The Nephites, under Teancum and Moroni, spent the entire twenty-sixth year building up their defenses and planning their strategy for future Lamanite invasions. The only principle of war stated in the above verses is concerning prisoners of war. Captain Moroni instructs Teancum to retain all Lamanite prisoners as a ransom for the Nephite prisoners taken by the Lamanites (v. 8). We will see the benefits of this later, but it was a measure to save the lives of their own soldiers. It also sustains the fact that Moroni did not delight in the shedding of blood (see Alma 48:11).