[Daehanjeiguk]

Following the instructions on waging battle, the Emperor retired for many days. He pondered over the conduct becoming of the victor, and decided to consult the Marshal for some advice.

(馬 - Ma)
(皇 - Emperor)

皇: In your previous discussions, we have come to agree that a strict system of law is required to achieve excellence. But it is also true that we must be generous and merciful to our enemies. In such a case, how can the law be held and mercy still as the victor in war?

馬: The victor will set out the law – it is in this very moment after victory has been achieved that the excellent victor will accomplish true victory. In establishing the law, he will persecute his enemies thoroughly, but reward his supporters well. The enemy has the choice after the conflict to choose the system. In this manner, the excellent leader demonstrates to his enemies his excellence in character. If in battle he is ruthless but in peace rewarding, how can his enemies turn to battle against him? They know that war with him is not profitable, and yet peace with him is everything in the world. How can they refuse?

皇: In this way, the victory retains victory, but shares the spoils with his enemies?

馬: The enemy, once conquered, is no longer an enemy, but a subject of your Imperial Grace. To subject your own citizens to distasteful reprieve would sow the seeds of discontent in them, and therefore work against His Imperial Majesty’s interests. Therefore, in order to recognize that we are sharing our spoils with our enemies, we must consider them as our kin. Otherwise, if the worlds continued to perceive in nations, there would be no peace.

Consider the Campaign of 1388. The Emperor Taejo, once conquering Manju and Daedu {Beijing – then Dadu}, did he purge the population? Did he make their grounds fallow and rape them of their posterity? He instead made the population his own, and ruled over them as his subjects, not his victims. Throughout the conquests, he made the laws clear – to be an enemy was the way to death, whereas to be a loyal subject was the way to prosperity. His later campaigns were even more successful, because his enemies realized the law and willingly chose to be subjects than enemies, for they all benefited if they subdued for peace than if they prepared for war. In this way, the Emperor founded his empire on rewards than punishments. To make them loyal requires strength, but to keep them loyal requires justice, and the way of the law makes this clear who is strong and who is just.

皇: Do we possess either?

馬: That is an assessment that you must make of your own accord. Judge the comments in world discourse, and survey your citizens of their opinions. In this manner, you can discover if you possess the ways of the law.

皇: I see that we keep referring to our five criteria of prior discussions. I see that there is much importance in their relevance to warfare. But is there nothing else to consider when spreading the spoils of war?

馬: There is nothing else to consider; the only thing to consider is how best to apply it. As I have stated, the criteria are general requirements that lack any true form or conception. They are general requirements, making them useful guidelines – but in war, the general guidelines are hard to employ by those who perceive the literal sense. Warfare is truly an art, because the artist in war does not survey the same field and commits the same actions in every engagement. He makes the way of war differently, and he arrives at victory in different manners. But principles stand still on these five criteria. Nations and states will come from far and wide, but if they do not abide these five criteria, they will not last.

The excellent state is able to employ the five criteria in any circumstance. They are able to force the enemy to fight on terms from which they can assure victory. They are able to establish the law and attain virtuosity in character and condition. They know the ways of war, and the ways to make and break the state. The roads are all clear them and the way to excellence is always apparent before them. Of course, the excellent leader is not born but developed. He does not strike fear into his enemies on first sight, but rather the second or third sightings. Indeed, the true leader makes his enemies fear him because of what he has done, not what he can do.

皇: In this way, the excellent leader demonstrates excellence through experience. It is then true when the old sages have said “example makes the best instructor.” (例子做好指示). But if our example is weak, how can one maintain victory against the stronger opponent?

馬: We make ourselves the stronger. If the enemy is stronger by virtue of one aspect, we must improve ourselves, to make our excellence peerless in all lands. If we command the respect of all, even the Heavens will have no way with us that cannot be changed by our hands. Victory is not the end, but the sum of our excellence against theirs. As long as the equation favors us, we shall always see victory in the field.

SUMMARY
- Plato sums up the attitude of war best: “Only the dead have seen the end of war”; with that in mind, always keep the next war in consideration when making your list of demands, because they may one day become your own.
- If people fear you, people are less likely to brush up conflict with you; if people fear and respect you, they’d be crazy to go to war; Caligula was wrong to say what he said about his own citizens and his enemies.
- Placate the subdued peoples of your conquests, to win their hearts; if they don’t give you their hearts, pry it from them.
- Example makes the best instructor.
- Just as War and Peace complement one another, Victory and Defeat are two sides to an equation; keep the balance in your favor, and you’ll see more of it.
- The only true final victory/defeat is death, and Heaven knows what that is.