兵談

Survey the fertility of the land and then establish towns and build fortifications. Match the fortifications to the land, match the land to the population, match the population to the grain supply. When these three are in balance, you can hold fast on defense internally and win victories externally. Winning abroad and generating prosperity at home reinforce each other, fitting together like the two halves of a tally. There is no other secret.

Governing the military should be as hidden as the earth and as hidden as the sky -- appearing to come from nothing. Thus when you open operations, even the largest force leaves no gaps; when you close operations, even the smallest force wastes nothing. Be clear about what to prohibit and what to permit, what to open and what to block. Draw displaced people to you with benevolence; put unused land to productive use.

When territory is vast and fully utilized, the state grows wealthy. When the population is large and well regulated, the state is well governed. A state that is both wealthy and well governed need not set its chariots rolling or bring its armor out of storage -- it can control All-Under-Heaven through sheer power. Therefore it is said: "The war is won at court."

To win without ever deploying armor is the ruler's victory. To win through battlefield formations is the general's victory.

War must never be initiated in anger. Launch operations when you see a path to victory; halt when you do not. If the threat is within a hundred li, do not mobilize for a single day's campaign. If the threat is within a thousand li, do not mobilize for a month's campaign. If the threat extends across the four seas, do not mobilize for a year's campaign.

A general must not be constrained by the heavens above, the terrain below, or other people around him. His tolerance should be such that he cannot be provoked to anger. His integrity should be such that he cannot be corrupted by wealth. A general who is deranged in mind, blind in sight, and deaf to intelligence -- to lead men with these three defects is impossible.

Wherever the army reaches -- on narrow passes it wins, on jagged ridges it wins, scaling mountains it wins, entering valleys it wins, in square formation it wins, in circular formation it wins.

When massed, it is immovable as a mountain, dense as a forest, vast as a river. When dispersed, it strikes like a catapult's blast, scorches like wildfire, bursts through like a breach in a dam. It crushes like a collapsing wall, envelops like a descending cloud. It commands those who are gathered not to scatter, those who are scattered not to regroup, those on the left not to go right, those on the right not to go left.

The army moves like bundled timber, the crossbows like interlocking horns. Every man surges forward with fierce courage, free of all doubt and hesitation, advancing in grand formation without looking back.