The general who wins makes many calculations before the battle, Sun Tzu wrote.
Picture his army: 1,000 swift chariots, 1,000 heavy, and 100,000 soldiers.
The translator's note: 75 men with each swift chariot, 25 with each heavy: 100,000.
Such an army costs a thousand ounces of silver a day.
A hundred days in the field: 100,000 ounces.
One cartload taken from the enemy is worth twenty of your own.
Twenty are used up on the road for every one that reaches the front.
His rule: ten to one, surround; five to one, attack; two to one, divide.
Equal, offer battle; a little fewer, avoid him; far fewer, flee.
Supreme excellence is to break the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Know the enemy and know yourself: a hundred battles hold no fear.