A small state is sandwiched between two great powers. If one of them attempts to bring it to submission, the other will be able to take control under the pretext of aiding it. Kun: when one utters words, one is not believed.

The battle from which this idiom originated took place in the Spring and Autumn period, when warfare was evolving from a seasonal sport of the nobles into a practical means to gain power and resources. Aiming to swallow up Yu an Guo, two small neighbors, the big state of Jin first borrowed a path through Yu to attack Guo. After the conquest of Guo, the Jin troops attached and destroyed Yu on their way back.

The strategy instructs one to adapt a piecemeal solution when faced with more than one enemy. Even a powerful state cannot afford to fight two wars at the same time. In laying out its plan for aggrandizement, it has to select one foe at a time. It may befriend a distant state while attacking one nearby, as in the last strategy, or it may borrow a path from a nearby state to attack a distant one.