| Rewards and Punishments:...: |
What I mean by the unifying of rewards is that profits and emoluments, office and rank, should be determined exclusively by military merit, and that there should not be different reasons for distributing them. For thus the intelligent and the stupid, the noble and the humble, the brave and the timorous, the virtuous and the worthless, will all apply to the full whatever knowledge they may have in their breasts, exert to the uttermost whatever strength they may have in their limbs, and will be at the service of their ruler even to death; and the outstanding heroes, the virtuous and the good, of the whole empire will follow him, like flowing water, with the result that the army will have no equal, and commands will be carried out throughout the whole empire. A country of ten thousand chariots will not dare to assemble its soldiers in the plains of the Middle Kingdom; nor will a country of a thousand chariots dare to defend a walled city. Should a country of ten thousand chariots assemble its soldiers in the plains of the Middle Kingdom, one would in battle, rout its army; and should a country of a thousand chariots defend a walled city, one would in the assault, capture that town. If, in battles, one always routs the other's army and, in assaults, one always captures the other's towns, with the result that finally one has all the cities, and all their riches accrue, then what expense or loss can one suffer, even though there are rich congratulatory rewards? |
