24. Borrow passage to destroy Guo

“Borrow passage to destroy Guo” is an ancient stratagem of “passing through on the pretext of conquering Guo”. During the three kingdom era, Jingzhou was seized by Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei after the battle of Red Cliff. Zhou Yu, who held immense hatred on Liu Bei for stealing the city after spending so much coin and soldiers in order to defeat Cao Cao, wrote a letter to Liu Bei. Zhou Yu informed Liu Bei that he will conquer the Riverlands for Liu (who couldn’t bear to take it for an imperial kinsman is ruling it) if he will supply Zhou with troops and resources. That way he will have to relinquish Jingzhou back to Zhou Yu. Zhuge explained to Liu after reading the letter how Zhou wants to borrow troops and grain as a pretext to kill him when he greets him in order to capture Jingzhou. The stratagem was however foiled by Zhuge Liang, after knowing Zhou Yu’s true intent.

This stratagem is basically about “attacking the unprepared, doing the unanticipated”. One can borrow resources from an ally to conquer an enemy, and then you use it against the ally who lent it. Or, one can borrow from an ally, only to use it against them. This is pretty much a stratagem to use people own resources against them. That is what it means to “borrow passage to destroy Guo“.

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