If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even
though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory,
then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.
Cf. VIII. § 3 _fin._ Huang-shih Kung of the Ch‘in dynasty, who
is said to have been the patron of 張良 Chang Liang and to have
written the 三略, has these words attributed to him: 出軍行師將在自專
進退內御則功難成故聖主明王跪而推轂 “The responsibility of setting an
army in motion must devolve on the general alone; if advance and
retreat are controlled from the Palace, brilliant results will
hardly be achieved. Hence the god-like ruler and the enlightened
monarch are content to play a humble part in furthering their
country’s cause [_lit._, kneel down to push the chariot wheel].”
This means that 閫外之事將軍裁之 “in matters lying outside the
zenana, the decision of the military commander must be absolute.”
Chang Yü also quotes the saying: 軍中不聞天子之詔 “Decrees of the
Son of Heaven do not penetrate the walls of a camp.” Napoleon, who
has been accused of allowing his generals too little independence
of action, speaks in the same sense: “Un général en chef n’est pas
à couvert de ses fautes à la guerre par un ordre de son souverain
ou du ministre, quand celui qui le donne est éloigné du champ
d’opération, et qu’il connaît mal, ou ne connaît pas du tout le
dernier état des choses.”[178]