In Sun Tsu’s classic Thirty Six Stratagems (that Sun Tsu may or may have not written), my favorite chapter must certainly be the Sixth and last, which is called Desperate Stratagems.
Great title.
After all, I love adventure fiction.

I was re-reading Sun Tsu, last night, and I thought the stratagem called Měi rén jì (The Beauty Trap) is absolutely splendid from the point of view of fiction, as a starting point for a story – and also offers an excellent insight on the sort of ruthless bastard Sun Tsu was* …

Send your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his camp. This strategy can work on three levels. First, the ruler becomes so enamoured with the beauty that he neglects his duties and allows his vigilance to wane. Second, other males at court will begin to display aggressive behaviour that inflames minor differences hindering co-operation and destroying morale. Third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot intrigues further exacerbating the situation.

Now this is simply wonderful.
Well, to me, at least.
That’s it, I just wanted to share.

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* If he actually wrote the book, of course. Maybe he did not.

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