Lionel Giles Sun Tzu on the Art of War

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Wu. Ho Lu said to him: I have carefully perused your 13 chapters. May I submit your theory of managing soldiers to a slight test? Sun ti replied: You may. Ho Lu asked: May the test be applied to women? The answer was again in the affirmative, so arrangements were made to bring 180 ladies out of the Palace. Sun Tzu divided them into two companies, and placed one of the King's favourite concubines at the head of each. He then bade them all take spears in their hands, and addressed them thus: I presume you know the difference between front and back, right hand and left hand? The girls replied: Yes. Sun ti went on: When I say Eyes front, you must look straight ahead. When I say Left turn, you must face towards your left hand. When I say Right turn, you must face towards your right hand. When I say About turn, you must face right round towards the back.