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- Sun Tzu said: There are five ways of attacking with fire.
The first is to burn soldiers in their camp;
the second is to burn stores;
the third is to burn baggage
trains;
the fourth is to burn arsenals and magazines;
the fifth is to hurl dropping fire amongst the enemy.
- In order to carry out an attack, we must have means
available.
The material for raising fire should always be kept in readiness.
- There is a proper season for making attacks with
fire, and special days for starting a conflagration.
- The proper season is when the weather is very dry;
the special
days are those when the moon is in the constellations of the Sieve, the
Wall, the Wing or the
Cross-bar; for these four are all days of rising wind.
- In attacking with fire, one should be prepared to
meet five possible developments:
- When fire breaks out inside to enemy's camp, respond
at once with an attack from without.
- If there is an outbreak of fire, but the enemy's
soldiers remain quiet, bide your time and do not attack.
- When the force of the flames has reached its height,
follow it
up with an attack, if that is practicable; if not, stay where you are.
- If it is possible to make an assault with fire from
without,
do not wait for it to break out within, but deliver your attack at a
favorable moment.
- When you start a fire, be to windward of it. Do
not attack from the leeward.
- A wind that rises in the daytime lasts long, but
a night breeze soon falls.
- In every army, the five developments connected with
fire must
be known, the movements of the stars calculated, and a watch kept for
the proper days.
- Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack
show
intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an
accession of strength.
- By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but
not robbed of all his belongings.
- Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles
and
succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for
the result is waste of time and
general stagnation.
- Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his
plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.
- Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your
troops
unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is
critical.
- No ruler should put troops into the field merely
to gratify his
own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.
- If it is to your advantage, make a forward move;
if not, stay where you are.
- Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may
be succeeded by content.
- But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never
come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
- Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good
general
full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army
intact.
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