Easy Battle

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

3.0

Word count: 198 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

Yizhan (The Battle of Ease) is a military treatise recorded in the ancient Chinese art-of-war book Baizhan Qilüe (A Hundred Battles and Their Strategies). It addresses the selection of offensive targets, setting forth the important combat principle of "starting with the easy"—that is, striking the weak first. It holds that when an enemy is encamped in several places, with differences in strength and numbers, one should follow the guiding principle of avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, choosing the weak and the few to strike first, and victory is certain. Practical experience in war shows that the choice of offensive target, especially the first target of attack, directly bears on the success or failure of an operation. Only by choosing the enemy's weak point as the first target is it possible to achieve the operational goal of breaking through at one point and affecting the rest. Strong and weak are a unity of opposites; every defensive deployment is formed by an organic combination of strong points and weak points. Striking the weak points first is not only more likely to succeed, but once the weak points are taken, the strong points, deprived of the support of the weak, are bound to turn into weak points, isolated and alone. Therefore, the combat principle of avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, of choosing the weak to strike first, has always been valued by military strategists.

Editor's review

Yizhan (The Battle of Ease) comes from the ancient art-of-war book Baizhan Qilüe and is devoted to the choice of offensive targets, its core being "starting with the easy"—striking the weak and the few first. The text divides the enemy situation into strong and weak, many and few, advocates avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, and further points out that strong and weak are a unity of opposites: once the weak points are taken, the strong points lose their support and turn into isolated, weakened ones. Simple as it seems, this principle brings out the key point that the choice of the first target of attack directly bears on the success or failure of an operation. The text is short, with its argument advancing layer by layer, offering both distilled principles and dialectical analysis—well suited to reading as a short model of ancient military thought. Readers can sense from it the practical, transformation-oriented cast of traditional military learning, and can also use it as an entry point to the whole of Baizhan Qilüe. Compact in length, it rewards repeated close reading and reflection alongside actual battle cases.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in ancient Chinese art-of-war texts and military thought
Newcomers who want to encounter Baizhan Qilüe through a short original text
Workplace readers seeking strategic thinking on avoiding the strong and attacking the weak and on target selection
General readers who enjoy terse classical prose and are willing to read closely, sentence by sentence

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a full narrative history of war or a detailed compilation of battle cases
Readers who want only the kind of interpretation found in modern management bestsellers
Those uncomfortable with ancient military terminology and classical Chinese expression

Reading tips

Read the whole text first, mark key sentences such as "starting with the easy" and "avoiding the strong and attacking the weak," then sort out the layers of argument.
While reading, ask yourself how strong and weak, many and few are to be judged in a concrete situation, and try working it through with a simple example.
Read it alongside other chapters of Baizhan Qilüe to observe how this principle is applied in different methods of warfare.
On a second reading, focus on the dialectical statements about strong and weak points transforming into one another, and appreciate the holistic thinking of military learning.

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
易战

FAQ

What is the core principle of Yizhan?

According to the source, the core is "starting with the easy"—that is, striking the weak first when on the offensive. Against an enemy encamped in several places and differing in strength and numbers, one should avoid the strong and attack the weak, choosing the weak and the few as the first target, thereby achieving a breakthrough at relatively low cost.

Why is it advantageous to strike the weak points first?

The source points out that striking the weak points first is more likely to succeed; once the weak points are taken, the strong points lose the support of the weak and turn into isolated, weakened ones. Strong and weak are a unity of opposites, so avoiding the strong and attacking the weak is not mere opportunism but aims at dismantling the enemy's overall defense.

Can this military treatise be applied directly to daily life?

It discusses principles for choosing targets in combat, and applying it directly to everyday matters calls for caution. One may draw on its idea of tackling the easy before the difficult and attending to the overall transformation of strong and weak, but the logic of military confrontation should not be simply equated with interpersonal or management work.

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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.