尉缭子 （六）

---中国古代军事著作

陈水明（1962届） 英译

Weiliaozi (6)

---An ancient Chinese work for military strategy and tactics

                
Translated by Chen Shuiming

 第二十一章    兵教上

兵之教令，分营居阵，有非令而进退者，加犯教之罪。前行者前行教之，后行者后行教之。教举五人，其甲首有赏；弗教，如犯教之罪。罗地者自揭其伍，伍内互揭之，免其罪。

凡伍临阵，若一人有不进死于敌，则教者如犯法者之罪。凡所保什，若亡一人而九人不尽死于敌，则教者如犯法者之罪。自什以上至于裨将有不若法者，则教者如犯法者之罪。凡明刑罚，正劝赏，必在乎兵教之法。

将异其旗，卒异其章。左军章左肩，右军章右肩。中军章胸前，书其章曰：“某甲某士”。前后章各五行，尊章置首上，其次差降之。

伍长教其四人，以板为鼓。以瓦为金，以竿为旗。击鼓而进，低旗则趋，击金而退，麾而左之，麾而右之，金鼓俱击而坐。伍长教成，合之什长；什长教成，合之卒长；卒长教成，合之伯长；伯长教成，合之兵尉；兵尉教成，合之裨将；裨将教成，合之大将；大将教之，陈于中野，置大表三，百步而一。既陈，去表百步而趋，百步而骛。习战以成其节，乃为之赏法。

自尉吏以下尽有旗，战胜得旗者，各视所得之爵，以明赏劝之心。战胜在于立威，立威在于戮力，戮力在于正罚。正罚者，所以明赏也。令民背国门之限，决死生之分，教之死而不疑者，有以也。令守者必固，战者必斗，奸谋不作，奸民不语，令行无变，兵行无猜，轻者若霆，奋敌若惊；举功别德，明如白黑；令民从上令，如四肢应心也；前军绝行乱阵破坚如溃者，有以也。此之谓兵教，所以开封疆，守社稷，除患害，成武德也。

Chapter 21               Training Regulations (A)

It is stipulated in regulation that soldiers must defend the positions that they are ordered to garrison. He who disobeys orders and advances or retreats presumptuously must be considered as being guilty of breach of training regulations. The soldiers that whether belong to the front rank or the rear rank; the right rank or the left rank, are trained by their own drillmaster respectively. If a rank of five men is well trained, then the drillmaster is rewarded; otherwise is punished for breach of training regulations. If there is any man who leaves the drill ground without permission, his rank mates should report him to the leader then they can be remitted.

While the whole wu-unit is fighting, if one of them doesn’t desperately fight then it means that the drillmaster neglects his duty and should be punished as the coward soldier. All the men of one shi-unit should mutually guarantee one another from violating military regulations. If one of them is killed in fighting and the rest men don’t desperately fight against the enemy, then it means that their drillmaster neglects his duty and should be punished as the man who breaks the military law. From the shi-leader to the generals, if anyone of them disobeys drilling regulations, then it means that the drillmasters don’t well train the whole army and should be punished as the man who disobeys the training regulations. The army that can carry out rewards and punishments strictly and fairly must be one that is well trained in normal times.

The high-ranking officers have different flags and the soldiers have different symbols. The soldiers of the left rank wear their symbols on their left shoulders; the soldiers of the right rank wear their symbols on their right shoulders and the soldiers of the middle rank wear their symbols on the front of their chests. On the symbols are marked their names and units ‘so-and-so’. The soldiers that wear similar symbols are divided into five lines from the front to the rear. Those in the first line wear their symbols a little higher than those in the second line, and those in the second line wear theirs a little higher than those in the third line, thus the rest may be deduced by analogy.

The wu-leader trains the rest four members of his wu-unit, uses a piece of wood board as a drum, a piece of earthenware as a gong and a bamboo pole as a flag. He orders the members of the wu-unit to march forward by beating the drum, to retreat by beating the gong and to march forward fast by lowering the flag. When he waves the flag left or right, the members of his wu-unit moves left of right as flag indicates; and when the gong and the drum are beaten simultaneously, they stop moving.
After all the members of the wu-unit are well trained, assemble them and be trained by the shi-leader, thus let them be trained degree by degree as by the bo-leader, the bingwei-leader, the deputy-general, the senior general and so on. When the senior has well trained all the army, he arranges all the men into battle formation on the field where three posts are set. The space between two posts is one hundred steps. In the first space to the first pole, the soldiers are trained to exercise parade step; in the second space the soldiers are trained to exercise hurried step and in the third space the soldiers are trained to exercise fast running. Thus they are trained repeatedly till they master the main points. After this, reward or punish them according to what they are trained well or not.

For various low-ranking officers under beingwei-leaders are set flags respectively. He who wins the enemy and seizes their flag(s) is promoted to the higher rank according to his merit, so as to show the reward of the commanders.

Winning victory lies in setting up military prestige and the military prestige lies in that the military officers and men make concerted efforts, and the concerted efforts of them lies in strictly and fairly carrying out rewards and punishments. When the punishment is strict, naturally the reward is conspicuous. It has reasons to make men go abroad to fight and die without any hesitation at the critical point. It also has reasons to make the defenders firmly defend; the attackers bravely fight; the traitors be unable to act; the spies be unable spread rumors; the officers strictly carry out orders; the troops move without any hesitation, act as swiftly as the lighting, as surprisingly as the thunder; the high-ranking officers comment on merits and demerits as clearly as black and white; the soldiers obey their commanders as the four limbs do their brain and charge the enemy lines as fiercely as the flood bursts the bank. The reasons why the general commander can make his men do as stated above lies in the strict train of them in normal times. The goal of train of the troops is to develop and defend the state territory, remove the danger of the country and obtain military achievements.

第二十二章    兵教下

臣闻人君有必胜之道，故能并兼广大，以一其制度，则威加天下有十二焉。一曰连刑，谓同罪保伍也；二曰地禁，谓禁止行道，以网外奸也；三曰全车，谓甲首相附，三五相同，以结其联也；四曰开塞，谓分地以限，各死其职而坚守也；五曰分限，谓左右相禁，前后相待，垣车以固，以逆以止也；六曰号别，谓前列务进，以别其后者，不得争先登不次也；七曰五章，谓彰明行列，始卒不乱也；八曰全曲，谓曲折相从，皆有分部也；九曰金鼓，谓兴有功，致有德也；十曰陈车。谓接连前矛，马冒其目也；十一曰死士，谓众军之中有才力者，乘于战车，前后纵横，出奇制敌也；十二曰力卒，谓经旗全曲，不麾不动也。此十二者教成，犯令不舍，兵弱能强之，主卑能尊之，令弊能起之，民流能亲之，人众能治之，地大能守之。国车不出于阃，组甲不出于橐，而威服天下矣。

兵有五致：为将忘家，逾垠忘亲，指敌忘身，必死则生，急胜为下。百人被刃，陷行乱阵；千人被刃，擒敌杀将；万人被刃，横行天下。

武王问太公望曰：“吾欲少间而极用人之要。”望对曰：“赏如山，罚如溪。太上无过，其次补过，使人无得私语。诸罚而请不罚者死，诸赏而不赏者死。”

伐国必因其变，示之财以观其穷，示之弊以观其病。上乖者下离。若此之类，是伐之因也。凡兴师必审内外之权，以计其去。兵有备阙，粮食有余不足，校所出入之路，然后兴师伐乱，必能入之。地大而城小者，必先攻其地；城大而地窄者，必先攻其城；地广而人寡者，则绝其厄；地狭而人众者，则筑大堙以临之。无丧其利，无夺其时，宽其政，夷其业，救其弊，则足以施天下。

今战国相攻，大伐有德，自伍而两，自两而师，不一其令。率俾民心不定，徒尚骄侈，谋患辩讼，吏究其事，累且败也。日暮路远，还有挫气，师老将贪，争掠易败。

凡将轻，垒卑，众动，可攻也；将重，垒高，众惧，可围也。凡围必开其小利，使渐夷弱，则节吝有不食者矣。众夜击者，惊也；众避事者，离也；待人之救，期战而蹙，皆心失而伤气也。伤气败军，曲谋败国。

Chapter 22    Training Regulations (B)

