Chapter XII
Explains five methods of using fire as weapon and auxiliary tactical resources.
5 argumentative units
- 01Five ways of attacking with fire
Sun Tzŭ enumerates the five categories of fire attack: burning soldiers in camp, burning stores, burning baggage trains, burning arsenals and magazines, and hurling dropping fire among the enemy.
- 02Prerequisites — means, season, and days
Fire attacks demand preparation: kindling material kept ready, dry weather, and the four lunar mansions associated with rising wind. Fire is the most disciplined of the five attacks because its conditions can be predicted but not forced.
- 03Five developments — reading the fire's effect
Once fire is set, the general must know which of five responses fits the moment: attack from outside when fire breaks out within, hold position if the enemy stays calm, follow up at the height of the flames, attack from outside when conditions allow, and never assault from leeward.
- 04Wind, water, and the limits of each element
Day winds last longer than night winds. Fire is the destructive element — it can both attack and consume. Water can intercept and divide an enemy but cannot rob him of his stores; this is why fire receives detailed treatment and water only a sentence.
- 05Enterprise, anger, and the irreversible cost of war
Sun Tzŭ closes with leadership virtue: those who try to win without enterprise waste time. The good ruler plans ahead; the good general moves only when there is something to gain. War must never be waged from spleen — anger may pass, but a destroyed kingdom never returns and the dead are not brought back.