前出塞九首·其六
唐 · 杜甫
挽弓当挽强，用箭当用长。射人先射马，擒贼先擒王。杀人亦有限，列国自有疆。苟能制侵陵，岂在多杀伤。
Nine Songs from the Frontier·The Sixth
Tang Dynasty by Du Fu
The bow should be strong and the arrow be long. He who shoots the man first shoots the horse, to capture the thieves first capture the the thief leader; Killing is also limited, and nations have their own borders. As long as you can control the invasion will be enough, does the war mean killing more ?
译文：拉弓要拉最坚硬的，射箭要射最长的。射人先要射马，擒贼先要擒住他们的首领。杀人要有限制，各个国家都有边界。只要能够制止敌人的侵犯就可以了，难道打仗就是为了多杀人吗？
出塞在两军对战中，如果把敌人的主帅擒获或者击毙，其余的兵马则不战自败。比喻在解决事情上抓住关键，解决主要矛盾，其他的细节便可以迎刃而解。
In a battle between the two armies, if the enemy's coach is captured or killed, the remaining soldiers and horses will lose themselves without fighting. Metaphor grasps the key to solving the problem, solves the main contradiction, and other details can be easily solved.
其实古今中外的战争，几乎每一场战争都是以大量士兵为炮灰的战争模式，未来的战争很有可能变为先杀将领的模式。
这或许也能对当权者产生一种警醒效用，倘若当权者穷兵黩武、频繁的发起战争却不用承担战争的恶果，而士兵、平民却成为了战争绞肉机的炮灰，那么这种斩杀首领式的未来战争模式很大程度上能将享受权利与付出代价相平衡，这样既能制约当权者迫使他们减少战争，也能将平民从战争中解放出来，减少其成为炮灰的可能……
In fact, in the wars of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, almost every war is a war mode with a large number of soldiers as cannon fodder. Future wars are likely to become a mode of killing the generals first.
This may also have a vigilant effect on those in power. If those in power are brutal and frequently launching wars without having to bear the consequences of the war, and soldiers and civilians have become cannon fodder for war meat grinders, then this type of beheading the leader . To a large extent, the future model of war can balance the enjoyment of rights with the cost. This can restrict those in power and force them to reduce wars, but also liberate civilians from wars and reduce the possibility of them becoming cannon fodder...
民间有“打蛇要打七寸”的说法，也是这个意思，蛇无头不行，打了蛇头，这条蛇也就完了。此计用于军事，是指打垮敌军主力，擒拿敌军首领，使敌军彻底瓦解的谋略。
擒贼擒王，就是捕杀敌军首领或者摧毁敌人的首脑机关，敌方陷于混乱，便于彻底击溃之。指挥员不能满足于小的胜利，要通观全局，扩大战果，以得全胜。如果错过时机，放走了敌军主力和敌方首领，就好比放虎归山，后患无穷。
There is a saying among the folks that "a snake must be hit by seven inches", which means that a snake has no head, and if it hits the head, the snake will be over.
When used in military affairs, this strategy refers to the strategy of destroying the main force of the enemy, capturing the leader of the enemy, and completely disintegrating the enemy.
To capture the thieves first capture the the thief leader ,means this will kill the enemy's army or destroy the enemy's head organ. The enemy is in chaos and it is easy to completely defeat it. Commanders shouldnot be satisfied with small victories. They must look at the overall situation and expand the results to achieve a complete victory. If you miss the opportunity and let go the enemy's main force and the enemy leader, it is like letting a tiger return to the mountain, with endless troubles.
