Use when locating capable individuals who have withdrawn from public life. Covers intelligence gathering, informal approach, and relationship-building with reclusive talent in humble occupations.
Use when navigating credit for achievements that involved rule-breaking or complex loyalties. Guides appropriate demeanor, ritual humility, and relationship preservation after morally ambiguous successes.
Use when assessing whether to enter peace talks or risk signaling weakness. Evaluates adversary incentives, ally perceptions, and negotiation leverage to determine if peace overtures will succeed or backfire.
Use when advocating for your own inclusion in a mission or opportunity after being overlooked. Applies the 'point in a sheath' (锥处囊中) metaphor — reframing obscurity as lack of opportunity rather than lack of ability, and requesting a chance for talent to emerge.
Use when resolving disputed succession with multiple claimants or absent heirs. Provides priority ordering (太子, eldest legitimate son, talented son, brother), a resolution process with ministerial council, external power assessment, and rival neutralization protocols.
Use when handling foreign royals or nobles seeking asylum or refuge. Covers assessment of political status, evaluation of ally potential, and three response tiers: full hospitality with marriage alliance, basic courtesy with safe passage, or diplomatic refusal based on risk calculus.
Use when studying Han-Xiongnu peace diplomacy. Covers the Heqin (和亲) system of marriage alliances, annual silk and grain tribute, border market establishment, and territorial boundary protocols along the Great Wall.
Use when interpreting Zhou Yi (I Ching) hexagram readings or analyzing divination results. Covers hexagram transformation (本卦 to 之卦), line text analysis, fulfillment location and timing determination, and clan affiliation prediction, as demonstrated in Chen Li Gong's divination.
Use when selecting an heir among multiple candidates with equal legitimacy. Employs a ritual involving a hidden jade bi (璧) to determine divine selection while maintaining fairness. Based on King Gong of Chu's method of testing his five sons through concealed ritual objects.
Use when deciding the fate of a defeated general who returns after losing their forces. Convenes advisors, weighs strict versus lenient views, and defers to higher authority rather than unilateral execution.
Use when maintaining long-term motivation after humiliation or defeat. Based on Goujian's 'tasting gall' (卧薪尝胆) practice: physical reminders, daily verbal affirmations of past shame, personal austerity, and sharing hardships with the people to build loyalty for eventual recovery.
Use when deciding whether to exit after achieving major success to avoid becoming a threat. Based on Fan Li's departure from Yue: recognize danger signals ('when birds are gone, the bow is hidden'), assess your superior's character, resign formally, and leave completely with portable wealth.
Use when planning rapid cavalry raids deep into enemy territory. Based on Huo Qubing's campaigns: select elite riders, travel light (约轻赍), live off enemy resources (取食於敌), strike symbolic targets like 狼居胥山, and return before enemy concentrates.
Use when evaluating military achievements for reward conferral. Systematically compiles kill counts (斩首), captures (捕虏), and territory gained to determine appropriate titles (侯), fief increases, and punishments for failures.
Use when sowing discord between enemy commanders and their trusted advisors or conducting disinformation campaigns. Deploys substantial resources to spread defection rumors, stages differential envoy treatment, and exploits resulting trust breakdowns to degrade enemy decision-making.
Use when weakening powerful feudal lords without military confrontation. Implements the Tui'en (推恩) decree to divide territories among all heirs, progressively fragmenting large fiefs into minor holdings across generations.
Use when besieging a fortified enemy or planning encirclement warfare. Based on Bai Qi's victory at Changping (长平) — feign retreat to draw the enemy out, deploy hidden forces to cut retreat routes, sever supply lines, and wait 40+ days for starvation-driven collapse.
Use when implementing classical Chinese governance (循吏之道). Emphasizes minimal intervention, leading by example, indirect influence (raise gate barriers to raise cart heights), and conflict-of-interest rules prohibiting officials from competing with commoners.
Use when evaluating whether a military action inadvertently strengthens rivals or when analyzing second-order strategic consequences. Based on Hu Yan's advice against attacking Pu — assessing whether success helps your enemies more than yourself and recommending alternatives when it does.
Use when performing or analyzing ancient Chinese turtle shell divination (龟卜). Covers shell preparation, prohibited days (子亥戌), ritual prayer recitation, heat application for crack patterns, and interpretation of crack positions (首仰足开/肣).
Use when defending a besieged city with limited forces against a superior enemy. Combines divine legitimacy, psychological manipulation, feigned weakness, and surprise attack (e.g., Tian Dan's fire cattle) to shatter enemy morale.
Use when seeking to replace a capable enemy commander with an inferior one through disinformation. Based on Qin's strategy at Changping to replace Lian Po (廉颇) with Zhao Kuo (赵括) by exploiting the enemy ruler's impatience with defensive tactics.
Use when requesting assistance from a powerful party at negligible cost to them. Based on Su Dai's (苏代) candlelight metaphor — framing the request as sharing excess that costs nothing ('your candlelight has surplus; share it and lose nothing') to maximize willingness to help.
Use when resolving major governance doubts through multi-source consultation. Combines turtle shell (卜) and milfoil (筮) divination with ruler deliberation, ministerial advice, and popular sentiment to reach decisions ranked by consensus level.
