Kautilya's Arthashastra 13.3.3

13.3.3

kṛtāpasarpopacayo vā param anumānya svāmino dūṣyagrāmaṃ vītahastyaśvaṃ dūṣyāmātyaṃ daṇḍam ākrandaṃ vā hatvā parasya preṣayet //

THE conqueror may dismiss a confidential chief of a corporation. The chief may go over to the enemy as a friend and offer to supply him with recruits and other help collected from the conqueror's territory or followed by a band of spies, the chief may please the enemy by destroying a disloyal village or a regiment or an ally of the conqueror and by sending as a present the elephants, horses, and disaffected persons of the conqueror's army or of the latter's ally; or a confidential chief officer of the conqueror may solicit help from a portion of the territory (of the enemy), or from a corporation of people (sreni) or from wild tribes; and when he has gained their confidence, he may send them down to the conqueror to be routed down on the occasion of a farcical attempt to capture elephants or wild tribes.