I. 孫 子 兵 法 - The Art of War [Laying Plans vol 1.][PUBLIC]

[dragon_of_wei]

In dedication to an acquaintance of mine, I am willing to share a few notes I have written focusing on the Art of War. My fellow poetry lovers, please forgive me for this posting tonight for there shall be no poetry here.

Please enjoy.

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The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
It is a matter of life and death

Comments

[smokydemon]

Accurate, if somewhat elementary. Aiming to provide a basic introduction to the old master's work?

[dragon_of_wei]

Indeed, I needed to start my friend off with the basics of war before going into the more advanced methods spoken about in later works by the Master.
There is so much to talk about and this not including the Thirty-Six Strategies...

[smokydemon]

Well, one could spend a lifetime in discussion of those. Plenty have.

Who's this friend of yours that needs the basics spelt out for him?

[Filtered: Hijikata Zou]

[dragon_of_wei]

Her name is 'Susan' and she seems quite fond of such literary works!

Unlike you and I, she is not a fan of poetry...

[stoneface_vimes]

This looks rather familiar...

The Art of War, right? Is this a new translation, or just notes on Tacticus's version?

[have a tl;dr ooc comment: Uh, I overthink the canon conflict on the authorship of the damn thing. Can we say there's a translation already, which is the Discworld version and the one Vimes knows, as well as the Sun Tzu one which Cao Cao's working from? Because...I care too much about this sort of thing and Vimes and Susan brought up the Art of War being by Tacticus, and in English, some time ago.]

[dragon_of_wei]

Ah! Commander Vimes, long time no talk too...

Indeed, these are notes of the original Art of War, the one created by Master Sun Tzu that he written years ago in Solare. I know of the Tacticus version vaguely but I still originate my ideas and beliefs from the original text.

I was taught to read the ancient character text as a youngster, therefore, I still follow this version of the Art of War.

[stoneface_vimes]

You might do well to read that too, since you can read both. From what I've heard Tacticus added a lot of his own thoughts, and he was no slouch as a strategist himself. I wouldn't know for sure, though, I haven't had the benefit of your education, so I can't compare it to the original.

[dragon_of_wei]

I shall make sure to read the Tacticus version sometime soon.
My thirst of knowledge is never satisfied and this would not be the first time that such works has been mentioned to I.

[karmauberalles]

Hmph. I already have the whole thing memorized.

[dragon_of_wei]

Really, sir? ...Impressive.

As I said before, this is for a acquaintance of mine who shows interest in this sort of topic. If you have any notes of your own that you wish to add, sir, feel free to do so.

Are you familiar with the Thirty-Six Strategies ?

[karmauberalles]

Of course. I just said that I've got the whole thing memorized.

[dragon_of_wei]

I never thought you would be a fan of militaristic proverbs...

[Voice]

[theschmotone]

Hmmm. Goot points, all of dem. However, de fellow who wrote dis vas probably talking mostly about human armies. Vith demihumans, de qvalities of a commander may need to be different, depending on vhat he iz commanding.

[Voice]

[dragon_of_wei]

De-humans, you say?

Well, I do suspect such logic would be vastly different when dealing with other kinds of men...

However, why is that? Why would it be so different...?

[Voice]

[theschmotone]

Demihumans. Dose of us dot iz, through vun vay or anodder, not qvite human, or beyond normal humans in strength or vhatnot. Zome might zay "better" den normal humans.

For example, vith de Jagerkin, my people, strength iz everyting. To be a goot commander, hyu not only have to be fearless und physically strong, but ruthless. Iz not about honor. Iz about making hyu soldiers trust hyu, but also fearing vhat hyu vould do to dem more den vhat de enemy vould do. Ve doesn't deal much vith honor. It gets in de vay. Ve vas created to be killing machines, und dot's vhat ve does best.

Vhich is not to zay dot loyalty und respect haz no part in tings. Honor just doesn't have much place on de battlefield for us. Ve iz qvick und efficient, und leave de philosophy to odders.

Re: [Voice]

[dragon_of_wei]

How fascinating...

Such tactics presented here today would not work against foes who would be of that particular kind. I do believe when the Art of War was written in mind of human adversaries and not demihuman but I do believe some of these tactics would work well against Jagerkins...

That is, if one was to focus more on the third and second conditions more so than the others.

Heaven and Earth always plays a role in combat of any kind.