Capt. Calthrop’s rendering is: “They who are the first to lay their hands on more than ten of the enemy’s chariots, should be encouraged.” We should have expected the gallant captain to see that such Samson-like prowess deserved something more substantial than mere encouragement. The _T‘u Shu_ omits 故, and has 以上 in place of the more archaic 已上. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy, and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept. 18. 是謂勝敵而益强 This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one’s own strength. 19. 故兵貴勝不貴久 In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. As Ho Shih remarks: 兵不可玩武不可黷 “Soldiers are not to be used as playthings. War is not a thing to be trifled with.” Sun Tzŭ here reiterates the main lesson which this chapter is intended to enforce. 20. 故知兵之將民之司命國家安危之主也 Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people’s fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril. In the original text, there is a 生 before the 民. III. 謀攻篇 ATTACK BY STRATAGEM. 1. 孫子曰凡用兵之法全國爲上破國次之全軍爲上破軍次之全旅爲上破旅次之全卒爲上破卒次 之全伍爲上破伍次之 Sun Tzŭ said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. A 軍 “army corps,” according to the _Ssŭ-ma Fa_, consisted nominally of 12500 men; according to Ts‘ao Kung, a 旅 contained 500 men, a 卒 any number between 100 and 500, and a 伍 any number between 5 and 100. For the last two, however, Chang Yü gives the exact figures of 100 and 5 respectively. 2. 是故百戰百勝非善之善者也不戰而屈人之兵善之善者也 Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting. Here again, no modern strategist but will approve the words of the old Chinese general. Moltke’s greatest triumph, the capitulation of the huge French army at Sedan, was won practically without bloodshed. 3. 故上兵伐謀其次伐交其次伐兵下政攻城 Thus the highest form of generalship is to baulk the enemy’s plans; I.e., as Li Ch‘üan says (伐其始謀也), in their very inception. Perhaps the word “baulk” falls short of expressing the full force of 伐, which implies not an attitude of defence, whereby one might be content to foil the enemy’s stratagems one after another, but an active policy of counter-attack. Ho Shih puts this very clearly in his note: “When the enemy has made a plan of attack against us, we must anticipate him by delivering our own attack first.” the next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces;