The 48 Laws Of Power

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sum-1mm 1 'R‘{M‘.

370 LAW 43

that

everything

mustcometo

them;

convincedoftheirown

charm,

they

makenoeffortto

charm,seduce,

or

gentlypersuade.

Intherealmof

power,

suchattitudesaredisastrous.Atalltimes

you

mustattendtothosearound

you,gauging

their

particularpsychology,

tai—

loxingyour

words

towhat

you

knowwillenticeand

seduce

them.Thisre

quiresenergy

andart.The

higheryour

station,

the

greater

theneedto

remainattunedtotheheartsandmindsofthosebelow

you,creating

abase

of

support

tomaintain

you

atthe

pinnacle.

Withoutthat

base,

yourpower

will

teeter,

andatthe

slightestchange

offortunethosebelowwill

gladly

as-

sist

in

your

fallfrom

grace.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

inA.D.

225,

Chuko

Liang,

master

strategist

andchiefministertotheruler

ofShuinancient

China,

confronteda

dangerous

situation.The

kingdom

of

Wei

hadmountedanall~outattackonShufrom

the

north.More

dangerous

still,

Weihadformedanalliancewiththebarbarousstatestothesouthof

Shu,

led

byKingMenghuo.

Chuko

Liang

hadtodealwiththissecond

menacefromthesouthbeforehe

could

hope

tofendoffWeiinthenorth.

AsChuko

Liangprepared

tomarchsouth

against

the

barbarians,

a

wise

man

inhis

camp

offered

himadvice.

It

wouldbe

impossible,

thisman

said,

to

pacify

the

regionby

force.

Lizmg

would

probably

beat

Menghuo,

butassoonasheheadednorth

again

todealwith

Wei,

Menghuo

would

reinvade.“Itisbettertowin

hearts,"

saidthewise

man,

“than

cities;

better

tobattlewithhearts

than

with

weapons.

I

hopeyou

willsucceedin

winning

theheartsofthese

people.”

“Youread

mythoughts,”responded

Chuko

Liang.

As

Liangexpected,Menghuo

launcheda.

powerful

atmBut

Liang

laida

trap

and

managed

to

capture

a

largepart

of

Menghudsarmy,

includ-

ing

the

king

himself.Insteadof

punishing

or

executing

his

prisoners,

how-

ever,

he

separated

thesoldiersfromtheir

king,

hadtheirshackles

removed,

regaled

themwithfoodand

wine,

andthenaddressedthem.“Youare

all

upright

men,”

hesaid.“Ibelieve

you

allhave

parents,wives,

andchildren

waiting

for

you

athome.

They

aredoubtless

shedding

bittertearsat

your

fate.Iam

going

torelease

you,

so

that

you

can

returnhometo

your

loved

onesandcomfortthem.”Thementhanked

Liang

withtearsintheir

eyes;

thenhesentfor

Menghuo.

“If 1 release

you,”

asked

Liang,

“whatwill

you

do?”“Iwill

pullmy

armytogetheragain,”

answeredthe

king,

“andleadit

againstyou

toadecisivebattle.Butif

youcapture

measecond

time,

Iwill

bow

to

yoursuperiority.”

Not

only

did

Liang

order

Menghuo

released,

he

gave

hima

gift

ofahorseandsaddle.When

angry

lieutenantswondered

why

hedid

this,

Liang

told

them,

“Ican

capture

thatmanas

easily

asIcan

take

something

outof

mypocket.

Iam

trying

towinhisheart.WhenI

do,

peace

willcomeofitselfhereinthesouth.”

As

Menghuo

hadsaidhe

would,

heattacked

again.

Buthisownoffi-

cers,

whom

Liang

hadtreatedso

well,

rebelled

against

him,

captured

him,

andturnedhimoverto

Liang,

whoaskedhim

again

thesame

question

as