36 Strategies Vernacular Full Translation

Chapter 51

If the original scriptures are empty, they are empty, and doubts arise from doubts; when rigidity is soft, strange and complex.

Translation When our strength is weak, we do not hide it, and deliberately let the opponent see that our defenses are empty, so that the enemy will not know the details, doubt our strength, and think that we are cheating.When the strong and the weak collide, using this weak method to deal with the strong enemy belongs to the strange method of the strange method.

The essence of interpreting the empty city plan is to say that the empty city is originally empty, and then expressed as empty, it will make people doubt the original emptiness, and think that we have strength.This is like it is real, and then it is shown in reality, but it will make people not believe in his reality.This strategy not only reflects the psychological characteristics of people, but also has dialectical significance.

False and real, the soldiers are impermanent, and the changes are endless.When the enemy is strong and we are weak, of course it is best not to strike a stone with an egg, but to fully grasp the psychological and personality characteristics of the opponent's coach, and use various methods to confuse the opponent.The more cautious and suspicious the enemy commander is, the better the outcome.And the "empty city strategy" is a highly dangerous strategy, a dangerous strategy that is hanging and hanging.If the other party sees through, the consequences will be unimaginable.So in most cases, it can only be used as a delaying measure.If you want to really win, you still have to rely on your real strength in the end.

This strategy has the following characteristics.

[-]. "False and false" in order to make the enemy "suspect amidst suspicion".What is "doubt amidst suspicion"?Generally speaking, when the two sides are fighting, they always have to conceal the real situation from each other. The so-called "soldiers never tire of deceit".However, it is necessary to repeatedly analyze and study the enemy's situation, and cannot make judgments based entirely on one's intuition.This approach of not easily trusting the other party is called "doubt".

When encountering the opponent's abnormal use of troops, in addition to conducting a positive analysis, it is also necessary to conduct a negative analysis.This is the so-called "doubt amidst suspicion".Psychologically speaking, human psychology often has a fixed mental formula.When this stereotype is broken, people tend to be disoriented, panicked and at a loss.Therefore, the end is often to mistake the false for the false.

[-]. "It's true and false", confuse the enemy and let it trick you.I was originally strong and well-prepared, but I pretended to be weak and weak, so that the enemy mistakenly thought that my troops were empty and there were gaps to take advantage of. There are two main purposes of "real and empty": accumulating strength and waiting for an opportunity.For a bigger or more distant goal, temporarily hide your own strength and edge.This kind of temporary cover is to buy time and accumulate strength. Once the time is right, a sudden attack will be launched, so that the opponent is caught off guard and hard to guard against. This is one of them.Furthermore, it is to lure the enemy into the trap of his own design.When our troops are strong and we have set up an ambush, if we want the enemy to enter our encirclement, we must show a weak and deceptive appearance, so as not to let the enemy stay away in fear.In short, only when the enemy feels that it is beneficial to us can we easily lure them over, which is the second.

When the enemy uses the empty city timer, we can take the following measures to deal with it.

[-]. Tried many times to clarify the reality.No matter how cunning a rabbit is, it cannot escape the vigilant eyes of the hunter.And our enemy is like a cunning rabbit. No matter what tricks he uses, whether it is "false and false" or "real and false", he will not escape our repeated temptations.

There are many methods of probing. For example, we can conduct reconnaissance with the method of alerting the enemy, in order to ascertain the strength and weakness of the enemy's deployment.It is best to repeat this kind of temptation several times. If it is done once or twice, the enemy may pretend to be very similar without revealing any flaws, but they will definitely not be able to withstand multiple temptations from various aspects.If the enemy has not responded to our temptations, it means that they have discovered our intentions.At this time, we can adapt to the situation, use our tricks, and see the opportunity to "create something out of nothing", so that it is caught off guard and powerless, so we have to obediently catch it.

