"Although the country is big, belligerence is bound to die"-Sima Fa
No matter how powerful a country is, as long as it is belligerent, it will surely perish.
In China's traditional military science, it is forbidden to use military force to wage war. Almost all the ancient military scientific works in China emphasized that military power should not be used easily, but should be replaced by strategy. The use of the army will undoubtedly be a disaster for the people. Taxes will increase, children will despair, industry will serve the war, and a lot of wealth and materials will be consumed in the war. Whether there is a chance of winning in the end depends on the weather, location, people and other reasons. Killing people is immoral. People only have one life, so we should cherish it. The enemy and their children are human beings, with parents and brothers, laughing and crying. Therefore, any war is a disaster and an immoral act. Starting a war requires careful consideration. Only in the case of life and death can the army be used to wage war. Almost all China's traditional military works are anti-war, emphasizing that war can only be launched as a last resort. At the same time, China's traditional military science puts strategy and diplomatic means at the highest level, and lists bloodless strategy as the main theme of Sun Tzu's art of war, rather than the means and technology of war. Therefore, in China's traditional military works, there are few articles on purely military technical means. To be exact, such books should be called military science, not the art of war. At this point, it is quite different from the military works of western countries. In the article "On the Westernization and Traditional Culture of China", I said: "Education" has become one of the characteristics of Chinese civilization and penetrated into all levels of culture. Western civilization emphasizes practicality, and practicality must soon see benefits. "From the time when traditional children in China read China classical books such as Saint Amethyst, we can see that traditional education in China focuses on moral education, which is the main course and main content that is always implemented. Traditional western education is embodied in practicality, and technical courses have become the mainstream. So this also applies to military engineering. From a purely military point of view, China's military works pay more attention to strategy, or tactics, and technology is its auxiliary, not the mainstream. Western countries have raised their technology to a very high level, which is different before and after. Generally speaking, China tradition pays more attention to humanity and morality, which is incomparable to western countries.
"The Art of War" said: "Whoever uses soldiers, the whole country is the best." If we want to put the whole country first, we can't use drastic military action, which contains profound humanity and morality. Then Sun Tzu said, "Breaking the country is second." As can be seen from the sequence, in China's traditional military science, it is advocated not to kill or destroy as much as possible. Sun Tzu went on to say, "So, it is invincible, and what is bad is also good." The "goodness" here can be understood as "being good at" and "being good at", but it can also be understood as the humanized standard of "kindness". Winning battles, killing countless people, planting crops and other serious damage are not good deeds or good soldiers, which contains technical and moral requirements for people. Both the Israeli army in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the American army in Iraq almost invariably scorched the earth in large-scale attacks and even bulldozed houses. In the "Fallujah" campaign, the US military almost razed the whole city to the ground. What about winning every battle? It is immoral to be unkind. According to China's traditional military science, an immoral war is a "rough" war, which is hard to win. According to the words of Hundred Battles, it is: "You can't conquer sharply with a big country and a large population, you can't stop fighting, and you will eventually die and regret it." However, if soldiers are still on fire, there will be self-immolation; It never rains but it pours. "War, that is, fire, will be in danger of self-immolation. Indiscriminate fighting and constant losses are undoubtedly a disaster. For example, Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory not only ignited wars in other countries' territories, but also brought wars to its own country. The explosion is endless, and people are in panic. Considering its long-term national power loss, it is an incalculable astronomical figure. If it is used for people's livelihood, then Israel can undoubtedly be regarded as one of the richest countries in the world. I estimate that the property spent in the war for half a century is enough even to buy the whole of Palestine.
"The Art of War" said: "It is good to defeat the enemy without fighting." If we want to make the troops or soldiers of other countries or people surrender without using war means, it must contain great moral appeal, at least it must be a just war and a just teacher. Facing the teacher of benevolence and righteousness, there are many war cases in the history of the world facing the cold war. Of course, there are strategies to make people yield, but one thing, at least you have to convince others to defect and reason, which contains moral power. Naturally, it is not excluded that some generals who are afraid of death turn to the evil side, which is caused by the general's immorality and has nothing to do with benevolence and righteousness. "Defeating the enemy without fighting", whether using strategy or moral inspiration, contains profound "courtesy" and "kindness" and cherishes human life and material. Coherence comes from these two sentences in Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "So, invincible, the poor are also;" Defeat the enemy's soldiers without fighting, and the good ones are also. " Sun Tzu's Art of War has actually told us that all the military techniques, strategies and tactics mentioned in this article are not "good", and the best way is to defeat the enemy without fighting. This statement automatically promoted "no war" to the theme of this art book.
Although Sun Tzu's Art of War is a book about the art of war, it embodies the love for human life and cherishes the achievements of human construction. As I mentioned in many articles, the traditional education in China has been carrying out the "moral" requirements for people, and moral education has been carried out since childhood. This morality, in the present words, is "love".