What does it mean to defeat the enemy without fighting?

Defeating the enemy without fighting comes from the Art of War, which is intended to make the enemy lose its fighting capacity and achieve the goal of complete victory. At present, it means that the enemy can yield even if the swords of the two armies do not meet.

Sun Tzu said: the general principle to measure the victory of a war is: the best policy is to make the enemy country surrender to us intact, while breaking through the enemy country to make it incomplete and damaged is slightly inferior; It is the best policy to completely surrender the soldiers of the first enemy army (12500 people as one army), but it is slightly inferior to defeat the first enemy army by force; It is the best policy to make the soldiers of the enemy's first brigade (500 people as one brigade) surrender intact, but it is slightly inferior to defeat the enemy's first brigade by force;

It is the best policy to let an enemy soldier (100 is a soldier) surrender all the officers and men. It is better to defeat a soldier. It is the best policy to let all the enemy's soldiers surrender, but it is better to defeat one. Therefore, winning every battle is brilliant, but it is not the best; Before the siege, it is best to make the enemy's military capabilities (including command and combat capabilities) seriously inadequate and unable to resist at all.

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Baidu encyclopedia-defeat the enemy without fighting