1. Sun Tzu 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 recapture an army

entire than to destroy it, to capture a

regiment, a detachment or a company entire

than to destroy them.

2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your

battles is not supreme excellence; supreme

excellence consists in breaking the enemy's

resistance without fighting.

3. Thus the highest form of generalship is

to balk the enemy's plans; the next best is

to prevent the junction of the enemy's

forces; the next in order is to attack the

enemy's army in the field; and the worst

policy of all is to besiege walled cities.

4. The rule is, not to besiege walled

cities if it can possibly be avoided.

The preparation of mantlets, movable

shelters, and various implements of war,

will take up three whole months; and the

piling up of mounds over against the walls

will take three months more.

5. The general, unable to control his

irritation, will launch his men to the

assault like swarming ants, with the result

that one-third of his men are slain, while

the town still remains untaken.

Such are the disastrous effects of a siege.

6. Therefore the skillful leader subdues

the enemy's troops without any fighting; he

captures their cities without laying siege

to them; he overthrows their kingdom

without lengthy operations in the field.

7. With his forces intact he will dispute

the mastery of the Empire, and thus,

without losing a man, his triumph will be

complete.

This is the method of attacking by

stratagem.

8. It is the rule in war, if our forces are

ten to the enemy's one, to surround him; if

five to one, to attack him; if twice as

numerous, to divide our army into two.

9. If equally matched, we can offer battle;

if slightly inferior in numbers, we can

avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every

way, we can flee from him.

10. Hence, though an obstinate fight may be

made by a small force, in the end it must

be captured by the larger force.

11. Now the general is the bulwark of the

State; if the bulwark is complete at all

points; the State will be strong; if the

bulwark is defective, the State will be

weak.

12. There are three ways in which a ruler

can bring misfortune upon his army:--

13. (1) By commanding the army to advance

or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact

that it cannot obey.

This is called hobbling the army.

14. (2) By attempting to govern an army in

the same way as he administers a kingdom,

being ignorant of the conditions which

obtain in an army.

This causes restlessness in the soldier's

minds.

15. (3) By employing the officers of his

army without discrimination, through

ignorance of the military principle of

adaptation to circumstances.

This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.

16. But when the army is restless and

distrustful, trouble is sure to come from

the other feudal princes.

This is simply bringing anarchy into the

army, and flinging victory away.

17. Thus we may know that there are five

essentials for victory: (1) He will win who

knows when to fight and when not to fight.

(2) He will win who knows how to handle

both superior and inferior forces.

(3) He will win whose army is animated by

the same spirit throughout all its ranks.

(4) He will win who, prepared himself,

waits to take the enemy unprepared.

(5) He will win who has military capacity

and is not interfered with by the

sovereign.

18. Hence the saying: If you know the

enemy and know yourself, you need not fear

the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for

every victory gained you will also suffer

a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,

you will succumb in every battle.