THE COMMANDER
The Art of War
Chapter One
Laying Plans
1.1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
1.2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
Chapter One
Laying Plans
1.1. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.
1.2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
The commander gazed out over the port city he held responsibility over. The strategic city of Agins held the key to all trade for over five hundred miles in all directions. The powerful states inland depended on the Agins for their wealth, it was the gateway to the deep, rich pockets of Kings and Emperors across the dangerous waters of the sea. Those eager or dependent on the produce flowing through the port also wanted the produce to flow safely and efficiently.
Two years had passed since the commander accepted the order to come and secure the port from their enemies. He made every effort to know the Agins. The Agins knew about trade, shipping and controlling workers to make a profit. However they were sadly very slow to learn about the art of warfare, his stock in trade. The commander shook his head as he pondered how such a clever people could be so determined to stay ignorant about such a vital topic. To stay so ignorant of the fact that this subject was a matter of life and death, a road to either safety or ruin. A matter the Agins should not neglect but they did. They concentrated solely on the art of trade.
Instead of taking control of their security they were willing to let one of the major military states take control of this. The Agins loftily explained that the time is better spent on making profit then herding and feeding a bunch of lazy, uneducated meat to fight and die to protect their profits. Better have others fight and die for the privilege of defending their city.
Instead of taking such a vital responsibility, their own safety, they were quite content to leave such matters to those who knew them better. Ignoring that they were placing their safety in the hands of those who could wipe them out and their greedy profits.
Reports had reached his ear that again the merchants were restless, that some had realised the truth and importance that they should take their own safety more seriously. Worryingly some had come to the conclusion that creating their own army and navy was not a cost to be born with a stiff upper lip that it was a measure that could increase their profits. For the moment they were in the minority but over time they would become a serious threat and the commander was not about to let such an idea threaten his command.
When he arrived, the port was an open city. The Agins believed that if sufficient numbers of opposing forces were living in the city then no one force would be able to take control of the city. At that time troops from as many as seven powerful states resided in the city and it was true that the presence of these troops kept each other in check. The Agins strutted about crowing about how much gold and silver they saved by such a brilliant tactic. That was until the commander arrived to show them the folly of their arrogant belief. They would have been far better to spend a little of the gold and silver to secure a force that was loyal only to them. He had showed them the errors of their ways and yet they still had not learned the lesson. He commanded the garrison that protected the city and its commerce. The Agins had not learned the lesson, so the commander would show them that it was too late to learn that lesson so he would teach them another. The wolf had entered the henhouse and it was not going to leave.
The Merchant Guild of Agins were beginning to resent the trade tariffs and taxes the commander had placed to cover the costs of his garrison. He had argued the seventh law of the Merchants Guild against them, it was the law that the user must pay. Either you paid the cost of using an asset or you found another way to accomplish your task. The Agins had placed tolls on just about everything from using their ships, roads, animals, warehouses and now were busily trying to find a way to tax visitors for breathing their air. The greed of the arrogant Agins knew no limits.
So they had to pay for the garrison. Better the devil you knew from the devil who had lecherous aims on the wealth you had accumulated. The controlling Merchants Guild grudgingly swallowed the cost. Most of the merchants knew that other garrisons would have charged much more, much, much, more and were less trustworthy than the commander and his men. Lord Acosta was not one who bore any cost he believed he could foist onto someone else and so he had fought fiercely against the imposition of the tariffs and taxes. Over time he was accumulating a growing following. The more timid were slowly coming to support his view believing there was safety in numbers and the commander seemed such a sensible man. Surely once a majority held the view that the costs should be removed he would agree. The commander really did seem to be a truly just and decent man.
Lord Acosta, like the commander, could swiftly assess an enemy he was facing, nobody had ever gotten the better of Lord Acosta. Yet. The problem with men like Lord Acosta who always had their way became either arrogant, relying on position or reputation to take the day or suffered from delusions of godlike abilities.
The commander, experienced with dealing with such men knew how dangerous they could be. Always courageous in a crowd and slyer than a fox when singled out. Yes, Lord Acosta with all his wealth, power and connections is the key to solving the problem.
