作戰篇第二
孫子曰：凡用兵之法，馳車千駟，革車千乘，帶甲十萬，千里饋糧，則內外之費，賓客之用，膠漆之材，車甲之奉，日費千金，然後十萬之師舉矣。
其用戰也貴勝，久則鈍兵挫銳，攻城則力屈，久暴師則國 用不足。夫鈍兵挫銳，屈力殫貨，則諸侯乘其弊而起，雖有智者，不能善其後矣。故兵聞拙速，未睹巧之久也。夫兵久而國利者，未之有也。故不盡知用兵之害者，則不能盡知用兵之利也。
善用兵者，役不再籍，糧不三載﹔取用于國，因糧于敵，故軍食可足也。
國之貧于師者遠輸，遠輸則百姓貧。近師者貴賣，貴賣則百姓竭，財 竭則急於丘役。力屈、財殫，中原內虛于家。百姓之費，十去其七﹔公家之費：破軍罷馬，甲冑矢弩，戟盾蔽櫓，丘牛大車，十去其六。
故智將務食于敵。食敵一鐘，當吾二十鐘﹔箕杆一石，當吾二十石。
故殺敵者，怒也﹔取敵之利者，貨也。故車戰，得車十乘已上，賞其 先得者，而更其旌旗，車雜而乘之，卒善而養之，是謂勝敵而益強。故兵貴勝，不貴久。 故知兵之將，民之司命，國家安危之主也。
In this chapter 2 of 13, 作戰篇 - Waging War, Sun Tzu explained how to understand the economic nature of war and how success requires making the winning play, which in turn, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict. The speed of conclusion of conflict is important.
孫子曰：凡用兵之法，馳車千駟，革車千乘，帶甲十萬，千里饋糧，則內外之費，賓客之用，膠漆之材，車甲之奉，日費千金，然後十萬之師舉矣。
Some translation suggested:
Sun Tzu said: In the normal operations of war, where there is a need to field a thousand swift light chariots, as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to move them a thousand li, the expenditure at the rear and at the front, including entertainment of important guests, repair items such as glue and paint, and sums spent on maintaining chariots and armour, will reach the total of a thousand ounces of gold per day. Such is the consideration and cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
As in business, to start a business is no different from waging a war. Everything has to be considered, in particular, the economics of the warfare. Every minute detail has to be handled. There must have light chariots to take on the war swiftly. There must be heavy armoury to handle tough situations. There must have a sizable occupation ground force. Over and above that, the other details include logistics and facade maintenance. The wager of war must show opulence.
I am a little stuck by this last sentence. I have always believed in humility, i.e., in the eyes of chineseman, I am shown to be quite basically useless. But, this tactics cannot be applied to the white land. In the white land, humility is not favoured, i.e., the whites are so squared that they naturally assumed what they heard is the truth and nothing, but the truth. They simply can't believe that there are people out there that can push the envelope further than they say they could. They take everything at face-value. Because of that, I have lost several deals due to this humility. There is therefore a need to adjust one's strategy to one's environment. Showing off on the other extreme is also not favoured. You simply has to be a little louder and bolder. That will do.
Once upon a time, I had wanted to start a hawker store doing fried crabs in quite a seriously popular place. I paid the rental and deposit, bought the equipments, employed my staff and secured my supplies. In the end, even before it started, I folded. I simply didn't count too well. I thought by having a varsity degree would have allowed me to do anything under the sun. I was proved dead wrong. The cook just before starting demanded a sharp raise in his salary and shortened his working hours. I was left stone-cold. Of all the technologies I have, I can't cook for nuts!
In summary, this Sun Tzu's phase is to highlight the need to understand its enormous cost in starting and waging a war. It is no difference from business endeavours. it is thus foolhardy to start a war with no ready and trustworthy resource.
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