Chapter 6 · Desperate Stratagems
連環計
Lián huán jì
Chain the Stratagems Together
連環計
linked · rings · scheme
Don't rely on one scheme. Link several so each sets up the next and the target can't escape them all at once.
今 Today
No single move lands the deal, so you chain three. First you play it cool, acting barely interested. Then you let them "accidentally" hear that a rival is circling. Then you show up calm and unhurried while they sweat. Each move makes the next believable — alone, not one of them would work.
反 When it backfires
It takes one spotted link. Let a single scheme in the sequence be caught and the target re-reads all the others — the whole elaborate machine seizes up at once.