Original text: The enemy is clear, the friend is undecided, the friend is killed, the self-contributing force is deduced by "Damage".
The loss of gua up the mountain and down the ze is the forty-first gua in the I Ching. Its original text reads:
There are Fu, Yuan Ji, no blame, and there is a lot of profit. For the purpose of the second, the two can be enjoyed.
It means that in the case of self-interest damage, because there is "Fu", that is, there is credit, it is still auspicious and can continue to persist and obtain benefits. "For the purpose of the two, the two can be enjoyed." It is the key to the original text, which means: What is the ritual to be used in this case? There are also two kinds of food that can be used for worship. In ancient China, the ritual specifications were divided into eight gui, four gui, and two gui, and the use of the two gui here implied that the lord's family borrowed sacrifices that should be enjoyed by the guests to complete their rituals.
Combined with "彖":
Loss, loss under the profit, its road up.
It is to illustrate that the main purpose of the strategy of killing people with a knife is to skillfully use the "guest side" to make up for their losses and even gain benefits when their own losses are inevitable.
Therefore, in the original text, "enemy has been clear" refers to the enemy in a narrow sense, and from a broad sense, it represents the loss that has already occurred and is inevitable; "friend undetermined" refers to allies who are wandering and waiting, and have not yet been determined; and in the broad sense, it refers to all external forces that can be used to make up for losses, even including the enemy itself. As the loss gua said, "loss is the best", borrowing external forces to make up for losses and reduce their own consumption is the essence of the strategy of killing people with a knife.
In addition, this plan is deduced from the "Loss of Gua", according to the content of the gua xiang, we can also understand the two necessary conditions for completing the plan, one is "Fu" that is, credit, and the other is "enjoyment", that is, profit.
Just as there are no eternal enemies or eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests, the role of interests in the murder scheme of borrowing a knife is very easy to understand. In the case of undecided allies, it is natural to move when it is advantageous, and stop when it is not beneficial. But how to exchange long-term benefits for the help and sacrifice of allies in the near future requires "credit", and there are many ways to obtain credit, that is, there are conventional methods as we usually understand, and there are also special operations, such as coercion, seduction, deception, etc.
As for the killing of people with a knife against the enemy, it is to destroy the mutual credit between the enemy through the contradiction of interests, and this method is usually used in the divisive meter, and it is not uncommon in the history of our country. Famous generals such as Wu Zixu, Li Mu, and Yue Fei can be said to have all died under this plan.
The famous master of psychology, the sage Wang Yangming, used and was very good at killing people with a knife in his legendary experience of his life. The History of Ming records that when Zhu Chenhao, the king of Ning, plotted a rebellion, Wang Yangming used spies to spread rumors in large quantities:
He also told the sincerity of Li Shishi and Liu Yangzheng, the widows of the wax book, and ordered the troops to go east from the early days, and indulged in espionage.
Many of these rumors were actually very clumsy, and at that time, many ministers were confused, even they themselves felt that they were fake, how could King Ning be deceived?
Wang Yangming had explained this at that time, to the effect that rumors did not need to be so true, just need to spread, there will be people suspecting, the credit relationship between the enemies will begin to collapse, and then they will automatically appear more and more, more and more true rumors.
The subsequent development, as Wang Yangming expected, Ning Wang really began to doubt. The History of the Ming Dynasty records:
Chen Haoguo was suspicious. With Shi Shi and Yang Zheng plotting, they are all advised to move toward Nanjing, that is, the big position, and Chen Hao is very suspicious. For more than ten days, he learned that the Chinese and foreign soldiers were not coming, but they were enlightened to keep the benevolence.
According to historical records, although King Ning was not easily deceived, he still began to suspect and took the initiative to test his two most important advisers, Li Shishi and Liu Yangzheng. As a result, the rumors spread by Wang Yangming are true or false, in fact, no matter how tempted, the words of Li and Liu will have a part to match the content of the rumors. Therefore, King Ning's suspicions were even heavier, and although he did not kill the two people, he no longer accepted their suggestions, causing the army to hesitate for more than ten days, creating an opportunity for Wang Yangming.
