Obey!!

This is coolbert:

Thanks here to Al Nofi, CIC, [CIC # 136] through StrategyPage.

"The ancient Chinese general Wu Ch'i once beheaded a man who had ventured into the enemy camp to kill two of their men, because 'He acted without orders.'"

"He acted without orders." Exactly. He was acting as a warrior - - NOT as a soldier. NOT fighting as part of a team, according to a plan, and comporting himself with regard to discipline and accepting same!! The general wanted soldiers - - NOT warriors!!

Here is the entire item as found in the annotations of Lionel Giles to the English translation [1910] of "The Art of War" [get the free download if you so desire] by Sun Tzu. [this from the reprint of the translation as commissioned by the distinguished novelist, James Clavell!]

"I have taken a few liberties with this translation [Giles] . . . and have inserted some of Giles's notes, according to the Chinese method, immediately after the passages to which they refer." - - James Clavell.

"Tu Mu tells a story in this connection of Wu Ch'i, when he was fighting against the Ch'in state, approximately 200 B.,C. Before the battle had begun, one of his soldiers, a man of matchless daring, sallied forth by himself, captured two heads from the enemy, and returned to camp. Wu Ch'i had the man instantly executed, whereupon an officer ventured to remonstrate, saying: 'This man was a good soldier, and ought not to have been beheaded.' Wu Ch'i replied: 'I fully believe he was a good soldier, but I had him beheaded because he acted without orders.'"

The context from Sun Tzu is:

"The host thus forming a single united body, it is impossible either for the brave to advance, alone or for the cowardly to retreat alone."

A SINGLE UNITED BODY, NOT A WARRIOR ACTING ON IMPULSE ALONE!! THIS IS WHAT IS DESIRED!!

coolbert.