ABSTRACT
Wen Ta-ya was a former Sui official living in retirement at T'ai-yuan during the time when Li Yuan, the garrison commander there, was preparing for his rising against the faltering Sui dynasty. The chapter consists of all of a description and analysis of the battle of Huo-i, based largely on material in Wen Ta-ya's book and focusing on questions of military tactics and techniques. Most of the men who filled Li Yuan's specialized staff offices were relatively junior figures, and their biographies offer no indication that any of them had any military training or combat experience prior to the campaign of 617. Instead, their training seems to have been purely literary. Many went on to hold high civil offices after the founding of the T'ang, but only one was sent on a military mission — and he had to share authority with an experienced soldier.
