If you set a fully equipped army in march in order to snatch an
advantage, the chances are that you will be too late.
The original text has 故 instead of 舉; but a verb is needed to
balance 委.
On the other hand, to detach a flying column for the purpose involves
the sacrifice of its baggage and stores.
委軍 is evidently unintelligible to the Chinese commentators, who
paraphrase the sentence as though it began with 棄輜. Absolute
tautology in the apodosis can then only be avoided by drawing an
impossibly fine distinction between 棄 and 捐. I submit my own
rendering without much enthusiasm, being convinced that there is
some deep-seated corruption in the text. On the whole, it is clear
that Sun Tzŭ does not approve of a lengthy march being undertaken
without supplies. Cf. _infra_, § 11.