Battle by Good Faith

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaNov 2020

3.7

Word count: 387 words
Chapters: 3

Summary

This piece, titled "Trust in War," takes its theme from the idea of trustworthiness and righteousness; its central point is the importance of generals governing troops by trust. It holds that in battle, soldiers are able to risk death and fight bravely because in ordinary times their generals lead them with trust.

Editor's review

"Trust in War" is a short thematic essay on ancient military thought, centered on trustworthiness and righteousness, discussing the fundamental role of generals' governing troops with integrity in soldiers' morale and fighting capacity. The book is concise and focused, avoiding broad exposition; instead it proceeds from the causal chain between generals leading troops with trust in peacetime and soldiers risking death in war, revealing a soft foundation in the art of command that is easily overlooked. For today's readers, it is both a small entry point for understanding traditional military learning and a point of comparison with practical issues such as organizational management and team trust. The Bashu Press edition is accessible for general readers and suitable as extended reading in ancient military literature. It should be read within the overall context of ancient military books, noting that trust here is both a moral requirement and a means of command, not an abstract ethical slogan. For teaching or reading groups, specific battle cases can be used to discuss how trust is accumulated in peacetime and honored at critical moments, thereby appreciating the ancients' concise yet comprehensive style of argument.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in ancient military thought and the art of command
Readers of history and literature who need to understand the concept of trustworthiness in traditional military learning
Managers reading in comparison with issues of team management and organizational trust
Student readers hoping to build up military knowledge through short classical Chinese texts

Not a good fit for

Military readers expecting systematic compilations of battle cases or detailed tactical operations
Casual readers who prefer long narratives and character stories

Reading tips

First read the whole text to grasp the argumentative logic linking trust and soldiers' bravery, then take notes.
Read alongside relevant passages from common military books such as The Art of War to compare emphases.
After reading, try to confirm or question the text's views with a real-life example of team management.
Readers who struggle with classical Chinese can first use the annotations to clarify words and phrases, then return to grasp the main point as a whole.

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 exactly does "trust" mean in "Trust in War"?

In the text, trust mainly refers to the integrity and trustworthiness of generals in governing troops—keeping one's word to soldiers and basing rewards and punishments on clear grounds in peacetime, thereby winning their confidence. It is both a moral requirement and a means of command, aimed at making soldiers willing to risk death in battle. Understanding this is essential to grasping the whole text's argument about war in terms of trust.

Is this text suitable for reading directly as a military strategy manual?

It is closer to a thematic short essay, focusing on principles of command rather than specific tactics. Read as an operational strategy manual, it may seem rather brief. A more appropriate approach is to treat it as a fragment on trust within ancient military learning and read it alongside other military books to understand the overall picture of traditional thought on command.

Can readers without a foundation in classical Chinese get through it?

The text is short and its main point focused; with annotations clarifying key content words, the general meaning can be grasped. It is advisable to first look at the annotations to understand the words, then read through once to sort out the argument, without getting stuck on every character. Pairing it with a modern Chinese translation will noticeably lower the difficulty for beginners.

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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.