 This passage explains the general principles of Shen Buhai’s “techniques” but does not detail how they functioned. “Techniques” and “rules” are referred in Legalist texts as the best means of preserving the ruler’s control: the enlightened ruler relies on these, while the benighted one in contrast casts these away and subsequently is misled by his ministers’ delusive words and by persuaders’ inducements (shui 說). Yet amid the strong emphasis on the power of techniques, rules, laws, and regulations, we can discover the sober realization that even these are not always enough, and that a perfect administrative system simply cannot come into existence. Thus, in one of the later chapters of the Book of Lord Shang it is said: