and appearances,
[Literally, "to deceive their eyes and ears."]
and thus keep them in total ignorance.
[Ts’ao Kung gives us one of his excellent apophthegms: "The troops must
not be allowed to share your schemes in the beginning; they may only
rejoice with you over their happy outcome." "To mystify, mislead, and
surprise the enemy," is one of the first principles in war, as had been
frequently pointed out. But how about the other process—the
mystification of one’s own men? Those who may think that Sun Tzŭ is
over-emphatic on this point would do well to read Col. Henderson’s
remarks on Stonewall Jackson’s Valley campaign: "The infinite pains,"
he says, "with which Jackson sought to conceal, even from his most
trusted staff officers, his movements, his intentions, and his
thoughts, a commander less thorough would have pronounced useless"—etc.
etc. [3] In the year 88 A.D., as we read in ch. 47 of the _Hou Han
Shu_, "Pan Ch’ao took the field with 25,000 men from Khotan and other
Central Asian states with the object of crushing Yarkand. The King of
Kutcha replied by dispatching his chief commander to succour the place
with an army drawn from the kingdoms of Wen-su, Ku-mo, and Wei-t’ou,
totaling 50,000 men. Pan Ch’ao summoned his officers and also the King
of Khotan to a council of war, and said: ‘Our forces are now
outnumbered and unable to make head against the enemy. The best plan,
then, is for us to separate and disperse, each in a different
direction. The King of Khotan will march away by the easterly route,
and I will then return myself towards the west. Let us wait until the
evening drum has sounded and then start.’ Pan Ch’ao now secretly
released the prisoners whom he had taken alive, and the King of Kutcha
was thus informed of his plans. Much elated by the news, the latter set
off at once at the head of 10,000 horsemen to bar Pan Ch’ao’s retreat
in the west, while the King of Wen-su rode eastward with 8000 horse in
order to intercept the King of Khotan. As soon as Pan Ch’ao knew that
the two chieftains had gone, he called his divisions together, got them
well in hand, and at cock-crow hurled them against the army of Yarkand,
as it lay encamped. The barbarians, panic-stricken, fled in confusion,
and were closely pursued by Pan Ch’ao. Over 5000 heads were brought
back as trophies, besides immense spoils in the shape of horses and
cattle and valuables of every description. Yarkand then capitulating,
Kutcha and the other kingdoms drew off their respective forces. From
that time forward, Pan Ch’ao’s prestige completely overawed the
countries of the west." In this case, we see that the Chinese general
not only kept his own officers in ignorance of his real plans, but
actually took the bold step of dividing his army in order to deceive
the enemy.]