Catch Fish in Troubled Water

Fish in Troubled Waters When chaos breaks out within the enemy’s ranks, exploit his weakness and confusion to bring him into submission. It is like people naturally retiring indoors at dusk—a matter of acting with the grain of things. Allusion:After the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu led his troops in a fierce assault on Nanjun, defended by Cao Ren, and the two sides fought to a stalemate. Zhuge Liang held his troops in place and waited until Zhou Yu and Cao Ren had worn each other out and Nanjun had fallen into chaos; he then sent Zhao Yun with light cavalry to seize Nanjun amid the disorder. While Zhou Yu exhausted himself at the front, Zhuge Liang completed a substantive occupation in the window created by the enemy’s internal emptiness and collapsed order. The core of this stratagem lies not in actively muddying the waters, but in recognizing, when the situation has already fallen into chaos through the contending forces, the party that is “weak and without a leader,” and completing the seizure at the least cost. Modern Application:When industry giants erupt into......