Comparison 19: Alliances
The focus of this part of chapter two of the Art of War is the resources needed for competition. The traditional translation of the last two stanzas of section four are about raiding enemies for supplies. This translation works well enough, and I follow the convention in my original English translation.
You can kill the enemy and frustrate him as well.
Take the enemy’s strength from him by stealing away his money.
Fight for the enemy’s supply wagons.
Capture his supplies by using overwhelming force.
Reward the first who capture them.
Then change their banners and flags.
Mix them in with your own wagons to increase your supply line.
Keep your soldiers strong by providing for them.
This is what it means to beat the enemy while you grow more powerful.
The Art of War, Chapter 2, Section 4, Line 6-14
But we are going to go off the road, searching for the hidden, underlying meaning od these lines in the original Chinese. In the previous article, we were led by the I Ching hexagrams to look for more creative (Hexagon 1) ways to find resources. This led to working with others to discover what can be traded (Hexagon 20, Viewing/Contemplation). This section brings is further into creativity.
The first line of this section starts by speaking against “rage.” Anger makes us want to kill people rather than winning their support. It is the traditional way to look at war.
<Make> <kill> <enemy> <is> <rage> <also;>
Sun Tzu uses the character translated as “rage” only three other times, always to criticize its negative effects on good strategy. The Chinese character translated as “enemy” actually means “fellow nobleman.” The tradition is to think of those like us as enemies because we are natural competitors, those compared to one another. Sun Tzu saw this differently. Yes we are competitors, but we are not playing a zero-sum game. We can also be allies. Here, he argues against following our instincts and, instead, using strategy.
The next line makes this clear if we read it more broadly.
<Obtain> <enemy> <’s > <advantage> <is> <money> <also>
Instead of making enemies of fellow competitors, we can obtain the advantage of their support. This support is also a resource (“money”). This is consistent with entire “winning without conflict” message of the book. The mission is to build up our positions so others support us instead of oppose us. Nothing creates opposition like trying to kill our competitors. Nothing wins support like offering support.
Alliance How To
<Make> <cart> <battle>
How do we make alliances? The character translated as “battle,” primarily means “to meet” or a “meeting.” This is a point at which alternatives are compared. “Carts” carry resources for advancing positions (see this earlier article).We first start by comparing the resources we need to advance our respective positions. This means comparing the resources we need to advance, looking for a shared mission..
<Obtain> <cart> <ten> <multiply> <by> <above>
We can get ten times more resources through alliances than conflict. Making alliances is not a zero-sum game. In the estimation of both parties, it makes both stronger. We can read this as “multiply ten times,” but this is also, a hidden warning. Results of alliances are uncertain. This is where another hexagon, Hexagram 10, comes in.
Hexagram Ten (below) is called “steps” or “tread carefully.” Its general advice is to advance in small steps. The three lines (trigram) on top mean “climate.” The bottom trigram is “marsh,” one of the four types of ground, and the one where footing is uncertain.
The broken line near the middle of this hexagram is a reminder that the capacity to do something (multiply our resources), is very different from the capacity to succeed at doing it well. If we attempt to do something beyond our abilities, we are flirting with disaster.
<Reward> <this> <first> <obtain> <is>
Beginning creating an alliances is the most difficult part. Once we have an alliance of two, it is twice as easy to add new members. As it grows, it snowballs. To get an alliance going, we need to initially give more in order to get together on both sides. But once we get started, new people need fewer concessions.
And yet> <change> <this> <banner> <flag>
Among the Chinese, banners were used to identify different groups of warriors. Alliances need their own name to give them substance on the field of competition. Think NATO, NAFTA, the EU.
<Cart> <mix> <and yet> <multiply> <it>
The more advancing positions an alliance can support without internal conflict, the more power that alliance has. We want to build up positions than no one wants to oppose. Alliances are the way we do it.
<Soldiers> <good> <and yet> <provide> <for> <it>
No matter how good our competitive abilities are, they get better when we provide more resources to support them.
<Correct> <understanding> <victory> <enemy> <and yet> <augment> <strength>.
Creating alliances requires understanding the true nature of victory, that is winning better positions and making them pay. It also requires seeing fellow competitors as a source of strength rather than danger, but we must tread carefully, not all allies are trust worthy.
Summary
The goal is winning more competitive resources The traditional translation about raiding enemies is not always better or worse than this new interpretation about making alliances. We are meant to compare them and decide which is more useful in a given situation.
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