On contentious ground, I would hurry up my rear.
This is Ts‘ao Kung’s interpretation. Chang Yü adopts it, saying:
當疾進其後使首尾俱至 “We must quickly bring up our rear, so that
head and tail may both reach the goal.” That is, they must not be
allowed to straggle up a long way apart. Mei Yao-ch‘ên offers
another equally plausible explanation: 敵未至其地我若在後則當疾趨以爭之
“Supposing the enemy has not yet reached the coveted position, and
we are behind him, we should advance with all speed in order to
dispute its possession.” 其 would thus denote the enemy, 後 being
the preposition, and 趨 would retain its usual intransitive sense.
Cf. VII. § 4: 後人發先人至. Ch‘ên Hao, on the other hand, assuming
that the enemy has had time to select his own ground, quotes VI. § 1,
where Sun Tzŭ warns us against coming exhausted to the attack. His
own idea of the situation is rather vaguely expressed: 若地利在前先
分精銳以據之彼若恃衆來爭我以大衆趨其後無不尅者 “If there is a favourable
position lying in front of you, detach a picked body of troops to
occupy it; then if the enemy, relying on their numbers, come up to
make a fight for it, _you may fall quickly on their rear_ with your
main body, and victory will be assured.” It was thus, he adds,
that Chao Shê beat the army of Ch‘in. [See p. 57.] Li Ch‘üan would
read 多 for 趨, it is not easy to see why.