美人计　(měi rén jì)

Beaten by Womanly Wiles

Few men can be immune to the sometimes lethal attraction of beautiful women. Sociologists tend to attribute this phenomenon to human nature and moralists often link it to the weakness of men.

Strategists, however, love to resort to the weapon of sex to defeat their enemies.

In the face of a formidable enemy led by an intelligent and resourceful commander, the best policy is to conquer the leader instead of fighting his troops. And no one is more likely to achieve this goal than beautiful women.

These strongmen can be susceptible prey to female beauty and become soft and inept, while their troops’ fighting power wanes.

There are thousands of such cases in China and around the world to illustrate this stratagem. But the most popular one in China is about two kings and two absolute beauties who lived more than 2,500 years ago.

Toward the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), Gou Jian, the king of the State of Yue, was captured during a war by troops of the State of Wu. While captive, the king swallowed his pride and worked very hard as a horseman for the Wu king. As a result, three years later, he was allowed to go home.(https://www.daowen.com)

After his return, the Yue king refused to live in his palace. Instead, he slept on a pile of firewood and tasted a bitter pig gallbladder every day to remind himself of humiliation and revenge.

Because Wu was too powerful at that time, Gou realized that he could not rely on rebuilding his country and army alone.

One of his officials told the Yue king: “A bird can fly high, but it cannot resist the attraction of fine food and will die for it; a fish can swim in deep water, but it will meet its death by jumping up to a delicious bait.

“To defeat Wu, you must try to satisfy his mortal desires in order to soften his will and push him into a fatal situation.”

So, Gou picked the two most beautiful women from his state and presented them to the king of Wu. Also, he kept sending him a continuous stream of luxurious gifts.

The Wu king took this as a sign that his former captive had accepted his fate and given up any attempt to rebel. So, he relaxed his vigilance and began to spend day and night with the two beauties, wining, dining and fooling away the time. His aides tried various means to persuade him to give up his decadent lifestyle, but failed.

Seven years later, when the opportunity came, The Yue king and his troops launched a merciless offensive against the State of Wu and conquered it within days. The king of Wu eventually committed suicide.