司馬穰苴列傳

Sima Rangju was a descendant of Tian Wan. In the time of Duke Jing of Qi, Jin attacked A and Zhen while Yan raided the Yellow River frontier, and Qi's army suffered a devastating defeat. Duke Jing was troubled. Yan Ying then recommended Tian Rangju, saying: "Though Rangju is a lesser branch of the Tian clan, he is a man whose civil abilities can rally the people and whose martial abilities can overawe the enemy. I ask that you give him a trial." Duke Jing summoned Rangju and discussed military matters with him. Greatly pleased, he appointed Rangju general and gave him command of troops to fend off the armies of Yan and Jin. Rangju said: "I am of humble and lowly origin. You have raised me from the ranks of common folk and placed me above the senior officials. The soldiers are not yet loyal to me, the people do not yet trust me, and my person is insignificant and my authority light. I request one of your favored ministers, someone the state holds in esteem, to serve as supervisor of the army — only then will it work." Duke Jing agreed and sent Zhuang Jia.

Having accepted the commission, Rangju made an appointment with Zhuang Jia: "Tomorrow at noon, meet at the army gate." Rangju rode ahead to the camp, set up a sundial marker and started the water clock, and waited for Jia. Jia had always been arrogant due to his privileged position. Considering that it was his own army and he was merely the supervisor, he felt no urgency. His relatives and attendants gave him a farewell banquet, and he lingered to drink. Noon came and Jia had not arrived. Rangju then knocked down the sundial, emptied the water clock, entered the camp, marshaled the troops, and proclaimed the regulations. Once the regulations were established, at evening Zhuang Jia finally arrived. Rangju said: "Why are you late?" Jia offered excuses: "My relatives and fellow officials gave me a send-off, so I stayed." Rangju said: "On the day a general receives his commission, he forgets his family. When he enters camp and establishes regulations, he forgets his kin. When the drumbeat sounds the charge, he forgets himself. Now the enemy has invaded deep into our territory, the state is in turmoil, soldiers are exposed on the frontier, our lord cannot sleep at ease or eat with appetite, and the lives of the people all hang in the balance — how can you speak of send-off banquets?"

He summoned the provost marshal and asked: "Under military law, what is the penalty for arriving late to an appointed assembly?" The reply: "Beheading." Zhuang Jia was terrified and sent a man racing to Duke Jing to beg for rescue. Before the messenger could return, Rangju had already beheaded Zhuang Jia and paraded his head before the three armies. Every soldier in the three armies trembled. After some time, Duke Jing sent an envoy bearing the staff of authority to pardon Jia — he galloped into the camp. Rangju said: "When a general is with his army, there are commands of the ruler that he need not obey." He asked the provost marshal: "What is the law for galloping through the army camp?" The marshal replied: "Beheading." The envoy was terrified. Rangju said: "The ruler's envoy cannot be killed." So instead he beheaded the envoy's charioteer, cut the left side rail of the chariot and the left trace-horse, and paraded these before the three armies. He sent the envoy back to report, and then set out on the march.

In the encampments, Rangju personally oversaw the wells, stoves, food and drink, and inquiries after the sick and their medicine. He distributed all of the general's personal provisions to the soldiers and shared his own rations equally with them, giving special attention to the weakest among them. After three days, he mustered the troops. The sick all begged to march, competing eagerly to go into battle for him. When the Jin army heard of this, they withdrew. When the Yan army heard of this, they retreated across the river and dispersed. Rangju then pursued and attacked them, recovering all the lost territory within Qi's borders, and led his army home. Before reaching the capital, he disbanded the military formation, dissolved the regulations, and had the troops take a covenant before entering the city. Duke Jing, together with his senior officials, came out to the suburbs to welcome them, and the ritual of rewarding the army was completed. Only then did Rangju return to his residence. After receiving him, Duke Jing honored him as Grand Marshal. The Tian clan grew ever more exalted in Qi from this time.

Before long, the senior officials of the Bao, Gao, and Guo clans grew jealous of Rangju and slandered him to Duke Jing. Duke Jing dismissed Rangju, who fell ill and died. Tian Qi, Tian Bao, and their followers harbored resentment against the Gao and Guo clans because of this. Later, when Tian Chang killed Duke Jian, he wiped out the clans of Gao and Guo entirely. By the time of Chang's great-grandson He, who established himself as Duke Wei of Qi, the state employed military force and exercised authority on a grand scale, broadly following Rangju's methods, and the lords all paid court to Qi.

Duke Wei of Qi ordered his officials to compile and comment on the ancient Marshal's Art of War and appended Rangju's teachings to it, giving it the name The Art of War of Marshal Rangju.

The Grand Historian remarks: When I read the Marshal's Art of War, I find it vast and profound. Even the campaigns of the Three Dynasties could not exhaust its meaning, and its language is also somewhat embellished. As for Rangju himself, he merely led the army of a minor state in a single campaign — how could he have had occasion for the elevated courtesies described in the Marshal's Art of War? Since the world already possesses the Marshal's Art of War in abundance, I shall not discuss it further, but instead set down the biography of Rangju.