農戰

The means by which a ruler encourages the people are rank and office; the means by which a state flourishes are agriculture and warfare. Now if the people seek rank and office not through agriculture and warfare but through clever speech and empty doctrines, this is what is called 'exhausting the people.' When the people are exhausted, the state will inevitably lack strength; when it lacks strength, the state will inevitably be diminished.

A ruler who governs well instructs his people so that they obtain rank and office solely through unified commitment to work — therefore none receive office or rank by other means. If the state eliminates empty talk, the people become simple; if simple, they are not dissolute. When the people see that the ruler's benefits issue from a single channel, they commit to that single pursuit; when they commit to a single pursuit, they do not seek illicit gain; when they do not seek illicit gain, they have great strength; when they have great strength, the state is strong. Now if everyone within the borders says: 'Agriculture and warfare can be avoided and yet rank and office can still be obtained,' then the outstanding men will all change their occupations and devote themselves to studying the Odes and Documents, attach themselves to foreign powers, and those above can obtain fame while those below can seek rank and office; or they may engage in commerce and practice technical crafts, all in order to avoid agriculture and warfare. When all these avenues are available, the state is in peril.

A people instructed in this way will see their state inevitably diminished.

A ruler who governs well does not relax agriculture even when the granaries are full, and does not indulge in empty talk even when the state is large and the people numerous. Then the people will be simple and unified.

When the people are simple and unified, rank and office cannot be obtained through cleverness. When they cannot be obtained through cleverness, villainy does not arise. When villainy does not arise, the ruler is not deceived.

Now the people within the borders and those who hold rank and office see that at court one can obtain rank and office through clever words and persuasive argument, and so positions are never stable. Therefore when advancing they manipulate the ruler, when retiring they scheme for private gain — all to enrich themselves privately — and so those below sell their authority. Manipulating the ruler and scheming privately is not in the state's interest, yet people do it for the sake of rank and salary; selling authority below is not the act of a loyal minister, yet people do it for the sake of non-essential goods. Thus minor officials who hope for promotion all say: 'With much wealth, higher office can be obtained as desired.' They say: 'If I do not use wealth to serve my superiors and seek promotion, it would be like baiting a mouse with a wildcat — there is simply no hope. If I try to serve my superiors through sincere conduct and seek promotion, it would be like pulling on a severed rope while trying to ride a crooked beam — even less hope. Since neither of these can secure promotion, how can I not stir up the masses below to gather wealth, serve my superiors, and seek promotion?' The common people say: 'I toil at farming, first filling the public granary, then keeping what remains to feed my family; I forget my life in fighting for the ruler, to honor the lord and secure the state. Yet the granaries are empty, the lord is humbled, and my family is poor. Better to seek an office.' When relatives and friends come together, they reconsider their plans. Outstanding men devote themselves to studying the Odes and Documents, attach themselves to foreign powers; the common sort engage in commerce and practice technical crafts — all in order to avoid agriculture and warfare. When the people are instructed in this fashion, how can grain not be scarce and the army not be weak?

A ruler who governs well makes official law clear and therefore does not rely on individual cleverness and deliberation. When the ruler establishes a unified standard, the people do not pursue illicit enterprises, and the state's strength is concentrated. A state with concentrated strength is strong; a state that loves talk and debate is diminished. Therefore it is said: among a thousand people devoted to agriculture and warfare, if there is one person skilled in the Odes, Documents, and clever argument, all thousand will become lazy about agriculture and warfare. Among a hundred people devoted to agriculture and warfare, if there is one person with technical crafts, all hundred will become lazy about agriculture and warfare. The state depends on agriculture and warfare for security; the ruler depends on agriculture and warfare for honor. If the people do not engage in agriculture and warfare, it is because the ruler loves talk and the officials lose their proper functions. When officials maintain their proper functions, the state is well ordered; when commitment is unified, the state is wealthy. A state that is wealthy and well ordered — this is the way of kingship. Therefore it is said: the Way of the King is produced through external deeds, rooted in unified commitment alone.

Now if the ruler evaluates talent, ability, cleverness, and wisdom when making appointments, then clever and wise people will study the ruler's likes and dislikes, manipulate offices and control resources to suit the ruler's heart. With this, offices have no stability, the state is disordered and not unified, and the persuasive speakers operate without law. In such a case, how can the people's pursuits not be many? How can the land not become barren? The Odes, the Documents, rites, music, goodness, self-cultivation, benevolence, integrity, eloquence, and wisdom — if a state has these ten things, the ruler will be unable to make the people defend or fight. If a state governs through these ten things, when the enemy arrives it will be diminished, and if the enemy does not come, it will be impoverished. If a state discards these ten things, the enemy will not dare to come, and even if they come, they will surely be repulsed; if it raises arms to attack, it will surely conquer; if it rests its arms and does not attack, it will surely grow wealthy. A state that values strength attacks through what is difficult, and what is difficult to attack will surely flourish; a state that loves argumentation attacks through what is easy, and what is easy to attack will surely be imperiled. The sage and the enlightened ruler cannot exhaust the myriad things, but they know the essentials of the myriad things. Therefore in governing the state, they merely observe the essentials.

