Chapter 3 · Attacking Stratagems
調虎離山
Diào hǔ lí shān
Lure the Tiger Down from the Mountain
調虎離山
lure · tiger · leave · mountain
You can't beat the tiger on its own turf. Draw it away from the source of its strength first.
今 Today
You will never win the argument at your father-in-law's dinner table, where he holds court and the room is on his side. So you save the real conversation for a walk, just the two of you — off his mountain, where he is a person and not the host.
反 When it backfires
A tiger lured out is still a tiger. Get it onto open ground and fail to land the blow, and now you're facing a very annoyed apex predator with nothing in between.