has a there been a honorable victory without resortiing cruelty. war is war.
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Perhaps the following counts?
Guo Ziyi is a famous general in the Tang dynasty. Some people consider the late Tany dynasty survived solely because of him.
"The worst came when the hundred thousand Tibetan regulars actually surrounded the Capital city of Chang'an soon afterward. This was the height of Tibetan power, but it is also the height of Guo's career. Prepared, Guo sent a small force of cavalry to scout the Tibetans with given orders of what to do. This force of men were to lit fire randomly in places where the Tibetans can see them, and retreated immediately. Secret messages was sent to Chang'an to ordered citizens to hit the gong and blow fireworks. The Tibetans were puzzled in this action and when rumors state that Guo Ziyi is coming to them with a large force, the whole force panicked and scattered. One by one, Tibetan army began to deserted and this battle was won without any loss in both sides. Many Chinese military historians stated that this is the cleanest war that had been war since its corrsponded to what Sun Tzu had in mind, "a war with no loss in each side but simply play out a desired effect of the winner". There are also disperancy in the amount of troops Guo sent, some Chinese text stated that Guo had simply thriteen riders as scouts but the Tibetan text stated there were two hundred. Nevertheless, it is a great victory, and when Guo Ziyi arrived with his "large" force of militia, Daizong appeared to him and stated, "If the country had just use general earlier, this would never happen.「用卿不早,故及於此。」"
Sorry for using Wikipedia but it is the easiest English source I can find.
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