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Equivalent Forces

Disciplines > Warfare > The Six Secret Teachings > 6.5 Equivalent Forces

Teaching set  | Observed lessons | Discussion | See also

Teaching set

Leopard Secret Teachings 6.5 (55)

Observed lessons

• Seek to understand equivalent forces, such as how many infantry are equivalent to how many cavalry and so on.
• Horses, machines, weapons give you elements such as speed, killing power and stealth.
• Terrain modifies equivalence.

Discussion

Finding military equivalences helps you work out how many troops, weapons etc. you need to fight successful against your enemy. In the time when this was written, one chariot was equivalent to 40 infantrymen or six cavalrymen.

In practice, this is difficult as factors such a individual motivation and skill, plus relative positions in the terrain, can make a very significant difference. In effect, this means calculating equivalences is for rough calculation only, and this should be further modified by additional information that you know.

See also

Six Kinds of Terrain

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