Wuzi — Urging On the Soldiers吳子 勵士

Marquis Wu asked, "Are stern punishment and clear reward enough to win?" Wu Qi answered, "Of being stern and clear your servant cannot speak in full. Even so, they are not what one relies on. When commands go out and orders are spread and men are glad to hear them, when the army is raised and the host is set moving and men are glad to fight, when weapons meet and blades cross and men are glad to die, these three are what a ruler relies on."

Marquis Wu said, "How is this brought about?" Wu Qi answered, "Let my lord single out those who have merit and hold a feast to bring them forward, and urge on those who have no merit."

So Marquis Wu set out seats in the courtyard of the shrine in three rows and feasted the officers and the nobles. Those of highest merit sat in the front row, and their dishes and mats had precious vessels and the great sacrificial animals as well. Those of the next merit sat in the middle row, and their dishes, mats and vessels were lessened by degrees. Those without merit sat in the back row, and their dishes and mats had no precious vessels. When the feast was over and they came out, gifts were handed out besides, outside the shrine gate, to the parents, wives and children of those who had merit, and these too were graded by merit. Where a household had lost a man in the service of the state, envoys were sent every year to comfort his parents and bestow gifts on them, showing that they were not forgotten in the ruler's heart. When this had been done for three years, the men of Qin raised an army and came to the Xihe. The soldiers of Wei heard of it, and without waiting for the officers' orders those who put on armor and helmet and rushed to strike numbered ten thousand.

Marquis Wu called Wu Qi and said to him, "What you taught the other day has come to pass." Wu Qi answered, "Your servant has heard that men have their short points and their long points, and that spirit has its rise and its fall. Let my lord try giving me the fifty thousand who have no merit, and your servant asks to lead them and stand against the enemy. If we should fail to win, we would become a laughingstock to the other lords and lose our weight in all under heaven. Now if one robber set on death lies hidden in the open field, a thousand men may chase him, and there is not one who does not peer about like an owl and look back like a wolf. Why is that? They fear that he will rise all at once and do them harm. So one man who throws away his life is enough to frighten a thousand. Now if your servant takes a host of fifty thousand and makes of them one robber set on death, and leads them out to strike, they will surely be hard to withstand." So Marquis Wu did as he said, and gave him five hundred chariots and three thousand horsemen besides, and he broke a host of five hundred thousand of Qin. This was the work of urging on the soldiers.

One day before the battle Wu Qi gave this order to the three armies. "All officers and soldiers are to take the enemy each in his own kind. Of chariots, horsemen and foot soldiers, if chariot does not take chariot, horseman does not take horseman, and foot soldier does not take foot soldier, then though the enemy army be broken, none of them shall have merit." So on the day of battle his orders were not burdensome, and yet his awe shook all under heaven.