Sun Wu was a renowned militarist in the Spring and Autumn Period (770 BC-476 BC). He Lu, king of the State Wu, convened 180 beauties in his court after hearing Sun Wu was an expert in training the army, and asked Sun Wu to train the beauties.
Sun Wu divided them into two teams, appointed two concubines of He Lu as the captains, and asked each of the beauties to hold a halberd. After the teams stood in place, Sun Wu asked, “Do you know how to turn in different directions?” The women soldiers answer, “Yes, Sir.” Then, Sun Wu said again, “To march ahead, you will just look at my breast; to turn left, you will just look at my left hand; to turn right, you will just look at my right hand; and to turn around, you will just look at my back.” The women soldiers replied, “Yes, Sir!” Then, Sun Wu ordered the soldiers to fetch the axe (used to kill people in the ancient time), and stressed repeatedly that the military law was merciless, and whoever violated the military law would be severely punished.
Then, Sun Wu beat the drum to issue the command of turning right. However, the women soldiers not only failed to act as ordered, but burst into laughter.
Sun Wu stressed, “If I don’t explain the military law clearly, it will be the fault of the general.” Then, he explained again what he had told the soldiers in great detail. Then, he beat the drum to issue the command to turn left. The women soldiers still laughed, and treated the command as nothing. Sun Wu said, “It is the fault of the general to explain the rules unclearly. Now that the general has clearly told you what to do, it will be the fault of the captains and soldiers to deny the commands.”
So, he ordered other soldiers to push out the two captains and kill them. Seeing Sun Wu would kill his concubines, He Lu hurried to ask Sun Wu to spare them. However, Sun Wu replied, “Now that I am appointed the general, I will no longer accept the command of the king when I fight out.” Then, he ordered to kill the two captains, and appointed another two women soldiers in the front of the teams to act as the captains. The women soldiers got so frightened, and knew the military law was not for play. Since then, the women soldiers practiced in earnest turning in different directions, and even such complicated actions as kneeling position and standing up, and didn’t dare to play game.
This story comes from Historical Records:BiographyofSunTzuandWuQi. Later, people describe Sun Wu’s practice of explaining the military law to the women soldiers as “Repeated Commands”, which is now used to describe the repeated stress of something to people.
