(Tang court ladies from the tomb of Princess Yongtai in the Qianling
Mausoleum, near Xi'an in Shaanxi, China. Date 706 AD, with a terracotta
warrior, all [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
The Art of War
is a world famous book that has been studied and interpreted for centuries—yet,
despite this, its author, Sun Tzu (or Master Sun), remains quite a vague figure
in history. One of the few ancient Chinese sources that attempted to give
historical information about Sun Tzu was The
Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, who lived around 145-85 BCE.
In his history, Sima Qian recorded a really strange tale about Sun Tzu training
a troop of concubines for warfare, but most historians do not believe that this
story actually occurred. Nevertheless, the tale is interesting and entertaining
and deserves to be told.
Sima Qian wrote that Sun Tzu
gained an audience with his admirer, King Ho-Lu (r. 514-496 BCE), who ruled the
Kingdom of Wu. The king had studied Sun Tzu’s work and was impressed by the
strategist’s ideas and methods. Yet, before he put his faith in this man’s
military philosophy, the king wanted proof that Sun Tzu could apply his ideas practically.
King Ho-Lu then called for a demonstration of Master Sun’s skills—he demanded
that Sun Tzu train some fresh recruits into hardened soldiers. For added
difficulty, the king decided that these soldiers would be nearly two hundred of
his own concubines.
Sun Tzu agreed to train the
women without question. He divided the concubines into two companies and
promoted two concubines to command their respective companies. When his
recruits were ordered and outfitted with weaponry, Sun Tzu called the women out
for training and gave them instructions for some basic military drills. The
first drill merely consisted of commanding the women to look in certain
directions on command. He wanted the women to look forward if he commanded,
“eyes front,” and to obey similar commands to direct their attention left,
right, and back. When the concubines claimed to understand the drill, Sun Tzu
called them to attention.
Despite having just claimed
that they were prepared to run through the drill, the women soon began to lose
interest. Once Master Sun began the actual drill for the first time, the
concubines burst into a fit of giggles. Sun Tzu took sole responsibility for
this breach of discipline—he proclaimed that he must not have explained the
drill adequately to the women, resulting in his orders not being followed
correctly.
For a second time, Sun Tzu
instructed the women on how to complete the drill. Look forward, left, right
and back on command. Again, the women asserted they were ready to complete the
exercise. Nevertheless, as soon as the concubines began the drill, giggles and
laughter overtook them, once more.
With this second failure, Sun
Tzu had enough. He called in an executioner and condemned to death the two concubine
‘officers’ whom he had appointed to command the two companies of women. These
two women, however, were the king’s favorite concubines, and Sun Tzu soon
received a message that the women should be given a lesser sentence. In
response, Sun Tzu simply stated that, as the king’s appointed general, he had
the power and obligation to ensure that the kingdom’s military ran smoothly.
Despite the king’s courtiers trying
to dissuade Sun Tzu from his decision, the two concubines were executed.
Understandably, after the two officers had been put to death, the rest of the
concubines completed any drill Sun Tzu commanded of them in utter, disciplined
silence. According to Sima Qian, this was an adequate representation of Sun
Tzu’s abilities, and King Ho-Lu invited Master Sun into the inner circle of the
Kingdom of Wu.
Written by C. Keith Hansley.
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu, translated by John Minford. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.
- http://www.history.com/topics/sun-tzu
- http://www.ancient.eu/Sun-Tzu/
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