Rodric O'Connor
The United Federation New Eden
Dark Taboo
3
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Posted - 2014.01.23 19:34:00 -
[1] - Quote
see chapter 1
II. WAGING WAR
Sun Tzu said: In the operations of war, where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots (frights & destroyers& cruisers ), as many heavy chariots (BS up to Caps), and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers,
with provisions enough to carry them a thousand LI,
(modern LI go to a mile. The length may have varied slightly since Sun Tzu's time.)
the expenditure at home and at the front, including entertainment of guests(not so much in EVE lol) , small items such as glue and paint (Jump Clones), and sums spent on chariots and armor (repair of ships), will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day (ISK). Such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
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 (fits may be out dated or unneeded and the players might get bored) . If you lay siege to a town (station), you will exhaust your strength.
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.
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 (other corps CEO's and Alliance heads. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.
[That is, with rapidity. Only one who knows the disastrous effects of a long war can realize the supreme importance of rapidity in bringing it to a close. Only two commentators seem to favor this interpretation, but it fits well into the logic of the context, whereas the rendering, "He who does not know the evils of war cannot appreciate its benefits," is distinctly pointless.]
The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy(corp Tax), neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice (ammo for 3 to 5 fights).
[Once war is declared, he will not waste precious time in waiting for reinforcements, nor will he return his army back for fresh supplies, but crosses the enemy's frontier without delay. This may seem an audacious policy to recommend, but with all great strategists, from Julius Caesar to Napoleon Bonaparte, the value of time -- that is, being a little ahead of your opponent -- has counted for more than either numerical superiority or the nicest calculations with regard to commissariat.]
Bring war material with you from home, but forage on the enemy (Salvage). Thus the army will have food enough for its needs.
Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished (this is for members that are industry pilots) .
[The beginning of this sentence does not balance properly with the next, though obviously intended to do so. The arrangement, moreover, is so awkward that I cannot help suspecting some corruption in the text. It never seems to occur to Chinese commentators that an emendation may be necessary for the sense, and we get no help from them
On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away.
When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.
With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated (again industry pilots);
while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.
Hence a wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy ( killing Hauling ship if you hee them ). One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single PICUL of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.
[Because twenty cartloads will be consumed in the process of transporting one cartload to the front. A PICUL is a unit of measure equal to 133.3 pounds (65.5 kilograms).]
Now in order to kill the enemy, our men must be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.
["Rewards are necessary in order to make the soldiers see the advantage of beating the enemy; thus, when you capture spoils from the enemy, they must be used as rewards, so that all your men may have a keen desire to fight, each on his own account."]
Therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots have been taken (ship destroyed), those should be rewarded who took the first. Our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy if you can take a ship that's good), and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours. The captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.
This is called, using the conquered foe to augment one's own strength.
In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Thus it may be known that the leader of armies is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril. |