孙子曰：凡用兵之法，驰车千驷，革车千乘，带甲十万，千里馈粮。则内外之费，宾客之用，胶漆之材，车甲之奉，日费千金，然后十万之师举矣。
Sun-tse said: Suppose you start the campaign with an army of one hundred thousand men, that you are sufficiently provided with provisions, that you have two thousand chariots, of which one thousand are for racing and the others only for transport; that up to a hundred leagues from you, there will be provisions everywhere for the maintenance of your army; that you carefully transport everything that can serve for the repair of weapons and chariots; that the artisans and others who are not of the soldier corps have already preceded you or march separately in your wake; that all things which serve for foreign uses, as well as those purely for war, are always protected from the injuries of the air and safe from the unfortunate accidents that may occur. I also suppose that you have a thousand ounces of silver to distribute to the troops each day, and that their pay is always paid on time and with the strictest accuracy: in this case, you can go straight to the enemy; to attack and defeat him will be the same thing for you.
其用战也，胜久则钝兵挫锐，攻城则力屈，久暴师则国用不足。夫钝兵挫锐，屈力殚货，则诸侯乘其弊而起，虽有智者不能善其后矣。故兵闻拙速，未睹巧之久也。夫兵久而国利者，未之有也。故不尽知用兵之害者，则不能尽知用兵之利也。
Do not delay in engaging the battle, do not wait for your weapons to rust, nor for the edge of your swords to dull. If it is a matter of taking a city, hurry to lay siege to it; first direct all your views to this side, send all your forces there: you must hurry everything here; if you fail in this, your troops risk remaining in the field for a long time; in this case, how many misfortunes will you not become the source of? The coffers of the prince you serve will be exhausted, your weapons rusted will no longer be of use to you, the ardor of your soldiers will slacken, their courage and strength will fade, the provisions will be consumed, and perhaps you will even find yourself reduced to the most wretched extremities. Informed of the pitiable state you will then be in, your enemies will come out fresh, rush upon you, and cut you to pieces. Although until this day you have enjoyed a great reputation, you will no longer be able to show yourself with honor. In vain in other circumstances will you have shown brilliant marks of your worth, all the glory you have acquired will be effaced by this last stroke. I repeat; one cannot keep the troops in the field for long, without causing great harm to the state, without giving a mortal blow to one's own reputation.
善用兵者，役不再籍，粮不三载，取用于国，因粮于敌，故军食可足也。
Those who possess the true principles of the military art do not return to it twice. From the first campaign, everything is finished; they do not consume provisions for three years in a row unnecessarily. They find the means to maintain their armies at the enemy's expense, saving the state the enormous expenses it is obliged to make when it is necessary to transport provisions far away.
国之贫于师者远输，远输则百姓贫；近师者贵卖，贵卖则百姓财竭，财竭则急于丘役。力屈中原、内虚于家，百姓之费，十去其七；公家之费，破军罢马，甲胄矢弓，戟盾矛橹，丘牛大车，十去其六。
They do not ignore, and you should also know, that nothing exhausts a kingdom as much as expenses of this nature; for whether the army is on the borders or in distant countries, the people always suffer; all things necessary for life increase in price, become scarce, even those who in ordinary times are most at ease soon have nothing to buy them with. The prince hastens to collect the tribute of the goods that each family owes him; misery spreads from the towns to the countryside, of the ten parts of the necessary, seven must be withdrawn. Even the sovereign feels his share of common misfortunes. His cuirasses, helmets, arrows, bows, shields, chariots, lances, javelins, all this will be destroyed. The horses, even the oxen that plow the domain lands, will perish, and of the ten parts of his ordinary expenses, he will be forced to withdraw six.
故智将务食于敌，食敌一钟，当吾二十钟；萁秆一石，当吾二十石。
It is to prevent all these disasters that a skilled general forgets nothing to shorten the campaigns, to be able to live at the enemy's expense, or at least to consume foreign goods, for money, if necessary. If the enemy army has a measure of grain in its camp, have twenty in yours; if your enemy has one hundred and twenty pounds of fodder for his horses, have two thousand four hundred for yours. Do not miss any opportunity to harass him, make him perish in detail, find the means to irritate him to make him fall into some trap; reduce his strength as much as possible, by making him diverge, by killing some of his parties from time to time, by taking from his convoys, his equipment, other things that may be of some use to you.
