Mozi Stops a War

G ongshu Ban built a war engine for the state of Chu — cloud-ladders, towers tall enough to scale any city wall — and when they were finished, Chu meant to march them against the state of Song. Mozi heard. He set out from Qi on foot and walked ten days and ten nights without stopping, and came at last to Ying, the Chu capital, and went to find the man who had built the ladders. Gongshu Ban built the cloud-ladder engines for Chu; they were completed, and were to be used to attack Song. Master Mozi heard of it. He set out from Qi, walked ten days and ten nights, and arrived at Ying, where he saw Gongshu Ban.

"What does my master want of me?" Ban asked. Mozi said, plainly: "A man up north has insulted me. I want you to kill him for me." Ban's face went sour. Mozi pressed: "Let me pay you. Ten measures of gold." And Ban drew himself up: "My principles forbid me to kill a man." Ban said, "What does the master command of me?" Mozi said, "There is a man in the north who has insulted me. I wish to borrow your hand to kill him." Ban was displeased. Mozi said, "Let me offer you ten jin of gold." Ban said, "My sense of right firmly forbids me to kill people."

Then Mozi stood and bowed twice. "Let me explain. Up north I heard you had built ladders to attack Song. What crime has Song committed? Chu has land to spare and too few people. To spend the lives you are short of, grabbing for the land you already have too much of — that cannot be called wise. To attack Song, which has done no wrong — that cannot be called decent. To know all this and not stop it — that cannot be called loyal. And to refuse to kill one man on principle, then go kill a whole city — that is a man who cannot tell one case from the next." Ban had no answer. Mozi rose, bowed twice, and said: "Let me explain. I came from the north and heard you had built ladders to attack Song. What crime has Song committed? The state of Jing has land to spare but is short of people. To destroy what you lack in order to fight over what you already have in excess cannot be called wise. To attack Song, which is without guilt, cannot be called benevolent. To understand this and not contend against it cannot be called loyal. To contend and not prevail cannot be called strong. To hold that killing few is wrong by your sense of right, yet kill many, cannot be called knowing how to reason by kind." Ban was convinced.

“To attack a state that has done you no wrong cannot be called decent. And to know this, and not stop it, cannot be called loyal.”

"Then," said Mozi, "why not call it off?" "I can't," Ban said. "I've already given my word to the king." "Then bring me to the king," Mozi said. Ban agreed. Mozi said, "Then why not stop it?" Ban said, "It cannot be done. I have already spoken of it to the king." Mozi said, "Why not present me to the king?" Ban said, "Very well."

Before the King of Chu, Mozi laid a riddle. "Suppose a man owns a carriage painted and fine, and yet wants to steal his neighbour's broken-down cart. Owns brocade and silk, and wants to steal his neighbour's coarse short coat. Eats fine meat and grain, and wants to steal his neighbour's husks and chaff. What kind of man is that?" The king said: "A man like that must have a sickness for stealing." Mozi saw the king and said: "Suppose there were a man here who, setting aside his own ornamented carriage, wished to steal his neighbour's worn-out cart; who, setting aside his own brocade and embroidery, wished to steal his neighbour's coarse short coat; who, setting aside his own fine meat and grain, wished to steal his neighbour's husks and chaff. What sort of man would this be?" The king said, "He must be suffering from a mania for stealing."

Then Mozi sprang the trap. "Chu's land runs five thousand li across; Song's barely five hundred. That is the fine carriage against the broken cart. Chu has the Yunmeng marshes thick with rhinoceros and deer, rivers that are the richest in the world for fish and turtle; Song hasn't so much as a pheasant or a fox. That is fine meat against chaff. Chu has its tall pines and cedars and great timber; Song has no tall trees at all. That is brocade against the coarse coat. To my eyes, sending your engineers against Song is the same kind of act. I can see you will only break what is right, and gain nothing." The king said: "Well argued. And yet — Gongshu Ban has already built me the cloud-ladders. I will take Song." Mozi said: "The land of Jing is five thousand li square; the land of Song, five hundred. This is like the ornamented carriage and the worn-out cart. Jing has Yunmeng, full of rhinoceroses and deer; the fish, turtles, and crocodiles of the Yangtze and the Han are the richest under heaven; while Song is said to have not even pheasants, rabbits, or foxes. This is like fine meat and grain against husks and chaff. Jing has its tall pines, patterned catalpas, and great timber trees; Song has no tall wood at all. This is like brocade against the coarse coat. To attack Song with your three classes of officers, I hold, is of the same kind. I see that you will surely injure what is right and gain nothing." The king said, "Well said. And yet Gongshu Ban has made me the cloud-ladders; I must take Song."

So Mozi turned to Gongshu Ban, and they fought the war out on the floor. Mozi loosened his belt and laid it down for a city wall, and set out little sticks and tablets for the engines of attack and defence. Ban came at the wall nine different ways, shifting his machines, probing for the gap. Nine times Mozi threw him back. Ban ran out of ways to attack; Mozi still had defences to spare. Then he turned to Gongshu Ban. Mozi loosened his belt and made it a city wall, and used small tablets for the engines. Ban set up nine variations of his city-attacking machinery; Mozi repelled all nine. Ban's engines of attack were exhausted, while Mozi's means of defence were not used up.

Ban was beaten — and he said, darkly: "I know how I could deal with you. But I won't say it." Mozi answered, just as quiet: "I know what you mean. And I won't say it either." The king asked what the two of them were talking about. Ban was thwarted. He said, "I know the means by which I could fend you off, but I will not say it." Mozi too said, "I know the means by which you would fend me off, but I will not say it." The King of Chu asked the reason.

Mozi said it plain: "What Gongshu Ban means is simply to have me killed. Kill me, and Song has no one to defend it, and Chu can attack. But my disciple Qin Huali and three hundred others are already on the walls of Song, holding the very defences I have shown you here, waiting for the Chu army to come. You may kill me — you cannot kill the defence." The King of Chu said: "Well, then. Let us not attack Song." Mozi said: "Gongshu Ban's intention is nothing more than to have me killed. Kill me, and Song will have no one able to defend it, and may be attacked. But my disciples Qin Huali and the rest, three hundred men, are already holding my instruments of defence, waiting upon the walls of Song for the invaders from Chu. Though you kill me, you cannot cut off the defence." The King of Chu said, "Good. Then I ask that Song not be attacked."

On his way home Mozi passed back through Song — the very city he had saved. It was raining. He stopped at a gate to shelter in the gateway, and the man guarding it would not let him in. So it is said: when a man does his work in the unseen, the crowd never knows what he did for them; only the one who fights out in the open gets the credit. On his way back Mozi passed through Song. It was raining, and he took shelter within a city gate, but the gatekeeper would not let him in. Thus it is said: "The one who orders things at the level of the unseen — the many do not know his merit; the one who contends in the open — the many know him."

公輸 The original Chinese · honored as an artifact

公輸盤為楚造雲梯之械，成，將以攻宋。子墨子聞之，起於齊，行十日十夜而至於郢，見公輸盤。

Opening lines, classical Chinese · The Mozi 墨子