According to Confucian principles, governments were maintained by their moral weight, their capacity to promote welfare and justice. Such a virtuous government enjoyed the Mandate of Heaven, and dynasties fell when they lost this mandate. Consequently the moral corruption of a ruler provided a harbinger of his fall.
— John A. Lynn, Battle, p. 42
There are eight kinds of decadence in generalship:
First is to be insatiably greedy.
Second is to be jealous and envious of the wise and able.
Third is to believe slanderers and make friends with the treacherous.
Fourth is to assess others without assessing oneself.
Fifth is to be hesitant and indecisive.
Sixth is to be heavily addicted to wine and sex.
Seventh is to be a malicious liar with a cowardly heart.
Eighth is to talk wildly, without courtesy.
— Thomas Cleary (translator and editor), Mastering the Art of War, p. 42
There are five skills and four desires involved in generalship. The five skills are:
- skill in knowing the disposition and power of enemies,
- skill in knowing the ways to advance and withdraw,
- skill in knowing how empty or how full countries are,
- skill in knowing nature’s timing and human affairs, and
- skill in knowing the features of terrain.
The four desires are:
- desire for the extraordinary and unexpected in strategy,
- desire for thoroughness in security,
- desire for calm among the masses, and
- desire for unity of hearts and minds.
— Thomas Cleary (translator and editor), Mastering the Art of War, p. 42
The capacities of commanders are not the same; some are greater, some are lesser.
One who spies out treachery and disaster, who wins the allegiance of others, is the leader of ten men.
One who rises early in the morning and retires late at night, and whose words are discreet yet perceptive, is the leader of a hundred men.
One who is direct yet circumspect, who is brave and can fight, is the leader of a thousand men.
One of martial bearing and fierceness of heart, who knows the hardships of others and spares people from hunger and cold, is the leader of ten thousand men.
One who associates with the wise and promotes the able, who is careful of how he spends each day, who is sincere, trustworthy, and magnanimous, and who is guarded in times of order as well as times of disturbance, is the leader of a hundred thousand men.
One whose humanitarian care extends to all under his command, whose trustworthiness and justice win the allegiance of neighboring nations, who understands the signs of the sky above, the patterns of the earth below, and the affairs of humanity in between, and who regards all people as his family, is a world-class leader, one who cannot be opposed.
— Thomas Cleary (translator and editor), Mastering the Art of War, pp. 41-42
…[In the Warring States Period], the art of war in China was radically transformed in weaponry, strategy, and army size. Iron now provided stronger, more durable weapons…. It was also during this epoch that cavalry replaced chariots as the primary mobile arm. Threats from nomadic horse people just to the west and north of the Chinese states encouraged the turn to cavalry. In fact, the king of the Choa reformed his cavalry dramatically in 307 [B.C.E.], ordering his soldiers to wear barbarian-style trousers and tight-fitting sleeves in place of robes and to ride horses and learn mounted archery. These cavalrymen lacked stirrups until the end of the Han [Dynasty], and saddles were rudimentary; understandably, this hampered the effectiveness of men on horseback. Therefore, cavalry at first supplemented chariots rather than replacing them, but chariots eventually gave way….
— John A. Lynn, Battle, p. 36
