Tossing out a Brick to Get a Jade

Cast a Brick to Attract Jade Use something extremely similar to lure the enemy, causing him to be duped into falling for it, and then strike this opponent who has been rendered benighted by the lure. Allusion:The allusion of “casting a brick to attract jade” comes from the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp. The Tang poet Chang Jian admired Zhao Gu’s poetic talent. Learning that Zhao Gu would visit Lingyan Temple, Chang Jian first wrote two crude lines on the temple wall. When Zhao Gu saw them, his poetic inspiration was stirred, and he took up his brush and added two more lines far more exquisite than the first two. Later generations therefore called Chang Jian’s act “casting a brick to attract jade.” On the military level, the logic is to use old and weak soldiers, inferior equipment, or a small quantity of provisions as the “brick” to lure out the enemy’s main force, and then use elite troops in ambush to encircle and annihilate this “jade” that has lost its guard through greed for gain. Modern Application:The core is to use a low-cost, low-threshold “brick”......