When hearts of soldiers turn towards home, the army has lost the will to fight. Therefore, it is time for the army to beat an orderly retreat unless the supreme commander wants his warriors to ‘wait in blood’ or get massacred by a hasty recall of troops. (Think Iraqi army’s hasty retreat from Kuwait)
In the Shijing, these warriors of old were probably aware that after ‘waiting in the mud’, they will shortly be left ‘waiting in blood’ leading to their untimely death:
How few of us are left, how few!
Why do we not go back?
Were it not for our prince and his concerns,
What should we be doing here in the dew?
How few of us are left, how few!
Why do we not go back?
Were it not for our prince’s own concerns,
What should we be doing here in the mud?
[Book of Songs 122 Arthur Waley]
(Also refer to the third and fourth lines in Hexagram 5 Xu Waiting)
In times of war, faced with insurmountable problems and perhaps ‘riding a ferocious tiger’, it is wise to beat an orderly retreat even if it is no longer a cheerful retreat. Otherwise it could prove difficult to rebuild your army (with reserves) to fight another day.
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