The ancients said: Therefore the image has been revealed, and the other force is more open, and will do something, and it should use this force to destroy the enemy. For example, if Zheng Huangong wants to attack Hao, he will first write his name to Hao Zhihaojie, Liang Chen, Discerning Wisdom, and Courageous Man, and choose Hao Zhi Liang Tian to bribe him, and write it for the name of the official, because he has set up the guo gate of the altar field, and he will be buried because of the place where the altar is set up, and the name will be chicken satin, if the alliance is formed. Xi Jun thought that it was difficult to be internal, and killed his good subjects. Huan Gong attacked Xi and took it. ("Han Feizi, Nei Chu Said"). Zhuge Liangzhi and Wu refused Wei, and Guan Yu encircled Fan and Wrapped, Cao Wanted to migrate to the capital, and Yi and Jiang Ji said of Cao Yue: "Liu Bei, Sun Quan' foreign relatives and internal alienation, Guan Yu Dezhi, Quan Xin is unwilling to do it." After being sent to stomp on him, Xu cut off Jiangnan to seal power, and Fan Wei released himself. "Cao Congzhi, Yu Sui saw the capture." (The Long Knowledge Sutra, vol. IX, Grid Shape).
It is believed that when the situation changes, the equilibrium is broken, and the interests of all forces will be redistributed, which will lead to changes in the original relationship between the enemy and ourselves. By taking advantage of this change, you can build new alliances and use the power of your allies to defeat your enemies.
In this regard, the ancients gave two examples.
In the first example, Duke Huan of Zheng was the son of King You of Zhou, the younger brother of King Xuan of Zhou, the first monarch of the State of Zheng, and at the same time the Situ of the Zhou royal family, with a high and powerful position. The state of Qi was a small state established by the descendants of the Zhu Rong clan after they were enfeoffed by King Wu of Zhou to Go (present-day Mi County, Henan), when the monarch was greedy for money and profit.
When Zheng Huan Gong was ready to attack Zheng Huan, the strength and weakness of the two sides were compared, and the outcome of the victory and defeat could be said to be obvious, so many people within the State of Zheng Huan had already been waiting for Zheng Huan Gong. In this case, who is the enemy in "borrowing a knife to kill people", and who is a friend?
The understanding of ordinary people must be that They jun are enemies, and that the loyal servants in The country will be friends who can be co-opted.
Non also. Since they are loyal and good generals, they will not simply be bought by interests, which is the real obstacle to attacking the state. On the contrary, Wu Jun is greedy for money and profits, faint and incompetent, and the day he exists, the people's hearts will become more and more toward Zheng Huangong, so Xi Jun is the real friend.
Therefore, in this story, Zheng Huan used the method of "choosing the good field of the good land to bribe", and also made a very pompous performance, "for the name of the official, buried because of the place where the altar is set up, the door is buried, the challenge is chicken satin, if the alliance is formed", with the thinking of normal people, no one can believe.
But the key is that because of The FaintIng of the Emperor, there is already credit between the monarch and the courtier, but there is another plan for the distribution of benefits. Even if Wu Jun knew that it was fake, he no longer believed all the ministers, and even though the ministers knew that it was Zheng Huangong's conspiracy, they also began to fear that Xi Jun would use it to attack him.
Therefore, in history, wise people have never been afraid of how many capable generals the enemy has, and they are afraid of not having a faint monarch. Borrowing a knife to kill people, and not afraid of how false and stupid the rumors are, as long as they touch the relationship between credit and interests, they will definitely succeed.
In the second example, it is about the change of interests, the change in the relationship between friend and foe in the killing of people with a knife.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei occupied most of Jingzhou and harvested Yizhou, which was the biggest beneficiary. However, Sun Wu, who believes that he has contributed the most, has obtained benefits that are far from proportional to his investment. This imbalance of interests laid hidden dangers for the Wu-Shu alliance, and the reason why it could continue to maintain the alliance was because of the threat of Cao Wei in the north.
Traditionally, Sun Quan made the decision to raid Jingzhou because of Liu Bei's untrustworthiness and Guan Yu's arrogant attitude. But this writing is actually only a secondary reason, the real reason is that Guan Yu's performance in the Battle of Xiangfan broke the balance of power between Wei Shu and Wu, and made the interests of the three parties need to be redivided.
