文质彬彬·每日好词语 | 战法必本于政胜

　　战法必本于政胜

　　战争的胜败根本上取决于政治的优劣。中国古代兵家、法家从政治角度看待战争，认为战争的本质是政治，战争是政治的派生，政通人和是战争致胜的决定性因素。这与德国军事学家克劳塞维茨“战争无非是政治通过另一种手段的继续”（《战争论》）的观点有异曲同工之妙，但要早两千多年。

　　Methods of Warfare Must Be Based on the Success of Politics

　　The military outcome is determined by the strength of politics. Ancient Chinese strategists and legalists looked at war from the angle of politics, regarding war as political in essence and an extension of politics. Efficient governance and social harmony among the people were the decisive factors of winning a war. That is an expression of the same idea as the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz in his On War when he suggested that war was the continuation of politics by another mean, but the former is 2000 years earlier than the latter.

　　引例 凡战法必本于政胜，则其民不争，不争则无以私意，以上为意。（《商君书·战法》）（战争取胜的原则必须以政治上的优胜为基础，这样人民就不会相互争斗；人民不相互争斗，也就不会各逞私意，而都统一到君主的意志上来了。）

　　The principle of winning a war must be based on the success in politics. This way people will not fight each other. Not fighting each other, they will not act out of self-interest but adhere to the will of the ruler. Therefore, the rule of a successful king will consist in making the people refrain from fighting with neighbors but brave in fighting against enemies. (The Book of Lord Shang)