I have heard about that when an emperor masters the certainly victorious principle, he will be able to annex all other countries, widen the territory of his own and unify the different social systems, thus to awe the whole world. There are twelve ways of the principle, they are: 1.Sharing the punishment, i.e. if one soldier of the wu-unit commits a crime, the other four men should share the responsibility with him. 2. Limiting place, i.e. in the defending area, no free inter-course is permitted so as to be convenient for finding out spies. 3.Operation coordinating, i.e. the fighters in helmets and armors on the chariots and the foot soldiers closely coordinate each other. 4. Fort-setting, i.e. Delimit defending areas and make every unit devote to its duty and hold fast to its ground. 5. Area delimiting, i.e. The left and right units, in front and behind respectively, defend their areas, coordinate each other and keep close watch on the enemy; the chariots arrange into strong fronts to meet head-on the enemy. 6. Rank differentiating, i.e. the front rank marches forward so as to differentiates the behind rank, and the behind rank should not vie with the front one for military exploits and destroys the military arrangements. 7. Five symbols, i.e. Use five kinds of symbols to show different ranks so as to keep the ranks in good order. 8. All tortuous and coherent, i..e. The troops march forward in tortuous and coherent order and every unit keeps its own battle array. 9.Gong and drum, i.e. Command and encourage the army to go out to battle and render meritorious service; establish soldiery virtues. 10. Chariot array, i.e. While taking up quarters, arrange the chariots into arrays and let the front and the behind link with each other and blindfold the war-horses to prevent them from frightening. 11. Dare-to-die corps, i.e. Select brave and clever fighter from the troops and let them gallop across the battlefield on the chariots to defeat the enemy by surprising moves. 12. Control soldiers, i.e. Manage well the whole army; no one should act presumptuously without being ordered.

After the above rules are well realized, if anyone runs counter to them, then he should be punished without being forgiven. Thus the weak country can get strong; the flabby lord can be esteemed; the laws that cease to be binding can be strengthened; the people that are homeless or wander about will come back; the multitudinous people can be controlled and vast territory can be defended. Under such conditions, the country will be able to awe the whole world without its chariots going abroad and its soldiers putting on helmets and armors.

As a high-ranking commander, he should pay attention to the following five points: 1. He should forget his own family when receives the order that assigns him as the commander. 2. He should forget his lineal relations when goes abroad. 3. He should forget his own body when faces with the enemy. 4. Only the man who harbors the resolution to die in battlefield can have the possibility to live one. 5. It is the bad policy for the commander in using troops to be impatient for quick success. Keeping these principles in mind, the commander will be able to shatter the enemy lines when leads one hundred men in fighting desperately and kill the enemy high-ranking commanders when leads one thousand men and be able to invincible in the whole world when leads ten thousand men.

Emperor Wu (about 1027-1025 BC) of the Zhou dynasty said to Marshal Jiang Ziya: “I want to master the key to using man of ability as soon as possible.” Jiang answered: “The best way is to punish drastically and reward bountifully. Better be strict and fair in meting out rewards and punishments without any mistakes. Once a mistake happens, correct it as soon as possible so as to avoid from being privately discussed by subordinates and soldiers. He who intercedes for the man who commits crimes and should be punished should be killed. He who asks the leader not to reward the man who has done a deed of merit and should be rewarded should also be killed”

When strike on the enemy country, you must make use of its internal disorders; observe its poverty condition by deliberately showing your financial capacity; observe its potential crisis by deliberately showing your social malady. When the lord of the enemy country is tyrannical, surely its people lack unity. Such condition is really the good condition for you to strike on it.

Before to go out to battle, you should investigate the developing and changing conditions of both the enemy’s and ours so as to plan the way to advancing or retreating. Meanwhile, find out if the enemy country’s military power is full or not; its grains are sufficient or not; the lines for you to advance or retreat are long or short, dangerous or safe; then strike on it, thus it is possible for you to succeed.

Attack the enemy country’s open spaces first if its outskirts are vast and cities are small; or attack its cities first if its cities are big and outskirts are small; attack its strategic positions first if its outskirts are vast and the people there are sparse; attack the city by building earth walls to besiege it if its suburban district is narrow and the population there is dense. After capture the city, don’t harm the interest of the people, nor delay the people’s farming time but modify the severe politics; let the people lead settled lives and remove the social evils. Thus it is enough for you to convince people of your might in the world.

