Yetgeul › Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi › Six Secret Teachings

Six Secret Teachings, Leopard Teaching — Dividing the Broken Ground六韜 分險

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 · 207 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 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.

1When the broken ground is divided between the two armies — the fortress of the army (軍城)

武王問太公曰：「引兵深入諸侯之地，與敵人相遇於險阨之中。吾左山而右水；敵右山而左水，與我分險相拒。吾欲以守則固，以戰則勝，為之奈何？」太公曰：「處山之左，急備山之右；處山之右，急備山之左。險有大水，無舟楫者，以天潢濟吾三軍。已濟者，亟廣吾道，以便戰所。以武衝為前後，列其強弩，令行陣皆固。衢道谷口，以武衝絕之。高置旌旂，是為軍城。凡險戰之法，以武衝為前，大櫓為衛；材士強弩，翼吾左右。三千人為一屯，必置衝陣，便兵所處。左軍以左，右軍以右，中軍以中，並攻而前。已戰者，還歸屯所，更戰更息，必勝乃已。」武王曰：「善哉！」

King Wu asked Taigong, "I lead troops deep into the land of the feudal lords and meet the enemy in broken ground. We have the mountain on our left and the water on our right, while the enemy has the mountain on his right and the water on his left, and he divides the broken ground with us and stands against us. I wish to be firm when I hold and to win when I fight. How is it to be done?" Taigong said, "When you are on the left of the mountain, make ready in haste on the right of the mountain; when you are on the right of the mountain, make ready in haste on the left of the mountain. If there is a great water in the broken ground and you have no boats or oars, cross the three armies by the heavenly pool. Those who have crossed are to widen our road quickly and make the place of battle easy. Put assault chariots in front and behind, set out their strong crossbows, and let the marching ranks all be firm. Bar the wide roads and the mouths of the valleys with assault chariots. Raise the flags high, and this is the fortress of the army. The way of fighting in broken ground is this: make the assault chariots the front and the great shield carriages the guard, and let able men and strong crossbows wing our left and right. Take three thousand men as one camp, and always set an assault formation, at a place where the troops are at ease. The left army goes by the left, the right army by the right, the center army by the center, and they attack together and go forward. Those who have fought return to the camp, and they fight by turns and rest by turns, and do not stop until they have won." King Wu said, "Good."

‹ Six Secret Teachings, Dog Teaching — Dividing and JoiningContentsSix Secret Teachings, Leopard Teaching — The Few Against the Many ›Listen to this piece