Tightening Orders飭令
飭令則法不遷，法平則吏無姦。法已定矣，不以善言害法。任功則民少言，任善則民多言。行法曲斷，以五里斷者王，以九里斷者强，宿治者削。
Put the orders in good trim and the law does not shift; make the law even and the clerks have no crookedness. Once the law is settled, do not let fine words harm the law. Give charge by merit and the people say little; give charge by goodness and the people say much. Carry out the law and cut off what is crooked. The state that decides within five li becomes king; the state that decides within nine li is strong; the state that lets matters lie overnight is whittled away.
以刑治，以賞戰，厚祿以用術。行都之過，則都無姦市。物多末衆，農㢮姦勝，則國必削。民有餘食，使以粟出爵，必以其力，則農不怠。三寸之管毋當，不可滿也。授官爵、出利祿不以功，是無當也。國以功授官與爵，此謂以成智謀，以威勇戰，其國無敵。國以功授官與爵，則治者省，言有塞，此謂以治去治，以言去言，以功與爵者也。故國多力，而天下莫之能侵也。兵出必取，取必能有之，案兵不攻必富。朝廷之事，小者不毁，效功取官爵，廷雖有辟言，不得以相干也，是謂以數治。以力攻者，出一取十；以言攻者，出十喪百。國好力，此謂以難攻；國好言，此謂以易攻。
Govern by punishment, make them fight by reward, make the salaries thick and so use method. Govern the faults of the capital and the capital will have no crooked market. When goods are many and the branch trades are many, when farming slackens and crookedness wins, the state is surely whittled away. When the people have food to spare, let them hand out grain and receive rank for it, but make them do it by their own strength, and farming will not grow idle. A tube three inches long with no bottom cannot be filled. To give office and rank and to hand out profitable salary without going by merit is to have no bottom. When a state gives office and rank by merit, this is called making wisdom and scheming out of achievement and making brave fighting out of awe, and that state has no enemy. When a state gives office and rank by merit, then there is less to govern and words are blocked. This is called removing government by government, removing words by words, and giving rank by merit. So the state has much strength, and none under heaven can encroach on it. When its soldiers go out they surely take, and what they take they can surely hold; and if it holds its soldiers back and does not strike, it is still surely rich. In the business of the court small things are not broken down, and men bring in merit and take office and rank. Then though there be crooked words in the court, they cannot get at one another. This is called governing by number. He who strikes by strength sends out one and takes ten; he who strikes by words sends out ten and loses a hundred. A state's loving strength is called striking by the hard way; a state's loving words is called striking by the easy way.
重刑少賞，上愛民，民死賞；多賞輕刑，上不愛民，民不死賞。利出一空者，其國無敵；利出二空者，其兵半用；利出十空者，民不守。重刑明民，大制使人，則上利。行刑，重其輕者，輕者不至，重者不來，此謂以刑去刑。罪重而刑輕，刑輕則事生，此謂以刑致刑，其國必削。
Heavy punishments and few rewards means the one above loves the people, and the people will die for a reward. Many rewards and light punishments means the one above does not love the people, and the people will not die for a reward. The state where profit comes out of one hole has no enemy; the state where profit comes out of two holes has half the use of its soldiers; the state where profit comes out of ten holes cannot have its people hold it. Make punishments heavy so as to make the people clear, and use men by a great control, and the one above profits. In carrying out punishments, make the light offenses heavy, and then the light offenses will not arrive and the heavy ones will not come. This is called removing punishment by punishment. When the crime is heavy and the punishment light, and the punishment is light, then affairs are bred. This is called bringing on punishment by punishment, and that state is surely whittled away.