36 Strategies Vernacular Full Translation

Chapter 23
In the original scriptures, you should knock on the truth, observe and then act; if you recover, you are also a matchmaker of Yin.

When doubts are found in the translation, it should be investigated and investigated clearly, and only when the situation is fully grasped can action be taken.It is necessary to repeatedly investigate and investigate, and then take corresponding actions. This is an important method to discover hidden enemies.

Interpretation Snakes are generally hidden in the grass, the premise of finding the snake is to cut the grass, and the grass is to prepare for scaring the snake.If the terrain is unfavorable, or there is no powerful enough tool to fight the snake, then even if the snake has been exposed to us, we should suspend our action to prevent the snake from running away and losing the opportunity.

In "Hit the Grass to Startle the Snake", "grass" and "snake" are two things that are completely different in nature but closely related. "Snake" relies on "grass" for concealment, and "grass" is the umbrella of "snake".If there is an enemy situation, the "grass" can send a message to the "snake" in time.Therefore, "grass" can be said to be a kind of enemy "snake" to a certain extent.

The purpose of "striking the grass to scare the snake" has the following aspects, which can help us better understand this strategy.

One is to startle the snake.When the road ahead is unclear, you can make noise by mowing grass or throwing stones. The enemy will mistakenly think that our side has advanced to the front, and will take the initiative to attack, which exposes itself.This is an indirect reconnaissance method. The first pilot during fire reconnaissance belongs to this type of application, also known as leading the snake out of the hole.In short, it is all to understand the snake's position, strength, intention, movement, etc., so as to avoid it, or lure the snake out, and destroy it.

The second is to wake up the snake.Things in the world are interconnected and affect each other, touching one will often lead to many related things.This feature can be used to attack and punish A to achieve the purpose of warning B, which is an indirect warning strategy.

The third is to scare away the snake.If you want to drive away dangerous snakes on the way, you can hit the grass on the roadside, which is an effective and non-dangerous strategy.This indirect method of repelling is especially suitable for situations where it is inconvenient or unwilling to make direct contact with the enemy, but only needs to be driven away.

In a word, when "striking the grass to scare the snake" is used as a strategy, when the enemy's strength is not exposed, his whereabouts are secretive, and his intentions are unclear, remember not to underestimate the enemy and make a decision after fully grasping the opponent's main force equipment and marching route.

But in life, many conspiracies and tricks around us are like poisonous snakes that have been ambushing in the grass for a long time, often hurting the innocent and implicating the upright.Only when the conspiracy is discovered or exposed can the innocent and righteous be protected.And the best way to ascertain the conspiracy is to startle the snake.Most conspiratorial people, like thieves, are always in constant fear. By combining bluff and prudence, we can completely stop and expose their plots and strike the conspirators.

We should comprehensively take the following measures to deal with the enemy's strategy of "striking the grass to scare the snake".

First of all, behave well and avoid being a beaten snake.Sit upright, behave well, don't associate with bad people, and don't leave any excuses for others, which is an effective way to avoid being the target of others' attacks.

Secondly, when you need to ambush, you should wait and see what happens, and don't reveal the secrets.It takes time to study the way of hiding, to be secretive and ingenious.Don't give the enemy a chance to find the slightest trace of our side, let alone let the enemy see our intentions, wait for a good opportunity to attack, and don't expose yourself.

Furthermore, to distinguish the authenticity of the enemy's actions, remember not to act blindly.The enemy often uses bluffs to confuse us in order to test our intentions of action and target trajectory.We can completely judge whether our side has been exposed from the strength of the enemy's attack.If the enemy's attack is concentrated, violent and accurate, then the enemy is likely to have seen through our action plan; if the attack is scattered, intermittent, and changes direction from time to time, it means that the opponent is just making various temptations. At this time, we must I can hold my breath.

Finally, leave yourself a way out.In order to prevent the enemy from hurting us after weeding, we must plan our retreat when we are hiding, so that we can retreat actively and silently.

