The Maiden of Yue and her patron, King Goujian, were no doubt familiar with the writings of Sun Tzu, the brilliant Chinese military strategist who had recently written The Art of War (ca. 544-496 BC). According to the Shi-ji (“Historical Records,” a history of China by Sima Qian, 109-91 BC), Sun Tzu famously demonstrated how to command an army to King Helu of the Wu State, King Goujian’s dire enemy. To test Sun Tzu’s training techniques, the king asked him to transform 180 concubines from his palace into disciplined soldiers. Sun Tzu divided the ladies, armed with spears and battle-axes, into two companies headed by the king’s two favorite consorts and drilled them in weapons use and battle formations. When the two concubine “officers” allowed their soldiers to giggle instead of obey orders, Sun Tzu beheaded them and replaced them with the emperor’s next two favorites. After this, the women’s army achieved perfect accuracy and precision in their drills, which convinced Helu to appoint Sun Tzu as his general. The point of the demonstration was to showcase Sun Tzu’s methods, using the most unpromising recruits. Yet his success also showed that, with training, women could become soldiers.7
A pragmatic Chinese war treatise, The Book of Lord Shang (ca. 390 BC), advised commanders to divide their populations into three armies of both sexes to defend cities. Old or weak men and women would control food and supply chains for the populace and army. Strong, ablebodied women would build traps and spiked obstacles, dig pitfalls, defend fortresses, and carry out scorched earth policies. Strong, ablebodied men served in the front lines. Similar practices were used during a siege of Sparta in 272 BC, when the king’s daughter Archidamis directed the women in digging ditches, bringing up weapons, and sharpening spears. But Shang went further: “Make sure these three armies never intermingle. If the robust men and women take pleasure in each other’s company their emotions will focus on their own and each other’s safety, and you must guard against their pity for the old and feeble. Compassion causes even brave people to be anxious and it causes fearful people to be afraid to fight.”8
World History
