheng to crusade against Cao, but on the surface, he pretended that he had no ambition, and even Guan and Zhang were confused by him. When Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei enjoyed growing vegetables, he let his guard down a little, but he was suspicious and worried that Liu Huangshu was duplicitous. He used his childhood to beat Liu Bei while making wine. Liu Bei played it by ear, and then fled with his military forces on the grounds of intercepting Yuan Shu.
The reason why Liu Bei can "break open the iron cage to escape the tiger and leopard and unlock the golden lock to escape the dragon" is because he has the skill of yin and yang. The slaying of Cao Cao was Liu Bei's "Yin" assistance to the Han Dynasty. The hero is Yang, and his real intention is confidential.
The art of scarcity and excess
The so-called virtual, not also; The so-called reality is that there is. Use solid when needed, and empty where needed. If you master the art of truth and falsehood, you master the inevitable path.
In the modern history of China, Zeng Guofan was a man who knew the art of truth and falsehood. Zeng Guofan was proud of his career in his early years. He went from seven products to two products in ten years. Later, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom revolted, Zeng Guofan formed a local militia and developed into the Xiang Army, which became a force relied on by the Qing government. In the three years of Tongzhi, Zeng Guofan led the Xiang army to capture Tianjing, and the Taiping Army failed. At that time, the country was in turmoil and people were in chaos. Zeng Guofan is armed to the teeth, and if he has different ambitions, he can also do it. However, when Zeng Guofan was fully armed, he chose the road of self-cutting, self-thinning and self-withdrawal. The Qing government abolished it.
He won the trust and appreciation of Cixi. Since ancient times, few people can get away with it in officialdom. It can be said that only a man like Zeng Guofan, who knows what he needs and skillfully uses the technique of truth and falsehood, can become the first person in the Qing Dynasty to seal the marquis of Wu as a scholar and spend the rest of his life safely.