Now most of those who govern states lack an understanding of the essentials. When the court discusses governance, opinions swirl chaotically as each tries to outdo the other. As a result, the ruler is confused by persuasive talk, the officials are disordered by arguments, and the people are idle and do not farm. Therefore the people within the borders are all transformed into lovers of debate and eager students, engaging in commerce and practicing technical crafts, avoiding agriculture and warfare. When it comes to this, the state's downfall is not far off. When the state faces an emergency, the learned people resent the law, the merchant people are adept at adapting, and the technically skilled people are useless — thus the state is easily broken. When the farmers are few and the idle consumers are many, the state is impoverished and imperiled. Now grain-eating insects are born in spring and die in autumn — they appear once and the people have no food for several years. If one person farms and a hundred eat from it, these hundred are an even greater plague than the insects. Even if the Odes and Documents are distributed at one bundle per village and one copy per household, this is of no benefit to governance and is not the method for reversing the situation. Therefore the former kings turned the people back toward agriculture and warfare. Hence it is said: when a hundred farm and one stays idle, there is kingship; when ten farm and one stays idle, there is strength; when half farm and half stay idle, there is peril. Therefore one who governs a state desires that the people devote themselves to agriculture. If the state does not farm, it cannot sustain itself in competing for power with the other lords, because its collective strength is insufficient. Then the other lords will exploit its weakness, take advantage of its decline, and its territory will be invaded and diminished with no possibility of recovery.

The sage knows the essentials of governance and therefore commands the people to turn their hearts to agriculture. When their hearts turn to agriculture, the people are simple and can be set straight; when unsettled, they are easy to direct; when trustworthy, they can be relied upon for defense and warfare. When unified, they have little deception and value their homes; when unified, they can be advanced through reward and punishment; when unified, they can be employed abroad. The people are devoted to their ruler and willing to die for the system because they are occupied with agriculture morning and night. The people become unusable when they see that traveling persuaders who serve lords can thereby exalt themselves, that merchants can thereby enrich their families, and that technical crafts are sufficient to feed their mouths. When the people see the convenience and profit of these three, they will surely avoid agriculture. When they avoid agriculture, they take their dwelling lightly. When they take their dwelling lightly, they will surely not defend or fight for the ruler.

In all governance, the ruler's worry is that the people are scattered and cannot be concentrated. Therefore the sage creates unified commitment to concentrate them. A state that maintains unified commitment for one year will be strong for ten years; for ten years, strong for a hundred; for a hundred years, strong for a thousand; and a state strong for a thousand years will achieve kingship. When the ruler cultivates reward and punishment to support unified instruction, the instruction has permanence and governance achieves results.

The true king grasps the ultimate essentials of governing the people. Therefore without waiting for bestowals, the people are devoted to their ruler; without waiting for rank and salary, the people apply themselves to their tasks; without waiting for penal punishments, the people are willing to die. When the state is in danger and the ruler worried, persuaders come in droves, yet they are of no benefit to security. What endangers the state and worries the ruler are powerful enemies and great states. If the ruler cannot subdue strong enemies or break great states, then he must improve defenses, exploit terrain, concentrate the people's strength, and prepare for external affairs — only then can the peril be removed and kingship attained. Therefore the enlightened ruler cultivates governance and creates unified commitment, eliminates what is useless, puts a stop to the people who pursue superficial learning and dissolute affairs, and unifies them in agriculture — only then can the state be made wealthy and the people's strength concentrated.

Now the rulers of the age are all worried about the peril of their states and the weakness of their armies, yet they insist on listening to persuaders. Persuaders come in droves, their words elaborate and their rhetoric embellished, but of no practical use. The ruler delights in their eloquence without seeking substance. The persuaders, having achieved their aims, spread twisted arguments along the roads, forming groups upon groups. The people see that through this they can gain access to princes and great men, and they all study it. People gather factions and cliques, debating state policy in a tumult — the petty people enjoy it and the great men are pleased by it. Therefore among the people, those who farm are few and those who eat idly are many. When the idle eaters are many, the farmers are endangered; when the farmers are endangered, the land goes barren.

When scholarship becomes customary, the people abandon agriculture to engage in talk and debate, making lofty pronouncements and false arguments. They abandon agriculture to eat idly and compete through words. Therefore the people who desert their ruler and refuse to serve form crowds. This is the instruction that impoverishes the state and weakens the army. If the state employs the people's words, the people will not store up agricultural products. Therefore only the enlightened ruler knows that love of talk cannot strengthen the army or expand territory, and the sage's governance of the state consists of nothing more than creating unified commitment and concentrating the people on agriculture.