1. Sun Tzŭ said: In war, the general receives his commands from the
sovereign.
2. Having collected an army and concentrated his forces, he must blend
and harmonise the different elements thereof before pitching his camp.
["Chang Yu says: "the establishment of harmony and confidence between
the higher and lower ranks before venturing into the field;" and he
quotes a saying of Wu Tzŭ (chap. 1 ad init.): "Without harmony in the
State, no military expedition can be undertaken; without harmony in the
army, no battle array can be formed." In an historical romance Sun Tzŭ
is represented as saying to Wu Yuan: "As a general rule, those who are
waging war should get rid of all the domestic troubles before
proceeding to attack the external foe."]
3. After that, comes tactical manœuvering, than which there is nothing
more difficult.
[I have departed slightly from the traditional interpretation of Ts’ao
Kung, who says: "From the time of receiving the sovereign’s
instructions until our encampment over against the enemy, the tactics
to be pursued are most difficult." It seems to me that the tactics or
manœuvers can hardly be said to begin until the army has sallied forth
and encamped, and Ch’ien Hao’s note gives color to this view: "For
levying, concentrating, harmonizing and entrenching an army, there are
plenty of old rules which will serve. The real difficulty comes when we
engage in tactical operations." Tu Yu also observes that "the great
difficulty is to be beforehand with the enemy in seizing favourable
position."]
The difficulty of tactical manœuvering consists in turning the devious
into the direct, and misfortune into gain.
[This sentence contains one of those highly condensed and somewhat
enigmatical expressions of which Sun Tzŭ is so fond. This is how it is
explained by Ts’ao Kung: "Make it appear that you are a long way off,
then cover the distance rapidly and arrive on the scene before your
opponent." Tu Mu says: "Hoodwink the enemy, so that he may be remiss
and leisurely while you are dashing along with utmost speed." Ho Shih
gives a slightly different turn: "Although you may have difficult
ground to traverse and natural obstacles to encounter this is a
drawback which can be turned into actual advantage by celerity of
movement." Signal examples of this saying are afforded by the two
famous passages across the Alps—that of Hannibal, which laid Italy at
his mercy, and that of Napoleon two thousand years later, which
resulted in the great victory of Marengo.]
4. Thus, to take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the enemy
out of the way, and though starting after him, to contrive to reach the
goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of _deviation_.
[Tu Mu cites the famous march of Chao She in 270 B.C. to relieve the
town of O-yu, which was closely invested by a Ch’in army. The King of
Chao first consulted Lien P’o on the advisability of attempting a
relief, but the latter thought the distance too great, and the
intervening country too rugged and difficult. His Majesty then turned
to Chao She, who fully admitted the hazardous nature of the march, but
finally said: "We shall be like two rats fighting in a whole—and the
pluckier one will win!" So he left the capital with his army, but had
only gone a distance of 30 _li_ when he stopped and began throwing up
entrenchments. For 28 days he continued strengthening his
fortifications, and took care that spies should carry the intelligence
to the enemy. The Ch’in general was overjoyed, and attributed his
adversary’s tardiness to the fact that the beleaguered city was in the
Han State, and thus not actually part of Chao territory. But the spies
had no sooner departed than Chao She began a forced march lasting for
two days and one night, and arrive on the scene of action with such
astonishing rapidity that he was able to occupy a commanding position
on the "North hill" before the enemy had got wind of his movements. A
crushing defeat followed for the Ch’in forces, who were obliged to
raise the siege of O-yu in all haste and retreat across the border.]
5. Manœuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined
multitude, most dangerous.
[I adopt the reading of the _T’ung Tien_, Cheng Yu-hsien and the _T’u
Shu_, since they appear to apply the exact nuance required in order to
make sense. The commentators using the standard text take this line to
mean that manœuvers may be profitable, or they may be dangerous: it all
depends on the ability of the general.]
6. If you set a fully equipped army in march in order to snatch an
advantage, the chances are that you will be too late. On the other
hand, to detach a flying column for the purpose involves the sacrifice
of its baggage and stores.
[Some of the Chinese text is unintelligible to the Chinese
commentators, who paraphrase the sentence. 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.]
7. Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff-coats, and make
forced marches without halting day or night, covering double the usual
distance at a stretch,
[The ordinary day’s march, according to Tu Mu, was 30 _li_; but on one
occasion, when pursuing Liu Pei, Ts’ao Ts’ao is said to have covered
the incredible distance of 300 _li_ within twenty-four hours.]
doing a hundred _li_ in order to wrest an advantage, the leaders of all
your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy.
8. The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind,
and on this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its
destination.
[The moral is, as Ts’ao Kung and others point out: Don’t march a
hundred _li_ to gain a tactical advantage, either with or without
impedimenta. Manœuvers of this description should be confined to short
distances. Stonewall Jackson said: "The hardships of forced marches are
often more painful than the dangers of battle." He did not often call
upon his troops for extraordinary exertions. It was only when he
intended a surprise, or when a rapid retreat was imperative, that he
sacrificed everything for speed. [1] ]
9. If you march fifty _li_ in order to outmanœuver the enemy, you will
lose the leader of your first division, and only half your force will
reach the goal.
[Literally, "the leader of the first division will be _torn away_."]
10. If you march thirty _li_ with the same object, two-thirds of your
army will arrive.
[In the _T’ung Tien_ is added: "From this we may know the difficulty of
manœuvering."]
11. We may take it then that an army without its baggage-train is lost;
without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost.
[I think Sun Tzŭ meant "stores accumulated in dépôts." But Tu Yu says
"fodder and the like," Chang Yu says "Goods in general," and Wang Hsi
says "fuel, salt, foodstuffs, etc."]
12. We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the
designs of our neighbours.
13. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar
with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls
and precipices, its marshes and swamps.
14. We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we
make use of local guides.
[§§. 12-14 are repeated in chap. XI. § 52.]
15. In war, practise dissimulation, and you will succeed.
[In the tactics of Turenne, deception of the enemy, especially as to
the numerical strength of his troops, took a very prominent position.
[2] ]
Move only if there is a real advantage to be gained.
16. Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by
circumstances.
17. Let your rapidity be that of the wind,
[The simile is doubly appropriate, because the wind is not only swift
but, as Mei Yao-ch’en points out, "invisible and leaves no tracks."]
your compactness that of the forest.
[Meng Shih comes nearer to the mark in his note: "When slowly marching,
order and ranks must be preserved"—so as to guard against surprise
attacks. But natural forest do not grow in rows, whereas they do
generally possess the quality of density or compactness.]
18. In raiding and plundering be like fire,
[Cf. _Shih Ching_, IV. 3. iv. 6: "Fierce as a blazing fire which no man
can check."]
in immovability like a mountain.
[That is, when holding a position from which the enemy is trying to
dislodge you, or perhaps, as Tu Yu says, when he is trying to entice
you into a trap.]
19. Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you
move, fall like a thunderbolt.
[Tu Yu quotes a saying of T’ai Kung which has passed into a proverb:
"You cannot shut your ears to the thunder or your eyes to the
lighting—so rapid are they." Likewise, an attack should be made so
quickly that it cannot be parried.]
20. When you plunder a countryside, let the spoil be divided amongst
your men;
[Sun Tzŭ wishes to lessen the abuses of indiscriminate plundering by
insisting that all booty shall be thrown into a common stock, which may
afterwards be fairly divided amongst all.]
when you capture new territory, cut it up into allotments for the
benefit of the soldiery.
[Ch’en Hao says "quarter your soldiers on the land, and let them sow
and plant it." It is by acting on this principle, and harvesting the
lands they invaded, that the Chinese have succeeded in carrying out
some of their most memorable and triumphant expeditions, such as that
of Pan Ch’ao who penetrated to the Caspian, and in more recent years,
those of Fu-k’ang-an and Tso Tsung-t’ang.]
21. Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.
[Chang Yu quotes Wei Liao Tzŭ as saying that we must not break camp
until we have gained the resisting power of the enemy and the
cleverness of the opposing general. Cf. the "seven comparisons" in I. §
13.]