故杀敌者，怒也；取敌之利者，货也。车战得车十乘以上，赏其先得者而更其旌旗。车杂而乘之，卒善而养之，是谓胜敌而益强。
When your men have taken more than ten chariots from the enemy, first reward generously both those who led the enterprise and those who carried it out. Use these chariots for the same purposes as your own, but first remove the distinctive marks that may be on them. Treat the prisoners well, feed them like your own soldiers; if possible, make them feel better with you than in their own camp or even in their own country. Never leave them idle; make use of their services with the proper precautions, and to put it in two words, behave towards them as if they were troops who had freely enlisted under your banners.
故兵贵胜，不贵久。
If you follow exactly what I have just indicated to you, success will accompany all your steps, you will be victorious everywhere, you will spare the lives of your soldiers, you will strengthen your country in its ancient possessions, you will procure new ones for it, you will increase the splendor and glory of the State, and the prince as well as the subjects will be indebted to you for the sweet tranquility in which they will now pass their days. What objects could be more worthy of your attention and all your efforts!
故知兵之将，民之司命。国家安危之主也。
To translate the text literally, one would say 'Chariots for running, one thousand; chariots covered with skins, one thousand.
This passage could also be translated as follows: That you always have provisions to be able to consume during the journey of a thousand li, that is, one hundred leagues; for ten Chinese li make about a league of twenty to the degree.
The text seems to say: Things that are for foreigners, rather than things that are for foreign uses.
In the time and country where the author lived, one thousand ounces of silver was a very considerable sum. Moreover, it may be that Sunzi only wants to speak of the pay of the soldiers, and that he does not include the salaries of the officers in these one thousand ounces of silver. One ounce of silver is worth seven livres and ten sols of our currency today in China: one thousand ounces of silver for an army of one hundred thousand men would only be one sol and a half per head, which in the present time would be very little. It may also be that the one thousand ounces of silver that the author demands are only in addition to the regular pay. This last conjecture, which is the most in accordance with the text, as I have explained it, does not seem to me very well founded; for the state having always been in charge of the maintenance of the women, children, and entire family of those who are at war, it is not likely that, besides the regular payment of each soldier, there would be daily gifts such as those that Sunzi demands.
The oldest tax levied in China was a tithe on all lands in a state to be cultivated. Gradually, the emperors imposed other duties on metals, on various goods and on certain commodities. They established entry duties for goods from the different provinces; in a word, they now have customs on almost the same footing as in the kingdoms of Europe.
The text says: If your enemy has a zhong, have twenty. This zhong is an ancient measure that contained ten dou, plus four bushels, that is, sixty-four bushels, because one dou was ten bushels. A bushel of rice, for example, commonly weighs ten Chinese pounds: the Chinese pound is of sixteen ounces, and the Chinese ounce is to the Paris ounce as ten is to nine, or, more accurately, as nine is to eight; for the Paris ounce is eight gros, and the Chinese ounce is nine of these same gros. I myself tested this a few years ago on extremely accurate scales on both sides.
The text says: If your enemy has straw, hay, and grain for his horses, the value of one dan, etc. The dan is a measure containing one hundred and twenty pounds in weight; or otherwise, the dan is a measure that contains ten other measures about the same size as a Chinese bushel.
It is necessary to remove the distinctive marks that may be found on them. These distinctive marks consisted mainly of the color with which the wood of the chariots or carts was painted, certain characters that were engraved on them, and especially a small square banner, on which certain figures were used to distinguish every fifteen men, every ten, etc. There were even some for every five men; but these, besides being smaller, were triangular in shape. Both were called by the general name dou, which means banner, pennant, flag, etc.
It was easy for the victor to use his prisoners for the same purposes as his own soldiers, because those against whom one was at war, or rather, because the belligerent parties spoke the same language, formed only one and the same nation; they were Chinese fighting against other Chinese: I am speaking here of the most ordinary wars.
It is from the skill and good conduct of a general that in his entire treatise Sunzi makes the happiness and all the glory of a kingdom depend. This maxim is not only found in ancient books; even today it is still in full vigor. But since all good success is attributed to the general, it is also the general who is responsible for all unfortunate events. Guilty or not guilty, whether it is his fault or not, as soon as he has not succeeded, he must perish, or at least be punished. Such a conduct seems at first contrary to reason, but upon examining it a little, it is no longer so, with respect to the peoples for whom it takes place. It is indeed from the conviction that everyone has here that this maxim is put into practice that depends part of the good order that reigns in the Chinese empire.
