Stratagem No. 35 第三十五计 Desperate stratagems (败战计)
Chained stratagems
Literal
The linked-rings stratagem.
Do not throw one blow at a huge, many-headed force. Lock two moves together so their own size becomes the trap.
Source line
将多兵众，不可以敌，使其自累，以杀其势。在师中吉，承天宠也。
Traditional 將多兵眾，不可以敵，使其自累，以殺其勢。在師中吉，承天寵也。
When they have many generals and a great host, do not meet them head-on. Make them encumber themselves, and so cut down their momentum. Good fortune in the midst of the army: he receives heaven’s favour. This is the hexagram Shi (The Army).
Icons working translation — draft, pending review
The closing sentence is the Image on the second line of Shi (The Army): the commander in the middle of the host is trusted, and that trust lets him tie two plans into one. The first makes a large enemy entangle himself; the second hits him while he cannot untie.
三十六计 · Chinese Wikisource edition (public domain)
Meaning
Chained stratagems means two plans locked so that the first creates the condition the second needs. The classical line is about scale. Many generals and a great host are not to be met face to face. They are to be made a burden to themselves, until their momentum is smaller than their numbers. A single clever stroke lets a large army recover, reorganise, and use its weight. A chain does not leave that interval. The first ring spends their freedom. The second ring spends them.
The commentary’s definition is that plain. One scheme encumbers the enemy, another attacks him, and the two are buckled together to break a force you could not break with either. Iron chains on ships are only the most pictorial version, and they are the version a novel made famous. Any pair will do: a feint that pulls the horses onto a field, and a field that then will not let the horses leave. The ‘favour’ in the hexagram line is not romance. It is the commander’s credit, the trust that lets him run two plans as if they were one.
The story
Red Cliffs in the novel, beans in the field 赤壁之战
Mixed
What most people picture is Pang Tong at Red Cliffs, persuading Cao Cao to chain his ships together so the northern soldiers will stop being seasick, and then Zhou Yu burning the chain so the fleet cannot scatter. That sequence is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The historical battle, in the winter of 208, is real and different. Zhou Yu’s Wu army, with Huang Gai taking a leading part, destroyed much of Cao Cao’s fleet by fire. Chen Shou records the fire attack. He does not give Pang Tong an iron chain. Pang Tong’s chain is the novel’s way of making ‘encumber themselves’ visible in one object.
The stratagem book’s own working example is smaller, and it is a Song anecdote. Luo Dajing’s Helin yulu says that the Song general Bi Zaiyu, in the Kaixi fighting against the Jurchen Jin, drew an enemy through several bouts, forward and back, until late in the day. He had black beans boiled with scent and scattered on the ground, fought again, and pretended to break. The pursuit followed. The horses were hungry, smelled the beans, and would not move for the whip. Bi turned and won. Two rings: the feigned collapse, which only works because the earlier bouts have made pursuit feel obvious, and the beans, which only matter because the horses arrive hungry.
That is the pattern without the scenery. A large, eager force is given a reason to commit its weight, and the ground of the commitment is prepared so the weight cannot be picked up again. One ring alone is a skirmish. The chain is the fact that the second ring was waiting inside the first. Readers who only remember the novel think the stratagem is a naval trick from 208. It is a way of pairing any two moves, and the pairing is the whole of the lesson.
The chained ships and Pang Tong’s role are the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the fire attack on Cao Cao’s fleet in 208 is in the Sanguozhi, and Bi Zaiyu’s scented beans are told in Luo Dajing’s Helin yulu while his campaigns are in the Song shi.
Sources
- Chen Shou, Sanguozhi 三国志, Wu shu, on Zhou Yu, Huang Gai and Red Cliffs
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三国演义 (novel, 14th c.), the Red Cliffs episodes
- Luo Dajing, Helin yulu 鹤林玉露, on Bi Zaiyu
Myth check
The iron chains on Cao Cao’s ships at Red Cliffs are the novel’s image, put in Pang Tong’s hands, while history records a fire attack in 208 under Zhou Yu, with Huang Gai involved, not Pang Tong’s chain. The stratagem itself is any two plans buckled together, it is not a line of Sun Tzu, and it is not a naval specialty.
Modern application
A large competitor, or a large institution, is rarely beaten by one clever product. The chain is a first move that tempts them to commit their bulk — a public promise, a price they must match, a channel they have to defend — and a second move, already built, that makes the bulk a handicap. Publish the second move too early and they do not commit. Use only the first and they absorb it by Tuesday.
Negotiations chain in the same quiet way. A concession that looks like fatigue pulls the other side into a hurried close, and the hurried close sits on a term, planted earlier, that they can no longer afford to reopen. If the term was not planted, the fatigue was only fatigue. The stratagem is the buckle between the two moves, not the acting.
Takeaways
- Pair a move that commits them with a move that traps the commitment.
- Do not reveal the second ring before the first has closed.
- Do not meet a many-headed force with one stroke.
How to counter it
If an opponent’s retreat or concession feels a little too easy after a long, tiring exchange, look at the ground you would be charging onto. The beans are whatever makes your next step sticky — a clause, a calendar, a public promise — so pause before you pursue.
Questions
What does chained stratagems mean?
It means locking two plans so that the first makes a large enemy encumber himself and the second hits him before he can recover. The classical line forbids a head-on fight with many generals and a great host. Ships chained at Red Cliffs are the famous picture, and they are the novel’s picture. Bi Zaiyu’s scented beans, which stopped a pursuit, are the stratagem book’s own example of two rings.
Were Cao Cao’s ships really chained at the Battle of Red Cliffs?
Cao Cao’s fleet was badly damaged by fire in the winter of 208. That attack, under Zhou Yu, with Huang Gai taking part, is history in the Sanguozhi. The plot in which Pang Tong talks Cao Cao into chaining the ships, so they cannot scatter when the fire comes, is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Keep the fire. Return the chain to the novel.