22. He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation.
[See _supra_, §§ 3, 4.]
Such is the art of manœuvering.
[With these words, the chapter would naturally come to an end. But
there now follows a long appendix in the shape of an extract from an
earlier book on War, now lost, but apparently extant at the time when
Sun Tzŭ wrote. The style of this fragment is not noticeably different
from that of Sun Tzŭ himself, but no commentator raises a doubt as to
its genuineness.]
23. The Book of Army Management says:
[It is perhaps significant that none of the earlier commentators give
us any information about this work. Mei Yao- Ch’en calls it "an ancient
military classic," and Wang Hsi, "an old book on war." Considering the
enormous amount of fighting that had gone on for centuries before Sun
Tzŭ’s time between the various kingdoms and principalities of China, it
is not in itself improbable that a collection of military maxims should
have been made and written down at some earlier period.]
On the field of battle,
[Implied, though not actually in the Chinese.]
the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of
gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence
the institution of banners and flags.
24. Gongs and drums, banners and flags, are means whereby the ears and
eyes of the host may be focussed on one particular point.
[Chang Yu says: "If sight and hearing converge simultaneously on the
same object, the evolutions of as many as a million soldiers will be
like those of a single man."!]
25. The host thus forming a single united body, is it impossible either
for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone.
[Chuang Yu quotes a saying: "Equally guilty are those who advance
against orders and those who retreat against orders." Tu Mu tells a
story in this connection of Wu Ch’i, when he was fighting against the
Ch’in State. Before the battle had begun, one of his soldiers, a man of
matchless daring, sallied forth by himself, captured two heads from the
enemy, and returned to camp. Wu Ch’i had the man instantly executed,
whereupon an officer ventured to remonstrate, saying: "This man was a
good soldier, and ought not to have been beheaded." Wu Ch’i replied: "I
fully believe he was a good soldier, but I had him beheaded because he
acted without orders."]
This is the art of handling large masses of men.
26. 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.
[Ch’en Hao alludes to Li Kuang-pi’s night ride to Ho-yang at the head
of 500 mounted men; they made such an imposing display with torches,
that though the rebel leader Shih Ssu-ming had a large army, he did not
dare to dispute their passage.]
27. A whole army may be robbed of its spirit;
["In war," says Chang Yu, "if a spirit of anger can be made to pervade
all ranks of an army at one and the same time, its onset will be
irresistible. Now the spirit of the enemy’s soldiers will be keenest
when they have newly arrived on the scene, and it is therefore our cue
not to fight at once, but to wait until their ardor and enthusiasm have
worn off, and then strike. It is in this way that they may be robbed of
their keen spirit." Li Ch’uan and others tell an anecdote (to be found
in the _Tso Chuan_, year 10, § 1) of Ts’ao Kuei, a protege of Duke
Chuang of Lu. The latter State was attacked by Ch’i, and the duke was
about to join battle at Ch’ang-cho, after the first roll of the enemy’s
drums, when Ts’ao said: "Not just yet." Only after their drums had
beaten for the third time, did he give the word for attack. Then they
fought, and the men of Ch’i were utterly defeated. Questioned
afterwards by the Duke as to the meaning of his delay, Ts’ao Kuei
replied: "In battle, a courageous spirit is everything. Now the first
roll of the drum tends to create this spirit, but with the second it is
already on the wane, and after the third it is gone altogether. I
attacked when their spirit was gone and ours was at its height. Hence
our victory." Wu Tzŭ (chap. 4) puts "spirit" first among the "four
important influences" in war, and continues: "The value of a whole
army—a mighty host of a million men—is dependent on one man alone: such
is the influence of spirit!"]
a commander-in-chief may be robbed of his presence of mind.
[Chang Yu says: "Presence of mind is the general’s most important
asset. It is the quality which enables him to discipline disorder and
to inspire courage into the panic-stricken." The great general Li Ching
(A.D. 571-649) has a saying: "Attacking does not merely consist in
assaulting walled cities or striking at an army in battle array; it
must include the art of assailing the enemy’s mental equilibrium."]
