武議

In warfare, do not attack cities that have committed no offense, and do not kill people who have committed no crime. To kill others' fathers and brothers, seize their property, and enslave their sons and daughters -- this is banditry. War exists to punish violent disorder and to prohibit injustice.

Where a righteous army goes, farmers do not leave their fields, merchants do not leave their shops, and officials do not leave their posts -- because the aim of military force is directed at one person alone. Therefore the army need not bloody its blades, and All-Under-Heaven rallies to it.

A state of ten thousand chariots engages in farming and war. A state of a thousand chariots focuses on relief and defense. A state of a hundred chariots sustains itself through commerce. The farming-and-war state does not seek external power; the relief-and-defense state does not seek external aid; the commerce state does not seek external resources.

When a state lacks sufficient strength to fight abroad or defend at home, it must be managed through the marketplace. The marketplace is what provides for both war and defense. A state of ten thousand chariots that lacks a thousand-chariot ally must have a hundred-chariot marketplace.

Punishment and reward exist to demonstrate martial authority. Execute one person and the whole army trembles -- execute him. Reward one person and ten thousand rejoice -- reward him.

The value of execution lies in targeting the highly placed; the value of reward lies in reaching the lowly. When someone deserving of death is of high rank and importance yet is executed anyway -- this is punishment reaching upward. When rewards extend even to the groom who tends cattle and the stable boy who tends horses -- this is reward flowing downward.

A general who can make punishment reach upward and reward flow downward -- this is the general's martial authority. This is why the ruler values his general.

The general lifts the drum and wields the drumstick, facing danger and deciding battles. When blades cross, if his drumbeat is correct, he earns rewards and establishes his name. If his drumbeat is wrong, he dies and the state perishes. Survival and ruin, security and danger -- all hang on the tip of a drumstick. How can anyone fail to value the general?

Yet lifting the drum, wielding the stick, crossing blades, and achieving military success through force of arms -- I say this is not the hard part.

The ancients said: 'To attack without siege engines and to defend without abatis -- this is called an incompetent army.' To look and not see, to listen and not hear -- this is what happens when a state has no marketplace.

The marketplace is the institution that manages all goods. It buys cheap and sells dear, regulating supply for the people. When men eat a bushel of grain and horses eat three bushels of beans, yet men still show hunger and horses still show emaciation -- why? Because the marketplace produces output, but no official manages it.

A state that holds the regulatory authority over All-Under-Heaven but has no institution to manage supplies cannot be called capable of war.

When raising an army, those who wear their armor until it breeds lice are the ones who will serve me with utmost dedication. When a hawk pursues a sparrow and dives into a person's sleeve or flies into a room, it is not seeking a way out -- it has something terrifying behind it.

Taigong Wang was seventy years old, butchering cattle at Zhaoge and selling food at Mengjin. For over seventy years no ruler would listen to him, and everyone called him a madman. When he finally met King Wen, he led thirty thousand troops, won a single battle, and settled All-Under-Heaven. Without proper deliberation on warfare, how could such a match have been made?

Therefore it is said: 'Give a fine horse the whip, and it can reach distant roads. Give a worthy man the right match, and the great way can be illuminated.'

When King Wu attacked Zhou of Shang, his army crossed at Mengjin. With ceremonial yak-tail banner on the right and battle-axe on the left, he had three hundred elite warriors and thirty thousand fighting men. Zhou of Shang's formation numbered in the millions, with Fei Lian and E Lai leading with halberds and axes, their lines stretching a hundred li.

Yet King Wu did not even disrupt the marketplace, his blades were not bloodied, and he conquered Shang and executed Zhou. There were no miraculous omens -- it was entirely a matter of whether human affairs were properly managed or not.

Today's generals consult void-and-fullness charts, divine by the Xianchi stars, combine tortoise-shell cracks, examine auspicious and inauspicious signs, and observe changes in the stars, wind, and clouds, hoping to achieve victory and establish merit through these methods. I say this is futile.

A general must not be constrained by the heavens above, the earth below, or other people around him. Weapons are instruments of misfortune. Contention goes against virtue. The generalship is the office of death. Therefore, it is used only when there is no alternative.

With no heaven above, no earth below, no ruler behind, no enemy ahead -- one man's army moves like wolves and tigers, like wind and rain, like thunder and lightning. Trembling and darkness everywhere -- All-Under-Heaven is shaken.

A victorious army is like water. Water is the softest and weakest thing, yet whatever it strikes -- even hills and ridges -- must collapse before it. This is for no other reason than that its nature is concentrated and its force is genuine.

Now combine the sharpness of Moye swords, the toughness of rhinoceros hide armor, the masses of three armies, and the deployment of unorthodox and orthodox tactics -- then nothing under Heaven can withstand such a force.

Therefore it is said: promote the worthy and employ the capable, and affairs prosper without consulting auspicious days. Clarify the laws and scrutinize the orders, and affairs succeed without consulting divination. Honor achievement and support those who have toiled, and blessings come without praying at shrines.

It is also said: favorable timing is not as good as advantageous terrain; advantageous terrain is not as good as unity among people. The ancient sages attended carefully to human affairs -- nothing more.

When Wu Qi campaigned against Qin, he did not pitch camp on level ground but slept in the furrows between fields, covering himself with rough branches to shelter from frost and dew. Why did he do this? Because he did not elevate himself above his men.

When you ask men to die for you, do not demand deference. When you exhaust their strength, do not insist on ceremony. The ancients exempted armored soldiers from bowing -- to show that one does not add unnecessary burdens. To burden men with ceremony while demanding their lives and exhausting their strength -- from ancient times to the present, this has never been heard of.

On the day a general receives his mandate, he forgets his family. When the army camps in the field, he forgets his kin. When he lifts the drumstick and beats the drum, he forgets himself.

When Wu Qi faced battle, his attendants offered him a sword. Wu Qi said: 'The general's sole task is to command through flags and drums. Facing danger, resolving uncertainty, directing troops and guiding blades -- these are the general's duties. Wielding a single sword is not the general's business.'

His three armies formed their ranks. One day's march became three days' march. After three days' march, they flowed like water bursting from a riverhead. Seeing the enemy ahead, he employed each unit according to its strengths. Against white-bannered enemies he deployed with white; against red-bannered enemies, with red.

Once, when Wu Qi was about to engage Qin and the armies had not yet clashed, one soldier could not contain his courage, rushed forward alone, took two enemy heads, and returned. Wu Qi immediately had him executed. His officers protested: 'This man is a capable warrior -- you cannot execute him!' Wu Qi replied: 'A capable warrior he may be, but he did not follow my orders.' He executed him.