The 48 Laws Of Power

I65 LAW
22

In 473

B.C.,

inancient

China,

KingGoujian

ofYuesufferedahorrible

defeatfromtherulerofWuinthebattleof

Fujiao.Goujian

wantedto

flee,

buthehad

an

adviser

who

told

him

tosurrenderandto

place

himself

in

the

serviceoftherulerof

Wu,

fromwhich

position

hecould

study

themanand

plot

his

revenge.Deciding

tofollowthis

advice,

Goujiangave

therulerall

ofhis

riches,

andwenttoworkinhis

conqueror’s

stablesasthelowestser-

vant.Forthree

years

hehumbledhimselfbeforethe

ruler,

who

then,

finally

satisfied

of

his

loyalty,

allowed

himto

returnhome.

Inwardly,

however,

Goujian

had

spent

thosethree

years

gathering

informationand

plotting

re-

venge.

Whenaterrible

drought

struck

Wu,

andthe

kingdom

wasweak

ened

by

irmer

turmoil,

heraisedan

army,

invaded,

andwonwithease.

Thatisthe

power

behindsurrender:It

givesyou

thetimeandthe

flexibility

to

plot

a

devastating

counterblow.Had

Goujian

run

away,

hewouldhave

lostthischance.

When

foreign

trade

began

tothreaten

Japaneseindependence

inthe

mid—nineteenth

century,

the

Japanese

debatedhowtodefeatthe

foreign-

ers.One

minister,

Hotta

Masayoshi,

wroteamemorandumin 1857 thatin-

fluenced

Japanesepolicy

for

years

tocome:“Iamthereforeconvincedthat

our

policy

shouldbetoconclude

friendly

alliances,

tosend

ships

to

foreign

counhies

everywhere

andconduct

trade,

to

copy

the

foreigners

where

they

areattheirbestandso

repair

ourown

shortcomings,

tofosterournational

strength

and

complete

our

armaments,

and

so

graduallysubject

the

foreigrr

erstoourinfluenceuntil

in

the

endallthe

countries

of

the

worldknowthe

blessings

of

perfect tranquillity

and our

hegemony

is

acknowledged

throughout

the

globe.”

Thisisabrilliant

application

oftheLaw:Usesur-

renderto

gain

accessto

yourenemy.

Learnhis

ways,

insinuate

yourself

withhim

slowly,outwardly

conformtohis

customs,

but

inwardly

maintain

your

ownculture.

Eventuallyyou

will

emerge

victorious,

forwhilehecon—

siders

you

weakand

inferior,

andtakesno

precautionsagainstyou,you

are

using

thetimetocatch

up

and

surpass

him.This

soft,

penneable

formofin»

vasionisoftenthe

best,

forthe

enemy

has

nothing

toreact

against,prepare

for,

orresist.Andhad

japan

resistedWesterninfluence

by

force,

it

might

wellhavesuffereda

devastating

invasionthatwouldhave

permanently

al-

tereditsculture.

Surrendercanalsooffera

way

of

mockingyour

enemies,

of

turning

their

poweragainst

them,

asitdidforBrecht.MilanKundera’snovel 7719

Jake,

based

onthe

author’s

experiences

ina

penalcamp

in

Czechoslovakia,

tellsthe

story

ofhowthe

prisonguardsorganized

a

relay

race,

guards

against

prisoners.

Forthe

guards

thiswasachancetoshowofftheir

physi-

cal

superiority.

The

prisoners

knew

they

were

expected

to

lose,

so

they

went outoftheir

way

to

oblige-—miming exaggerated

exertionwhile

barelymoving,running

a

few

yards

and

collapsing,limping,jogging

ever

so

slowly

whilethe

guards

racedaheadatfull

speed.

Both

by

joining

the

raceand

bylosing

ig

they

had

obliged

the

guards

obediently;

buttheir

“overobedience”hadmocked

the

event

to

the

point

of

mining

it.

Overobe-

dience—su.rrender—washerea

way

todemonstrate

superiority

in

are-

versemanner.Resistancewouldhave

engaged

the

prisoners

in

the

cycle

of