He was obviously a clever man, a clear thinker and someone with practical military experience. What is known for certain about Sun Tzu comes from his key work on the theory and practice of warfare, The Art of War. And although he was rather put out by the death of his favourite courtesans, the King of Wu recognised that Sun Tzu knew what he was talking about. The women were put to death!Īll at once the rest of the concubines suddenly discovered that they could, oddly enough, obey any orders to the letter. It’s the ruler’s job to find the best general, and then let him get on with winning a war. Sun Tzu replied that once a general is directing his troops, he should reject further interference from his sovereign. Having done all that he could as a commander, he ordered that the leading concubines should be put to death, as once orders have been clearly explained it is the duty of the soldiers to obey! The King wasn’t very happy about the idea his two favourite concubines being executed, and told Sun Tzu that he really did believe he could train troops using his methods. He explained his instructions carefully and patiently and tried again, with equally disastrous results.

Naturally, the women were far from being any kind of soldiers (much less good ones) and disobeyed all of Sun Tzu’s orders.

The story goes that Sun Tzu claimed he could train anyone to obey military orders, and so the King challenged him to turn the court concubines into soldiers. Biographies from as little as 300 years after he was alive don’t include much more definite information than that, other than repeating the tale of how Sun Tzu convinced his king that he knew how to train soldiers. Other than that, little is known about Sun Tzu’s life. He ruled part of the lower Yangtze Valley and was locked in constant warfare with the rival kingdom of Yue. He is supposed to have written his book for Helü, the King of Wu during 514-496 B.C. Sun Tzu was therefore quite familiar with warfare in all its forms. As you’ll see later, this is a similar state of affairs to the Sengoku period in Japan. None of these states recognised the central authority of the Zhou Imperial dynasty any more. During his life, China was being torn apart by a series of wars as lesser states fought for dominance. in the kingdom of Qi, which is roughly the modern Shandong province in Eastern China. Sun Tzu was a contemporary of the great philosopher Confucius, and lived around 500 B.C. 'In ancient times skilful warriors first made themselves invincible, and then watched for vulnerability in their opponents.' 4.4 Military Buildings in Shogun: Total War.4.2 Rebellions, Peasant Revolts & Ronin.3.8 Strategic Units In Shogun Total War.

Empire total war civil war mod 2.5