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1. 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.

[The equivalent to an army corps, according to Ssu-ma Fa,

consisted nominally of 12500 men; according to Ts'ao Kung, the

equivalent of a regiment contained 500 men, the equivalent to a

detachment consists from any number between 100 and 500, and the

equivalent of a company contains from 5 to 100 men. For the last

two, however, Chang Yu gives the exact figures of 100 and 5

respectively.]

2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme

excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's

resistance without fighting.