Training and Drill

If an army is untrained, a hundred soldiers are not worth one enemy soldier; if trained and then committed to battle, one soldier can withstand a hundred enemies. Therefore Confucius said: “To send people to fight without teaching them is to abandon them.” He also said: “A virtuous person who teaches the people for seven years can then lead them into war.” That being so, before entering war they cannot go without training. Teach them with ritual and righteousness, instruct them with loyalty and trustworthiness, warn them with statutes and punishments, and establish authority through rewards and penalties, so that people know to encourage themselves upward. Only then conduct drills: forming ranks and dispersing, sitting and standing, advancing and halting, moving forward and withdrawing, separating and closing up, scattering and gathering. One person can teach ten, ten can teach a hundred, a hundred can teach a thousand, a thousand can teach ten thousand, and then the whole army can be trained. Only after training is complete can the enemy be overcome. Modern......