Examples of Wisdom
The "S" Mystery

The ancients once pointed out when explaining the timing of "fighting the grass to scare the snake": In a war, if the main force of the enemy is not exposed, there must be a big and deep conspiracy hidden.At this time, you must not rush forward. What you should do is to find out where the enemy is hiding.

As we all know, the Battle of Midway Island was a successful battle in the history of World War II, and it was also an important turning point in the Pacific War. However, people know little about a meaningful episode before the war.

In late May 1942, the Japanese army secretly dispatched 5 large and medium-sized aircraft carriers, more than 8 battleships, and more than 200 fighter planes, led by Admiral Yamamoto, to the US naval base in an attempt to destroy the US Pacific military forces in one fell swoop.

Admiral Nimitz, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, received a notification from the Ministry of National Defense about the enemy's situation. He couldn't help worrying: the Japanese army dispatched almost all of the main naval force, but the U.S. military could use only three aircraft carriers, more than 3 battleships, and more than 70 troops in a short period of time. fighter jets.Not to mention the disparity in power between the two sides, what's more terrible is that under such an urgent situation, the U.S. military still doesn't know where the main target of the Japanese army is.

In order to prevent the leakage of secrets, the cunning Japanese army only used a capital letter "S" to represent the main island.The U.S. intelligence agencies racked their brains and failed to guess what it really meant.Without determining the main attack point of the Japanese army, the US military could not arrange the warships that could only be dispatched in the sea area that was beneficial to itself.

Nimitz mobilized his staff to contribute ideas.Some of the staff advocated that "S" should refer to Saipan Island, while others said it was Midway Island, on the grounds that the strategic location there was extremely important.For a time, there were different opinions and opinions could not be unified.Nimitz was so anxious that his lips blistered.He was lying on the sofa distraught, and the orderly immediately brought him a glass of water.Nimitz was so anxious that he didn't even want to drink water. He hastily waved his hand to signal the orderly to leave, but he knocked over a full glass of water and spilled it all over his body.

Suddenly, Nimitz had an idea, and immediately called the combat staff officer, and ordered with confidence: "Immediately use the Japanese army's code to send a report to Midway Island: The headquarters has been informed of the damage to your fresh water facilities. The supply ship that transports fresh water is here today." Departure late, arrive soon, hope to be ready for the reception." Then, Nimitz stood up slowly, shook the water on his body, went to the frightened orderly and patted him on the shoulder and said "thank you".

On the morning of the fourth day, the U.S. reconnaissance plane found that there were three more freshwater supply ships in the Japanese fleet.Nimitz laughed loudly after hearing the news, and said to the chief of staff who was puzzled by the side: "This old boy Yamamoto was fooled. Obviously the freshwater facilities on Midway Island were not damaged, but he believed the information we 'send' to him. Added freshwater supply boats, doesn't that speak for itself? The 'S' looks like Midway. This time we've got it!"

As expected, on June 6, all the fighter planes on the Japanese aircraft carrier were dispatched to carry out carpet bombing on Midway Island.After the Japanese planes finished dropping their bombs, they returned to the space where the aircraft carrier was refueling and loading bombs. The U.S. bombers, who had been waiting for their prey to take the initiative to take the bait, rushed over and poured down heavy bombs one after another.The Japanese aircraft carrier usually flaunts its might, but without the fire cover of the fighter planes, it can only stare and be beaten, with no power to fight back.In just a few ten minutes, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk, two were severely damaged, and more than half of the fighter planes were lost.

Since then, the once invincible Japanese navy has embarked on its death journey.Nimitz made great contributions to the Battle of Midway with the strategy of "striking the grass to scare the snake", creating a precedent in the history of naval warfare in World War II.

The general made a clever rescue

"Drawing grass to scare the snake" originally means that the snake catcher deliberately pulls the grass to disturb the snake in order to easily find the snake, luring it to come out, and then catches it.In military terms, it refers to determining the enemy's intentions through repeated reconnaissance, and pinpointing the opponent's weaknesses, so as to "lead the snake out of the hole" to eliminate them.

When the Battle of Stalingrad was in full swing, the German army mobilized almost all the forces on the Eastern Front to besiege Stalingrad, and they were determined not to give up until the city was captured.

(End of this chapter)