All were surprised when the commander called for a meeting to discuss the grievance and its possible resolution. He chose an open theater near the tavern district in the old city to hold the expected numbers. The streets here were old and very narrow. Horses were banned and carriages were too wide to fit through the streets, so all attendees would have to walk. This suited the commander and his plans.
On the day, Lord Acosta arrived grandly and noticeably very late. The commander simply greeted him and invited him to sit next to him on the elevated dais. There was no room for his attendants, lackeys or bodyguard. While waiting for the arrival of this last attendee, the commander announced that the garrison was happy to supply the ale for the day so all should slake their thirsts on what promised to be a very thirsty day. Between the winter sun and all the talk it appeared it was going to be a very thirsty day indeed.
A list of speakers, drawn up days earlier was announced and the speakers made their arguments known in order. As each speaker rose in order, his name was recorded and his views noted. Lord Acosta finally rose to address the assembly. Before he began his speech the commander raised a finger and complemented the Lord on how satisfied he was that the latest shipment for his garrison had arrived on time and in perfect condition. Lord Acosta did not know why he had received such a compliment or mention. The commander had not spoken for the whole day and to do so this late in the day annoyed him. The trader puffed out his chest and asked did anyone ever doubt that his company could ever fail to deliver its cargo on time and in perfect condition. The commander agreed with him and announced to all that if it wasn’t for Lord Acosta, the day could not have proceeded. Well not with so much ale anyway. A loud cheer erupted from the attending merchants. Indeed the commander further praised Lord Acosta that should be known and praised for making sure the outcome of the day would be remembered for decades, if not lifetimes to come. This completely took the lord by surprise, he knew the commander delighted in sharing or deflecting honours and praise onto others. He did not know why the commander should be so gracious as his speech was sure to determine that the commander would need to seek his garrison funding elsewhere.
The Lord thought for a moment and then smiled a vicious smile. Ah, he thought, a gracious loser. How he hated gracious losers. Losers were losers and all losers should be flogged and despised. Acosta recovered himself, nodded to the commander and began to speak. His speech was eloquent, long and it stirred the soul. The commander at one point was sure he, himself, would vote to remove the taxes and tariffs. It was the only time he smiled outwardly all day.
During the day, the commanders’ officers protested that the traitors, those who opposed the tariffs, as they saw them, should receive the ability to speak in public, if at all. Better to ferret them out and hang them or to grant them deaths that would others think twice and three times before entertaining such rebellion. The commander simply smiled inside and asked them “what could be better than for all our enemies to stand up and announce themselves so willingly?” He thought of explaining to them that harsh actions and painful deaths did not change the minds of enemies, it only changed their behaviour. It made them harder to identify and so deal with. In many cases the threat of something unpleasant is more powerful than the actual unpleasantness occurring. Victory is not changing the behaviour of your enemy, true victory is breaking their will to fight, to resist, to represent any threat at all. To find out what an enemy thinks or believes, you don’t silence them, you give them a dais and the false belief that it is safe to speak. Otherwise you had to invest a lot of time, effort and expense to root them out using other means. Far better to have them come to you and tell you exactly what they were thinking.
He could have explained all this but he didn’t. His men were men of action, give them a task and they carried it out overcoming any obstacles or unforeseen problems. His men could think for themselves but they were tacticians not strategists. In time if they rose through the ranks and obtained the rank of commander then everyone would or should know they are strategists as well as tacticians. They would know the difference and how the two worked together to achieve victory, the true victory. Tactics are short term, strategy long term. Tactics win battles while strategy wins wars but if used properly won the wars before any battle ever took place, before blood was spilt. Sadly, this was not always possible. Well not for him or any other commander he knew or knew of. No, sometimes a punishment or example had to be made. A punishment that grossly exceeded the crime or an example that would never leave the memory of those who witnessed it and be passed down through the ages so that no one forgot the lesson. He sighed and turned his attention back to the reality he was manipulating.
