56. Bestow rewards without regard to rule,
[Wu Tzu (ch. 3) less wisely says: "Let advance be richly
rewarded and retreat be heavily punished."]
issue orders
[Literally, "hang" or post up."]
without regard to previous arrangements;
["In order to prevent treachery," says Wang Hsi. The
general meaning is made clear by Ts`ao Kung's quotation from the
SSU-MA FA: "Give instructions only on sighting the enemy; give
rewards when you see deserving deeds." Ts`ao Kung's paraphrase:
"The final instructions you give to your army should not
correspond with those that have been previously posted up."
Chang Yu simplifies this into "your arrangements should not be
divulged beforehand." And Chia Lin says: "there should be no
fixity in your rules and arrangements." Not only is there danger
in letting your plans be known, but war often necessitates the
entire reversal of them at the last moment.]
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