 Teaching the people to “sing and chant only about war” could easily refer to military indoctrination, such as we encounter in other countries that employed mass armies. Yet the Book of Lord Shang never speaks of, e.g., adoration of martial spirit, dehumanization of the enemy, identifying martiality with masculinity, and similar devices employed in militaristic education elsewhere. Rather, for Shang Yang and other contributors to “his” book “teaching” means simply the people’s internalization of the fact that the only way to satisfy their desires for riches and glory is to excel in war. Hence war, which elsewhere in the book is frankly associated with what the people hate (Shang jun shu 18: 108; Book of Lord Shang 18.2), becomes the focus of the people’s aspirations. “Teaching” is then not about ideological indoctrination; it is just about willful compliance with the government’s policies.