28. Now a soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning;
[Always provided, I suppose, that he has had breakfast. At the battle
of the Trebia, the Romans were foolishly allowed to fight fasting,
whereas Hannibal’s men had breakfasted at their leisure. See Livy, XXI,
liv. 8, lv. 1 and 8.]
by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent
only on returning to camp.
29. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is
keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This
is the art of studying moods.
30. Disciplined and calm, to await the appearance of disorder and
hubbub amongst the enemy:—this is the art of retaining self-possession.
31. To be near the goal while the enemy is still far from it, to wait
at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while
the enemy is famished:—this is the art of husbanding one’s strength.
32. To refrain from intercepting an enemy whose banners are in perfect
order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident
array:—this is the art of studying circumstances.
33. It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor
to oppose him when he comes downhill.
34. Do not pursue an enemy who simulates flight; do not attack soldiers
whose temper is keen.
35. Do not swallow a bait offered by the enemy.
[Li Ch’uan and Tu Mu, with extraordinary inability to see a metaphor,
take these words quite literally of food and drink that have been
poisoned by the enemy. Ch’en Hao and Chang Yu carefully point out that
the saying has a wider application.]
Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.
[The commentators explain this rather singular piece of advice by
saying that a man whose heart is set on returning home will fight to
the death against any attempt to bar his way, and is therefore too
dangerous an opponent to be tackled. Chang Yu quotes the words of Han
Hsin: "Invincible is the soldier who hath his desire and returneth
homewards." A marvelous tale is told of Ts’ao Ts’ao’s courage and
resource in ch. 1 of the _San Kuo Chi_, In 198 A.D., he was besieging
Chang Hsiu in Jang, when Liu Piao sent reinforcements with a view to
cutting off Ts’ao’s retreat. The latter was obliged to draw off his
troops, only to find himself hemmed in between two enemies, who were
guarding each outlet of a narrow pass in which he had engaged himself.
In this desperate plight Ts’ao waited until nightfall, when he bored a
tunnel into the mountain side and laid an ambush in it. As soon as the
whole army had passed by, the hidden troops fell on his rear, while
Ts’ao himself turned and met his pursuers in front, so that they were
thrown into confusion and annihilated. Ts’ao Ts’ao said afterwards:
"The brigands tried to check my army in its retreat and brought me to
battle in a desperate position: hence I knew how to overcome them."]
36. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.
[This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The
object, as Tu Mu puts it, is "to make him believe that there is a road
to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair."
Tu Mu adds pleasantly: "After that, you may crush him."]
Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
[Ch’en Hao quotes the saying: "Birds and beasts when brought to bay
will use their claws and teeth." Chang Yu says: "If your adversary has
burned his boats and destroyed his cooking-pots, and is ready to stake
all on the issue of a battle, he must not be pushed to extremities." Ho
Shih illustrates the meaning by a story taken from the life of
Yen-ch’ing. That general, together with his colleague Tu Chung-wei was
surrounded by a vastly superior army of Khitans in the year 945 A.D.
The country was bare and desert-like, and the little Chinese force was
soon in dire straits for want of water. The wells they bored ran dry,
and the men were reduced to squeezing lumps of mud and sucking out the
moisture. Their ranks thinned rapidly, until at last Fu Yen-ch’ing
exclaimed: "We are desperate men. Far better to die for our country
than to go with fettered hands into captivity!" A strong gale happened
to be blowing from the northeast and darkening the air with dense
clouds of sandy dust. To Chung-wei was for waiting until this had
abated before deciding on a final attack; but luckily another officer,
Li Shou-cheng by name, was quicker to see an opportunity, and said:
"They are many and we are few, but in the midst of this sandstorm our
numbers will not be discernible; victory will go to the strenuous
fighter, and the wind will be our best ally." Accordingly, Fu
Yen-ch’ing made a sudden and wholly unexpected onslaught with his
cavalry, routed the barbarians and succeeded in breaking through to
safety.]
37. Such is the art of warfare.
[1] See Col. Henderson, op. cit. vol. I. p. 426.
[2] For a number of maxims on this head, see "Marshal Turenne"
(Longmans, 1907), p. 29.