Wáng Shì Gǔ Zhī Xíng 王適古之行
The King Goes on an Expedition to an Old City (modern editorial title; also circulated as 陳公治兵 “Chén Gōng Marshals the Army”)
(anonymous; excavated bamboo manuscript, no attributable author)
About the work
Wáng Shì Gǔ Zhī Xíng 王適古之行 is one of the longest texts in the Shanghai Museum corpus of Warring States Chǔ 楚 manuscripts, preserved on approximately 14 bamboo strips, published in 馬承源 Mǎ Chéngyuán ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 9, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè 上海古籍出版社, 2012. It is a military treatise in dialogue form, centering on a speech by the Chǔ officer Chén Gōng Kuáng 陳公狂 on the theory and practice of military command. Internally it most closely resembles the bīngfǎ 兵法 (military methods) literature, but its framing within a specific historical event — apparently a military exercise or campaign under one of the Chǔ kings of the sixth century BCE — also connects it to historical anecdote (shì 事) collections.
Abstract
Narrative frame. The text opens: “The king went on the expedition to [an old city, gǔ yì 古邑?]; the Chǔ state was somewhat at peace. The king first lodged on a hill above a disordered place (zāi luàn zhī shàng 灾亂之上) to observe the troops; he ordered the troops to hunt and kill animals — deer, rabbits — but the troops became disorderly and did not [complete the task].” A commander drives troops forward, going deep into the king’s position, advancing through three drumbeats without stopping. The king is pleased with this display and orders Chén Gōng Kuáng (Chén Gōng kuáng zhǐ zhī 陳公狂止之) to restrain him.
Chén Gōng’s assumption of command. Chén Gōng Kuáng, having received the royal order, organizes the officers (zhíshì rén 執事人) and gets the troops into proper formation — a process that initially fails until the officers are reassembled. The troops, afraid, take up their formations. Chén Gōng then addresses the king: “Your Majesty does not know of my lack of talent. You ordered me to assist the executive officers in organizing the troops; [but I] did not know whether to advance the army and press to your majesty’s position and stop the troops, or to let the troops break their formation and march, entering the royal retinue without stopping the army.”
The king asks: “If [you had] entered the royal retinue without stopping the army, would that not also have been good?” The text suggests a dialogue about the conditions under which an officer may or may not advance his troops without explicit authorization — a topic central to early Chinese military thought.
The military treatise section. Chén Gōng Kuáng then delivers a comprehensive speech on military organization and command signals, beginning with the proper disposition of men: “I do not know of my lack of talent; I was ordered to assist the executive officers in organizing the troops. The officers must properly command them: five men to a squad (wǔ 伍), ten men to a file (háng 行); if the formation is not complete, the squad-leader abandons the squad, and the command falls.” He then enumerates the eight signal instruments and their functions:
- bā gǔ wǔ chèng 八鼓五爯: eight drums, five [signal-counts]
- zhēng náo 鉦鐃 on the left, chún yú 錞于 on the right
- jīn duó 金鐸 (metal bell) to cause sitting; mù duó 木鐸 (wooden bell) to cause rising
- gǔ 鼓 (drum) to advance; pí 鼙 (small drum) to stop
- liè 烈 to conceal troops; qiáo shān 喬山 to retreat
He then invokes a series of historical battles in which Chǔ armies prevailed despite odds: the battle at Cài Jiǎo 蔡湫; Xióng Xuě 酓雪 (a Chǔ ruler, Xióng 熊 = Chǔ clan name) and Zǐpí 子皮 with the Bā 巴 people at Luòzhōu 鴼州 (where Chǔ won its banner with monkey-image); Qū Bǐng 屈甹 at Xī 息(?); King Wǔ of Chǔ 先君武王 at Púmò 蒲寞(?); King Wén of Chǔ 先君文王 at Tú Zhāng 涂漳; and the battle at Liǎngtáng 兩棠 against Jìn.
The final section addresses attack and defense: how to march out from a fortified position, the proper sequence of left and right marshals presenting to the general, the general’s authorization of advance (jiāng jūn nǎi xǔ nuò 將軍乃許諾), the formation called yǎn háng 弇行 for close-quarters fighting, and tactics for siege warfare (once the city walls are surmounted: array both wings and bind them together; be careful in choosing formation on hillocky terrain — use the goose-fly formation; on open flat terrain with deep grass and frost-dew, use [chariots]). The text ends fragmentarily.
Significance. This is one of the most detailed discussions of Chǔ military organization and signal systems in any pre-Hàn source. Its enumeration of Chǔ military history and the specific taxonomy of signal instruments goes beyond what is preserved in the Zuǒzhuàn 左傳 and represents independent Chǔ military knowledge. The Chén Gōng figure’s insistence that he cannot advance troops without explicit royal authorization resonates with the broader theme — visible in both received military texts and other Warring States manuscripts — of the proper limits of a commander’s discretion.
Translations and research
- 馬承源 ed., 《上海博物館藏戰國楚竹書》 vol. 9, Shànghǎi gǔjí chūbǎnshè, 2012 — editio princeps.
- Pines, Yuri. Envisioning Eternal Empire. University of Hawai’i Press, 2009.
- Shaughnessy, Edward L. Rewriting Early Chinese Texts. SUNY Press, 2006.
- Sawyer, Ralph D. The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China. Westview Press, 1993 — background on pre-Hàn military thought and the bīngfǎ tradition.
Links
- Wikipedia (Shanghai Museum bamboo texts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Museum_bamboo_texts