Finally Lord Acosta spoke the last word of the last speech for the day. A drunken roar leapt from his supporters, followed by cheers for him and jeers for his opponents. During the day, those who supported the retention of the tariffs moved to the left of the theatre while Lord Acosta supporters move to the right side. Birds of a feather flock really did flock together thought the commander. The commander watched proceedings and the movement of those gathered very closely. At times he would quietly speak to those who had the task of recording the speeches and who had attended during the day. As the time for a vote approached, those who had left earlier in the day began to return and take comfort in either the left or right of the theatre. The numbers on the right grew faster than those on the left. The commander received and read notes on parchment during the day and at times would quickly write a reply and the messengers would leave.
Once a respectful time had elapsed after Lord Acosta had finished his oration, the commander lifted his arms and called the group to order. With a quite but commanding voice he called for the vote, all those in favour of removing the taxes and tariffs would move to the right hand side of the theatre and those opposed to the left. He invited Lord Acosta to sit beside him while the count was taking place. The number who supported the removal was more than the commander estimated however this did not surprise him as liberal jugs of ale and the false belief in the safety of numbers made men braver then they should ever be.
The count finished and as the numbers were being handed to the commander men started to grunt, fall over or scream in pain and horror. Uniformed men had appeared on the battlements surrounding the theatre. This theatre, the only theatre in all of Agins, had high walls built in the form of battlements. While all inside focused on the speeches, no one noticed the activity on the battlements. From time to time, men in uniform would appear, converse, move around, converse some more and then disappear.
The attendees drank the free ale and beer, argued, grew tired and drank more beer and did not show any interest in the uniformed men on the battlements until it was too late. They were archers and discussed the most efficient method to slaughter men huddling on one side of the theatre.
The reason the Yea votes outnumbered the Nay votes so heavily had little to do with democracy or the victory of a free vote. Both the commander and Lord Acosta implemented plans to ensure those opposed to the vote were restrained from entering the theatre. Lord Acosta did not know there was such an alliance with the commander. He only briefly thought that something was afoot. This unpleasant insight was quickly dismissed in favour that he, Lord Acosta had outwitted his enemy. He almost pitied the commander and wondered if he should have him replaced with someone smarter. No, both fools and the dim-witted had their uses and keeping the commander in charge would surely prove beneficial at a later stage. As his numbers grew, he began to ponder what he would say in his victory speech and how gracious he should be or if he should be gracious at all. He really hated gracious losers. He spat on the ground as if to remove a bad taste from his mouth.
As if by magic, soldiers appeared the instant the last arrow found its target. They began moving through the dead and wounded finishing off those only wounded by the arrows or were taking too long to die. The blood flowed thick and stickily, those opposed to the vote forced themselves as close to the wall as they could, closer than any believed they could until they realised the arrows only fell on one side of the theatre.
As the last dissenter died, an awed and shocked silence fell and the theatre assumed the atmosphere found in crypts and churches. No one moved. No one spoke. All stood perfectly still. All but the commander and Lord Acosta because they sat on the dais, removed from the horror, death and blood and fear. Slowly, very slowly all the eyes widened with fear and death turned to the commander who had not moved.
The commander turned and very unobtrusively asked Lord Acosta for his short sword and the dagger in his left boot. As if in a dream the shocked man handed them over. “It is over” he stated. He stood and addressed the crowd and soldiers alike. Even the soldiers seemed deeply affected by so much carnage in such a short period of time. One hundred and five men had died in under five minutes of savage brutality.
“Let me again thank the efficiency of Lord Acosta. Without his ability to deliver cargo on time and in perfect condition, today could not have happened, we did not have enough arrows, well let me be more specific, we did not have enough armour piercing arrows”. Lord Acosta hearing this turned very pale, turned to his side and vomited. He realised how he was tricked into being a weapon of his own and his followers’ destruction. On the very same ship that brought the arrows, he imported thicker breast plates which he issued to those who would attend the meeting and support him. “There is not an arrow in Agins that can penetrate these breastplates. They are fresh from the factories of Zun, the best producers of defensive armour in the known world. We are safe from any arrows that the commander and his men have at their command”. As he made sure his cargo was unloaded first, he was right until he unloaded the cargo for the commander, on time and in perfect condition.
