The 48 Laws Of Power

and

gain

pockets

ofinfluencealloverChina.Assoonasthewar

against

the

Japanese

ended,

thecivilwarstarted

aga.in—but

thistimetheCommunists

enveloped

theweakenedNationalistsand

slowly

beatthemintosubmis-

sion.The

Japanese

hadservedasMao’s

cat’s-paw,inadvertentlyploughing

thefieldsfortheCommunistsand

making

possible

their

victory

overChi-

ang

Kai~shel<.

Interpretation

Mostleaderswhohadtakenas

powerful

an

enemy

as

Chiang

Kai-shek

prisoner

wouldhavemadesuretokillhim.Butin

doing

so

they

would

havelostthechanceMao

exploited.

Withoutthe

experiencedChiang

as

leaderofthe

Nationalists,

the

fight

todrivethe

Japanese

out

might

have

lastedmuch

longer,

with

devastating

results.Maowasfartooclevertolet

angerspoil

thechance

tokill

twobirdswithonestone.In

essence,

Mao

usedtwo

cat’s-paws

to

help

himattaintotal

victory.

First,

he

cleverly

baited

Chiang

into

takingcharge

ofthewar

against

the

Japanese.

Maoknewthe

Nationalistsled

byChiang

woulddomostofthehard

fighting

andwould

succeedin

pushing

the

Japanese

outof

China,

if

they

didnothavetocon-

cernthemselveswith

fighting

theCommunistsat

the

sametime.TheNa-

tionalists,then,

werethefirst

cat’s—paw,

usedtoevictthe

Japanese.

But

Maoalsoknewthatinthe

process

of

leading

thewar

against

the

invaders,

the

Japaneseartillery

andair

support

woulddecimatetheconventional

forcesof

the

Nationalists,

doingdamage

it

couldtaketheCommunists

decadestoinflict.

Why

wastetime

andlives

if

the

Japanese

could

do

the

jobquickly?

Itwasthiswise

policy

of

using

one

cat’s—paw

afteranotherthat

allowedtheCommuniststo

prevail.

Therearetwousesofthe

cat’s—paw:

tosave

appearances,

as

Cleopatra

did,

andtosave

energy

andeffort.Thelattercasein

particular

demands

that

youplan

severalmovesin

advance,

realizing

thata

temporary

move

backward

(lettingChianggo,say)

canleadtoa

giantleap

forward.If

you

are

temporarily

weakenedandneedtimeto

recover,

itwilloftenserve

you

welltousethosearound

you

bothasascreentohide

your

intentionsand

asa

cat’s~paw

todo

your

workfor

you.

Lookfora

powerful

third

party

who

sharesan

enemy

with

you

(if

fordifferent

reasons),

thentake

advantage

of

their

superiorpower

todealblowswhichwouldhavecost

you

muchmore

energy,

since

you

areweaker.Youcaneven

gentlyguide

themintohostili-

ties.

Always

searchoutthe

overlyaggressive

as

potentialcat’s-paws—they

areoftenmorethan

willing

to

get

intoa

fight,

and

you

canchoose

just

the

rightfight

for

yourpurposes.

OBSERVANCE

OFTHELAW

III

Kuriyama

Daizenwasan

adept

of

Cha-no—yu

(Hot

Waterfor

Tea,

the

Japanese

tea

ceremony)

andastudentofthe

teachings

ofthe

great

teamas-

terSen no

Rikyu.

Around 1620 Daizen learnedthat afriendof

his,

Hoshino

Soemon,

hadborroweda

large

sumof

money(300ryo)

to

help

a

Thenews

of

Omafs

c0nveP.s'i(mtoIslam

was

spreadeverywliere.

Andthatwas

juxl

what

heintended.

1..

‘

Ill'l‘l.lRUSF3

OOKOFARABIF

WISDOMAN!)

(}llll.l-Z.

1HlR'I‘El:N'1nL'l:Nl'LRY

Al'(>0|.A\lJ\VIhliMM

Awise

man,

walking

alone,

Wm’

being

bothered

by

a

foolthrowmg

mom,-s

athishead.

Turning

/0

face

him,

hesaid:

“My

dear

chap,

wrll

thrown!

Please

llCL‘€])l

rlxese

fewfnmcs.

Yuzfve

worked

hard

enough

10

get

nmrc

thanmerethanks.

Everyeffort

deserves‘

itsreward.

Butseethatmanover

there?Hecan

afford

MorethanIran.

PI‘(’.\‘L’Il1himwithsome

afyour

stones:

lhc>y’ll

earna

goodwage."

Lurrad

by

the

hail,

the

stupid

mun

Rom

afflorepeal

the

oulmgz-,

Ontheother

worthy

citizen.

'1

us[mehewant

'1

paid

in

money

for

hisxtnnrs.

Up

ruslzczl

serving—mcn.

Amtseizedhimand

thrmlmdhm:and

brokeallhishomes.

Inthecourts 0

f

kings

(hereare

pests

likethis‘,

devoid

of

reuse:

7'lzey

’IImakr:their

LAW 26 209