Chang fled from the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou, divulging all the secrets of the Western Zhou to the Eastern Zhou. The Eastern Zhou was greatly pleased, while the Western Zhou was deeply enraged. Feng Qie said to the ruler of the Western Zhou, "I can have Chang killed." The ruler of the Western Zhou granted him thirty jin of gold. Feng Qie dispatched a messenger bearing the gold and a letter, secretly delivered to Chang, in which the letter read: "Inform Chang: if the matter can be accomplished, strive to complete it; if it cannot be accomplished, hasten back at once. Should time drag on, the affair will leak out, and you will bring ruin upon yourself." He then sent another person to inform the border sentinels of the Eastern Zhou, saying, "Tonight a spy will attempt to cross the border." The sentinels indeed seized the messenger and presented him to the Eastern Zhou, whereupon the Eastern Zhou immediately put Chang to death.
💡 商战启示录
This stratagem is a classic example of the ancient art of "counter-espionage combined with information warfare." In modern business, enterprises often face analogous situations, such as the leakage of core secrets or poaching by competitors. Feng Qie's wisdom lies in his refusal to directly pursue or eliminate the defector; instead, he exploited information asymmetry to fabricate illusions, causing the adversary to throw itself into disarray. This offers a profound lesson for modern enterprises: when dealing with corporate spies or turncoats, one need not resort to head-on confrontation, but should skillfully employ "information misdirection" and "the stratagem of sowing discord." For instance, when a technology company discovered that a key R&D engineer had defected to a rival with proprietary technology, it refrained from immediate litigation. Instead, it deliberately released a smokescreen—claiming that the technology was obsolete and that the company possessed far more advanced alternatives—while covertly signaling false partnership intentions to the rival's supply chain. This sowed doubt in the rival's mind regarding the defector's technological value, ultimately leading to his marginalization and a weakening of the competitor's edge. At the same time, this case serves as a cautionary tale, urging enterprises to establish rigorous, tiered confidentiality systems for internal information and to provide ample incentives and loyalty cultivation for personnel in critical positions, thereby preventing "Chang Ta-style" defections. Meanwhile, the "Feng Qie-style" countermeasure underscores that in commercial competition, one must adeptly exploit the adversary's inherent suspicions, using artful "information feeding" to dismantle their internal trust, achieving the effect of subduing the enemy without engaging in direct conflict.