Drawing Cultivation Wisdom from Traditional Culture | Though Battle Has Formation, Courage Is Its Foundation
Though Battle Has Formation, Courage Is Its Foundation
■ Guo Lingling
"Though the gentleman's battle has formation, courage is its foundation." More than 2,000 years ago, Mozi cut to the heart of what wins wars. "Chen" (陈), written interchangeably with "zhen" (阵), refers to battle formations, military methods, and tactics. His core argument is plain and profound: when two armies face each other, no matter how many formations and stratagems one possesses, courage remains the most fundamental quality of the soldier and the cornerstone of combat power.
The ancients, when discussing warfare, always placed great weight on the word "qi" (气). The Zuo Zhuan states: "Battle is a matter of courage (勇气)." The Wei Liaozi says: "When qi is full, men fight; when qi is seized, men flee." Throughout history, military thinkers who refined the ingenuity of formations and sharpened the effectiveness of weapons without exception placed "qi" at the crux of deciding victory. Courage is the "root" (本); formations and stratagems are the "branches" (末). Only when the root is firm can the branches flourish. Without the fighting spirit and daring (血性胆气) as the soul, even the most exquisite tactics and the most advanced weapons are nothing but a castle in the air.
Where does a soldier's courage come from?
It comes from commanders and soldiers sharing life and death together. "Regard soldiers as infants, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; regard soldiers as beloved sons, and they will die alongside you." During the Warring States period, Wu Qi sucked the pus from a soldier's wound, and upon hearing of it, the soldier's mother wept. The courage of commanders can ignite the courage of the entire army; when commanders love their soldiers as sons, they earn in return the soldiers' willingness to "die alongside them."
It comes from commanders' boldness and resolve in the face of danger. During the Western Han, Li Guang led a hundred cavalry in pursuit of several thousand enemies, and his subordinates panicked and wanted to flee. Li Guang stopped them, saying: "We are dozens of li from the main army. If we flee now with a hundred cavalry, the Xiongnu will pursue and shoot us down to the last man. If we stay, the Xiongnu will take us for bait for a large force and will not dare attack." He then ordered his soldiers to unsaddle and dismount; the Xiongnu, suspicious, did not dare advance. This boldness of facing danger without fear and engaging the enemy with composure is a vivid illustration of "courage as foundation."
Throughout history, famous generals not only advocated courage but were also skilled at nurturing it. Yue Fei of the Southern Song devoted his life to loyal service to the nation, inspiring his three armies with loyalty and righteousness. At the Battle of Yancheng, his son Yue Yun led the Beiwei Army (背嵬军) charging into enemy formations, fighting dozens of rounds, his body bearing more than a hundred wounds, his armor soaked red. It was precisely the loyal and courageous spirit of the Yue Family Army's commanders, who pledged their lives to the nation, that ignited the fighting spirit and daring of the entire force, forging the resounding reputation: "It is easy to shake a mountain, but hard to shake the Yue Family Army." Qi Jiguang of the Ming dynasty, in training troops, placed foremost importance on daring and spirit. In his Ji Xiao Xin Shu (纪效新书), he wrote: "In teaching and drilling martial arts, one must first drill daring and spirit. If daring and spirit are not strong, even if skills are refined and practiced, when facing the enemy one cannot open one's eyes and look straight ahead—how then can one fight?" The reason Qi's Army (戚家军) remained undefeated through a hundred battles lay in its fullness of daring and spirit, its courage surpassing all other forces.
Looking back over our army's journey of more than ninety years, the spiritual quality of taking courage as the foundation has been carried forward without interruption. On the Long March, Red Army soldiers crossed snow mountains and traversed grasslands, blocked in front and pursued from behind, yet never retreated a single step—sustained by a bold and forward-charging courage. In the flames of the War of Resistance, General Yang Jingyu fought alone in the forest and snow for days, his stomach containing nothing but grass roots and cotton wadding, yet he fought to his last breath—sustained by the heroic spirit of "giving one's life for the nation's peril." In the battle to liberate Longhua, Dong Cunrui charged through dense fire toward an enemy pillbox, raised the satchel charge with his arm, and resolutely pulled the fuse, opening a path to victory for his unit with his own flesh and blood. The revolutionary forebears displayed extraordinary loyal courage and spirit through their lives, setting an example for us to follow.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Red Army's Long March victory. From the iron-soled feet on the Long March road to today's "Long March" rockets piercing the sky, what has changed is the iterative upgrading of weapons and equipment; what has not changed is that spirit of daring to overcome all difficulties. Today, the brutality, complexity, and uncertainty of war have increased unprecedentedly, posing greater tests to the will and character of people. In joint operations, commanders must make decisive decisions amid the fog of information—without boldness and courage, controlling the battle situation becomes difficult; in extremely complex electromagnetic environments, pilots must make on-the-spot decisions under high g-forces and strong interference—the slightest hesitation will cause the loss of a fleeting opportunity. When a fighter aircraft encounters a special situation at ten thousand meters altitude, should the pilot eject or make an emergency landing? The choice made in the face of life and death is a direct reflection of the fighting spirit and daring of revolutionary soldiers in the new era.
When Mozi spoke of "courage as foundation," he was not dismissing the value of "formation," but emphasizing that root and branch must not be inverted. Today, as we temper fighting spirit and daring, we must both emphasize technical and tactical training and pay attention to tempering will and character. For those who lead troops, the way to nurture courage lies in: treating officers and soldiers with sincerity, helping them, and sharing hardships with them, as Wu Qi did; leading by example as Yue Fei did—only when commanders themselves have fighting spirit can they produce soldiers with fighting spirit; and as Qi Jiguang did, giving equal weight to drilling daring and drilling skill, running the cultivation of daring spirit throughout the entire process of training troops and preparing for war. For every soldier, "courage as foundation" is both the foundation of one's conduct and the basis for winning battles. A soldier's honor has never come easily; the laurels of victory always belong to those who take courage as their foundation and advance toward battle. Only by continuously strengthening the tempering of courage, pressing forward in the face of major tasks and arduous challenges, daring to overcome all difficulties, and fusing loyal and courageous spirit into one's bloodstream and engraving it into one's battle station, can one continue to write, on the journey of building a strong military, a magnificent chapter worthy of our predecessors, worthy of the era, and worthy of the people.