The noble man does not inflict wounds twice, nor does he take as prisoners those with graying hair
Zuo tradition. Zuozhuan. Commentary on the “Spring and autumn annals”. Translated and introduced by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, David Schaberg. 2016
638-й год до н.э.
The predicted punishment of Song continues as their ruler follows a notion of “fair warfare” rather than the more ruthless but realistic advice of the supervisor of the military, his half brother Ziyu. Concern for the proper etiquette of battle recurs throughout Zuozhuan.
The men of Chu attacked Song in order to come to the aid of Zheng. The Duke of Song was about to engage in battle when the grand supervisor of the military insistently remonstrated: “It has been a long time since Heaven abandoned the Shang. If you, my lord, try to revive it, Heaven simply will not be able to forgive it.” But the duke did not heed this.
In winter, in the eleventh month, on the jisi day, the first day of the month, the Duke of Song did battle with Chu leaders at the Hong River. The men of Song had already formed their ranks, but the men of Chu had not yet finished crossing the river. The supervisor of the military said, “They are numerous, and we are few. Let us attack them before they have completed the crossing.” The duke said, “That won’t do.” When the Chu army had completed the crossing but had not yet formed their ranks, the supervisor of the military again notified him. But the duke said, “That will not do.” Only after the Chu army was properly marshaled did he attack them. The Song troops were completely defeated. The duke was wounded in the hip and the palace guards were all slaughtered.
The inhabitants of the capital all blamed the duke. The duke said, “The noble man does not inflict wounds twice, nor does he take as prisoners those with graying hair. When the ancients engaged in warfare, they did not take advantage of difficult terrain and narrow straits. Although I, the unworthy one, am but a remnant of a fallen domain, I do not bang the drum to urge an attack upon those who have not formed their ranks.”
Ziyu said, “You, my lord, do not yet understand warfare. When powerful adversaries are trapped in difficult terrain and have not formed ranks, it means Heaven is assisting us. Is it not proper, while they are in narrow straits, to press an attack? Even then, one should still be fearful of them. Moreover, the powerful ones in this case are all our adversaries. Even though they have reached old age, if they can be captured, then we seize them. Why be concerned about graying hair? We make clear what is shameful and teach about warfare because we seek to kill enemies. If the wounded are not yet dead, why not wound them a second time? If you are concerned about inflicting wounds twice, then you might as well not inflict wounds at all. If you are concerned about graying hair, then you might as well surrender to them. The three armies function through what is advantageous; metal and drums arouse courage with their sounds. Making use of the advantageous, it is proper to attack the enemy in difficult terrain and narrow straits; boosting morale with booming sounds, it is acceptable to drum for battle when the enemy is in disarray”.
Вообще - зарисовки там есть изрядно разные.
In the second year, in spring, Gongzi Guisheng of Zheng received a command from Chu to attack Song. Hua Yuan and Yue Lü of Song led the defense. In the second month, on the renzi day, they did battle at Daji. The Song army was completely defeated. The Zheng army took Hua Yuan prisoner, captured Yue Lü, 16 along with four hundred and sixty chariots drawn by armored horses, took two hundred and fifty captives, and cut off the ears of a hundred slain soldiers. As Kuang Jiao of Song and a man of Zheng were locked in combat, the Zheng man fell into a well. When Kuang Jiao turned his halberd around and with the handle hauled him out, he seized Kuang Jiao. The noble man said, “He deviated from ritual propriety and disobeyed commands. It is fitting that he became a captive. In martial affairs, to manifest decisiveness and determination in obeying commands is ritual propriety. To kill the enemy is decisiveness; to sustain decisiveness is determination. To change this is to incur punishment and execution.”
С другой стороны
Han Jue had dreamed of his father, Ziyu, telling him: “Tomorrow morning, avoid the right and the left!” That was why he stood in the center driving the chariot as he pursued the prince of Qi. Bing Xia said, “Shoot the chariot driver, to all appearances a noble man.” The Qi lord said, “To call him a noble man and yet shoot him would not be in accordance with ritual propriety.” He shot the archer on Han’s left, who fell from the chariot, and he also shot the spearman man on his right, who died in it.
...
Xi Ke a was about to put him to death, when Choufu cried out: “Henceforth there will be none who will take his ruler’s place to bear his woe! There is one right here. Is he to be put to death?” Xi Ke b said, “It is inauspicious for us to put to death a man who does not balk at death if it will let his ruler escape. I will pardon him to encourage those who serve their lords.” He thus spared him.
P.S. Frank A. Kierman Jr. Phases and Modes of Combat in Early China // Chinese ways in warfare. 1974
Отмечу - самое unusually ... detailed описание потянет, в лучшем случае, на летописную повесть о битве при Липице или около того. В более поздних "Исторических записках" Сыма Цяня ситуация не лучше.
Peter Allan Lorge. War and the Creation of the Northern Song State. 1996.
The sources are strongest about strategic operations. They are weakest at the tactical level. This contrasts dramatically with most western military history. The primary sources for western military history tend to be battle-centered. All of the campaign coverage is simply a preamble to the high drama of the battlefield. It is not by choice that this military history will not follow that pattern. The sources for the Northern Song simply do not allow for a battle-centered history. Indeed, as Ken Chase so pointedly observed, unlike the West, there are very few famous battles in Chinese history. Particular battles are not usually presented as historical turning points. This lack in battlefield information is balanced by extensive coverage of the smaller skirmishes, command assignments and march schedules that often elude historians of the west before modern times. This information often seems to take over a campaign account as the list of commanders may exceed the length of the account of their activities.
Edward Dreyer. Military Aspects of the War of the Eight Princes // Military Culture in Imperial China. 2009
Для иллюстрации - в "Вёснах и осенях" помянутый выше эпизод от 638-го года выглядит так
Зима. В 11 луне, в день желтоватой змеи, в новолуние, между сунским гуном и чусцами произошло сражение при Хун; сунское войско было сильно разбито.
P.P.S. Немного столоверчения.
- Tsang Shui-lung. "Goose File" Formation: What Does It Look Like? // Journal of Song-Yuan Studies. No. 38 (2008)
- David A. Graff. Narrative Maneuvers: The Representation of Battle in Tang Historical Writing // Military Culture in Imperial China. 2009
- Butler, M. A. Mapping Culture: Battle Array Schemas (Zhentu) in Middle Period China // Journal of Chinese Military History 5, no. 1 (2016)
- Lin Fan. Knowledge, Power, and Technology. Diagrams of Troop Formation in Early Song Military History // Monumenta Serica 69(2). 2021