If you are careful of your men,
Ts‘ao Kung says: 向水草可放牧養畜 “Make for fresh water and pasture,
where you can turn out your animals to graze.” And the other
commentators follow him, apparently taking 生 as = 牲. Cf. Mencius,
V. 1. ix. 1, where 養牲者 means a cattle-keeper. But here 養生
surely has reference to the health of the troops. It is the title
of Chuang Tzŭ’s third chapter, where it denotes moral rather than
physical well-being.
and camp on hard ground,
實 must mean dry and solid, as opposed to damp and marshy, ground.
This is to be found as a rule in high places, so the commentators
explain 實 as practically equivalent to 高.
the army will be free from disease of every kind,
Chang Yü says: “The dryness of the climate will prevent the
outbreak of illness.”
and this will spell victory.