In night-fighting, then, make much use of signal-fires and drums, and
in fighting by day, of flags and banners, as a means of influencing
the ears and eyes of your army.
The _T‘ung Tien_ has the bad variant 便 for 變. With regard to the
latter word, I believe I have hit off the right meaning, the whole
phrase being slightly elliptical for “influencing the movements of
the army through their senses of sight and hearing.” Li Ch‘üan, Tu
Mu and Chia Lin certainly seem to understand it thus. The other
commentators, however, take 民 (or 人) as the enemy, and 變 as
equivalent to 變惑 or 變亂 “to perplex” or “confound.” This does
not agree so well with what has gone before, though on the other
hand it renders the transition to § 27 less abrupt. The whole
question, I think, hinges on the alternative readings 民 and 人.
The latter would almost certainly denote the enemy. Ch‘ên Hao
alludes to 李光弼 Li Kuang-pi’s night ride to 河陽 Ho-yang at the
head of 500 mounted men; they made such an imposing display with
torches, that though the rebel leader 史思明 Shih Ssŭ-ming had a
large army, he did not dare to dispute their passage. [Ch‘ên Hao
gives the date as 天寳末 A.D. 756; but according to the 新唐書 New
T‘ang History, 列傳 61, it must have been later than this, probably
760.]