Art of War 3.1
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Attack By Stratagem 謀攻篇
孫子曰凡用兵之法全國爲上破國次之全軍爲上破軍次之全旅爲上破旅次之全卒爲上破卒次之全伍爲上破伍次之
Sun Tzŭ said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
Lionel Giles's notes
A 軍 “army corps,” according to Ssŭ-ma Fa, consisted nominally of 12500 men; according to Ts‘ao Kung, a 旅 contained 500 men, a 卒 any number between 100 and 500, and a 伍 any number between 5 and 100. For the last two, however, Chang Yü gives the exact figures of 100 and 5 respectively.
Character glossary
- 孫sūngrandchild, descendent; surname
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 凡fánany, every, all; common, ordinary
- 用yòngto use, to employ, to apply; use
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 法fǎlaw, rule, statute; method, way; French
- 全quánwhole, entire, complete; to preserve
- 國guócountry, nation, state; national
- 爲wèido, handle, govern, act; be
- 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to at
- 破pòto break, to rout; to ruin, to destroy
- 次cìorder, sequence; second, next; one after
- 軍jūnarmy, military; soldiers, troops
- 旅lǚjourney, trip; to travel
- 卒zúsoldier; servant; at last, finally
- 伍wǔfive, company of five; troops
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Robber Chê
- Zhuangzi Man Among Men
- Art of War 2.1
- Art of War 7.1
- Art of War 8.1
- Zhuangzi The Empire
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.