To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common herd is
not the acme of excellence.
As Ts‘ao Kung remarks, 當見未萌 “the thing is to see the plant
before it has germinated,” to foresee the event before the action
has begun. Li Ch‘üan alludes to the story of Han Hsin who, when
about to attack the vastly superior army of 趙 Chao, which was
strongly entrenched in the city of 成安 Ch‘êng-an, said to his
officers: “Gentlemen, we are going to annihilate the enemy, and
shall meet again at dinner.” The officers hardly took his words
seriously, and gave a very dubious assent. But Han Hsin had
already worked out in his mind the details of a clever stratagem,
whereby, as he foresaw, he was able to capture the city and
inflict a crushing defeat on his adversary. For the full story,
see 前漢書, chap. 34, 韓信傳. Capt. Calthrop again blunders badly
with: “A victory, even if popularly proclaimed as such by the
common folk, may not be a true success.”