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1. Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all
is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy
it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire
than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company
entire than to destroy them.
2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence;
supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without
fighting.
3. Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans;
the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the
next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the
worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
4. The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be
avoided. The preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various
implements of war, will take up three whole months; and the piling
up of mounds over against the walls will take three months more.
5. The general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his
men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third
of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken. Such are
the disastrous effects of a siege.
6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy's troops without
any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them;
he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.
7. With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire,
and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This
is the method of attacking by stratagem.
8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy's one,
to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous,
to divide our army into two.
9. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in
numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we
can flee from him.
10. Hence, though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force,
in the end it must be captured by the larger force.
11. Now the general is the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is
complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is
defective, the State will be weak.
12. There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon
his army:--
13. (1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant
of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army.
14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers
a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army.
This causes restlessness in the soldier's minds.
15. (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination,
through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances.
This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
16. But when the army is restless and distrustful, trouble is sure
to come from the other feudal princes. This is simply bringing anarchy
into the army, and flinging victory away.
17. Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1)
He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He
will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout
all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take
the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and
is not interfered with by the sovereign.
18. Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you
need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself
but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a
defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb
in every battle.