Nowadays, warlike countries attack each other and invade the virtuous countries, thus make people disunited and bring about such conditions as: 1.The orders cannot be united in the troops from wu-unit to liang-unit (One liang consists of 25 fighters.) and shi-unit (One shi consists of 2500 fighters.). 2. The morale of the troops always shakes. 3. The soldiers are arrogant and willful, hatch sinister plots and endlessly brawl; if the officers try to find out such things, it will cost their time and energy that results in missing the chance to win the battle. 4. The day is waning and the road is long for the army to return to its native land, which results in lowering the army’s morale. 5. The high-ranking commanders have strong desire for military merits thus linger in the battlefield and strive to loot, but the soldiers are tired on account of long time fights.

Under such conditions the troop can be attacked: Their high-ranking commanders are frivolous; their barrack-enclosing wall is low and the morale of the troops has been slack. Under such conditions the troop can be besieged and attacked: Their high-ranking commanders are steady, their barrack-enclosing wall is thick and high, but their soldiers are frightened. While besiege the enemy, better leave some breaches so as to shake the enemy’s tenacious defending will; besides, force them to consume their food grains to the time when they are starved even try their best to save.

It is the sign of fear for the enemy masses to make noise by beating and striking things at night; the sign of un-unity for them to dodge going on errand public; the sigh of losing the support from the masses and dampening the morale of the troop that the high-ranking commanders wait for relief troops and anxious and fearful before the promised fighting time. Dampening the moral of the soldiers will make the troops defeated and the wrong strategy will lead to the country’s doom.

第二十三章    兵令上 

兵者，凶器也；争者逆德也；事必有本。故王者，伐暴乱，本仁义焉。战国则以立威抗敌，相图而不能废兵也。

兵者，以武为植，以文为种；武为表，文为里。能审此二者，知胜败矣。文所以视利害，辨安危；武所以犯强敌，力攻守也。

专一则胜，离散则败；陈则以密则固，锋以疏则达；卒畏将甚于敌者，胜；卒畏敌甚于将者，败，所以知胜败者，称将于敌也。敌与将，犹权衡焉。

安静则治，暴疾则乱。出卒陈兵有常令，行伍疏数有常法，先后之次有适宜。常令者，非追北袭邑攸用也。前后不次则失也。乱先后斩之。常陈皆向敌，有内向，有外向，有立陈，有坐陈。夫内向所以顾中也，外向所以奋外也，立陈所以行也，坐陈所以行也。立坐之陈，相参进止，将在其中。坐之兵剑斧，立之兵戟弩，将亦居中。善御者，正兵先合，而后扼之，此必胜之术也。

将与卒，非有父子之亲，血肤之树，六亲之私也，然而见敌走之如归，前唯有千仁之溪，不测之渊，见入汤火入蹈者，前见全明之赏，后见必死之刑也。将前不能明其赏，后不能明其严，则败军死将擒也。

陈之斧钺，饰之旗章，有功必赏，犯令必死，存亡死生，在桴之端。虽有天下善兵者，莫能御此矣。矢射未交，长刃未接，前噪者谓之虚，后噪者谓之实，不噪者谓之秘。虚、实者，兵之体也。

Chapter 23           Prohibitions for Using Troops (A)

Weapons are tools for killing people; war is the action that betrays virtue; scrambles are disgraceful things. Therefore, the wise emperors only use wars for suppressing riots and upholding justice. The lords of various states use wars for setting up power and resisting aggression. The weak countries are not annihilated when they know how to defend themselves with armies.

In the course of war, military force is the mainstay, civil virtue is the foundation; military force is the appearance; civil virtue is the essence; military force is fight in battle, civil virtue is internal affairs. He who can find out the above three respects knows the rule of using military force. Military force is used to strike on the strong enemies and to desperately duel; civil virtue is used to find out gains or losses and to observe safety and danger. Military force is offensive; civil virtue is defensive. Use of civil means and military means in the war is like the sound and the echo, the body and the shadow, which are very close and inseparable.

