Sun Tzu's Art of War: count before you fight
The short answer
Sun Tzu wrote that the general who wins makes many calculations before the battle. His army of 100,000 men costs a thousand ounces of silver a day, so he advises against long wars and foraging on the enemy: one captured cartload is worth twenty of your own. His rule of numbers says when to surround, attack, divide, offer battle, avoid or flee, and supreme excellence is breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Chapters and transcript
- 0:00
The general who wins makes many calculations before the battle, Sun Tzu wrote.
In chapter I, Sun Tzu writes that the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before it is fought, and the general who loses makes but few.
- 0:11
Picture his army: 1,000 swift chariots, 1,000 heavy, and 100,000 soldiers.
Chapter II opens with an army of a thousand swift chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers.
- 0:20
The translator's note: 75 men with each swift chariot, 25 with each heavy: 100,000.
Lionel Giles's note gives 75 footmen to each swift chariot and 25 to each heavy one: a thousand battalions of two chariots and a hundred men, 100,000 in all, computed in the film.
- 0:31
Such an army costs a thousand ounces of silver a day.
At home and at the front, Sun Tzu writes, the expense of raising an army of 100,000 men reaches a thousand ounces of silver per day.
- 0:38
A hundred days in the field: 100,000 ounces.
A hundred days is an example chosen for the film: 100 × 1,000 = 100,000 ounces. Sun Tzu adds that no country has ever benefited from prolonged warfare.
- 0:47
One cartload taken from the enemy is worth twenty of your own.
So a wise general forages on the enemy: one cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own.
- 0:54
Twenty are used up on the road for every one that reaches the front.
Giles's note explains why: twenty cartloads are consumed in transporting one cartload to the front.
- 1:03
His rule: ten to one, surround; five to one, attack; two to one, divide.
Chapter III gives a rule of numbers: ten to the enemy's one, surround him; five to one, attack him; twice as numerous, divide your army into two.
- 1:12
Equal, offer battle; a little fewer, avoid him; far fewer, flee.
If equally matched, offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, flee from him.
- 1:27
Supreme excellence is to break the enemy's resistance without fighting.
Fighting and conquering in all your battles is not supreme excellence, he writes; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.
- 1:33
Know the enemy and know yourself: a hundred battles hold no fear.
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
Sources
Every figure in the film comes from these. The animation is illustrative.