Here at the frontier, the leaves fall like rain. Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are still two cups at my table.


Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

~ Wu-men ~


Thursday, December 22, 2005

The36 Strategies: #11 One Tree Falls For Another


In our review of the 36 Strategies, we now come to #11: One tree falls for another.

This means that an individual sacrifice may be required for the greater goal.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the leader Cao Cao found that his army was unexpectedly running out of food. If the troops came to blame Cao Cao, they'd lose confidence in his leadership, and the campaign would probably not be successful.

He asked the Chief Cook to take the blame for the shortfall, promising him that his wife and family would be well taken care of after he was executed. The cook agreed, and the campaign continued as planned.

1 comment:

shyloh's poetry said...

So that's how it works.