第 13 章 用间篇

War requires a lot of money.

If you send an army of one hundred thousand to fight in a faraway place, it costs a lot of money every day.

The whole country will be very busy, and many people cannot farm.

The war may last for many years, but victory may come in just one day.

If you fail in the end because you are reluctant to spend money, do not use spies, and do not know the enemy's situation, that is very bad.

Such a general is not a good general, and such a ruler is not a good ruler.

Good rulers and generals can win as soon as they go to war, and are more powerful than others, mainly because they know the enemy's situation in advance.

To know the enemy's situation in advance, you cannot rely on worshiping gods or observing stars; you must get information from people who know the enemy's situation.

There are five methods of using spies.

The first type is called yinjian, which means using ordinary people from the enemy country as spies.

The second type is called internal spies, which means bribing officials from the enemy country to act as spies.

The third type is called reverse spies, which means bribing spies sent by the enemy to make them work for us.

The fourth type is called dead spies, which means deliberately giving false information to our spies to tell the enemy, and after the enemy is deceived, they often kill this spy.

The fifth type is called live spies, which means sending spies to the enemy and then having them return alive to report the situation.

When all five types of spies are used together, the enemy will not know what to do.

This is a very powerful method and an important way for a ruler to defeat the enemy.

In the army, spies are the closest people, they receive the most rewards, and the use of spies is the most secretive matter.

Only very intelligent generals can use spies; only generous and kind-hearted generals can use spies; only very careful and clever generals can obtain true information from spies.

The method of using spies is really very clever.

Spies can be used anywhere.

If the plan to use spies has not yet begun, and it is already known by others, then both the spy and the person who knows the secret must be executed.

Whenever we are going to attack the enemy's army, assault the enemy's city, or kill the enemy, we must first know the names of those defending generals, the trusted people around them, the officials who relay messages, the officials who guard the gates, and his subordinates.

We must order our spies to investigate thoroughly.

We must definitely find the spies sent by the enemy to reconnoiter us.

After finding him, we can give him a lot of money, treat him well, guide him to work for us, and then let him go back.

In this way, the double agent can be used by us.

After learning the enemy's situation from the double agent, then the local spy and the internal spy can be used.

After learning the enemy's situation from the double agent, then we can pass false information to the enemy through the expendable spy.

After learning the enemy's situation from the double agent, then the living spy can return at the planned time to report the enemy's situation.

The ruler must understand the usage of these five types of spies, among which the most important is being able to use double agents.

Therefore, counter-spies must be given the best treatment.

In the past, the Shang dynasty was able to rise because it employed Yi Yin, who had served as an official in the Xia dynasty; the Zhou dynasty was able to rise because it employed Jiang Ziya, who had served as an official in the Shang dynasty.

Therefore, wise rulers and capable generals, if they can use very intelligent people as spies, will definitely achieve great things.

This is a very important step in warfare, as the entire army relies on the intelligence provided by spies to take action.