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Wei Liaozi — Orders on the Files of Five尉繚子 伍制令

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 · 205 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi Weiliaozi 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.

1Files, tens, platoons and companies stand surety for one another

軍中之制：五人為伍，伍相保也；十人為什，什相保也；五十人為屬，屬相保也；百人為閭，閭相保也。伍有干令犯禁者，揭之免於罪；知而弗揭，全伍有誅。什有干令犯禁者，揭之免於罪；知而弗揭，全什有誅。屬有干令犯禁者，揭之免於罪；知而弗揭，全屬有誅。閭有干令犯禁者，揭之免於罪；知而弗揭，全閭有誅。吏自什長以上至左右將，上下皆相保也。有干令犯禁者，揭之免於罪；知而弗揭者，皆與同罪。夫什伍相結，上下相聮，無有不得之奸，無有不揭之罪。父不得以私其子，兄不得以私其弟，而况國人聚舍同食，烏能以干令相私者哉！

The regulation in the army is this. Five men make a file, and the files stand surety for one another; ten men make a ten (什), and the tens stand surety for one another; fifty men make a platoon (屬), and the platoons stand surety for one another; a hundred men make a company (閭), and the companies stand surety for one another. If in a file there is one who breaks an order or violates a ban, and he is denounced, the rest go free of the crime; if they know and do not denounce him, the whole file is punished. If in a ten there is one who breaks an order or violates a ban, and he is denounced, the rest go free of the crime; if they know and do not denounce him, the whole ten is punished. If in a platoon there is one who breaks an order or violates a ban, and he is denounced, the rest go free of the crime; if they know and do not denounce him, the whole platoon is punished. If in a company there is one who breaks an order or violates a ban, and he is denounced, the rest go free of the crime; if they know and do not denounce him, the whole company is punished. As for the officers, from the leader of ten upward to the generals of the left and the right, high and low all stand surety for one another. If there is one who breaks an order or violates a ban, and he is denounced, the rest go free of the crime; those who know and do not denounce him all bear the same crime. When the tens and files are bound together and high and low are linked, there is no treachery that is not caught and no crime that is not denounced. A father cannot shield his own son and an elder brother cannot shield his own younger brother. How much less can the men of the state, who gather in one lodging and eat one food, break an order and shield one another?

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