Tossing Out a Brick to Get a Jade, 抛砖引玉 - 36 Strategies
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36 Strategies - Strategy No 17: Tossing out a brick to get a jade, 抛砖引玉
Original: 类以诱之，击蒙也。
Modern: 用类似的东西诱惑敌人，使敌人懵懵懂懂地上当受骗。
English: Use a decoy to trick the enemy, putting him in a confused state and he will fall into the trap.
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In the year 700 BC, the State of Chu send out and army to conquer and annexed the State of Jiao. Their movement was very fast and when they reach the city walls, their morale was extremely high. The Lord of Jiao knew that going out to fight with the Chu troops is asking for demise so they decide to defend the city within the walls. Given the terrain that surrounds the State of Jiao, it is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. The Chu troops repeatedly attack the city walls but to no avail. So this went on for more than a month. One advisor from the State of Chu analysed the situation and thought that should use wits instead of numerical strength to conquer the city, so he hatched up a plan and let the Lord of Chu on it.Since the city has been surrounded for a very long time, they would have a shortage of firewood. The plan is to get soldiers to pose as woodcutters to collect firewood from the nearby forest. The Jiao soldiers on seeing that the woodcutters are defenseless would ride out to capture these woodcutters together with their firewood. So can use the 'woodcutters' to lure out the Jiao soldiers and capture the city when they are out.
The Chu soldiers carry out the plan, the first few days, they let the Jiao soldiers to plunder the firewood from the 'woodcutters' successfully. After the several successful attempt, the Jiao soldiers became complacent. On the sixth day, large group of the Jiao soldiers rode out to chase after the 'woodcutters' again. This time, they were lured into an ambush. The Jiao soldiers was totally caught unaware when Chu soldiers came out of their hiding. They tried to retreat but their retreat route was cut off. Most of the Jiao soldiers was either captured or killed. On seeing that they have destroyed most of the Jiao soldiers, the Lord of Chu ordered another attack on the State of Jiao. Seeing that there is no way of winning, the Lord of Jiao decided to surrender.
公元前700年，楚国用“抛砖引玉”的策略，轻取绞城。这一年，楚国发兵攻打绞国（今湖北郧县西北），大军行动迅速。楚军兵临城下，气势旺盛，绞国自知出城迎战，凶多吉少，决定坚守城池。绞城地势险要，易守难攻。楚军多次进攻，均被击退。两军相持一个多月。楚国大夫莫傲屈居瑕仔细分析了敌我双方的情况，认为绞城只可智取，不可力克。他向楚王献上一条“以鱼饵钓大鱼”的计谋。他说：“攻城不下，不如利而诱之。”楚王向他问诱敌之法。屈瑕建议：趁绞城被围月余，城中缺少薪柴之时，派些士兵装扮成樵夫上山打柴运回来，敌军一定会出城劫夺柴草。头几天，让他们先得一些小利，等他们麻痹大意，大批士兵出城劫夺柴草之时，先设伏兵断其后路，然后聚而歼之，乘势夺城。楚王担心绞国不会轻易上当，屈瑕说：“大王放心，绞国虽小而轻燥，轻躁则少谋略。有这样香甜的钓饵，不愁它不上钩。”楚王于是依计而行，命一些士兵装扮成樵夫上山打柴。
绞侯听探子报告有挑夫进山的情况，忙问这些樵夫有无楚军保护。探子说，他们三三两两进出，并无兵士跟随。绞候马上布置人马，待“樵夫”背着柴禾出山之机，突然袭击，果然顺利得手，抓了三十多个“樵夫”，夺得不少柴草。一连几天，果然收获不小。见有利可图，绞国士兵出城劫夺柴草的越来越多。楚王见敌人已经吞下钓饵，便决定迅速逮大鱼。第六天，绞国士兵象前几天一样出城劫掠，“樵夫”们见绞军又来劫掠，吓得没命的逃奔，绞国士兵紧紧追赶，不知不觉被引入楚军的埋伏圈内。只见伏兵四起，杀声震天，纹国士兵哪里抵挡得住，慌忙败退，又遇伏兵断了归路，死伤无数。楚王此时趁机攻城，绞侯自知中计，已无力抵抗，只得请降。