into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and
they will stand by you even unto death.
[Cf. I. § 6. In this connection, Tu Mu draws for us an engaging picture
of the famous general Wu Ch’i, from whose treatise on war I have
frequently had occasion to quote: "He wore the same clothes and ate the
same food as the meanest of his soldiers, refused to have either a
horse to ride or a mat to sleep on, carried his own surplus rations
wrapped in a parcel, and shared every hardship with his men. One of his
soldiers was suffering from an abscess, and Wu Ch’i himself sucked out
the virus. The soldier’s mother, hearing this, began wailing and
lamenting. Somebody asked her, saying: ‘Why do you cry? Your son is
only a common soldier, and yet the commander-in-chief himself has
sucked the poison from his sore.’ The woman replied, ‘Many years ago,
Lord Wu performed a similar service for my husband, who never left him
afterwards, and finally met his death at the hands of the enemy. And
now that he has done the same for my son, he too will fall fighting I
know not where.’" Li Ch’uan mentions the Viscount of Ch’u, who invaded
the small state of Hsiao during the winter. The Duke of Shen said to
him: "Many of the soldiers are suffering severely from the cold." So he
made a round of the whole army, comforting and encouraging the men; and
straightway they felt as if they were clothed in garments lined with
floss silk.]