The complete works of Han Fei tzu :: :: University of Virginia Library

What one state works after is to observe secretly the
on-going affairs in its enemy states and take advantage of
their weaknesses. If the lord of men is not alert, enemies
will dismiss or appoint his men. Thus King Wên financed
Fei Chung; the King of Ch`in worried over the envoy from
Ch`u; Li Chü got rid of Chung-ni; and Kan Hsiang
obstructed Kan Mu. For the same reason, Tzŭ-hsü spread
rumours wherefore Tzŭ-ch`ang was taken into service;
beauties were accepted, wherefore Yü and Kuo went to ruin;
a letter was falsified, wherefore Ch`ang Hung was executed;

and chicken and pig sacrifices were offered, wherefore all
able men of K`uai were exterminated.

Regarding matters of confusion and suspicion and of
dismissal and appointment, the enlightened sovereign exterminates
them at home but propagates them abroad. Financing
the poor and supporting the weak in the enemy states is
called "inter-palatial assaults".[12] If the system of three
units and basic fives[13] is adopted inside, while observations
and informations function outside, then what can the enemy
do? The saying is based on the Ch`in clown's secret report
to Ruler Hui-wên. For further illustration, Hsiang Tz`ŭ
foretold his master the enemies' stratagem to fall upon Yeh,
and Duke Ssŭ bestowed a new mat upon the prefect . . .[14]

So much above for the canons.

[12]

[OMITTED].

[13]

Under the system of Kuan Tzŭ the country was divided into three units
for military purposes and the basis of local organization was five families, and
two thousand five hundred families formed a county ruled by a magistrate.

[14]

The text has [OMITTED] in the next line as though it were topic of the preceding
paragraph. With Wang Hsien-shen this is absurd inasmuch as the work is
presupposed to enumerate six instead of seven minutise. Wang thought the
two characters continued from the preceding passage, which, however,
can hardly make any sense, either additional or separate.