[-]. Stalemate with the enemy to determine the reality.After many trials, if we still cannot make a correct judgment, we can use the method of waiting patiently outside the "empty city" and watching the changes to find out the truth.

Anyone who adopts the "empty and empty" strategy, because of his own weak strength, will be more or less "empty" psychologically, and he has to bear strong psychological pressure all the time.Therefore, this determines that the enemy cannot pretend for too long, and he will not be able to hold on for a long time, and it is inevitable that he will show his feet.

At this time, if we stay around the enemy, do not attack or retreat, and fight a "protracted war" without smoke, the enemy will show his true colors because he cannot persist.In this way, we can quickly see through the enemy and take it down in one fell swoop.

Three, a comprehensive analysis to distinguish the true from the false.In order to discern whether what the enemy is showing us is true or not, we need to do a comprehensive analysis.The so-called "comprehensive analysis" is to conduct both longitudinal analysis in time and horizontal analysis in space; it is necessary to analyze its absolute strength according to various situations, and to analyze its relative strength according to the comparison between the enemy and ourselves.Only in this way can we make correct judgments and not be blinded by the false appearance of the enemy.

Examples of Wisdom
Zhuge Liang retreats Sima Yi from the empty city

"Empty city strategy" is a very clever deception method, but it can only be risky when it is on the verge of despair, the disaster is imminent, and it is no longer possible to use other tactics to lure the enemy, paralyze the enemy, and restrain the enemy. " The imaginary is illusory", temporarily deceiving the enemy, making it difficult for them to know the reality of their own side, so that they dare not attack rashly, so as to protect themselves and gain time.Zhuge Liang's "Empty City Plan" for the West City has achieved this effect.

But Zhuge Liang had his reasons for using this timing.At that time, Zhuge Liang sent troops out of Qishan to recover the Central Plains and restore the Han Dynasty.However, after learning that Cao Wei reappointed Sima Yi, Sima Yi used tricks to behead the surrendered general Meng Da, and led the troops to confront the Shu army.Zhuge Liang knew very well that Sima Yi was proficient in the art of war, and he would be able to take the street pavilion and cut off the main throat of the Shu army.So Ma Su and Wang Ping were ordered to go to the Shoujie Pavilion immediately to ensure the safety of the Shu army.Unexpectedly, Ma Di insisted on going his own way, did not obey Zhuge Liang's orders, did not listen to Wang Ping's dissuasion, and did not set up camp in his own right, which resulted in the siege of Cao Wei's troops and horses, and the street pavilion was lost.

Zhuge Liang heard the report of the fall of the street pavilion, looked up to the sky and sighed, and suddenly knew that the general situation was over, and he had no choice but to retreat.Therefore, he hurriedly ordered generals Guan Xing, Zhang Bao, Zhang Yi, Ma Dai, and Jiang Wei to set up an ambush separately to ensure the safe retreat of the army. At the same time, he secretly ordered the army to pack up and prepare to leave.At the same time, he sent his confidants to inform the officials, soldiers and civilians of the three counties of Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding to retreat to Hanzhong as soon as possible.

After Zhuge Liang finished the distribution, he took five thousand soldiers and retreated to the west city to carry grain and grass.Suddenly, more than ten flying horse reports reported that Sima Yi was leading an army of 15 and was rushing towards the west city.At this time, there was no general around Zhuge Liang, only a group of civil servants left.Half of the [-] soldiers brought along have gone to transport food and grass, leaving only [-] soldiers in the city.All the officials were pale when they heard the news, and the Dianliang official was so shocked that even the account book in his hand fell to the ground.

Afterwards, Zhuge Liang boarded the top of the city and looked towards the way he had come. Sure enough, he saw dust rising into the sky, and Wei soldiers came to kill the west city in two ways.How can two or three thousand soldiers without a general resist the tens of thousands of tigers and wolves who can arrive in an instant?Zhuge Liang frowned, and immediately made up his mind.He only heard an order: "Hide all the banners and flags; all the troops guard the city shops. If anyone goes in and out of the city, or speaks loudly, cut him off! Open four gates, and use twenty soldiers for each gate. , Pretending to be ordinary people, sweeping the streets. If Wei soldiers arrive, don’t move without authorization, I have my own plan.”

