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Gongs and Drums

Disciplines > Warfare > The Six Secret Teachings > 4.8 Gongs and Drums

Teaching set  | Observed lessons | Discussion | See also

Teaching set

Tiger Secret Teachings 4.8 (38)

Observed lessons

• Ensure constant alertness. Check that guards challenge everyone. Get scouts to stay in touch with one another. Tell ordinary soldiers to keep each alert.
• Do not chase a retreating force with your whole army. Have others ready to cope with ambushes.

Discussion

Make sure you have a good enough communication system to rouse the army at a moment's notice.

Be visible in your guarding (unless you are plotting a ruse). When the enemy sees you are not alert, they will be far more likely to attack. When they see you alert, they will be more likely to retreat.

Being led into an ambush should never happen. Yet chasing those who run away is a natural reaction and undisciplined soldiers may easily do this. You can outwit ambushers by encircling them with a wider net, getting higher than them or having a punch force ready to break their traps.

See also

Ambush

Sawyer, R.D. (1993). The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, Basic Books