太公兵法曰：「致慈愛之心，立武威之戰，以卑其眾；練其精銳，砥礪其節，以高其氣；分為五選，異其旗章，勿使冒亂；堅其行陣，連其什伍，以禁淫非；壘陳之次，車騎之處，勒兵之勢，軍之法令，賞罰之數，使士赴火蹈刃，陷陣取將，死不旋踵者，多異於令之將者也。」
In the Military Treatise of Tai-gong, a passage says: “A commander must have a warm and compassionate heart and achieve impressive victories in order to make his troops submit willingly to his leadership.
He must nurture the enthusiasm of his troops and sharpen, as on a whetstone, their sense of integrity so as to raise their fighting spirit to a high pitch.
He must divide his forces into separate units, each with its own banners and insignia, and take care that nothing becomes unclear or disorderly.
He must stabilize his troop formations and establish links between larger and smaller units so that nothing random or improper occurs.” The ordering of bases and formations, the management of chariots and horsemen, the discrimination with which force is applied, the regulations and commands that are put into place, and the system of rewards and punishments outlined in this text can enable troops to walk though fire and tread on knives in order to break an enemy formation and capture its commander without turning heel in the face of death—all this is quite different from the practices of generals of our own era.