The 48 Laws Of Power

Yeta

pattern

did

eventuallyemerge

inMao‘sattacks.AftertheNation-

alistshadtakenthe

cities,

leaving

theCommuniststo

occupy

whatwas

gen-

erally

consideredMa.nchun‘a’suseless

space,

theCommunistsstarted

using

that

largespace

tosurroundthecities.If

Chiang

sentan

army

fromone

city

to
reinforce
another,

theCommunistswouldencirclethe

rescuingarmy.

Chia.ng’s

forceswere

slowly

brokenintosmallerandsmaller

units,

isolated

fromone

another,

theirlinesof

supply

andcommunicationcut.TheNa-

tionalistsstillhad

superior

firepower,

butif

they

couldnot

move,

what

good

wasit?

A

kind

ofterrorovercametheNationalistsoldiers.Commanderscom-

fortably

remotefromthefrontlines

mightlaugh

ax

Man,

but

the

soldiers

had

fought

theCommunistsinthe

mountains,

andhadcometofeartheir

elusiveness.Nowthesesoldierssatintheircitiesandwatchedastheirfast-

moving

enemies,

asfluidas

water,

poured

inonthemfromallsides.There

seemedtobemillionsofthem.TheCommunistsalsoencircledthesol-

diers’

spirits,

bombarding

them

with

propaganda

to

lower

theirmoraleand

pressure

themtodesert.

TheNationalists

began

tosurrenderintheirminds.Theirencircled

andisolatedcitiesstarted

collapsing

evenbefore

being

directly

attacked;

oneafteranotherfellin

quick

succession.InNovemberof

1948,

theNa-

tionalistssurrenderedManchuriatotheCommunist»-a

humiliafing

blow

tothe

technicallysuperior

Nationalist

army,

andonethat

proved

decisive

inthewar.

By

the

followingyear

theCommunistscontrolledallofChina.

Interpretation

The

twoboard

games

that

best

approximate

the

strategies

ofwar

arechess

andtheAsian

game

of

go.

Inchesstheboardissmall.In

comparison

to

go,

theattackcomes

relatively

quickly,

forcing

adecisivebattle.It

rarelypays

to

withdraw,

ortosacrifice

yourpieces,

whichmustbeconcentratedat

key

areas.Goismuchlessformal.Itis

played

ona

largegrid,

with 361 inter-

sections——nearly

six

times

as

manypositions

asinchess.Blackandwhite

stones

(one

colorforeach

side)

are

placed

ontheboard’s

intersections,

one

ata

time,

wherever

you

like.Onceall

your

stories

(52

foreach

side)

areon

the

board,

the

object

istoisolatethestonesof

youropponentbyencircling

them.

A

game

of

go——called

wet’-chiinChina-canlast

up

to

threehundred

moves.The

strategy

ismoresubtleandfluidthan

chess,

developingslowly;

themore

complex

the

patternyour

stories

initially

createonthe

board,

the

harderit

isfor

youropponent

tounderstand

yourstrategy.

Fighting

tocon-

trola

particular

areaisnotworththetrouble:Youhavetothinkin

larger

terms,

tobe

prepared

tosacrificeanarea

in

order

eventually

todominate

theboard.What

you

areafterisnotanentrenched

position

but

mobility.

With

mobilityyou

canisolatethe

opponent

insmallareasandthenencir-

cle

them.The

aimisnot

to

killoffthe

opponent’spiecesdirectly,

asin

chess,

buttoinduceakindof

paralysis

and

collapse.

Chessis

linear,

posi-

tion

oriented,

and

aggressive;go

isnonlinearandfluid.

Aggression

isindi-

Tlllill.\Rl-IAI\D

I'll!»'l‘R|nlZ

The

Sage

nail/wrseeks

to

follow

the

waysof

thermrienlsnorestab-

lirhes

anyfixed

stan-

dard

for

alltimes‘but

exantinesthe

things

a

f

his

age

andthen

{3r€pun¢.\‘

torich]

with(Item.

TherewasIn

Sung

a

man,

who

tilled

afield

inwliiclztlzercstoorl

Ilzetrunk

ofa

tree.

Once

a

hare,

while

rwmmgfast.

rushed

uguénri

the

tmrzk,

brokeits

neck,

and

died.

Tlzeyeupon

the

manamhis

plough

usiclcandwatched(hm

tree,hoping

thathe

would

gel

anmlrerham

Yethenever

caught

rmorherhareandwas

ltimself

ridic':¢letI

by

Ike

peopleofSung.

Now

supposingsornebody

wanmdto

govern

the

peopleof

the

present

age

will:the

policies

ofrlzeearlykings.

he

wouldbe

doingexactly

liresmne

thing

asthat

manwhowarclzedthe

tree’.

HAN-l‘l1l-'l’Zt..

CIIJNESF

Pllll.0SOl'lIFR,

mun)<,r,:~Irun’mr,

LAWi8 423