Daytime Battle

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJun 2024

3.0

Word count: 182 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

"Daytime Warfare" is a military treatise recorded in the ancient Chinese military text *Baizhan Qilüe*, intended to explain how to confuse the enemy in daytime combat. It holds that in daytime operations one may set up many flags as "decoy troops" to confuse the enemy, preventing them from accurately judging the size of our forces, and thus defeat them. Setting up flags as "decoy troops" was one of the commonly used methods of "displaying form" in ancient warfare.

Editor's review

"Daytime Warfare" comes from the ancient military text *Baizhan Qilüe* and is devoted specifically to how, in daytime combat, the method of "displaying form" can confuse the enemy. Its core argument is concise and forceful: set up many flags to create decoy troops, prevent the enemy from judging the real strength of our forces, and thereby seize the initiative on the battlefield. Though brief, the piece distills the typical logic of "using the void to display the real" in ancient tactical thinking and serves as an introductory text for understanding the traditional military concepts of "form" and "deception." This edition, arranged by Bashu Publishing House, helps readers understand terminology and the background of battle examples alongside the original text through annotations. It is suitable as close-reading material for excerpts from ancient military literature and for readers interested in military strategy and ancient tactics to browse at leisure. When reading, it can be compared with passages in *The Art of War* such as "make the enemy show form while we remain formless," to appreciate the interrelated lines of thought among ancient military texts.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Beginning readers interested in ancient military strategy and thought
Readers who need supplementary explanation when reading *Baizhan Qilüe*
Readers who enjoy close reading of short classical Chinese texts and value textual detail
Teachers or compilers of ancient military literature

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic and complete narrative of military history
Readers hoping for long-form strategic analysis or modern case studies
Readers with no foundation in classical Chinese who are unwilling to consult annotations

Reading tips

First read the original text, then use the annotations to clarify the specific meanings of terms such as "decoy troops" and "displaying form."
Read it alongside relevant passages in *The Art of War* and compare how different military texts express the idea of confusing the enemy.
After reading, try to restate the tactical logic of this piece in your own words to check whether you have truly understood it.
Use this piece as short classical Chinese material for a sentence-by-sentence translation exercise.

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
昼战

FAQ

Is "Daytime Warfare" a complete book?

No. "Daytime Warfare" is one piece in the ancient military text *Baizhan Qilüe*. It is relatively short and is published here as a standalone piece, suitable as close-reading material for an excerpt rather than a complete, systematic history of warfare.

Can I understand it without a foundation in classical Chinese?

The text of this piece is short but involves ancient military terminology. It is advisable to read with the book's annotations, first understanding key terms such as "decoy troops" and "displaying form," and then read through the whole piece. The difficulty is not especially high, but some patience with classical Chinese is still required.

What does "setting up flags as decoy troops" mean?

It means that in daytime combat one sets up many flags to create the false impression of a large force, preventing the enemy from accurately judging our actual numbers and thus putting them at a disadvantage psychologically and in deployment. It is a specific application of the ancient tactic of "displaying form."

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

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.