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Six Secret Teachings, Dragon Teaching — Encouraging the Army六韜 勵軍

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi 武經七書 · Ascribed to Jiang Taigong · ascribed to Huang Shigong · Wei Liao · Wu Qi · Sima Rangju · Li Jing · Warring States to Tang (4th century BC to 7th century AD) · 1 passages · 225 Chinese characters · reading time 0.9 min

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi Six Secret Teachings The six that remain when the Art of War of Sunzi is taken out of the seven military books the Song set as the texts for examining military officers. The Six Secret Teachings is sixty chapters of questions and answers in which King Wen and King Wu ask Taigong Wang, running from the governing of a state to chariots, cavalry, battle in the open and the crossing of water; the Three Strategies is three short books said to have been given to Zhang Liang by Huang Shigong; the Wei Liaozi is twenty-four chapters setting down in detail the military orders and the squads of five and ten around the time of Qin; the Wuzi is six chapters of Wu Qi's answers to Marquis Wu of Wei; the Methods of the Sima is five chapters handing down the military rites of before the Spring and Autumn period; and Questions and Replies with Li Weigong is three books in which Taizong of Tang and Li Jing go back and forth over the unorthodox and the orthodox, the empty and the full, the frontier peoples and the Han, and attack and defense. "Arms are an instrument of ill omen," "bring the enemy to you and do not be brought to him," and "a thousand chapters and ten thousand phrases do not go beyond that one phrase" all come from here. The remaining six streams of the military school, read after the Art of War, are gathered in one place.

1The general's three victories — the general of ritual, the general of strength, the general who stops his desires

武王問太公曰：「吾欲三軍之眾，攻城爭先登，野戰爭先赴，聞金聲而怒，聞鼓聲而喜，為之奈何？」太公曰：「將有三勝。」武王曰：「敢聞其目？」太公曰：「將冬不服裘，夏不操扇，雨不張蓋，名曰禮將。將不身服禮，無以知士卒之寒暑。出隘塞，犯泥塗，將必先下步，名曰力將。將不身服力，無以知士卒之勞苦。軍皆定次，將乃就舍；炊者皆熟，將乃就食；軍不舉火，將亦不舉，名曰止欲將。將不身服止欲，無以知士卒之饑飽。將與士卒共寒暑勞苦饑飽，故三軍之眾，聞鼓聲則喜，聞金聲則怒。高城深池，矢石繁下，士爭先登；白刃始合，士爭先赴。士非好死而樂傷也，為其將知寒暑饑飽之審，而見勞苦之明也。」

King Wu asked Taigong, "I wish the multitude of the three armies to vie to be first up the wall when a city is attacked and first to charge when battle is joined in the field, to grow angry when they hear the gong and glad when they hear the drum. How is this done?" Taigong said, "A general has three victories." King Wu said, "May I hear the list of them?" Taigong said, "When a general does not put on furs in winter, does not take up a fan in summer, and does not raise a cover in the rain, he is called a general of ritual (禮將). If a general does not carry out ritual in his own person, he has no way of knowing the cold and the heat of his soldiers. When the army goes out through narrow passes and crosses muddy roads, if the general always gets down first and walks, he is called a general of strength (力將). If a general does not spend strength in his own person, he has no way of knowing the toil of his soldiers. When the troops have all settled in their places, only then does the general go to his quarters. When those who cook have all finished, only then does the general eat. When the troops light no fire, the general lights none either. He is called a general who stops his desires (止欲將). If a general does not stop his desires in his own person, he has no way of knowing the hunger and the fullness of his soldiers. Because the general shares cold and heat, toil, hunger and fullness with his soldiers, the multitude of the three armies are glad when they hear the drum and angry when they hear the gong. Though the walls are high and the moat deep and arrows and stones come down thick, the soldiers vie to be first up. When the naked blades first meet, the soldiers vie to be first to charge. It is not that the soldiers love death and delight in wounds. It is because their general knows their cold and heat and their hunger and fullness to the last detail, and sees their toil clearly."

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