Art of War Collection

Chapter 24: Use time

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[Cao Cao said: The battle must be used first, in order to know the enemy's situation. 〕

Grandson said:

Fanxing division is one hundred thousand, traveling thousands of miles, the expense of the people, the service of the public, the expense of thousands of dollars. Disturbances inside and outside, slack in the road, those who are not allowed to do things, 700,000 families.

[Cao Cao said: In ancient times, eight families are neighbors; one family joins the army, seven families serve them, and one hundred thousand teachers serve, and seven hundred thousand families do not work on farming. 〕 Stay together for several years to fight for victory in one day, and love for a hundred gold, who does not know the enemy's affection, is the most unkind.

It is not the generals of the people, the support of the master, and the master of victory. Therefore, it is clear that the master of the virtuous generals, so move and overcome others, success comes from the people: the prophet.

Prophet, don’t take ghosts and gods,

[Cao Cao said: You cannot pray and pray. 〕

It's not like it,

[Cao Cao said: You can't ask for anything. 〕

Untestable,

[Cao Cao said: You can’t count things up. 〕

It must be taken from the one who knows.

[Cao Cao said: Because there are people. 〕

Therefore, there are five useful spaces: there is a country, an inner space, a contradiction, a dead space, and a living space. The five rooms are all set up, and there is no way to know the way. It is the gods, the treasure of the king.

〔Cao Cao said: Employ five rooms at the same time. 〕

Those who are in the countryside are used because of their villagers. Those who are inside are used because of their officials.

Those who oppose it, those who use it because of the enemy.

The dead, for the sake of ridicule, to let us know, but also from the enemy.

Those who are born, those who report back.

Therefore, the relatives of the three armies are not close to each other, rewards are more generous, and things are not close to each other. Non-sage cannot use time, non-benevolent cannot use time.

Non-micro can not get the truth, non-secret can not get the treasure. Secret and secret, no matter what. The incident has not happened, and both those who heard the incident and those who reported it died.

Whatever the army wants to attack, what the city wants to attack, and what people want to kill: the name of the guard, the left and right, the greeter, the door, and the home must be known.

We must seek out those who come from the enemy to us, so we will benefit from it, and we will give it away, so we can get it and use it in the opposite way.

〔Cao Cao said: She is home to stay. 〕

It is known because it is, so it is available in the countryside and inside. It is known because it is, so the death is a mistake, which can be used to sue the enemy. Knowing it because it is, it can be as expected during life. The five things must be known, and the knowledge must lie in the opposite, so the opposite must be thick. Yin Zhixing also, Yi Zhi is in the summer; [Cao Cao said: Yi Yin is also. 〕Zhou Zhixing also, Lu Ya is in Yin.

[Cao Cao said: Lu Wangye. 〕

Only the master and the wise generals, who are able to intervene in the above-mentioned wisdom, will achieve great accomplishments. The need for this soldier is also moved by the three armies.

[Translation]

Sun Tzu said: If you send 100,000 troops and fight for thousands of miles, the expenses required by the people, the expenses and salaries required by the public, will cost nearly a thousand dollars every day; the ruling and the opposition, the people serving in service, tired of the road, and unable to engage in farming. 700,000 homes. Spent a few years with the enemy in order to win a day’s victory. However, he was stingy with a few lords and a lot of money, refused to appoint spies and refused to reward them with money, so that the prolonged battle did not understand the reality of the enemy’s situation. In fact, This is the most uncharitable thing. This kind of general is not a good general in the army, let alone a good assistant to the monarch; and such a monarch is not a good monarch who can win the people's trust. Wise monarchs, virtuous generals, the main reason why they will win as soon as they send troops, and surpass everyone, is that they can understand the enemy in advance. If you can understand the enemy’s situation in advance, and you don’t get information through superstition, ghosts, divination, etc., you don’t compare it with similar things in the past, and you won’t be able to fortune fortune by observing the position of the sun, moon, and stars, then you must Obtain reliable hostility from people.

Therefore, there are five ways to use spies: "Countryside", "Neijian", "Fanjian", "Death Room", and "Live Room". If these five types of spies are used at the same time, the enemy will inevitably be unable to figure out the details. This is also an inscrutable method and a magic weapon for the monarch. The so-called "rural" refers to the use of ordinary people in enemy countries as spies. "Neijian" refers to the use of money to buy the officials of the enemy country as spies. "Anti-Jian" refers to buying or using spies sent by the enemy to make them work for our army. "Death" means deliberately leaking false secrets to the outside world, and then letting our spies pass them to the enemy, through internal and external cooperation, to fool the enemy; and such spies are often executed by the enemy after the incident. "Shengjian" refers to a person who personally returns to our army to report the enemy's situation after the enemy reconnaissance.

Therefore, spies are the most trusted people in governing the three armies, and no one can be more rewarded than spies. There is nothing more confidential than using spies. Those generals who are far away from Shengzhi cannot use spies; those who do not have the heart of righteousness cannot use spies either; because the generals who have shallow knowledge and chaos cannot obtain the true information of the spies. It's really subtle! Subtle! Spy is really indispensable everywhere. If the strategy of using spies to detect the enemy's situation has not yet been implemented and is heard, then those who hear it and those who leak it will be put to death.

All enemy forces to attack, all cities to be captured, and all enemies to be killed, must understand their coach and his relatives before the start of the war, and be in charge of the guest officials, gatekeepers, doormen and staff, etc. Name, this is also the information that ordered our spies to detect. And we must search out the spies sent by the enemy to our army, so that they can be bought or used according to the actual situation, and after various inducements to complete the tasks assigned to our army, they can be released later. In this way, this kind of person can be used for our military. With this kind of reaction, you can know that the villagers and officials of other countries can also bribe them with great profit, or use them directly. If you use such a person instead, you can let him spread deceit and falsehood, and then pass it to the enemy through death. If you use such a person instead, you can know whether you will return to our army to report the enemy's situation during your lifetime according to the predetermined deadline.

With regard to the use of the five spies, the monarchs knew very well that if they knew the enemy's situation, they had to fight back. Therefore, in the attitude towards opposition, we must give a particularly generous treatment. In the past, Shang Tang rose because of the reuse of Yi Yin, who could not be reused in Xia Jie; the rise of Zhou Wu Wang was because of the reuse of Lu Shang, who once lived in the Song Dynasty in Shang Dynasty. Therefore, wise monarchs and capable generals, through the use of resourceful spies, will inevitably achieve great results. This is the key point in fighting with troops. The entire army must rely on the enemy information provided by spies to take action.