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Six Secret Teachings, Dragon Teaching — Farming Tools六韜 農器

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 · 274 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 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 plow and the hoe are the weapons — farm tools and the tools of war

武王問太公曰：「天下安定，國家無事。戰攻之具，可無修乎？守禦之備，可無設乎？」太公曰：「戰攻守禦之具，盡在於人事。耒耜者，其行馬蒺藜也；馬牛車輿者，其營壘蔽櫓也；鋤耰之具，其矛戟也；蓑薛簦笠者，其甲冑干楯也；钁鍤斧鋸杵臼，其攻城器也；牛馬，所以轉輸糧用也；雞犬，其伺候也；婦人織紝，其旌旗也；丈夫平壤，其攻城也；春鏺草棘，其戰車騎也；夏耨田疇，其戰步兵也；秋刈禾薪，其糧食儲備也；冬實倉廩，其堅守也；田里相伍，其約束符信也；里有吏，官有長，其將帥也；里有周垣，不得相過，其隊分也；輸粟取芻，其廩庫也；春秋治城郭，修溝渠，其塹壘也。故用兵之具，盡在於人事也。善為國者，取於人事。故必使遂其六畜，闢其田野，安其處所。丈夫治田有畝數，婦人織紝有尺度，其富國強兵之道也。」武王曰：「善哉！」

King Wu asked Taigong, "When all under Heaven is settled and the state has no troubles, may the tools of battle and attack go untended? May the defenses for guarding and warding go unset?" Taigong said, "The tools for battle and attack, for guarding and warding, all lie in the work of the people. The plow and the plowshare are the horse-barriers and the caltrops. Horses, oxen, and carts are the camp, the rampart, and the shield. The hoe and the clod-breaker are the spear and the halberd. The straw cape and the rain hat are the armor, the helmet, and the buckler. The mattock, the shovel, the axe, the saw, and the pestle and mortar are the engines for attacking a city. Oxen and horses are what carry the grain. Chickens and dogs are the scouts. The women's weaving is the banners. Men leveling the ground is the attacking of a city. Cutting grass and thorn in spring is the war chariots and the horsemen. Weeding the fields in summer is the foot soldiers. Reaping grain and firewood in autumn is the storing of provisions. Filling the granaries in winter is the holding of a firm defense. Fields and villages forming files of five (伍) is the covenant and the tally of trust. The village having its clerk and the office having its head is the generals. The village having a wall around it so that none may cross over is the dividing into units. Carrying grain and gathering fodder is the storehouse. Mending the city walls and clearing the ditches in spring and autumn is the trench and the rampart. Therefore the tools for using troops all lie in the work of the people. He who governs a state well takes from the work of the people. So he must have them raise their six kinds of livestock, open their fields and wilds, and settle their dwelling places. That the man tilling his field has a count of furrows, and the woman at her weaving has a measure of the foot-rule — this is the way to enrich the state and strengthen its arms." King Wu said, "Good."

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