He had also assisted the commander in gathering his forces while denying his enemies admittance to the slaughter. Now the commander had announced either his compliance or foolishness to the whole world. Compliance or foolishness, neither fault served him well. The families of those who had died would turn to him for compensation or revenge. They would believe he had imported and issued the armour plates as a trick, that he had deliberately tricked them into thinking they were safe when in fact they were not.
His mind spun and calculated at a rapidity that only those who had made deals for decades could. He was broken. Defeated. There was nothing he could do now except join forces with the commander. He wondered where his men were and why they had not attacked. His men were the finest mercenaries in the known world. Unfortunately for Lord Acosta they served gold not lords. While he paid them well, he did not pay them or promise them anything after their service ended. Nor did he pay widows or orphaned children. While not merchants, mercenaries could calculate and recognise a bad deal. The captain of his guard realised very quickly if they opposed the commander, very few would survive the fight back to the port and safety. He knew the commander would have archers on every rooftop and men place to slaughter them every step of the retreat. He threw down his sword and ordered his men to do the same. He feared the commander more than the retribution of a merchant, despite that merchant man being so disgustingly rich. Money did not kill soldiers in a fight but swords and arrows did. At that moment he was facing swords and arrows not what money could buy later. The mercenary captain recognized the defeat instantly. His immediate priority was to save his men. This he did.
The commander continued to address those still standing on the death ground. The Merchants Guild would continue under new leadership, more sensible leadership that he would choose with the permission of the Merchants Guild of course. Lord Acosta, the broken man simply sagged back in his chair and nodded compliance. Next he announced Lord Acostas’ resignation from the Merchants Guild and that he would retire from his company and seek the peace and comfort of living in his country estate, far from the city and only take a small retinue and his family to ensure a simple and less stressful life. His son would take over the family business immediately.
Furthermore, the taxes and tariffs would be removed in short order in accordance with the vote. Many of the assembled gasped at this announcement. The assets, homes, businesses and all other property of those slain would be amalgamated into one merchant house that would in future provide for the defence of the city. This included all earthworks, arms, armour, horses, boats, ships, food, men and anything else the commander deemed necessary for a complete defence of the city of Agins.
A messenger arrived and handed the commander a parchment. He read it in the dying light of the day. He finished his address by advising those present that all who had missed their chance to cast their vote for removing the taxes and tariffs were now in the cities cells making provisions to leave the city never to return under pain of death. They will be allowed to take their families and one ship on the condition they took the grieving families of the men who had given their lives in having the taxes and tariffs removed.
Finally he wanted to thank the merchants for a taking the time to settle this matter in such an orderly fashion and he looked forward to entertaining any other grievances they might have. No grievances were raised so he simply stepped down from the dais and left the theatre.
As the commander walked back to his office he enjoyed listening to a small cadre of his senior officers debate a topic he had suggested. This was common for the commander as he vigorously encouraged his officers to discuss a wide variation of military, social and philosophical matters whenever the opportunities presented. This was one such opportunity and the topic was, ‘the art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected’. Lord Acostas’ name and the Agins leadership became central to the discussion.
SUMMARY
The principal of war and business, generals and merchants is essentially the same. Only the application of the principles change. Both are based on conflict and the imposition of one man over another. Whether it is armies or businesses fighting for supremacy, in the end it was always one mind trying to best another.
Groups that battle each other will eventually be controlled by one mind, it is the way of the world. To win, a commander must find that mind and study that mind in detail. To know its strengths, weaknesses, habits, preferences and ambitions. For only then can it be challenged and defeated utterly.
Groups that battle each other will eventually be controlled by one mind, it is the way of the world. To win, a commander must find that mind and study that mind in detail. To know its strengths, weaknesses, habits, preferences and ambitions. For only then can it be challenged and defeated utterly.