The sword at the banquet

Xiang Yu invited Liu Bang to a banquet at Hongmen. Xiang Yu's adviser Fan Zeng had concluded Liu Bang would be his master's rival and told him to settle it that night.

They ate. Fan Zeng raised his jade and signalled three times. Xiang Yu didn't respond. His adviser's plan had gone wrong because it required Xiang Yu to want to win.

Then Xiang Zhuang was brought in to perform a sword dance, on the understanding that a dance is a good cover for a blade. He moved toward Liu Bang.

Xiang Bo, a relative of Xiang Yu, rose to dance as well, and each time Xiang Zhuang approached, Xiang Bo put his body between them.

Liu Bang eventually left on the pretext of an excuse-me, and survived the evening. Four years later he took the empire and Xiang Yu's men lost.

The detail I keep is Xiang Bo. Someone in that family decided a guest should be allowed to leave, and the entire outcome turned on a body placed between two men at dinner.

You can't always beat the plan of the room. You can sometimes stand in front of someone whose plan is going through, and that small act of physical presence is not always small.

I have been the person who needed that body between him and a decision, once, without knowing it.

When you next hear a plan you think is wrong, don't argue with the room. Stand where the room has to walk through you.

MOJOWAY's intake asks who has stood in front of you, and who you are standing in front of now.