At the critical moment, the leader of an army acts like one who has
climbed up a height and then kicks away the ladder behind him.
I must candidly confess that I do not understand the syntax of
帥與之期, though the meaning is fairly plain. The difficulty has
evidently been felt, for Tu Mu tells us that one text omits 期如.
It is more likely, however, that a couple of characters have
dropped out.
He carries his men deep into hostile territory before he shows his hand.
發其機, literally, “releases the spring” (see V. § 15), that is,
takes some decisive step which makes it impossible for the army to
return—like 項羽 Hsiang Yü, who sunk his ships after crossing a
river. Ch‘ên Hao, followed by Chia Lin, understands the words less
well as 發其心機 “puts forth every artifice at his command.” But 機
in this derived sense occurs nowhere else in Sun Tzŭ.