ABSTRACT
The basic theme — instructions designed to ensure that the foundations of the military arts are well practiced and understood — remains clear. The principles behind the instructions' division and the exact contents of each category remain somewhat puzzling, partly as a result of the serious losses incurred over the centuries. Instructions for controlling the state focuses not on government or administrative measures but instead on the need for ethical values, for the soldiers to be marked by characteristics that will make them reliable and exemplary. This is perhaps unique, for most of the military writings speak about such virtues being essential for rulers, generals, even the lower officers, but not soldiers in general, who were normally trained to immediate response and obedience, not the cultivation of Virtue. The instructions for arraying or deploying the lines are unfortunately fragmented, but once again the importance of occupying ravines and exploiting strong points.
