36 Strategems are 36 priceless strategy drawn from Chinese philosophy…
- Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean
- Besiege Wèi to rescue Zhào
- Kill with a borrowed knife
- Substitute leisure for labour
- Loot a burning house
- Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west
- Create something from nothing
- Openly repair the gallery roads, but sneak through the passage of Chencang
- Watch the fires burning across the river
- Hide a knife behind a smile
- Sacrifice the plum tree to preserve the peach tree
- Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat
- Startle the snake by hitting the grass around it
- Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul
- Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair
- In order to capture, one must let loose
- Tossing out a brick to get a jade gem
- Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief
- Remove the firewood under the cooking pot
- Catch a fish while the water is disturbed
- Slough off the cicada’s golden shell
- Shut the door to catch the thief
- Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbour
- Obtain safe passage to conquer the State of Guo
- Replace the beams with rotten timbers
- Point at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree
- Feign madness but keep your balance
- Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof
- Deck the tree with false blossoms
- Make the host and the guest exchange roles
- The beauty trap (honey trap)
- The empty fort strategy
- Let the enemy’s own spy sow discord in the enemy camp
- Inflict injury on one’s self to win the enemy’s trust
- Chain stratagems
- If everything else fails, retreat