In the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), the famous strategist Sun Wu, also known as Sun Tzu, came to see the King of the State of Wu, bringing along his great work "The Art of War." He offered to help turn the State of Wu into a more powerful kingdom by training a strong army for it. The king was not quite convinced and asked, "Can you try your method out on a small army?"
"Yes," Sun Wu answered.
"And try it out on some women?"
"Why not?"
Then the king called in one hundred and eighty maids of honor and ordered Sun Wu to train them.
Sun Wu organized the young ladies into two teams and appointed two of the king's favorite concubines team leaders. Everyone was given a weapon and stood in line.
Sun Wu asked the women, "Do you know how to march forward, backward, to the left and to the right?"
"Yes, we do," they replied.
In spite of this, Sun Wu explained to them in great detail how to march in the four directions. He also told them time and again that they must obey orders and explained why.
Then, Sun Wu beat the drum and ordered the army to march to the right. To his disappointment, the young ladies who had never received military training before did not act as he had ordered but giggled. Sun Wu did not blame them but said in all seriousness, "It's the general's fault if he hasn't made himself clear." He then repeated several times what he had said a moment before.
Now, he beat the drum and gave an order to march to the left. The ladies still giggled instead of taking his order. This time, Sun Wu said seriously, "Now the order has been made clear, so that's the leaders' faults not to obey that!" He ordered to behead the two leaders.
The king who was watching the training all the time was shocked and immediately sent someone to plead for mercy for his two concubines. But Sun Wu rejected the pleading. On his insistence, the two team leaders were executed. Sun Wu appointed two new team leaders and went on with the training. Everybody turned very serious and acted correctly to Sun's orders, just like soldiers.
From then on, the troops of the state of Wu were trained by Sun Wu and became stronger and stronger.
Also, from how Sun Wu repeated his orders comes the idiom "Repeating an order time and again."
sān lìng wǔ shēn
三令五申
?????? 春秋時期，著名的軍事家孫武（即孫子）帶著他的著作《孫子兵法》去見吳王。他提出要幫助吳國訓練一支強大的軍隊，使吳國成為一個更加強大的國家。 吳王并不是非常相信他，問道：“你能用一支小型軍隊操演一下你的方法嗎？”
?????? 孫子回答說：“可以?！?
?????? “能用女子來操演嗎？”
?????? “可以啊?！?/p>
?????? 于是吳王召來一百八十名宮女，命令孫武來訓練她們。
?????? 孫武將宮女分為兩隊，叫吳王的兩個寵姬擔任隊長。給她們每人一件武器，排成一行。
?????? 接著，孫武問她們，“你們知道如何向前，向后，朝左，朝右？”
?????? 她們說：“知道呀?！?/p>
?????? 但是，孫武還是把這些詳詳細細地向她們解釋了一遍。他還重復了許多遍，告訴她們必須遵守命令，也解釋了原因。
?????? 然后，孫武敲鼓，命令隊伍朝右。令他失望的是，那些從未接受過軍事訓練的年輕女子只是哈哈地笑，沒有遵守他的命令。孫武并沒有責備她們，只是嚴肅地說：“號令沒有交代清楚，是將軍的錯誤。”于是，他把剛作的解釋又重復了許多遍。
?????? 他又擊鼓，命令隊伍朝左。那些女子還是哈哈地笑，不聽號令。這回，孫武嚴肅地說：“號令即明，不遵守就是頭領(lǐng)的錯?！彼铝顚蓚€隊長斬首。
?????? 一直在觀看操演的吳王大驚，急忙派人替這兩個寵姬求情。但孫武拒絕了。在他的堅持下，這兩個隊長被處死。他又重新指定了兩名隊長，繼續(xù)操演。這回，每個人都非常嚴肅，按照號令正確地進行操演，就像是士兵一樣。
?????? 自此，吳國的軍隊就由孫武訓練，并且日益強大。
?????? 而成語“三令五申”就是由孫武反復說明他的命令而來。
zì yán zì yǔ
自言自語
speak one's thoughts aloud; talk to oneself; think aloud; soliloquize
