3
The Questions of King Wei

KING WEI OF CH’I , inquiring about employing the military, said to Sun Pin: “If two armies confront each other, their two generals looking across at each other, with both of them being solid and secure so that neither side dares to move first, what should be done?”

Sun Pin replied: “Employ some light troops to test them, commanded by some lowly but courageous officer. Focus on fleeing, do not strive for victory. Deploy your forces in concealment in order to abruptly assault their flanks. This is termed the ‘Great Attainment.’”

King Wei asked: “Is there a method for employing the many and the few?”

Sun Pin said, “There is.”

King Wei said: “If we are strong while the enemy is weak, if we are numerous while the enemy is few, how should we employ them?”

Sun Pin bowed twice and said: “This is the question of an enlightened King! To be numerous and moreover strong, yet still inquire about employing them is the Tao for making the state secure. The method is called ‘Inducing the Army.’ Disrupt your companies and disorder your ranks, in order to seemingly accord with the enemy’s desires. Then the enemy will certainly engage you in battle.”

King Wei asked: “If the enemy is numerous while we are few, if the enemy is strong while we are weak, how should we employ them?” Sun Pin said: “The strategy is termed ‘Yielding to Awesomeness.’ You must conceal the army’s tail to ensure that the army will be able to withdraw. Long weapons should be in front, short ones to the rear. Establish roving crossbow units in order to provide support in exigencies. Your main force should not move in order to wait for the enemy to manifest their capabilities.”

King Wei said: “Suppose we go forth and the enemy comes forth. We still do not know whether they are many or few. How should we employ the army?”

Sun Pin said: “The method is called ‘Dangerous Completion.’ If the enemy is well ordered, deploy into three formations. One should confront the enemy, two can provide mutual assistance. When they can halt they should halt; when they can move, they should move. Do not seek a quick victory.”

King Wei asked: “How do we attack exhausted invaders?”

Sun Pin said: “You can make plans while waiting for them to find a route to life.”

King Wei asked: “How do we attack someone of equal strength?”

Sun Pin said: “Confuse them so that they disperse their forces, then unite our troops and strike them, do not let the enemy know about it. But if they do not disperse, secure your position and halt. Do not attack in any situation that appears suspicious.”

King Wei said: “Is there a Tao for one to attack ten?”

Sun Pin said: “There is. ‘Attack where they are unprepared, go forth where they will not expect it.’”

King Wei said: “If the ground is level and the troops well ordered, but after engaging in battle they retreat, what does it mean?”

Sun Pin said: “It means that the deployment lacked a front.”

King Wei said: “How can we cause the people to always listen to orders?”

Sun Pin said: “Always be sincere.”

King Wei said, “Good. In discussing the army’s strategic power you are inexhaustible.”

T’ien Chi asked Sun Pin: “What causes trouble for the army? What causes difficulty for the enemy? How is it that walls and entrenchments are not taken? How does one lose the advantages of Heaven? How does one lose the advantages of Earth? How does one lose the people? I would like to ask if there is a Tao for these six?”

Sun Pin said: “There is. What causes trouble for the army is the terrain. What causes difficulty for the enemy is ravines. Thus it is said that three kilometers of wetlands will cause trouble for the army; crossing through such wetlands will result in leaving the main force behind. Thus it is said, ‘what causes trouble for the army is terrain, what causes trouble for the enemy is ravines.’ If the walls and entrenchments are not taken it is because of defensive ditches and defiles.”

T’ien Chi asked: “If we encounter a heavily ensconced force, what then?”

Sun Pin said: “Drum the advance and press them, employ ten ways to draw them out.”

T’ien Chi said: “When their deployment has already been determined, how can we cause the soldiers to invariably obey?”

Sun Pin said: “Be severe and show them the potential profits.”

T’ien Chi said: “Are not rewards and punishments the most urgent matters for the military?”

Sun Pin said: “They are not. Now rewards are the means by which to give happiness to the masses and cause soldiers to forget death. Punishments are the means by which to rectify the chaotic and cause the people to fear their superiors. They can be employed to facilitate victory, but they are not urgent matters.”

T’ien Chi said: “Are authority, strategic power, plans, and deception urgent matters for the military?”

Sun Pin said: “They are not. Now authority is the means by which to assemble the masses. Strategic power is the means by which to cause the soldiers to invariably fight. Plans are the means by which to cause the enemy to be unprepared. Deception is the means by which to put the enemy into difficulty. They can be employed to facilitate victory, but they are not urgent affairs.”

