The Self-Injury Stratagem

Inflict Injury on Oneself to Win Trust (The Bitter-Flesh Stratagem) People ordinarily do not harm themselves; once someone is injured, bystanders are bound to regard it as real. By exploiting this fixed psychological assumption—treating the false as true and the true as false—a stratagem of sowing discord can be carried out. It is like dealing with an ignorant child: guide him along his own disposition, and one may have one’s way. Allusion:The most widely circulated version of the “bitter-flesh stratagem” comes from the Battle of Red Cliffs in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Zhou Yu and Huang Gai secretly agreed on the plan. At a military council, Huang Gai deliberately contradicted Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu ordered him beheaded; after the generals pleaded for him, the sentence was changed to flogging, and Huang Gai was beaten so severely that he could not leave his bed. This scene was staged for Cai Zhong and Cai He, who had feigned surrender to the Wu camp; the two carried news of Huang Gai’s punishment back to Cao Cao’s camp. Huang Gai then sent someone to present Cao......