{"id":1558,"date":"2012-12-22T07:12:35","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T12:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antipaucity.com\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2012-12-22T07:12:35","modified_gmt":"2012-12-22T12:12:35","slug":"strategic-attack-chapter-3-the-art-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/?p=1558","title":{"rendered":"strategic attack &#8211; chapter 3 &#8211; the art of war"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{{The Art of War}}<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sonshi.com\/sun3.html\">Chapter 3<\/a><\/h4>\n<h3>Strategic Attack<\/h3>\n<p>Generally in warfare, keeping a nation intact is best, destroying a nation second best; keeping an army intact is best, destroying an army second best; keeping a battalion intact is best, destroying a battalion second best; keeping a company intact is best, destroying a company second best; keeping a squad intact is best, destroying a squad second best.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, to gain a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence; to subjugate the enemy&#8217;s army without doing battle is the highest of excellence.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, the best warfare strategy is to attack the enemy&#8217;s plans, next is to attack alliances, next is to attack the army, and the worst is to attack a walled city.<\/p>\n<p>Laying siege to a city is only done when other options are not available.<\/p>\n<p>To build large protective shields, armored wagons, and make ready the necessary arms and equipment will require at least three months.<\/p>\n<p>To build earthen mounds against the walls will require another three months.<\/p>\n<p>If the general cannot control his temper and sends troops to swarm the walls, one third of them will be killed, and the city will still not be taken.<\/p>\n<p>This is the kind of calamity when laying siege to a walled city.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, one who is skilled in warfare principles subdues the enemy without doing battle, takes the enemy&#8217;s walled city without attacking, and overthrows the enemy quickly, without protracted warfare.<\/p>\n<p>His aim must be to take All-Under-Heaven intact.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, weapons will not be blunted, and gains will be intact.<\/p>\n<p>These are the principles of planning attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Generally in warfare:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If ten times the enemy&#8217;s strength, surround them;<\/li>\n<li>If five times, attack them;<\/li>\n<li>If double, divide them;<\/li>\n<li>If equal, be able to fight them;<\/li>\n<li>If fewer, be able to evade them;<\/li>\n<li>If weaker, be able to avoid them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Therefore, a smaller army that is inflexible will be captured by a larger one.<\/p>\n<p>A general is the safeguard of the nation.<\/p>\n<p>When this support is in place, the nation will certainly be strong.<\/p>\n<p>When this support is not in place, the nation will certainly not be strong.<\/p>\n<h5>There are three ways the ruler can bring difficulty to the army:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>To order an advance when not realizing the army is in no position to advance, or to order a withdrawal when not realizing the army is in no position to withdraw.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is called entangling the army.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>By not knowing the army&#8217;s matters, and administering the army the same as administering civil matters, the officers and troops will be confused.<\/li>\n<li>By not knowing the army&#8217;s calculations, and taking command of the army, the officers and troops will be hesitant.<\/li>\n<li>When the army is confused and hesitant, the neighboring rulers will take advantage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is called a confused and hesitant army leading another to victory.<\/p>\n<h5>Therefore, there are five factors of knowing who will win:<\/h5>\n<ol>\n<li>One who knows when he can fight, and when he cannot fight, will be victorious;<\/li>\n<li>One who knows how to use both large and small forces will be victorious;<\/li>\n<li>One who knows how to unite upper and lower ranks in purpose will be victorious;<\/li>\n<li>One who is prepared and waits for the unprepared will be victorious;<\/li>\n<li>One whose general is able and is not interfered by the ruler will be victorious.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>These five factors are the way to know who will win.<\/p>\n<h5>Therefore I say:<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles.<\/li>\n<li>One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes win, sometimes lose.<\/li>\n<li>One who does not know the enemy and does not know himself will be in danger in every battle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>(<a href=\"http:\/\/antipaucity.com\/2012\/12\/17\/the-art-of-war-by-sun-tzu\/#.UMYJeYNlH01\">main review<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{{The Art of War}} Chapter 3 Strategic Attack Generally in warfare, keeping a nation intact is best, destroying a nation second best; keeping an army intact is best, destroying an army second best; keeping a battalion intact is best, destroying a battalion second best; keeping a company intact is best, destroying a company second best; &hellip;<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/?p=1558\" class=\"more-link pen_button pen_element_default pen_icon_arrow_double\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">strategic attack &#8211; chapter 3 &#8211; the art of war<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[734],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-sun-tzu"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merikebi.warrenmyers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkeyring_services&post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}