----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soshi Tishi’s Senryaku
I have read a great number of war treaties. When I became the Master Sensei of the Honor's Lesson Dojo, my task was to transmit the way of the Scorpion to freshly instructed Samurai. During my research, I learnt about the obvious as Akodo's Leadership, to the most obscure treaty about the minor clans techniques. From my own teaching, I heard about Shosuro Yudoka-sama vision of absolute war. I went to the archives of the Soshi, to read the battle plans of past wars. But what I gathered here is different, as I was searching for lost text from Sun Tao, I saw passing references to the 36 stratagems, the Senryaku. It was a work of the past and the foreign, as it came from our time in the Burning Sands, but I found elegancy in them. It is time I relate them.
When I found the original work, only a few pages had survived the ravages of time, and I got six times six lines of proverbial wisdom. They are sorted in six states, relative of the position you find yourself in. While Sun Tao’s Art of War focus military organization, leadership, and battlefield tactics, the Senryaku can also suitably be applied in the court and for espionage. The doctrines can not only be used as battlefield strategies, but also apply to psychological warfare.
Chapter I: Stratagems when in a superior position
1 - Fool the Emperor to Cross the Sea
Hide your intentions. Sending troops under the cover of nigh may be a great thing, but if they are spotted you loose the expected surprise. Sending troops disguised as farmers moving in town for a festival will be less suspicious. Remember how Shoju-sama took Otosan-Uchi.
2 - Besiege Wei to Rescue Zhao
If you can’t confront your enemy directly, strike where his guard is low. Every fortress has a weakness, finding that weakness is what we do. Remember the tactic Paneki-sama used to defeat a Spirit army, when he was awarded the title of defender of the Empire.
3 - Kill with a Borrowed Sword
If yourself can’t strike, use others. Make sure noone can trace back the plot.
4 - Await the Exhausted Enemy at Your Ease
Make your enemy move to where you want him, let him exhaust himself before he is on the battlefield. You want to strike down a powerful courtier? Make sure he has to use many favors before he knows who is targeting him, he will be an easier prey for that.
5 - Loot a Burning House
It may seem cruel, but when your enemy is down, be sure to place the coup de grace. Your enemy got peasant uprising in the other side of his territory, plan an invasion.
6 - Clamor in the East, Attack in the West
Your enemy will expect you to act in a way, be sure to not act it. Use diversions and decoys. An enemy who act upon your supposed move is an easy target. Make sure he notice our mighty pincers, and forget the Scorpion also got a tail.
Chapter II: Stratagems for confrontation
7 - Create Something from Nothing
Take your enemy unaware. Use feints to lure him in false security. As we did when the Unicorn came back from their journeys, we fought them inefficiently, creating a false sense of security within the Empire.
8 - Openly Repair the Walkway, Secretly March to Chencang
Why strike once when you can strike twice. Use a leaf from our Mirumoto allies’ book. Go openly on your objective, and while your enemy prepares himself for that attack, use another plan to confuse him.
9 - Observe the Fire on the Opposite Shore
Do not attack directly, make your enemies fight each other first, then defeat both wounded opponents. Knowing when to enter the field is one of your best assets.
10 - Hide Your Dagger Behind a Smile
Make your enemy think you are his friend, then strike deep and hard. The ones who have too much confidence in others are asking to be betrayed.
11 - Sacrifice the Plum Tree In Place of the Peach
Keep your mind focused on the long term. It is worth loosing an encounter when you’ll have the goal at the end. Sacrifice a small time advantage to win the war.
12 - Seize the Opportunity to Lead a Sheep Away
A plan to many times rehearsed will fail. Be ready to seize every opportunity, no matter how small the advantage may be.
Chapter III: Stratagems for attack
13 - Beat the Grass to Startle the Snake
If you don’t know your opponent strategy, do not try to second guess him, use a straightforward attack, and observe his reaction. Your analysis will win you the upper hand.
14 - Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit
Find ideas in the past. Fresh ideas may come from old technique, now not in use. Ide Tang found for the Unicorn to attack the Lion because of an old Imperial Edict that was not revised. Be sure to look in the past.
15 - Lure the Tiger Down the Mountain
If your target is secured, make him leave his fortress, then strike.
16 - To Catch Something, First Let It Go
Let the illusion of an escape route to your enemy so that his hopes will rise, then once the battle is engaged, make sure he now knows that there is no hope for him. This will cut his spirit and he will surrender.
17 - Toss Out a Brick to Attract Jade
Use bait. Know what your enemy is looking for, and offer it to him. Once on a hook, your enemy doom will be closer.
18 - To Catch the Bandits First Capture Their Leader
This one is a favourite of the Crane. When you want to defeat an army, kill his general. But be careful, your opponent may pursue retaliation out of sheer loyalty.
