Mencius 6B.8

The prince of Lu wanted to make the minister Shen commander of his army. Mencius said, 'To employ an uninstructed people in war may be said to be destroying the people. A destroyer of the people would not have been tolerated in the times of Yao and Shun. Though by a single battle you should subdue Qi, and get possession of Nan Yang, the thing ought not to be done.'

Shen changed countenance, and said in displeasure, 'This is what I, Gu Li, do not understand.'

Mencius said, 'I will lay the case plainly before you. The territory appropriated to the sovereign is 1,000 li square. Without a thousand li, he would not have sufficient for his entertainment of the princes. The territory appropriated to a Hou is 100 li square. Without 100 li, he would not have sufficient wherewith to observe the statutes kept in his ancestral temple. When Zhou Gong was invested with the principality of Lu, it was a hundred li square. The territory was indeed enough, but it was not more than 100 li. When Tai Gong was invested with the principality of Qi, it was 100 li square. The territory was indeed enough, but it was not more than 100 li. Now Lu is five times 100 li square. If a true royal ruler were to arise, whether do you think that Lu would be diminished or increased by him? If it were merely taking the place from the one State to give it to the other, a benevolent man would not do it; how much less will he do so, when the end is to be sought by the slaughter of men! The way in which a superior man serves his prince contemplates simply the leading him in the right path, and directing his mind to benevolence.'