Therefore, Cao Cao's use of Sun Wu to eliminate Guan Yu is the most classic case of killing people with a knife in the history of Chinese warfare.
Ancient case one, Cao Mengde borrowed Wu to remove Guan Yu
In 219, Liu Bei unexpectedly won a victory in The Battle of Hanzhong, not only killing the Cao general Xiahou Yuan, but also capturing Hanzhong.
In the same year, Guan Yu relied on the great victory of Hanzhong to independently launch the Battle of Xiangfan with the land of Jingzhou, hoping to complete the plan to complete Jingzhou and prepare for the future strategy of "Longzhong Pair".
This was not actually because Guan Yu was so happy to do great feats, but at that time, everyone in the world believed that the Han Dynasty would be in the hands of Liu Bei, so Cao Wei was in turmoil and rebellion. As recorded in the Notes on the Three Auxiliary Decisions:
(218) When there was Jing Zhaojin Yi (京兆金祎), the character Dewei, who thought that he was a Hanchen, was angry, and together with Geng Ji and Wei Huang, he wanted to blackmail Tianzi to attack Wei, and assisted Liu Bei in the south. Defeated, Yi Three Tribes.
Before and after Guan Yu launched the Battle of Xiangfan, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu also contains:
"Twenty-four years of spring and first month, Ren Tuwan, chopping sound." [Cao Fu Chuan Yue: It was the bitter service of Nanyang Jian at the time, and yin was the one who guarded Dongli Gong, rebelled with the officials, and made peace with Guan Yu. 】”
The Sayings of the World say:
The ironic character Zi Jing, Pei Ren, there are confused talents, pouring out the capital, Zhong Xuanyu is to open up. The army did not react, satirized the subterranean disciples, and plotted with Chen Yi, the wei lieutenant of Changle, to attack Yi. Before the deadline, he was afraid, told the prince, ridiculed, and sat dozens of people who died.
Therefore, in the Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu besieged Cao Ren, flooded the Seventh Army, beheaded the general Pang Tong, and captured Yu Ban, the head of the Five Sons of Liang, thus threatening Huaxia, not just talking about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the eyes of the people of the world at that time, there was really a feeling that Liu Bei would become the second Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu.
Although at this time, Liu Bei won victories in public opinion, people's hearts, and military affairs, from the perspective of the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei at this time seemed to replace Cao Wei and become the biggest force. But this also led to the disappearance of the basic "credit" that guaranteed the relationship between the Wu-Shu alliance.
In terms of interests, when Liu Bei's side opened up territory and attacked the city strategically, Sun Quan lost his troops in hefei alone and could never take it. Not only that, but under Cao Cao's attack, he had to surrender to Cao Cao. Romance of the Three Kingdoms:
In the spring of the twenty-second year, the governor Xu Shu asked Cao Gong to surrender, and the communiqué made him good and vowed to remarry.
In this way, the south could not obtain benefits, and the controversial Jingzhou became a conflict of interests between Wu and Shu, and more than a symbol of interests between Wu and Wei.
In addition, in terms of security, after Guan Yu completely occupied Jingzhou, he could not only attack Cao Cao's key places such as Chang'an and Xuchang to the north, but also easily go down the river and attack Jiangdong. If it is said that for Cao Cao, Sun Quan and the Yangtze River, then at this time, the Yangtze River is Liu Bei's advantage.
In this way, all the elements of the plan to kill people with a knife were achieved, so when Cao Cao wanted to move the capital, Sima Yi, Jiang Ji, and others persuaded Sun Quan to get rid of Guan Yu. See Book of Jin and Emperor Ji I:
The emperor said: "The prohibition is lost by water, not by war, and the country's grand plan is not damaged, but it is moved to the capital, which not only shows the weakness of the enemy, but also greatly disturbs the people who are worried. Sun Quan, Liu Bei, foreign relatives and internal alienation, Yu Zhi's pride, Quan suo is unwilling to do so. It can be said that after the power of the metaphor, after ling, Fan Wei will solve himself. Wei Wu obeyed. Quan Guo dispatched Lü Mengxi to attack the police, pulled him out, and Yu was captured by Meng.