;

And so in chariot battles

Critical Text

故	車	戰	得	車	十
gu	che	zhan	de	che	shi
so	chariot	battle	obtain	chariot	ten

乘	已	上	賞	其	先
cheng	yi	shang	shang	qi	xian
of-them	and	up	reward	his	first

得	者	而	更	其	旌
de	zhe	er	geng	qi	jing
obtain	one-who	and	change	its	flags

旗	車	雜	而	乘	之
qi	che	za	er	cheng	zhi
pennants	chariot	mix	and	ride	it

卒	供	而	養	之	是
zu	gong	er	yang	zhi	shi
soldier	give	and	care	them	this

謂	胜	敵	而	益	強
wei	sheng	di	er	yi	qiang
called	victorious	enemy	and	increase	strength

Yinqueshan Text

。。。車戰。。。卒　共養之是謂胜敵而益強

Shiyijia zhu Text

故車戰得車十乘已上賞其蹥得者而更其旌旗車雜而乘之卒善而養之是謂胜敵而益強

Translation

And so in chariot battles, when more than ten chariots are captured, reward him who first captures one. Then change their flags and pennants. When the chariots are mixed together, ride them. Supply the captives and care for them. This is what is meant by "victorious over the enemy and so increasing one's strength."

Annotations

Cao Cao's notes explain this logic. One awards him who makes the first capture, because that is an especially daunting task. But one bestows such a reward only if ten or more enemy chariots have been captured, in order to motivate further exploits.

Jens Ostergard Petersen suggests that the reason one so cares for the captives is that they may then drive their own chariots against the army from which they have just been extracted (private communication).