Chapter 33 repeated orders

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a famous military scientist named Sun Wu. He brought his own "Sun Tzu's Art of War" to see King Helu of Wu.After reading it, King Wu said: "I have read all thirteen of your art of war. Do you want to try it with my army?" Sun Wu said yes.The King of Wu asked again: "Is it okay to use women for experiments?" Sun Wu also said yes.So King Wu summoned 180 beauties in the palace and asked Sun Wu to train them. Sun Wu divided them into two teams, with the two palace concubines favored by King Wu as the captains, and asked them each to hold a long halberd.After the team stood up, Sun Wu asked, "Do you know how to turn forward, backward, left, and right?" The female soldiers said, "Yes." My left hand; to the right, look at my right hand; to the right, look at my back." All the female soldiers said: "Understood." So Sun Wu ordered to bring out the iron axe (a torture tool used in ancient times), and admonished them repeatedly.After speaking, he beat the drum and gave the order to turn right.Unexpectedly, not only did the female soldiers not follow the order, but they laughed out loud.Seeing this, Sun Wu said: "If the explanation is unclear and the explanation is not clear, it should be the fault of the generals." So he explained to them again in detail what he just said.Then beat the drum to give the order to turn left.All the female soldiers still just laughed.

Sun Wu then said: "It is the general's fault if the explanation is not clear and the explanation is not clear. If the explanation is clear and the order is not obeyed, it is the fault of the captain and the soldiers." After speaking, he ordered his left and right attendants to push out the two captains and behead them.Seeing that Sun Wu wanted to behead his beloved concubine, King Wu hurriedly sent someone to intercede with Sun Wu, but Sun Wu said: "Since I have been ordered to be a general, I will be in the army, and the king's order is not acceptable!" So he ordered the two female captains to be beheaded. , and then ordered the two leaders to be captains.Since then, all the female soldiers have carefully practiced complex movements such as forward and backward, left and right, and even kneeling and standing, and they dare not play games anymore.

This story originally comes from the "Biography of Sun Tzu Wu Qi" in "Historical Records".Later, people extended Sun's repeated explanation to the female soldiers as "repeated orders and five applications", which means repeatedly admonishing people.For example, the government of a certain place has repeatedly warned food stores to keep food clean and hygienic, so as not to damage the health of customers. We can say that the government has "repeatedly ordered" food stores to ensure cleanliness: everyone already knows it.