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Six Secret Teachings, Dog Teaching — The Martial Vanguard六韜 武鋒

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 · 137 Chinese characters · reading time 0.5 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 fourteen changes in which the enemy may be struck

武王問太公曰：「凡用兵之要，必有武車驍騎，馳陣選鋒，見可則擊之。如何而可擊？」太公曰：「夫欲擊者，當審察敵人十四變。變見則擊之，敵人必敗。」武王曰：「十四變可得聞乎？」太公曰：「敵人新集可擊。人馬未食可擊。天時不順可擊。地形未得可擊。奔走可擊。不戒可擊。疲勞可擊。將離士卒可擊。涉長路可擊。濟水可擊。不暇可擊。阻難狹路可擊。亂行可擊。心怖可擊。」

King Wu asked Taigong, "The essential in using troops is to have martial chariots and swift horsemen that gallop along the ranks and pick out the vanguard, and to strike when they see what may be struck. What is it that may be struck?" Taigong said, "He who would strike must look closely into the fourteen changes of the enemy. When a change appears, strike him, and the enemy is sure to be beaten." King Wu said, "May I hear the fourteen changes?" Taigong said, "When the enemy has newly gathered, he may be struck. When men and horses have not eaten, he may be struck. When the season of Heaven is against him, he may be struck. When he has not gained the lie of the ground, he may be struck. When he is running, he may be struck. When he is off his guard, he may be struck. When he is worn out, he may be struck. When the general has left his officers and men, he may be struck. When he has come a long road, he may be struck. When he is crossing water, he may be struck. When he has no leisure, he may be struck. When he is caught in a hard, narrow road, he may be struck. When his ranks are in disorder, he may be struck. When his heart is afraid, he may be struck."

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