II
Waging War
1. Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there
are in the field a thousand swift chariots, as many
heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad sol-
diers, with provisions enough to carry them a thousand
li, the expenditure at home and at the front, including
entertainment of guests, small items such as glue and
paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor, will reach
the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day. Such
is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
2. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is
long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and
their ardor will be damped. If you lay siege to a town,
you will exhaust your strength.
3. Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of
the State will not be equal to the strain.
4. Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor
damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure
spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage
of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be
able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
cleverness has never been seen associated with long
delays.
5
Sun Tzu on the Art of War