Concentrated armed forces easily win, while dispersed forced forces are easily defeated; close battle array is surely strong, while the open one is easily broken through. The high-ranking military commanders who have prestige can exist, while those who lose prestige will easily be perished. With prestige one will win; while without prestige one will fail. With   high-ranking commander’s direction soldiers will heroically fight; while without it they will fail and escape; with his direction soldiers will risk their lives before the front, while without it they will be easily insulted by the enemy. The high-ranking commander’s prestige comes from his correct use of rewards and punishments. When soldiers fear their commanders more than their enemy, the battle will win; on the contrary, the battle will fail. By comparison between the prestige of the commanders and that of the enemy’s before battle, one can foresee success or failure. To forecast success or failure with this method is sensitive as to weigh things with a balance.

With serenity the army can be stable, while with impetuosity it will be confused. There are fixed regulations for the army’s march and arranging battle array and there are regular rules for the army’s close or open formations and there proper plans for the army’s front and rear orders. Fixed regulations are unsuitable for pursing and attacking the escaping enemies. Without front and rear orders, the army will be confused. He who disrupts the orders should be killed. Ordinary arrays are all for attacking the enemy. There are close and centrifugal form arrays, open and extending form arrays; standing and marching form arrays, kneeling and sitting form arrays. Open and extending ones are used for guarding against the enemy; open and centrifugal ones are used for defending the headquarters; standing and marching ones are convenient for attacking; kneeling and sitting form ones are convenient for defending; standing-sitting form ones are used for the coordination of defending and attacking operations. The general and commanders stay in the center of the array so as to conveniently command. The kneeling and sitting men use swords and axes. The standing men use halberds, bows and arrows. He who is good at resisting the enemy applies frontal army to fight against the enemy first; then, to defeat the enemy by surprise raids. This is an ever-victorious way. Why do the commanders have no close relations with his soldiers, such as close as father and son, flesh and blood, still the soldiers can face with death unflinchingly in the battle even there are deep pools and steep valleys they can march forward bravely as going through fire and water? This is because there are strict rewards and punishments. If the commanders cannot carry out strict rewards and punishments, then they will lead to the defeat of the army, the death of the officers and the capture of the soldiers.

Set up axes and rank flags, reward the man who renders meritorious service and punish the man who acts contrary to the orders. The country’s survival or downfall; the soldiers’ life or death is all determined by the correct or wrong strategic decision of the generals and the commander. Thus, even the men are good at using military forces in the world, they can never cope with the army that are commanded by the commanders having correct strategic decisions. While two armies are pitting against each other but not touching weapons, the side that shouts first shows it is false and weak, the side that shout afterward shows that it is real and strong, the side that keeps silent shows it has another secret plan. Falseness, reality and secret are the three conditions in the battle.

第二十四章   兵令下

诸去大军为前御之备者，边县列候，各相去三，五里，闻大军为前御之备，战则皆禁行 ，所以安内也。内卒出戍，令将吏授旗鼓戈甲。发日，后将吏及出县封界者，以坐后戍法。兵戍边一岁，遂亡不候代者，法比亡军。父母妻子知者，与同罪；弗知，赦之。卒后将吏而至大将所一日，父母妻子尽同罪。卒逃归至家一日，父母妻子弗捕及不言，亦同罪。

诸战而亡其将吏者，及将吏弃卒独北者，尽斩之。前吏弃其卒独北，后吏能斩之而夺其卒者。赏。军无功者，戍三岁。三军大战，若大将死而从吏五百人以上不能死敌者，战；大将左右近卒在阵中者，皆斩；余士卒有军功者，夺一级；无军工者，戍三岁。战亡伍人，及伍人不德其尸，同伍尽夺其功，得其尸，罪皆赦。

军之利害，在国之名实。今名在官而实在家，官不得其实，家不得其名。聚卒为军，有空名而无实，外不足以御敌，内不足以守国，此军之所以不给，将之所以夺威也。臣以为卒逃归者，同舍伍人及吏罚入粮为饶，名为军实，是有一军之名，而有二实之出。国内空虚，自竭民岁，曷以免奔北之祸乎！今以法止逃归，禁亡军，是兵之一胜也。什伍相联，及战斗则卒吏相救，是兵之二胜也。将能立威，卒能节制，号令明信，攻守皆得，是兵之三胜也。

