[ "Shock and Awe"]

This entry on "Shock and Awe" is based on the following articles from St Petersburg Times & Philly Daily News. It is nothing new esp. in the warring history of Imperial China.

We all knew that Sun zi used 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 where Sun Wu mentored the ruler in the science and art of strategy

FYI- @ 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 called "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 did not read "Sunzi The Art of War". His text was "the Six Secret Teachings" by Jiang Tai Gong. A book that was written before Sunzi AoW was ever published.

In any competition, the World Class Strategist focuses on pinpointing the psychological weakness of the opposition's commander. The secondary focus is to focus on the psychological weakness of the opposition's troops.

__________________
Respectfully Yours,

The CARDINAL

"In the Field of Observation, Fortune Favors the Prepared (and the Bold).

"The stillness in stillness is not the true stillness; only when there is stillness in motion does the universal rhythm manifest." - Old Daoist Text