Treatise on Armament Technology: Logistics for River Crossings

Military Department: Volume 114 — Stopping Boats (Part 2)

Is this not truly magnificent? Yet, victory lies in the enemy failing to realize the plan in time, while failure stems from our own army's inability to maintain secrecy. The permutations of strategic opportunity are infinite; if even one detail is not kept secret, then the very means by which I intended to control the enemy will instead allow the enemy to control me.

Consider the case of Gongsun Shu original: 公孫述; a regional warlord during the early Eastern Han dynasty resisting Cen Peng original: 岑彭; a prominent general under Emperor Guangwu of Han. Shu constructed floating bridges fitted with clusters of hooks to snag the cables of Peng's ships. The tactic seemed sound. However, before long, Peng learned of the plan in advance. He set fire to the bridges and their hooks, and Shu’s troops were subsequently defeated.

When Wei Zhaoda original: 韋昭達; a general of the Chen Dynasty campaigned in Lingnan original: 嶺南; the region covering modern Guangdong and Guangxi, the rebels used bamboo cages filled with sand and stones to block Zhaoda's oars and rudders. Their ingenuity was certainly clever. However, they did not realize that Zhaoda had managed to learn of the plan beforehand. He ordered his soldiers to take knives and hack the cages apart, causing the rebel forces to collapse.

The people of the State of Wu original: 吳人; referring to the Kingdom of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period defending against the Jin Dynasty could be said to have had a good strategy. However, once their technique of using Iron Chains tie suo original: 鐵鎖 to intercept ships was leaked, they could not avoid the counter-measure of Wang Jun original: 王濬; the Jin general who led the naval invasion, who used massive rafts and Torches huoju original: 火炬 to burn through them. All these cases represent failures due to careless disclosure, while the value of— The text cuts off here, likely intended to say "valuing secrecy."