Attack by Stratagem

Sun Tzu said: In general, the principle of waging war consists in this: to secure the submission of the enemy's whole country without fighting is the supreme excellence; to vanquish the enemy's army without battle is next best; to take an entire division and make it surrender is better still; to capture a regiment and make it surrender is less commendable; to defeat an enemy company and make it surrender is the least commendable of these. Hence, to fight and conquer in every battle is not the highest excellence; not to fight and yet to conquer is the highest of all.

Thus, the strategy in war is to subdue the enemy by stratagem before the war begins; the next best is to win by diplomacy; the third best is to conquer by force; and the worst is to besiege a fortified city. Sieges should be avoided when possible, as they are a last resort. To besiege a city requires the construction of shields, wheeled carts, and various siege engines, which takes at least three months. Building earthworks for the siege takes another three months. If the commander cannot control his impatience and orders his soldiers to attack the city like ants climbing ladders, one-third of them may perish without capturing the city. This is the peril of siege warfare.

Therefore, those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle, capture their cities without siege, and destroy their kingdoms without prolonged warfare. They strive for victory through comprehensive strategies, preserving their national strength and military power while achieving complete victory. This is the principle of overcoming the enemy through stratagem.

In actual combat, the tactical method is as follows: When our forces are ten times those of the enemy, encircle and annihilate them; when five times, attack vigorously; when double, divide them and defeat them in detail; when equal, engage them; when fewer, avoid them; when weaker, escape from them. For a weaker force to fight tenaciously will surely be defeated by a stronger one.

The general is the auxiliary of the ruler. When the auxiliary is meticulous and thorough, the country will be strong; when there are omissions, the country will be weak.

There are three general ways in which a ruler can undermine his army: by ordering it to advance when it cannot win, by ordering it to retreat when it should not, thereby shackling it; by interfering in military affairs without understanding them, thereby confusing the officers and men; and by interfering in military operations without understanding strategic flexibility, thereby causing doubt among the officers and men. When the army is both confused and doubtful, other states will seize the opportunity to attack. This is called self-disruption and self-defeat. Hence, there are five ways to predict victory: knowing when to fight and when not to fight leads to victory; knowing how to adapt strategies based on numerical superiority or inferiority leads to victory; unity between the general and the soldiers leads to victory; a well-prepared army defeating a negligent enemy leads to victory; a capable general with minimal interference from the ruler leads to victory. These five are the fundamental conditions for winning in war.

Therefore, to know both oneself and the enemy leads to invincible success; to know oneself but not the enemy leads to an uncertain outcome; to know neither oneself nor the enemy leads to certain defeat.