Zhuge Liang himself wore a crane cloak and a Lun scarf, and together with two children, they carried a piano, went up to the enemy tower at the city gate, sat by the railing, burned incense and played the piano.After the former army of Cao Wei army led by Sima came to the city, seeing the appearance of the west city, they all stopped and did not dare to enter the city rashly, so they hurriedly reported the situation to Sima Yi.Sima Yi smiled and said he didn't believe this happened.

Sima Yi

Speaking of which, Sima Yi still ordered the army to stop, and rode his horse to look towards the west city.Sure enough, Zhuge Liang was sitting on the top of the tower with a pleasant smile, burning incense and playing the piano.There is also a boy standing on the left side, holding a sword in his hand, and a boy standing on the right side, holding a stag tail in his hand.Inside and outside the city gate, there were more than 20 ordinary people, as if no one was there, just lowered their heads and cleaned there.

After Sima Yi read it carefully, he was very suspicious, so he went to the Central Army to send an order, "The rear army should be the front army, and the front army should be the rear army, and retreat quickly." Sima Yi's second son received the order and put forward a different view: "Could it be that Zhuge Liang has no army and pretends to be like this? Why did father retreat?" Sima Yi said, "Zhuge Liang has always been cautious and never took risks. Now that the city gate is wide open, there must be an ambush. If our soldiers enter, we will fall into the trap. How do you know? You should retreat quickly."

After Sima Yi's army retreated, Kong Ming immediately led a group of civil officials, soldiers and Xicheng people to retreat to Hanzhong, and finally saved the day.This is an "empty city strategy" successfully used by Zhuge Liang.

It can be seen that the "empty city plan" is a risky strategy adopted in an emergency.To use Zhuge Liang's own words on this matter: "There are only [-] soldiers in my army. If we abandon the city and go away, we will not be able to flee far away. Will it be captured by Sima Yi?" However, to use this strategy, the commander must be highly intelligent. To be able to know ourselves and the enemy.Zhuge Liang not only knew that his side was very empty, unable to resist the tiger and wolf division, it was even impossible to escape.At the same time, he expected that Sima Yi's evaluation of him would be that he would be cautious all his life, never take risks, and never fight uncertain battles.Therefore, when Sima Yi saw Zhuge Liang sitting upright playing the qin and the city gates wide open, he would definitely think that Zhuge Liang was playing tricks, deploying thousands of troops to wait for his arrival, tricking him into taking the bait, and letting him enter the encirclement.In addition, Sima Yi is indecisive and suspicious by nature, and he would doubt that Zhuge Liang would give Sima Yi an empty city in vain.

In this way, Zhuge Liang succeeded in this battle with his great wisdom and courage, knowing himself and the enemy.

From small cloth merchant to general manager

Howard, who used to be the general manager of Sayer-Lubeck, a famous department store in the United States, was discovered and favored by the founder of the company, Richard Sayer, because of the successful use of the "empty city strategy", and he went on the road. On the top of the company.

Lu Huade's strategy is: take advantage of the fact that the dress of a noble lady will arouse the interest of many women in certain fabrics and clothing, and lure their appetites by saying that they are out of stock, creating the illusion that "good products are hard to buy".Let the women voluntarily fall into his carefully designed trap, fully implement his "empty city plan", and achieve actual results.

Howard first managed to bribe the most famous ladies in the local social circle and a few famous women, let them wear a kind of clothes made of imported fabrics that were backlogged in the market at that time, and claimed that it would be the best cloth for the next year. Popular pattern styles.Then, he bought this backlog of fabrics that were not imported much due to poor sales at a low price.

