Use when implementing comprehensive reforms to strengthen a state's governance and external position. Combines internal reforms (legal codification, agriculture/weaving promotion, military readiness) with external horizontal alliance strategy (连衡) from Shang Yang's model.
Use when analyzing dynastic cycles, predicting political decline, or extracting governance lessons from history. Traces patterns of rise and fall (兴坏之端) across origins, development, turning points, and collapse.
Use when calculating pentatonic scale pipe lengths or tuning traditional Chinese instruments. Applies the three-division method (三分损益法) to derive 宫商角徵羽 from base unit 81 using alternating 2/3 and 4/3 ratios.
Use when stabilizing commodity prices, preventing merchant manipulation, or implementing the 平准 system. Covers government buy-low/sell-high intervention, 均输 distribution, and salt-iron monopoly policies.
Use when assessing whether to attack a seemingly weakened adversary. Provides a risk-assessment framework covering hidden enemy strengths, battle-hardened populations, diplomatic consequences, and multi-advisor consultation to avoid costly miscalculations.
Use when analyzing last-resort strategies against existential threats where all conventional and diplomatic options have failed. Covers agent recruitment, pretext creation, close-range execution, and critical risk assessment of retaliatory consequences.
Use when balancing honor-based commitments against tactical military advantage. Applies Duke Wen's three-stage retreat (三舍) framework: recalling past agreements, assessing current position, weighing long-term reputation versus immediate gains, and documenting decision rationale.
Use when creating interstate alliances for mutual defense or joint offensive operations. Covers ally evaluation (military strength, reliability, geography), alliance types (marriage, military, mutual defense pacts), negotiation protocols, and long-term alliance maintenance through gifts and consultation.
Use when assigning leadership roles to maximize team effectiveness based on relative strengths. Follows Fan Li's advice to Goujian: directly compare each advisor's capabilities across domains (military vs. civil) and assign primary roles where each person excels most.
Use when evaluating locations for settlement, refuge, or strategic positioning. Covers geographic advantages, political landscape assessment, population disposition analysis, and long-term power projection, with decision rules to reject sites near rising powers and favor those with alienated populations.
Use when evaluating unexpected benefits or opportunities during crisis or competition. Applies the principle that unearned benefits often carry hidden costs: analyze the source, examine causation chains, assume strategic motivation, and evaluate long-term consequences before accepting or rejecting.
Use when evaluating governance quality, assessing leadership effectiveness, or auditing a ruler's conduct. Provides positive and negative indicators covering talent retention, crisis response, wealth distribution, and popular sentiment to diagnose state health.
Use when launching major policy reforms or establishing trust before implementing new laws. Follows Shang Yang's 徙木立信 method — creating a simple public task with escalating rewards to demonstrate that government promises are kept before announcing real reforms.
Use when building multi-state coalitions or diplomatic alliances against a dominant threat. Applies Su Qin's 合纵 strategy — analyzing each party's geography, military strength, and fears, then proposing concrete mutual defense terms with specific obligations per member.
Use when prioritizing between competing strategic targets or evaluating conquest options. Weighs prestigious targets (symbolic resources like the nine tripods) against practical targets (territorial expansion) using feasibility, consequence, net benefit, and reputation criteria.
Use when managing uncollectible debts or converting financial obligations into political capital. Categorizes debtors by ability to pay, publicly burns uncollectible debt documents at a community gathering, and frames forgiveness as investment in loyalty and reputation rather than loss.
Use when facing coordinated disinformation or slander campaigns targeting your reputation. Identifies warning signs of bribery and planted criticism, and outlines defensive measures including transparent communication and alliance-building.
Use when persuading a powerful adversary to change their military or political course of action. Employs historical analogies, risk analysis, and alternative alliance proposals to redirect an opponent's strategy.
Use when identifying and cultivating undervalued political figures for long-term gain. Follows Lu Buwei's 奇货可居 method: assess investability, provide resources, influence gatekeepers, and secure commitment from promising candidates.
Use when persuading powerful figures by appealing to their long-term self-interest. Analyzes the target's vulnerabilities (aging, lack of heirs, fading influence), formulates warnings, and presents solutions that create mutual benefit.
Use when persuading officials or leaders by aligning your proposal with their self-interest. Demonstrated by Kuai Tong and Li Yiji, this technique researches the target's fears, frames problems objectively, and presents solutions that benefit the listener.
Use when designing military incentive structures to motivate troops and encourage enemy defections. Establishes tiered rewards by enemy rank (大将 to 千石), defection incentives for surrendering units, and multiplier systems for credible payouts.
Use when distributing monetary rewards or resources received in an official capacity. Ensures fairness and loyalty by publicly displaying resources, allowing self-selection by subordinates, and keeping nothing for personal use.
Use when building deep military loyalty and unit cohesion. Shares hardships, distributes rewards equitably, and leads by example to create soldiers willing to follow into the most dangerous engagements.
