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Wei Liaozi — The Order on Arranging the Soldiers尉繚子 經卒令

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 · 211 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.

1Arranging the soldiers — five badges and five places

經卒者，以經令分之為三分焉：左軍蒼旗，卒戴蒼羽；右軍白旗，卒戴白羽；中軍黄旗，卒戴黄羽。卒有五章：前一行蒼章，次二行赤章，次三行黄章，次四行白章，次五行黑章。次以經卒，亡章者有誅。前一五行，置章于首；次二五行，置章于項；次三五行，置章于胷；次四五行，置章于腹；次五五行，置章于腰。如此，卒無非其吏，吏無非其卒。見非而不詰，見亂而不禁，其罪如之。鼓行交鬭，則前行進為犯難，後行退為辱衆。踰五行而前者有賞，踰五行而後者有誅。所以知進退先後，吏卒之功也。故曰：鼓之前如雷霆，動如風雨，莫敢當其前，莫敢躡其後，言有經也。

Arranging the soldiers is dividing them by the order of arrangement into three parts. The left army has a blue flag and its soldiers wear blue feathers; the right army has a white flag and its soldiers wear white feathers; the central army has a yellow flag and its soldiers wear yellow feathers. The soldiers have five badges: the first row in front has the blue badge, the second row the red badge, the third row the yellow badge, the fourth row the white badge, and the fifth row the black badge. They are arranged in this order, and whoever loses his badge is punished. For the first five rows the badge is set on the head, for the second five rows on the neck, for the third five rows on the breast, for the fourth five rows on the belly, and for the fifth five rows on the waist. In this way there is no soldier who is not under his own officer, and no officer who does not have his own soldiers. To see a fault and not question it, to see disorder and not stop it, is a crime of the same kind. When the drums beat and they close in battle, for the front row to advance is to brave danger, and for the rear row to fall back is to shame the host. Whoever goes more than five rows ahead is rewarded, and whoever falls more than five rows behind is punished. This is how the merit of officers and soldiers is known in their advancing and retreating, their going first and coming after. So it is said: "Before the drums they are like thunder, and they move like wind and rain; none dares stand before them, none dares tread behind them." This says that they have their arrangement.

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