T’ien Chi angrily flushed: “These six are all employed by those who excel in military affairs, and yet you, sir, say they are not urgent. Then what matters are urgent?”

Sun Pin said: “Evaluating the enemy, estimating the difficulties of terrain, invariably investigating both near and far is the Tao of the general. Invariably attacking where they do not defend, this is the army’s urgency. Rewards and punishments are the bones.”

T’ien Chi asked Sun Pin: “Is there a Tao for deploying the army and not engaging in battle?”

Sun Pin said: “There is. Amass your troops in the ravines and increase the height of your fortifications, being silently alert without moving. You must not be greedy, you must not get angry.”

T’ien Chi said: “If the enemy is numerous and martial but we must fight, is there a Tao?”

Sun Pin said: “There is. Augment your fortifications and expand your soldiers’ determination. Strictly order and unify the masses. Avoid the enemy and make him arrogant. Inveigle and tire him. ‘Attack where he is not prepared, go forth where he will not expect it.’ You must be prepared to continue such actions for a long time.”

T’ien Chi asked Sun Pin: “What about the Awl Formation? What about the Wild Geese Formation? How does one select the troops and strong officers? How about the strong crossbowmen running along and firing? What about the Fierce Wind Formation? What about the masses of troops?”

Sun Pin said: “The Awl Formation is the means by which to penetrate solid formations and destroy elite units. The Wild Geese Formation is the means by which to abruptly assault the enemy’s flanks and respond to changes. Selecting the troops and strong officers is the means by which to break through enemy formations and capture their generals. Strong crossbowmen running along and firing are the means by which to take pleasure in battle and sustain it. The Fierce Wind Formation is the means by which to return from fierce engagements. Masses of troops are used to divide the effort and achieve victory. However, enlightened rulers and knowledgeable generals do not rely on masses of troops to seek success.”

Sun Pin went out and his disciples asked him: “What were the questions of King Wei and T’ien Chi, minister and ruler, like?”

Sun Pin said: “King Wei asked nine questions, T’ien Chi asked seven. They are very close to knowing all about military affairs, but have not yet penetrated the Tao. I have heard that those who are always sincere flourish; those who establish righteousness employ military force; those without adequate preparation suffer injury; and those who exhaust their troops perish. In three generations Ch’i will be troubled.”

Fragments

“If one excels then the army will prepare for him.”

“If you are double the enemy, halt and do not move, be full and await them.”

“One who is not prepared will suffer difficulty from the terrain.”

COMMENTARY

This chapter purportedly records Sun Pin’s discussion of the crux of military affairs with King Wei and T’ien Chi, the king’s famous commanding general. They pose a total of sixteen theoretical battlefield situations for which Sun Pin suggests appropriate tactical principles. Their dialogue thus participates in the growing tradition of the early military writings that probably commenced with a few laconic sentences in the Ssu-ma Fa of analyzing common confrontational situations. Sun-tzu’s Art of War offered a number of abstract general principles for conceptualizing and managing battlefield circumstances, while Wu Ch’i, who was active a generation earlier than Sun Pin, described numerous tactical situations, analyzed their inherently significant factors, and correlated them with tactical measures.

Sun-tzu, who tended to conceive of these prototypical situations largely in terms of configurations of terrain, had still been encumbered with directing forces based upon chariots constituting the main battle element. By Wu Ch’i’s time the infantry had become far more significant as a result of the expanding scope of battle. Sun Pin thus lived at a time when mobility and flexibility were being increasingly realized, when logistics and the imposition of new forms of organization easily allowed fielding armies of eighty thousand men or more as already seen in the first chapter describing the battles between Wei and Ch’i. Thereafter the Six Secret Teachings, which was probably composed within a century of the Military Methods, advanced extensive tactical analyses targeted to commonly confronted battlefield conditions. Many of the theoretical cases reprised here are found in two or three of these books, although the responses vary.

Sun Pin’s replies are all brief, no doubt simply summarized in common with other works of the period, and generally emphasize themes earlier expressed by Sun-tzu: mobility; creating opportunities by manipulating the enemy; segmenting and reuniting to concentrate at appropriate points; and attacking where the enemy is unprepared, where they have not mounted an adequate defense or expect a strike. Some commentators detect great advances in Sun Pin’s thought, with a significant stress on aggressive action, but the chapter is more balanced than at first appears, and certain defensive measures, as well as manipulating the enemy, are advocated.