Encirclement Warfare

AnonymousBashu Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

Rating 2.7

Word count: 235 words
Chapters: 2

Summary

The art of encirclement warfare lies in surrounding the enemy on all four sides while leaving one corner open as a way out. This weakens the enemy's will to fight, making the city takable and the army breakable. As the rule says: When encircling an army, always leave a gap.

Editor's review

This book centers on the classical military principle that "when encircling an army, always leave a gap," and is concise in length yet focused in intent. Rather than laying out detailed campaign history, it distills the dialectical thinking of "leaving a way out" in siege warfare into a transferable decision-making method: when encircling on all four sides, deliberately leave one corner open, which both breaks the defenders' will to fight to the death and gives the attacker a chance to take the city and break the army at minimal cost. The value of this approach extends beyond the battlefield; it also offers inspiration for negotiations, competition, conflict mediation, and other situations that require "leaving the other side an outlet." The book presents its principles in concise aphorisms and is best read as a thinking framework rather than an operations manual. Readers should chew over it repeatedly in light of specific situations and sense the balance between "gap" and "encirclement": too large a gap and the encirclement fails, too small a gap and the enemy's resolve is not shaken. Overall, this is a traditional work of military thought that can be read in a very short time yet is worth pondering for a long while, suitable for readers interested in classical strategic thinking to dip into at leisure.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in classical military science and strategic thought
Managers who need to handle negotiations, competition, and conflict
Slow readers who enjoy short aphoristic chapters and repeated pondering
Those who need to cite traditional military principles in writing or teaching

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting systematic campaign case studies and detailed tactical deductions
Utilitarian readers seeking modern business operation templates

Reading tips

First read the original text through, restate the causal chain of "when encircling an army, always leave a gap" in your own words, then consult the annotations.
After each section, think of a "encirclement and gap" situation in work or life and write down your judgment of the balance.
Read alongside relevant chapters of The Art of War and compare how the two express "leaving a way out."

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
围战

FAQ

Does "when encircling an army, always leave a gap" advocate mercy toward the enemy?

No. Leaving a gap is a means, not an end; its core is to break the defenders' will to fight to the death and take the city and break the army at lower cost. It is about cost calculation and psychological pressure, not moral leniency.

Can readers without a military background understand it?

Yes. The book consists mainly of concise principles and does not rely on complex battle examples. Readers need only grasp the dialectical relationship between "encirclement" and "gap" to apply it to everyday situations such as negotiation and competition.

Is this book suitable for reading in one sitting?

Though short, it is better read slowly in several sessions. After each passage, allow time to reflect in light of your own experience; this conveys the sense of balance better than reading it all at once and makes it easier to revisit later.

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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.