Guo Jia
The last plan: Liaodong
Do not press, and they turn on each other
Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Biography of Guo Jia and Annals of Emperor Wu
The remnants fled onto somebody else's ground. Do you chase? The plan he left behind runs against the instinct.
What actually happened?
Beaten, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled to Gongsun Kang in Liaodong. The generals urged pursuit and the taking of Liaodong in one stroke. Cao Cao said there was no need: Kang would send him their heads. He withdrew. Shortly afterwards Kang killed both brothers and sent the heads on. Asked why, Cao Cao said, he has always feared Shang; press him and they combine, ease off and they plot against each other. The judgement had been left to him by Guo Jia before he died.
Outside pressure welds enemies together
Two parties watching each other will drop the watching the moment a larger threat appears outside. So when a crack already runs through the other side, the last thing to hand them is a common enemy.
Two rivals were poaching each other's staff. You started a price war and within a month they were supplying each other.
Withdrawing puts the conflict back where it was
Leading the army home was not giving up. It handed the principal conflict back to the other side's interior. The move looks like doing nothing and is in fact very specific: removing the reason they have to stay united.
Two departments deadlocked, and the more you intervened the more they aligned their story against you. Step out and the original clash of interests reappears.
The judgement rests on the relationship, not on strength
He has always feared Shang. The whole basis of the plan is an old wariness that existed long before you arrived. Without that ledger between them, withdrawing is simply letting a tiger back into the hills.
Counting on competitors to fight each other assumes an unsettled account already exists. Where none does, stepping back just lets them both grow.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: the opponent has broken up and you are weighing whether to finish the pursuit.
Ask first: is there already a conflict inside them, and does my pressure make it larger or smaller?
Where it goes wrong: reading withdrawal as surrender; counting on infighting where no crack exists.
Lines to keep
Do not pursue. Kang will behead them and send them to you.
A common enemy is the cheapest gift you can give two rivals.
Same situation, other people are asking
I won, and now I don't know when to stop.It's going well and I can't shake the feeling it won't last.Three in a row and everyone wants me to press harder.They're scattered. Do I finish them off or let them turn on each other?After the win · all 9 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.