臣闻古之善兵者令严信功罚之赏，能杀卒之半，其次杀之十三，其下杀其十一。能杀其半者，威加海内；杀十三者，离加诸侯；杀十一者，令行士卒。故曰：百万之众不用命，不如万人之斗也；万人之斗，不如百人之奋也。赏如日月，信如四时，令如斧钺，制如干将，士卒不用命者，未之有也。

Chapter 24  Prohibitions for Using Troops (B)

For the countries apart from the main force and in the border district of the country, frontier guards must be set up. Such guards are like the reserve force of the vanguard and distributed at the distance about 3 to five li (a li=500m) from each other. In times of war, stop the traffic so as to bring peace and stability to the country. When the troops receive the order to garrison the frontiers, and commander and officers must grant their men battle drums and weapons. On the day when the troops start, the man who leaves the country later than his commanders must be punished according to the garrisoning law. After one year when they garrison the frontier, the man leaves his post without man to his successor must be regarded as sneaking away at the critical juncture and be punished; if his parents, wife or son know but conceal the case, they must be also be punished together with him. If a man arrives at the place where the chief general orders the army to concentrate one day later than he is ordered, then his parents, wife and son must be punished together with him. If a man returns home and stays there one day and his parents, wife and son don’t seize and turn him over to the local government or don’t report the matter to it, they must also be punished together with him.

In the course of battle: if the soldier or soldiers that takes no notice of their commander’s death and retreats should be put to death; if the commander gives up his men and retreats alone, then he should also be put to death; if one commander gives up his men or willfully orders his men to retreat, then another commander can kill him and takes over his post and leads his men in going on fighting, for this he should be rewarded; the army that has not any achievement in war must garrison the frontier for three years. In the course of great war: if one chief general is killed and his subordinates who command more than 500 men do not desperately fight must be put to death; the guards of the killed general must also be put to death; the rest men who have military exploits must be reduced one level of rank and those who have no exploits must be punished to garrison the frontier for three years; if anyone in a wu-unit deserts from the army or is killed and his corpse isn’t seized back, then the rest men of his unit must be deprived of one degree of military exploit; those who have no military exploit must be punished to garrison the frontier for three years; but they can be remitted if the corpse is seized back.

The fighting capacity of the army lies in the fact whether the names of the soldiers in the roll match the real men or not. Nowadays, quite a lot of men have names in the roll, but in reality, they are at home, so the army has not the men and the men’s homes have not their names. The country recruits soldiers and composes the army but the army is only a skeleton, thus the army can neither defeat the enemy outside, nor defend the country at home. That is why the army loses its capacity and the commanders lose their prestige. In my opinion, nowadays some man or men has deserted and his mates eat his grain ration but the deserter eats at home; in this way, one man costs two men’s provisions; if things go on like this, the state finance will get insufficient.  Meanwhile, soldiers serve outside year in year out, what can prevent them from deserting? So that: The first condition for winning is to prevent soldiers from deserting; the second one is to order the commanders and the soldiers to stand surety for one another, do that they can help each other in the course of battle. The third one is: the commanders have prestige; the soldiers obey orders; the orders are clear; the army attacks and defends in proper way.

I have heard about that in ancient times, he who was good at commanding military operations strictly enforced the law for punishment. The best one had the ability to punish half of his men; the next on had the ability to punish 3/10 of his men; and the third class one had the ability to punish 1/10 of his men. He who could punish half of his men could awe in the world; he who could 3/10 of his men could lord over various states and he who could punish 1/10 of his men could command the whole army. Therefore, one million men that doesn’t fight bravely is worse than ten thousand men that can fight desperately and so ten thousand men worse than one hundred men. If let the reward be carried out fairly as the light of the sun and the moon and as punctually as the four seasons move; let the punishment be carried out as dignifiedly as huge weapons and as fast as killing with the famous sharp swords (as the names of Ganjiang and Moye), then it is impossible for the soldiers not to risk their lives in fight against the enemies.

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