Since what he was looking for was the most famous lady in the local society and a recognized fashion model for local women, the women at the garden party were all amazed by the style of clothes they wore.At this time, Lu Huade sent someone to distribute a beautiful card to each of the women who participated in the garden tour, writing: "Dear madam and miss, I wish you a happy garden tour! It is my great honor to inform you that Mrs. Dull and Taj The new clothes worn by Madam are still available in our small shop, welcome to patronize." The name and address of the shop are also indicated below.

Sure enough, on the second day of the garden party, people crowded to the store to buy new fancy clothes.Unexpectedly, a large piece of paper was pasted on the door of the store: "Because of the small size of our store, the new fabrics have been sold out. The goods will continue to arrive tomorrow. Welcome to visit." People explained: "There are not many raw materials for this kind of French clothing, so there are very few imports and cannot be fully supplied."

Just when people were complaining and regretting that it was difficult to buy fabrics, Lu Huade appeared.He vowed that if everyone is willing to pay in advance, our store will guarantee everyone's order.Sure enough, people have paid in advance.

In this way, Howard successfully used the "empty city strategy" to make a large number of transactions.And his ingenious sales methods were seen by Richard Sayer, and Sayer couldn't help admiring the superior business wisdom of this little cloth merchant from the bottom of his heart, so he made an exception and promoted Roadward to the general manager of Sayer-Lubeck Company. manager.

The company set up restricted areas to recruit talents

When recruiting, employers often use various methods to test and examine the real qualities and abilities of job seekers in order to screen out the talents they really need from a large number of job seekers.Therefore, understanding and researching these various examination questions will often be of great inspiration and help to job seekers.

A young man entered a certain company to apply for a job, and found that the door of an office was ajar, and there was a sticker on the door saying "No entry unless approved by the general manager!" Curious, he decided to go in and find out.

It was an empty office, save for a dusty desk with an envelope written "Delivery to the General Manager".The young man immediately delivered the envelope to the general manager, and as a result, he was hired.

The explanation of the general manager of the company is: "Not being bound by rules and regulations, but bravely entering certain 'forbidden areas', this is the good quality that a successful person with a pioneering spirit should possess."

The company used a seemingly unique "empty city plan" to recruit the talents it really needed.The method seems to be inadvisable, but the effect is indeed obvious, and it can be used.

The "empty city plan" that should not be used more often

For individuals in the workplace, using the "empty city strategy" in the workplace is not to please recruiters with strength, but to study people's psychological activities and speak eloquently.Use more gorgeous rhetoric to make others think that they are very knowledgeable, skilled, and resourceful, so as to achieve the purpose of being hired or hired.

In the summer of 1997, Wu Qing planned to stay in the provincial capital city after graduating from the provincial normal university.But there is no target to teach in schools, and it is okay to be an editor of newspapers and magazines, and there is no experience.He decided to go to his fellow's office to help first.

One day, Wu Qing saw in the newspaper that the public relations planning department of a large commercial group was recruiting personnel.The fellow suggested that he try it, but he was very worried that he had no experience in public relations planning.However, considering that this is really a rare job opportunity, the fellow took him to the Xinhua Bookstore and bought two practical planning reference books.

Wu Qing concentrated on watching for two days, and came to the group to apply for the job on the third day.On this day, Wu Qing "sold" all the planning knowledge he had learned temporarily to the examiner.The examiner thought that he was very good at public relations planning, had a university degree, and had great potential, so he was hired immediately.

It is false to say that he understands public relations planning, but it is true to say that he has potential to be tapped.After Wu Qing arrived at the unit, he studied hard and successfully planned several major events.After several years of practice, he is now the manager of the public relations planning department that many people envy.

It is not difficult to see that the "empty city strategy" is only a delaying tactic used in special circumstances, and the final success depends on one's own true talents and learning.

(End of this chapter)