The "Counter-espionage Stratagem" is one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems in ancient Chinese military strategy. Its core meaning is to cleverly use the enemy's spies to serve one's own side, or by creating and spreading false information, to sow discord within the enemy's ranks, causing them to fight among themselves and weaken their strength. This stratagem originates from "The Art of War: On the Use of Spies," which emphasizes that "knowing both yourself and the enemy ensures victory in a hundred battles," and points out that there are five types of spies, among which the "counter-espionage" is the most crucial. In history and literature, a classic example is found in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," where Zhou Yu used Jiang Gan's theft of a letter to successfully sow discord between Cao Cao and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun. This idiom is mostly used to describe strategies in competition, confrontation, or political struggles that undermine an opponent's unity through indirect means. Its emotional tone is neutral, as it can be seen as a manifestation of wisdom, but may also carry a pejorative connotation due to its insidious methods, and attention should be paid to the context when using it.
📝 Example
1. In business competition, he skillfully employed the stratagem of sowing discord, causing the core team of the rival company to suspect each other and eventually collapse without a fight. (Here, "the stratagem of sowing discord" refers to the tactic of undermining an opponent's internal unity by provoking dissension.)
2. The police used the stratagem of sowing discord to create conflicts among members of the criminal gang, thereby successfully cracking this major case. (Here, "the stratagem of sowing discord" refers to exploiting information gaps to create internal conflicts among enemies to assist in the investigation.)