The best thing in the practical art of war is to take the enemy's country whole and intact. To shatter and destroy it is not so good, and the same preference runs down through an army, a regiment, a detachment, and a company: capture entire is better than destruction. To fight and conquer in all one's battles is therefore not supreme excellence. Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting. The order of generalship follows that preference. The highest form is to baulk the enemy's plans. The next is to prevent his forces from joining. The next is to attack his army in the field. The worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities. Mantlets, shelters, and implements take three months, and the mounds against the walls take three months more. The general who cannot control his irritation then launches his men like swarming ants. One-third are slain, and the town remains untaken.
The skilful leader subdues the enemy's troops without any fighting, captures their cities without laying siege to them, and overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field. With his forces intact he disputes the mastery of the Empire, and his triumph is complete without losing a man. That is the method of attacking by stratagem. Numbers still set a rule for when fighting is even thinkable. Ten to one, surround him. Five to one, attack. Twice his numbers, divide your army in two. Equally matched, offer battle. Slightly inferior, avoid him. Quite unequal in every way, flee. A small force may fight with obstinacy. In the end it is captured by the larger force.
The general is the bulwark of the State. If that bulwark is complete, the State is strong. If it is defective, the State is weak. A ruler brings misfortune on his army in three ways: by ordering an advance or a retreat the army cannot obey, which is called hobbling it; by governing the army as he administers the kingdom, which makes the soldiers restless; and by employing officers without discrimination, ignorant of adaptation, which shakes their confidence. Restlessness and distrust invite the other feudal princes, and victory is flung away. Five essentials remain. He wins who knows when to fight and when not to fight, who can handle both superior and inferior forces, whose army is animated by the same spirit through all its ranks, who is prepared and waits to take the enemy unprepared, and who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign. 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, every victory gained also brings a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you succumb in every battle.
Coming Up in Chapter 4
Chapter IV, Tactical Dispositions, teaches defence before offence. Sun Tzu says make yourself undefeatable first, then wait until the enemy offers a moment you can defeat. Position and patience must come before the first blow lands.