Chapter IV: Stratagems for confused situations
19 - Steal the Firewood From Under the Pot
Know your enemy support, the source of his strength, then target and remove it. Be sure he knows his support his gone when you strike him down.
20 -Trouble the Water to Catch the Fish
Be unexpected in your actions. Change your strategy. Confuse your opponent so he will not know where to protect himself.
21 - Shed Your Skin Like the Golden Cicada
Know when you are going to lose. Create a masquerade and retreat. While your enemy strikes at the decoy, you will be far away.
22 - Shut the Door to Catch the Thief
Do not let your enemy leader escape. Swiftly destroy him. If he runs away, pursue him. But be wary and do not expand yourself too much.
23 - Befriend a Distant Enemy to Attack One Nearby
Strange situations can make strange bedfellows. The competition will not come from someone strong in a different field, but from your second best in yours.
24 - Borrow the Road to Conquer Guo
Use your allies to do the main work, either they will fail and you will be at full strength to finish your target, or they’ll succeed but then they’ll be easy prey because they will be exhausted.
Chapter V: Stratagems for gaining ground
25 -Replace the Beams with Rotten Timbers
Your enemy will have trained troops, them being archers on the battlefields, saboteurs working behind enemy lines, or courtiers using sadane to disgrace an opponent. They are all trained to act on established patterns. Learn them, then disrupt them. The courtiers are about to launch a sadane contest? Offer to play a game of kemari instead. Archers are using long range arrows? Infiltrate a saboteur and cut all bowstrings from the daikyu.
26 - Point at the Mulberry But Curse the Locust Tree
Use innuendo and allusions when dealing with an opponent, make him admit his fault before calling him on it. Your target should damn himself, all you have to do is nudge him in the right direction, especially if your opponent can pull rank or status on you.
27 - Feign Madness But Keep Your Balance
Make yourself appear less competent than you are, a small fish in the pond. See the success of the lecherous Kakita Munemori. No one see him as a major player, but his network of agent can pull down a lot of trouble on the unwary. We mask ourselves physically, we also have to do it mentally. Noone should account you for your qualities, only the perceived frailties you want him to know.
28 - Lure Your Enemy Onto the Roof, Then Take Away the Ladder
Draw your enemy where you want him to be, using false information, baits and misdirection, then cut off all his support. He will be at your mercy without the possibility of an escape.
29 - Tie Silk Blossoms to the Dead Tree
Mask the real purpose of the tools in your arsenal. Is this piece important for you? Make it look like you discarded it. Is this of no consequence? Fight tooth and claw to keep it.
30 - Exchange the Role of Guest for that of Host
Challenge the might of your opponent from within, infiltrate his network, his camp, the source of his resources. When you have lured him into false confidence, strike!
Chapter VI: Stratagems for desperate situations
31 - The Strategy of Beautiful Women
The women of the Scorpion have the reputation of being some of the most beautiful flowers in the garden. Use your opponent attraction to distract him. There is a reason the Scorpion clan maintain a network of geisha house within Rokugan, it’s because beauty can lure the mind away. When people fight for the affection of a pretty flower, they are not focused on your actions. And do not forget to use jealousy as a lever to manipulate the ladies of the others clans.
32 - The Strategy of Open City Gates
If you know you will lose, act as if it doesn’t matter. Everyone will wonder why you are not afraid, and the pause taken to analyze the new situation can grant you the respite needed to overcome the opposition.
33 - The Strategy of Sowing Discord
Use rumors, blackmail, sabotage and very tools to sow discord among your opponent troops. While he uses his energy to sort your actions out, his ability to attack and defend will be lessened.
34 - The Strategy of Injuring Yourself
Pretend to be weak, feeble, injured by a precedent conflict to lure your opponent in overconfidence. If you can, direct the source of your apparent weakness to a common enemy, or a former ally of your target. He will dismiss you as competition, and will focus elsewhere, even on a new target.
35 - The Tactic of Combining Tactics
Do not apply your strategies one at a time. Contingency plans, multiple options are what will grant you victory. Do not try to overdue yourself either, keep an open mind and adapt to a new situation.
36 - If All Else Fails Retreat
This is contrary to Bushido, but since when do we Scorpion adhere to all the tenets of the doctrine of Akodo? Let the prideful die on the battlefield, doom their clans by failing on the court. Do not sacrifice yourself unnecessarily, retreat, regroup and prepare for a new strike. As the Ikoma archives say, it’s just tactical withdrawal.
As I keep saying to my students, The Scorpion are not merely masters of subtlety. When the time for subtlety is done, I am always waiting.
