Host Warfare

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaNov 2020

3.4

Word count: 426 words
Chapters: 3

Summary

"Main Combat" is a military treatise recorded in the ancient Chinese military classic *Baizhan Qilüe* (*A Hundred Stratagems*), expounding the issues the "host army" should grasp when conducting defensive operations on its own territory.

Editor's review

This book focuses on the "Main Combat" chapter of *Baizhan Qilüe*, expounding the issues the "host army" should grasp when conducting defensive operations on home territory. Unlike ordinary offensive stratagems, this chapter discusses the defensive principle of relying on one's own territory and meeting the guest with the host, covering such aspects as battlefield selection, force deployment, morale maintenance, and timing. Grounded in the original ancient text, the book presents the dialectical relationship between the paired concepts of "host" and "guest" in traditional military thought, helping readers understand that defense is not passive endurance but requires actively cultivating favorable terrain and popular support. For readers studying ancient military science and concerned with defensive strategic thought, this book serves as a short thematic text; read alongside other chapters of *Baizhan Qilüe*, it better reveals the systematic connections between offense and defense. When reading, one should distinguish between the ancient warfare context and modern applications and avoid simple transposition. Concise in length, the book is suited to close thematic reading and discussion in military studies rather than to serving as a panoramic history of war.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying *Baizhan Qilüe* and ancient military texts
Military enthusiasts interested in defensive strategy and the offense-defense pair
Book club members needing a short ancient military text for thematic discussion
Scholars of literature and history concerned with the "host-guest" concept in traditional military thought

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a complete war narrative or detailed case studies of battles
General readers seeking modern business competition techniques
Beginners lacking the patience to read classical Chinese military texts

Reading tips

First read the offensive chapters of *Baizhan Qilüe*, then read "Main Combat" to compare offense and defense.
While reading, mark the specific points the "host army" should heed in homeland defense and summarize them one by one.
Understand the original text with the help of common knowledge of ancient battles, but avoid applying ancient principles directly to modern scenarios.
Form a group discussion with other chapters of the same book and exchange views on the "host-guest" dynamic.

About the publisher

Bashu Publishing House China · Founded in 1983

Bashu Publishing House is a publisher centered on collating and publishing classical Chinese cultural texts, with its main publishing areas covering classical literature, Eastern philosophy, ancient poetry, and educational classics. Its library currently holds 1,075 titles, including representative works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, the Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Renjian Cihua, and Out to the Frontier, involving authors such as Cao Xueqin, Wang Xizhi, Wang Guowei, Wang Changling, Liu Xie, and Yan Yu. These reflect the publisher's focus on literary classics, poetry criticism, and philosophical readings. Its publishing character lies in working around ancient texts and canonical works, with attention to textual collation and presentation. Public information on its more detailed publishing background and series plans is limited; this introduction is based only on the library's book information.

版权信息
正文一
正文二

FAQ

What is the core argument of the "Main Combat" chapter?

"Main Combat" comes from *Baizhan Qilüe* and mainly expounds the issues the "host army" should grasp when conducting defensive operations on its own territory, emphasizing reliance on local conditions to meet the guest with the host and properly handling terrain, forces, morale, and timing; it is a specialized chapter on defensive operations in ancient military science.

Can I understand this book without a foundation in military strategy?

You can read it, but patience is required. The book is built around the original classical Chinese text, and its terminology and sentence meaning pose a certain threshold. It is advisable first to understand the basic structure of *Baizhan Qilüe* or to read it alongside an annotated edition; if you have no foundation at all, start with accessible popular works on military strategy and then return to this book.

Can the defensive thought in the book be applied to modern competition?

Principles of ancient military science have their specific warfare context and should not be applied directly to modern business or everyday competition. Readers may extract frameworks such as "meeting the guest with the host" and "cultivating favorable terrain" for analogical thinking, but should note the differences in conditions, avoid mechanical copying, and certainly not treat it as a practical guide.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.