The last stratagem is where fleeing is the best option when all else fails. When all options have been exhausted, then fleeing is your best option. Flee to fight another day. When the timing is right you’ll be able to rise again.

When things fail, it is best to retreat and then regroup in order to plan your next course of action. Rather than surrendering, fleeing will keep all your options open as you escape to wait for the appropriate timing and planning to retaliate. That’s why it is the last stratagem. When all else fails, flee.

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Sometimes, one stratagem is not enough to beat the enemy; you may need multiple stratagems that are to be carried out simultaneously in order to win. Chain stratagems create multiple backup strategies in an effort to wear out the enemy. There is a higher success rate of winning through chain stratagems as there are multiple backup plans if one of them doesn’t work.

Having different stratagems operating simultaneously will increase your chances of succeeding in your plans. The use of chain stratagems is to increase the probability of the enemy to fall into your stratagems. It creates complexity which the enemy cannot figure out. The enemy may not take bait to one stratagem, but as more are created, the enemy will soon take bait and fall for your traps. That is what “chain stratagems” mean.

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This phrase means to win the enemy’s trust by injuring oneself. This stratagem is a great way to deceive your enemy in order to win the enemy’s confidence through sympathy or revenge against ex allies. One would injure him or herself as a way to trick the enemy that they are no longer affiliated with their ex allies. This is a powerful way to earn your enemy’s trust in order to spy and create an internal struggle from within.

Injuring oneself by saying that you were inflicted by your ex allies has been done from ancient times to even now. By doing so, the enemy will relax and one would be able to gain the enemy’s trust to stay with them. By staying near the enemy, one can plot against them from within. That is what it means to “inflict injury on oneself to win the enemy’s trust“.

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This phrase means to create internal conflict within the enemy. Secretly sow discord on the enemy’s friends, families, allies, advisors, employees, officers and neighbors. Doing so will weaken the enemy’s power and abilities. With so much internal discord, the enemy will be preoccupied and weaken from within. This will make the enemy penetrable by relying outside elements, the very ones that are helping your enemy.

One can start sowing seeds of discord by infiltrating close people of the enemy. Send spies, or create new ones within the enemy to start the process. Spread rumors, gossips, fake letters and calls to sow discord by making everyone close to the enemy seem like a betrayer. From bribing to sending false information, the methods are endless. By weakening the enemy from internal discord, attacking them will be easy. That is what it means to “sowing seeds of discord“.

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This stratagem means to appear empty in order to ambush the enemy. This could also mean the opposite where you suspiciously appear empty in order to arouse suspicion from the enemy. This stratagem is used in order to deceive the enemy. When full appear empty, when empty appear full.

The empty fort strategy got its name during a battle between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. Zhuge had only a few hundred men while Sima Yi was fast approaching the fort with an army of a hundred and fifty thousand. In a short while, Zhuge made the fort look empty by putting away the flags and banners while having two dozen men sweeping the floor outside the open gates. Zhuge appeared on top of the fort, playing the guqin while sitting. This made Sima Yi suspicious and ordered a full retreat, thinking it was an ambush. Later on, Sima Yi went back and questioned the villagers who told him that Zhuge Liang only had a few hundred men at the time. That is how the “empty fort strategy” came into play.

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