The Self-Injury Trick

Chìbì zhī zhàn qiányè, Zhōu Yú yù yòng huǒgōng, què kǔ yú wú rén néng shēnrù Cáo yíng diǎnrán nà yì bǎ juédìng shèngfù de huǒ.

On the eve of the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu wanted to attack with fire, but he was stumped: no one could slip deep into Cao Cao's camp to light the very blaze that would settle the war.

Lǎojiàng Huáng Gài kàn chū zhǔshuài qìsè, zhǔdòng xiàncè, yuàn shòu yì fān pí ròu zhī kǔ, zhàxiáng Cáo Cāo yǐ wéi nèiyìng.

The veteran general Huang Gai read his commander's gloom and offered a plan: he would endure real suffering of the flesh, pretend to surrender to Cao Cao, and so become the inside agent.

Zhōu Yú shēn zhī Cáo Cāo shēngxìng duōyí, xúncháng zhàxiáng jué nán qǔxìn, bìxū zuò de tiānyī-wúfèng.

Zhou Yu knew well how suspicious Cao Cao was by nature; an ordinary feigned surrender could never win his trust — the trick had to be seamless, without a single flaw.

Yúshì èr rén hé yǎn yì chū “Kǔròu-jì” —— Huáng Gài gùyì zài zhòng jiàng yìshì shí dǐngzhuàng Zhōu Yú, yáncí jīliè.

So the two staged a “Self-Injury Trick”: Huang Gai, on purpose, defied Zhou Yu in front of all the assembled generals, his words sharp and heated.

Zhōu Yú yáng nù, hèlìng jiāng Huáng Gài zhòng zhàng yì bǎi, dǎ de pí kāi ròu zhàn, hūn sǐ shù cì.

Zhou Yu feigned fury and ordered Huang Gai a hundred heavy blows with the rod, until his skin split and his flesh gaped, and he fainted several times.

Zhòng jiàng kǔkǔ qiúqíng fāng cái bàxiū, Huáng Gài bèi tái huí yíng zhōng, shāng zhòng wòchuáng, jī yù sàngmìng.

Only after the generals pleaded again and again did Zhou Yu stop; Huang Gai was carried back to his tent, gravely hurt and bedridden, nearly at death's door.

Cáo jūn xìzuò jiāng cǐ shì xiáng bào Cáo Cāo; suíhòu Huáng Gài qiǎn shǐ mì xiàn xiáng shū, yáncí kěnqiè, Cáo Cāo guǒrán shēnxìn bù yí.

Cao Cao's spies reported the beating in full; soon after, Huang Gai sent a man with a secret letter of surrender, so heartfelt in tone that Cao Cao truly swallowed it whole.

Dài dào dōngfēng zhòu qǐ zhī yè, Huáng Gài shuài mǎnzài gāoyóu de qīngzhōu, yǐ “xiàn liáng tóuxiáng” wéi míng zhí pū Cáo jūn shuǐzhài.

On the night the east wind suddenly rose, Huang Gai led a fleet of light boats loaded with oil and, under the cover of “bringing grain in surrender”, drove straight at Cao Cao's water fortress.

Huǒ chuán yìqí diǎnrán, jiè zhe dōngfēng shāo jìn liánhuán zhànchuán, Cáo Cāo bāshí wàn dàjūn qǐngkè kuìbài, Chìbì yí zhàn suì dìng sānfēn zhī shì.

The fire-ships were lit all at once and, riding the east wind, burned the chained fleet to ashes; Cao Cao's army of eight hundred thousand collapsed in an instant, and the Battle of Red Cliffs set the shape of the Three Kingdoms.

Zhè biàn shì “Kǔròu-jì” —— yǐ zìshāng huànqǔ xìnrèn, zài yǐ xìnrèn wánchéng zhìmìng yì jī.

This is the “Self-Injury Trick”: trade self-harm for trust, then use that trust to land the fatal blow.

Zài xiàndài tánpàn zhuō shàng, yǒushí xiān zuò chū yí xiàng “kàn sì gē ròu” de ràngbù, fǎn'ér néng huàn lái duìshǒu gèng dà de xìnrèn yǔ ràngbù.

At a modern negotiating table, sometimes making the first “painful-looking” concession can actually win you far greater trust — and bigger concessions — from the other side.

Tā de zhìhuì zàiyú: xìnrèn shì zuì nán gōngpò de chéngchí, ér “yuànyì wèi zìjǐ shòukǔ” de rén, zuì yì ràng duìshǒu fàngxià jièxīn.

Its wisdom: trust is the hardest fortress to storm, and one who is “willing to suffer for a cause” is the quickest to make an opponent lower his guard.