作战第二 | 久戰之弊

其用战也，
胜久则钝兵挫锐，攻城则力屈，久暴师则国用不足。
夫钝兵挫锐，屈力殚货，则诸侯乘其弊而起，虽有智者不能善其后矣。
故兵闻拙速，未睹巧之久也。夫兵久而国利者，未之有也。
故不尽知用兵之害者，则不能尽知用兵之利也。

When you engage in actual fighting,
if victory is long in coming, then men's weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped.
If you lay siege to a town, you will exhaust your strength.
Again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources of the State will not be equal to the strain.

Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.

Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays. There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.

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作战第二