Shu Shi led his forces to attack the state of Chu, and the King of Chu dispatched Zhao Shu to hold the region of Hanzhong with a hundred thousand troops. Previously, Zhao Ju had defeated the Qin forces at Chongqiu. Su Li said to Zhao Ju: "You once defeated Qin at Chongqiu, and Qin is certain to seek vengeance. Now Shu Shi is attacking Chu. You ought to lead your troops to join the garrison at Hanzhong, and let Zhao Shu remain motionless. Qin will then suspect that Chu has other designs, and once suspicion arises, they will withdraw. After the Qin forces retreat, if you then march to join the forces at Hanzhong, the King of Chu will surely be enraged at Zhao Shu's failure to fight effectively, and in his wrath he will put Zhao Shu to death. Thereupon, you may seize the opportunity to lead your troops to press upon Qin, and Qin is bound to be defeated." Zhao Ju deemed the plan feasible, and so he engaged Shu Shi in battle at Hanzhong. Shu Shi was defeated and fled.
💡 商战启示录
This strategy exemplifies the classic wisdom of "leveraging advantageous positioning" and "information manipulation." Zhaozhu did not engage the Qin forces in direct confrontation; instead, by fabricating the illusion of "Zhaozhu's refusal to fight," he induced the Qin army into a strategic misjudgment—suspecting internal deception within the Chu ranks—and thereby prompted their voluntary retreat. This parallels modern business practices, where companies release "smoke screens" to disrupt competitors' decision-making. For instance, a tech firm might deliberately leak rumors of "technical bottlenecks" or "production shortfalls" before launching a new product, lulling rivals into complacency and even prompting them to adjust market strategies, all while secretly accelerating R&D to seize the market with a sudden strike. Meanwhile, Su Li's scheme also harnesses the principle of "deflecting internal discord": by leveraging external pressure (the Qin retreat) to incite the King of Chu's suspicion toward Zhaozhu, it achieves the goal of eliminating internal rivals through a borrowed blade. In the corporate world, this resembles creating an external competitive crisis to compel a board to reshuffle management, or attributing project failures to competitors to consolidate one's own power. However, it must be noted that this strategy carries significant ethical risks; excessive information manipulation may trigger a crisis of trust within the industry, as seen when a company was penalized by regulators for false advertising. Therefore, in commercial warfare, application should remain within the bounds of law and business ethics, centering on "strategic information management" rather than "deception," to secure enduring success.