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Welcome to the Art of War podcast series. In this episode, we'll look at the context of the Art of War, how changes in technology and politics affected Sun Tzu's thinking, and then we'll share a small anecdote about the first step of Sun Tzu's rise to historic fame. Did you know he had to command an army of concubines before he was handed his real job? Well, guess we'll find out. What is Sun Tzu? Sun Tzu lived at a time when states practically had no borders, but nonetheless borders were quickly forming and causing military conflicts. The political system of the Zhou dynasty consisted of one emperor and his many vassal laws living in population centers, but these were really no more than city states. Beyond the wars, there were lots of nomadic tribes who sometimes came to rate the settled farmers. The nomads might think he was okay to indulge in occasional lootings. It was only fair because these hateful peasants had taken all the fertile land to plant stuff. But the farming community didn't take this very well, for obvious reasons, and the emperor in particular couldn't stand having his tax money stolen by some horse-riding outlanders. So for the purpose of shielding his capital city from the marauders, the emperor assigned outlying territories to his family members and most trusted affiliates. To maintain good relationship between the emperor and the laws, and to make sure they would come to each other's aid when one cried, Nomad! A complicated set of proprieties would focus on hierarchy, governed their conduct and interactions, so there should be no sneezing and coughing at the royal court, or must hail the authority of the emperor. Something like that. Everyone of political significance was expected to receive propriety training from the bureaucracy, a significant part of the education for the nobles. They also arranged marriages for their sons and daughters, so basically the emperor and the laws were all connected in one big family. The system worked fine until it was increasingly challenged by progressing technology and of course greed. Agricultural development led to population growth, which in turn enabled regional state leaders to grow their influence and their egos. As oxen were taught to pull ploughs, as iron replaced bronze in making farm tools, and as irrigation projects were built on a wider scale, agricultural efficiency and output received a huge boost. The surplus food supported a surplus population that expanded to wrestle more fertile land from nature and the nomads. Soon the vassal states began to border on each other. Territorial disputes escalated, yet there was no central authority to provide arbitration because already some vassal laws controlled areas larger than the emperor, who deserved no more than a semblance of respect. Thus began a series of interstate conflicts that lasted for centuries. Of course, foreblown competition didn't start right away. Like I said earlier, the emperor and the laws were still somewhat connected by the kids' marriages, if not by blood. If you completely turn your back on your neighbors, you'll have to marry your daughters further away, and you end up with fewer choices. So the wars in spring and autumn period were rather limited. In fact, a lot of them were directed at nomads, who were a constant threat. Still, a lot of wars were fought to restore a good-for-nothing elder prince slash nephew in a neighboring state, whose rightful claim to his title had been usurped by his reckless younger brother, who probably murdered the father, the late king, that sort of thing. And even when they did have a dispute over land, the fighting was done according to propriety, which may sound a little incredulous to our modern years. I have examples from the spring and autumn chronicles. 2. Jing and Chu were fighting. Officer Xi Zhi of Jing State came across the king of Chu and his guards many times in battle. Every time they met, Xi Zhi took off his helmet and sped up ahead a few steps to show his respect. The king of Chu dispatched a messenger to bring Xi Zhi above as a gift, saying, Just now, when we were fighting, there was a gentleman who saluted me every time we met. What a gentleman! I hope he wasn't injured. Xi Zhi took off his helmet to receive the message. I am Xi Zhi of Jing. I have the fortune of fighting alongside my king. I can't accept your gift, but I'll be honored if you could report to your king that I'm okay. Please thank him for the kind regards. Now if you'll excuse me since we are still at war, I shall only salute you in the military style. Xi Zhi gave the messenger three military salutes before letting him go. Another funny story also happened between Jing and Chu. Jing had lost the battle with Chu and his soldiers were fleeing. A chariot got stuck in a mud hole. The Chu forces on the tail approached them and taught them to remove a beam from the chariot. It worked and both sides continued running and pursuing. Soon, the Jing chariot got stuck again. The Chu soldiers suggested they get rid of the big flag on top and remove another beam. It worked again and finally the Jing chariot was off the hook. Seeing as they were safe, the Jing soldiers shouted back, now we know Chu is a strong state with seasoned warriors. You guys are much more experienced in the business of fleeing. Now we have an idea about how wars were fought in the spring and autumn period, the context in which Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. Basically, if you were not a peasant boy who might lose your head on the front line, wars pretty much looked like fun sports tournaments. Siege weapons couldn't break city wars if they had been invented at all. The saddle was yet to be introduced and only nomads could ride and shoot at the same time, so there was no cavalry. The army mainly consisted of footmen and chariots, which were carefully and painstakingly arranged in tight formations before battle. In fact, in many cases, generals had to admit defeat once their formations were wrecked beyond the point of being able to regroup. They were like, okay, okay, that's enough mess, you've got us, let's call it a day, good game, good game. But not everyone treated wars as if they were sports events. Sun Tzu was one of a few professionals who treated wars seriously. Born to a family which for many generations had held important government positions in the wealthy state of Qi, Sun Tzu received an excellent and exclusive family education in military leadership. However, for reasons we haven't been able to find out, Sun Tzu decided to leave his home country and went seeking career advancement in the state of Wu. He submitted the art of war and was granted a hearing with the king of Wu. The king said, I've read your writings, they're impressive, but let me ask you, can you put them into practice? Sun Tzu said, of course. The king asked, can you demonstrate this by commanding maybe women? Sun Tzu said, absolutely. So the king summoned a group of his concubines to train under Sun Tzu, who appointed the king's favorite concubines as squad leaders and taught everyone about following orders and executing basic movements. However, when they actually tried to demonstrate the result, the concubines refused to fall in line and instead were laughing left and right. Sun Tzu blamed himself first and foremost and said, if the command was not respected and orders not clearly understood, it is the fault of the commander. He explained the orders patiently and started the drill again. Still, the women failed to cooperate. At this point, Sun Tzu said, if orders are clearly communicated yet not followed, it is the fault of the officers. He severely punished the squad leaders and then the make-believe soldiers were finally ready to go wherever Sun Tzu pointed. This is, reportedly, how Sun Tzu nailed his first job interview. From this point on, he started an impressive career of one military triumph after another. So I guess by now we know that wars in Sun Tzu's time were mostly limited and small scale. Only a small number of professionals were exclusively trained in military command. Most of the other fancy meat-eating aristocrats probably treated wars like sport. And since weapons were rudimentary and the training of the troops was insufficient, the generals couldn't execute very elaborate tactics and instead had to focus on strategies and other aspects of wars to eliminate uncertainties as best as they could. In fact, the elimination of uncertainties is precisely what Svens' war theory is all about. And we shall have more examples as we go through the Art of War chapter by chapter, starting from our next episode.