1. When Sun Wu was eight years old, he was sent to the "庠序"(ziangshui), a government-run formal school, to receive a systematic education in basic knowledge. At that time, the "Five Teachings" and "Six Studies" were the main courses of study at Ziangsu. The young man Sun Wu was smart and could memorize the difficult and complicated "Five Teachings" as well as the required basic cultural courses after reading them three or two times. Often other students are still buried in hard reading, he has long been memorized, ran outside to play.
On one occasion, the teacher thought he was playing hard to get, and called him back to prepare for a chastisement. The teacher asked him a question about a passage he had just learned, and Sun Wu answered it perfectly. The teacher couldn't find a reason to punish him, so he had to give up. As time went by, the teacher felt that the boy had a talent that was different from ordinary people, and that he would become a great man in the future. So he educated Sun Wu more carefully.
2. When Sun Wu was a child, he loved to listen to war stories, and he never tired of listening to them. In addition to listening to stories, Sun Wu also has a great hobby is to read books, especially military books, the family collection of military books filled the attic. Sun Wu liked to climb up to the attic and take down the bamboo slips filled with words to read them. If he didn't understand a question, he would ask a teacher hired by his family, or even go directly to his grandfather and father to ask for clarification.
On one occasion, Sun Wu read "The great things of the state, in the rituals and ron", he ran to ask his teacher: "Sir, what are the rituals? Rong is what?" The teacher thought it was a simple question that Sun Wu asked today, so he said casually, "Sacrifice is sacrifice, and Rong is military."
Sun Wu then asked, "Sacrifice is a kind of spiritual support, how can it be compared with the military as a state affair?" The teacher felt strange and could not answer for a moment. Sun Wu went on to say, "Only the military is a great matter of state, a great matter that the ruler and the minister must not fail to notice."
3. Wu Zixu recommended Sun Wu to King Helu of Wu seven times, and Helu then received Sun Wu, whose thirteen articles of "The Art of War" were y liked by Helu. King Helu had seen Sun Wu's military theories, but was still skeptical about whether Sun Wu had the ability to command in actual combat.
So Helu chose more than a hundred concubines and courtesans for Sun Wu to train. Sun Wu divided the courtesans into two teams and made two of Helu's favored concubines the captains. When Sun Wu announced the military order, the concubines and courtesans all laughed and laughed and did not take it seriously at all, Sun Wu repeatedly affirmed the military order, but it was still ineffective.
So according to the military rules, he ordered the two captains, who were also the favorite concubines of Helu, to be beheaded. The court ladies were terrified, and all of them obeyed Sun Wu's command, and a disciplined army was presented in front of the king of Wu at once, who finally approved of Sun Wu's ability.
4. The state of Wu was not strong, but after Helu reused Wu Zixu, Sun Wu and others, the state quickly became powerful, and in order to compete with Chu for control of the Jianghuai Valley, the two countries went to war. The king of Wu sent Sun Wu as a general to fight against Chu, and the Wu army defeated the Chu army in five battles, proving Sun Wu's excellent war commanding ability.
Expanded Information
Sun Wu was a famous great militarist in ancient China, and the founder of the theory of ancient military science in China.
Sun Wu, born about 552 BC, the word Changqing, and later honored as the Sage of War or Sun Zi (Sun Wu Zi), also known as the "Sage of War", known as "the teacher of a hundred generations of soldiers", "the originator of the Oriental military science". He was also known as the "Great Sage of War" and the "Master of the Art of War for a hundred generations" as well as "the originator of Oriental military science". His ancestor was a nobleman of the state of Chen, Duke Chen, who fled to the state of Qi due to civil strife and changed his surname to Tian, and when Duke Jing of Qi was meritorious, he was given the surname Sun.
Between the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the fifth century B.C., Sun Wu traveled from Qi to Wu, where he was recommended by Wu Shi (Wu Zixu), an important minister of the state of Wu, and presented his thirteen treatises on the art of war to King Helu, the king of Wu, and was reappointed as a general. He once led the Wu army to defeat the Chu army and occupied Ying, the capital city of Chu, nearly destroying the state.
Sun Tzu's thirteen treatises on the Art of War, which were revered by later generations of military strategists, were regarded as the "holy book of military science" and placed at the top of the "Seven Books of the Book of Martial Arts".
Sun Tzu's The Art of War occupies an extremely important position in China and even in the world's military history, military academic history and history of philosophical thought, and has been widely utilized in the fields of politics, economy, military, culture and philosophy. Translated into English, French, German and Japanese, the book has become the most famous international book of military science paradigms.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Sun Wu