shiji-kb

Use when replacing feudal states with centralized commandery-county (郡县) administration. Establishes 36 commanderies with three-tier governance (守/尉/监), merit-based appointments, and centralized treasury stipends per Li Si's rationale.

Use when comparing competing states or explaining why weaker parties prevail. Analyzes material resources, leadership quality, and intangible factors like popular support, governance quality, moral legitimacy, and application of benevolence (仁义).

Use when performing state sacrificial rituals (畤) to establish religious legitimacy or mark significant occasions. Guides altar preparation, sacrificial animal selection (三牢), ritual conduct, and event documentation. Based on Qin's sacrificial traditions.

Use when designing curricula for moral education, mentorship, or self-cultivation programs. Applies Confucius's four teachings (文行忠信), four eliminations (绝四), and heuristic pedagogy (不愤不启) to develop comprehensive character through progressive mastery.

Use when organizing coordinated attacks from multiple departure points against a common enemy. Assigns commanders (大将军, 车骑将军, etc.) to independent columns that report results separately for performance-based rewards.

Use when designing military incentive structures to motivate troops and encourage enemy defections. Establishes tiered rewards by enemy rank (大将 to 千石), defection incentives for surrendering units, and multiplier systems for credible payouts.

Use when sowing discord between enemy commanders and their trusted advisors or conducting disinformation campaigns. Deploys substantial resources to spread defection rumors, stages differential envoy treatment, and exploits resulting trust breakdowns to degrade enemy decision-making.

Use when an effective enemy commander has political vulnerabilities exploitable through disinformation. Plants rumors of rebellion or disloyalty to trigger the commander's replacement by a less competent successor.

Use when seeking to replace a capable enemy commander with an inferior one through disinformation. Based on Qin's strategy at Changping to replace Lian Po (廉颇) with Zhao Kuo (赵括) by exploiting the enemy ruler's impatience with defensive tactics.

Use when facing coordinated disinformation or slander campaigns targeting your reputation. Identifies warning signs of bribery and planted criticism, and outlines defensive measures including transparent communication and alliance-building.

Use when advising rulers without direct confrontation. Presents options rather than demands (开陈其端令人主自择), times proposals for private audiences, and allows superiors to feel ownership of decisions.

Use when a powerful minister faces suspicion from a ruler or when navigating dangerous court politics. Deploys four survival strategies — hostage-sending, deliberate self-pollution (自汙), graceful punishment acceptance, and honor-declining — to reduce perceived threat level.

Use when planning to gain close access to a heavily guarded target through diplomatic channels. Based on Jing Ke's approach to the Qin King, covers intelligence gathering, asset acquisition, intermediary cultivation, and access execution.

Use when building secret alliances against a central authority while maintaining deniability. Covers verbal-only communication, shared grievance framing, self-interest appeals, and network expansion through confirmed allies.

Use when launching major policy reforms or establishing trust before implementing new laws. Follows Shang Yang's 徙木立信 method — creating a simple public task with escalating rewards to demonstrate that government promises are kept before announcing real reforms.

Use when deciding whether to honor agreements made under duress or coercion. Applies Duke Huan of Qi's model: fulfilling coerced promises to build long-term diplomatic credibility rather than seeking short-term revenge (愈一小快耳).

Use when advising a ruler or superior during a political crisis. Employs historical analogies, proverbs, and consequence analysis to persuade leaders to take difficult but necessary action.

Use when evaluating unexpected benefits or opportunities during crisis or competition. Applies the principle that unearned benefits often carry hidden costs: analyze the source, examine causation chains, assume strategic motivation, and evaluate long-term consequences before accepting or rejecting.

Use when managing a multi-domain crisis or coordinating emergency response across military, diplomatic, and administrative fronts. Delegates specific responsibilities to trusted subordinates while maintaining strategic oversight.

Use when arguing against appeasement of an aggressive power demanding supremacy. Frames submission as total loss of sovereignty, cites historical precedents of destruction through capitulation, and proposes coalition resistance.