The Art of War

Excerpt: ...words, the chapter would naturally come to an end. But there now follows a long appendix in the shape of an extract from an earlier book on War, now lost, but apparently extant at the time when Sun Tzu wrote. The style of this fragment is not noticeably different from that of Sun Tzu himself, but no commentator raises a doubt as to its genuineness. 23. The Book of Army Management says: It is perhaps significant that none of the earlier commentators give us any information about this work. Mei Yao- Chen calls it "an ancient military classic," and Wang Hsi, "an old book on war." Considering the enormous amount of fighting that had gone on for centuries before Sun Tzu's time between the various kingdoms and principalities of China, it is not in itself improbable that a collection of military maxims should have been made and written down at some earlier period. On the field of battle, Implied, though not actually in the Chinese. the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution of banners and flags. 24. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and eyes of the host may be focused on one particular point. Chang Yu says: "If sight and hearing converge simultaneously on the same object, the evolutions of as many as a million soldiers will be like those of a single man."! 25. The host thus forming a single united body, is it impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone. Chuang Yu quotes a saying: "Equally guilty are those who advance against orders and those who retreat against orders." Tu Mu tells a story in this connection of Wu Chi, when he was fighting against the Chin State. Before the battle had begun, one of his soldiers, a man of matchless daring, sallied forth by himself, captured two heads from the enemy, and returned to camp. Wu Chi had the man instantly executed, whereupon an...