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Six Secret Teachings, Dog Teaching — Foot Soldiers in Battle六韜 戰步

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 · 197 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.

1How foot soldiers fight chariots and horsemen — the cage of life (命籠)

武王問太公曰:「步兵與車騎戰奈何?」太公曰:「步兵與車騎戰者,必依丘陵險阻,長兵強弩居前,短兵弱弩居後,更發更止。敵之車騎雖眾而至,堅陣疾戰,材士強弩,以備我後。」武王曰:「吾無丘陵,又無險阻。敵人之至,既眾且武,車騎翼我兩旁,獵我前後。吾三軍恐懼,亂敗而走,為之奈何?」太公曰:「令我士卒為行馬,木蒺藜,置牛馬隊伍,為四武衝陣;望敵車騎將來,均置蒺莉;掘地匝後,廣深五尺,名曰命籠。人操行馬進步,闌車以為壘,推而前後,立而為屯;材士強弩,備我左右。然後令我三軍,皆疾戰而不解。」武王曰:「善哉!」

King Wu asked Taigong, "How do foot soldiers fight chariots and horsemen?" Taigong said, "Foot soldiers who fight chariots and horsemen must lean on hills and broken ground, with long weapons and strong crossbows in front and short weapons and weak crossbows behind, shooting by turns and stopping by turns. Though the enemy's chariots and horsemen come in great number, hold the ranks firm and fight quickly, and let able men and strong crossbows guard our rear." King Wu said, "We have no hills and no broken ground, and the enemy comes many and skilled in arms, his chariots and horsemen winging both our flanks and hunting our front and rear, so that our three armies are afraid and break in disorder and run. How is it to be done?" Taigong said, "Have our officers and men make horse-barriers and wooden caltrops, put oxen and horses in the ranks, and form the four-sided martial assault formation. When you see the enemy's chariots and horsemen coming, lay the caltrops out evenly, and dig the ground around the rear, five feet wide and five feet deep; this is called the cage of life. Let each man take a horse-barrier and go forward, and bar the way with carts to make a rampart, pushing them to front and rear and setting them up to make a camp. Let able men and strong crossbows guard our left and right. Then have our three armies all fight quickly and never break off." King Wu said, "Good."