[ What is Shock and Awe? ]

Cardinal Rule: Be The First with the Most.

Read the following articles from St Petersburg Times (http://www.sptimes.com/2003/03/02/P...shock_and.shtml) & Philly Daily News (http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/5260846.htm) on the topic of "Shock & Awe" It is nothing new esp. during the warring history of Imperial China.

Chinese military scholars who are familiar with Sun zi, knew about Sunzi using a "Shock & Awe" maneuver to gain the attention of the Emperor's royal concubines and converted them into a perfectly marching platoon.

During the warring states, the great Fan-I who served Goujian the ruler of Yue create with a psychological " Shock & Awe" strategy that shattered the mind set of their opposition and enable the Yue troops to destory the Wu Army.

From my recollection, Wu state was the same state where Sun Wu mentored the ruler in the science and art of strategy

FYI- At that time, Sun Wu has left the Wu State by the time Fan-I and Yue troops fought them. (He must have figured out the ruler was not smart enough to carry out his principles.)

Fan-I used a tactic entitled "Killing the Chickens to Shock The Monkey" where he motivated 300 condemmed prisoners to march right up to the enemy line where troops of Wu was stationed at. Concurrently, there were 500 warriors from Yue hiding in the ambush.

As the 300 condemmed men reached the enemy line, they announced their loyalty to the Yue state and slitted their throats altogether. This surprised action shocked the Wu Troops so dramatically that they began to scream in utter confusion. The confidence of the Wu solders fell apart and they fled in terror.

At that moment, Yue Troops began to attack the retreating opposition. During the onslaught, thousands of the Wu troops were slaughtered and Helu the King of Wu became mortally wounded.

Just wanted to described the dramatic impact of what a " Shock and Awe" strategy can do to the psychological state of the opposition.

Read somewhere that Fan-I was a student of Jiang Tai Gong's [of the Shang Dynasty] "the Six Secret Teachings of Conflict"

In any preparation, the principal focus of a World Class Strategist is to pinpoint the psychological weakness of the opposition's commander first, then the psychological weakness of the opposition's troops.

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Respectfully Yours,

THE CARDINAL