brief introduction

The twenty-fifth plan of the thirty-sixth plan-stealing the column, metaphorically playing tricks in the dark, confusing the fake with the real. "Thirty-six Tactics" or "Thirty-six Tactics" refers to the thirty-six tactics of China's ancient art of war, which originated in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and was written in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is a military work based on China's excellent ancient military thoughts and rich struggle experience, and it is one of the long-standing cultural heritages of the Chinese nation.

original text

Frequently, draw on its strength, wait for its self-defeat, and then take ① to drag its wheel ②.

To annotate ...

(1) several "its" in the sentence, all refers to the Allies, namely the Allies.

(2) Drag its wheel: "The dispute of the Book of Changes, discipline. Ji Ji, age name, is a different overlap (from Xiakan). The upper hexagram indicates that the ridge is water, and the lower hexagram indicates that separation is fire. When water catches fire, the water potential overwhelms the fire, and the fire fighting is a great success, so it is called "economic aid". Both, already; Economy and success. The ninth day of this book? " Notes on Elephant: "It is duty-bound to drag its wheels. "It means that the wheels can't run when dragging the car.

This meter uses this principle, that is, just like dragging a wheel, the car can't run. If we pull out our friend's strength, just like pulling out a beam, the house will collapse and we can control him.

Notes/comments/remarks (by editors or authors)

The array is vertical and horizontal, with the sky as a beam and the earth axis as a column. The beams and columns are made of elite soldiers, and you can know all the elite soldiers by looking at their array. When fighting other enemies, they frequently change positions, secretly exchange their elite soldiers, and even replace them with pillars; He became a soldier when the situation collapsed. And this enemy is the first strategy to attack other enemies.

analyse

This attention is mainly from the perspective of military deployment. In ancient times, both sides had to take positions. The array should be deployed in four locations: east, west, south and north. There is a "horizontal sky" in the array, which is the girder of the array; The "ground axis" is in the center of the array and is the pillow of the array. The position of beam and column is the place where the main force is deployed. Therefore, by observing the enemy lines, we can find the position of the enemy's main force. If we fight jointly with friendly forces, we must try to change the friendly forces' lineup many times, secretly change their main forces, and send our own troops to replace their pillars, which will definitely make their positions out of our control. At this time, you should immediately annex the friendly forces. This is the primary strategy of annexing one enemy before attacking another.

The above remarks reflect that in feudal society, the so-called "friendly army" is only a temporary alliance, so "merger alliance" is common. But to understand this plan from the military strategy, the focus can also be on "more frequent and common arrays" against the enemy. That is to say, feint many times, prompting the enemy to change his lineup, and then waiting for an opportunity to attack his weakness. This strategy of mobilizing the enemy can also achieve good results.

Edit this paragraph to explore the historical origin.

Stealing the beam and replacing the column refers to secretly changing the essence and content of things by stealing, so as to achieve the purpose of being cheated. "Stealing the sky", "stealing the dragon for the phoenix" and "switching the bag" all have the same meaning. Militarily, when fighting against the enemy together, the friendly front is repeatedly changed to change its strength. As soon as the friendly forces have the opportunity, they are all controlled when they are defeated.

Stealing the column-committing fraud

This plan belongs to the fifth set of "parallel war plan". It was originally intended to use friendly forces to fight with them and take the opportunity to annex his main force for their own use. This tactic includes intrigue and taking the opportunity to control others, so it is often used in political and diplomatic strategies. Qin Shihuang proclaimed himself emperor. He believed that national unity was the property of later generations. But he thinks he is in good health. He has never established a prince or appointed an heir. There are two powerful political groups in the palace. One is the eldest son Fu Su and Montaigne Group, and the other is the youngest son Hu Hai and Zhao Gao Group. Fu Su is obedient, kind and upright, and enjoys a high reputation throughout the country. Qin Shihuang originally intended to make Fu a prince. In order to exercise him, he was sent to the northern line where the famous Meng Tian was stationed as a supervisor. The youngest son Hu Hai has long been spoiled. At the instigation of eunuch Zhao Gao, he only knew beer and skittles.

steal the beams and change the pillars—perpetrate a fraud

In 2 10 BC, Qin Shihuang made his fifth southern tour, arrived in the plain (near Pingyuan County, Shandong Province), and suddenly fell ill. At this time, Qin Shihuang also knew that his time had come. Therefore, he quickly called the prime minister Reese, asked Reese to convey a secret letter, and made Fu a prince. Zhao Gao, the eunuch leader at that time, was in charge of the imperial seal and drafted the imperial edict. Zhao Gao was ambitious and regarded this as a rare opportunity. He deliberately withheld the secret edict and waited for the opportunity.

A few days later, Qin Shihuang died in Zhao Ping (now Guangzong County, Hebei Province). Reese was afraid of political turmoil before the prince came back, so he kept it a secret and didn't send out mourners. Zhao Gao hereby went to see Reese and told him that I still have the letter from the emperor to Fu Su. Now, you and I can decide who to make the prince. Cunning Zhao Gao told Reese that if Fu Su became emperor, he would definitely reuse Meng Tian. By that time, can you sit still in the position of prime minister? In other words, Reese was moved, and the two conspired, forged letters, granted Fu Su death and killed Meng Tian.

Zhao Gao didn't use a single soldier, but stole the column. In this way, he helped the incompetent Hu Hai to become Qin Ershi, which paved the way for his later autocracy and the demise of the Qin Dynasty.