Wei Liaozi — Deliberating on Arms尉繚子 武議

Troops do not attack a city that is without fault, and they do not kill men who are without crime. To kill another man's father and elder brother, to covet another man's goods and wealth, to make servants of another man's sons and daughters — all of this is robbery. So troops are what cut down the violent and the disorderly and forbid what is unrighteous. Where troops are brought to bear, the farmer does not leave his fields, the merchant does not leave his shop, and the officers and great officers do not leave their offices, because the deliberation over arms rests in one man. So the troops do not bloody their blades, and the world holds them dear.

A state of ten thousand chariots farms and fights; a state of a thousand chariots rescues and guards; a state of a hundred chariots busies itself with keeping its own. Farming and fighting do not seek power outside; rescuing and guarding do not seek help outside; keeping one's own does not seek means outside. When a state has not enough to go out and fight and not enough to come in and guard, it is set in order by the market. The market is what supplies fighting and guarding. Where a state of ten thousand chariots has no help from one of a thousand chariots, it must surely have the market of one of a hundred chariots.

Punishing and rewarding are what make the use of arms clear. Kill one man and the three armies tremble: then kill him. Reward one man and ten thousand rejoice: then reward him. In killing, honor the great; in rewarding, honor the small. When a man deserves death, then though he be noble and weighty he must surely be killed, and this is punishment reaching all the way up. When reward comes down to the boy who herds the oxen and the man who tends the horses, this is reward flowing all the way down. To make punishment reach all the way up and reward flow all the way down is the general's command of arms. So the ruler of men holds his general in weight.

A winning army is like water. Water is the softest and weakest of things, and yet where it strikes, the hills are sure to crumble before it. There is no other reason: its nature is single and its striking is true. Now take the sharpness of a Moye blade, the hardness of rhinoceros hide and the host of the three armies, and set among them the unorthodox and the orthodox, and no one under heaven can withstand them in battle.

When Wu Qi fought Qin, at his lodging he did not level the ridges of the field, but covered them with brushwood to screen off the frost and the dew. Why did he do so? Because he would not set himself above others. One who begs men for their death does not ask to be honored; one who draws out men's strength to the full does not fault them over ritual. So in ancient times the soldier in armor and helmet did not bow, showing that there was nothing in him to trouble others with. To trouble men and yet beg them for their death and draw out their strength to the full — from ancient times until now such a thing has never been heard of. On the day a general receives his command he forgets his household; when he draws up the army and camps in the open he forgets his parents; when he takes up the drumstick and beats the drum he forgets his own body. When Wu Qi came to battle, those about him offered him a sword. Wu Qi said, "A general governs the flags and the drums, and nothing more. To decide doubts in the face of danger, to wave the troops on and point the blades, is the general's work. The task of a single sword is not the general's work."

When Wu Qi fought Qin, before the lines had closed one man could not master his own daring. He went out in front, took two heads and came back. Wu Qi at once ordered him beheaded. An officer of the army remonstrated, "This is a man of talent. He must not be beheaded." Wu Qi said, "A man of talent he is, but it was not my order." And he beheaded him.