Chapter 2: Waging War
Sun Tzu said:
The method of warfare requires a thousand swift chariots, a thousand heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand armored troops, with provisions transported over a thousand miles. Internal and external expenses, envoy costs, materials like glue and lacquer, and chariot and armor maintenance cost a thousand gold pieces daily. Only then can an army of a hundred thousand be mobilized.
In war, prioritize swift victory. Prolonged campaigns dull weapons, sap morale, exhaust strength in sieges, and deplete national resources.
When weapons are dulled, strength exhausted, and wealth drained, neighboring states exploit the weakness, and even the wisest cannot recover.
Thus, in war, clumsy speed is better than prolonged cleverness. No state has ever prospered from extended warfare.
Those unaware of war’s costs cannot fully grasp its benefits.
A skilled general avoids repeated conscription and multiple grain shipments, using resources from the state and capturing provisions from the enemy to sustain the army.
Distant supply lines impoverish the state and its people. Near armies, prices rise, draining wealth and forcing heavy taxation.
Strength and wealth exhausted, the heartland weakens, households lose seven-tenths of their wealth, and the state loses six-tenths of its resources on broken chariots, worn horses, armor, arrows, crossbows, halberds, shields, and supply wagons.
Thus, a wise general feeds off the enemy. One bushel of enemy provisions is worth twenty of our own; one picul of enemy fodder equals twenty of ours.
To kill the enemy, rouse your troops’ anger. To seize enemy resources, offer rewards.
In chariot battles, reward the first to capture ten or more chariots, replace their banners, integrate their vehicles, and treat captured soldiers well. This is how to defeat the enemy and grow stronger.
Thus, war values victory, not duration.
A general who understands warfare is the arbiter of the people’s fate and the key to the state’s safety or peril.
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