XXIX. 15, 29. £>• of course would include both gongs and bells of

every kind. The T'-u Shu inserts a ^ after each ^jjj .
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
The original text, followed by the T'-u Shu, has ^ for ||J here and in the next two paragraphs. But, as we have seen, A is generally used in Sun Tzti for the enemy.
may be focussed on one particular point.
Note the use of — • as a verb. Chang Yu says : jjj^ jg J^j 7Jj£ |J|J
§$WH£^£it£i,#B-^^ "If siSht 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, it is impossible either for the brave to advance alone, or for the cowardly to retreat alone.
Chang Yu quotes a saying: J j & 4
| "Equally guilty are those who advance against orders and those who retreat against orders." Tu Mu tells a story in this con- nection of J^. ^g Wu Ch'i, when he was righting 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
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27. j&HS PT^^&mi^'tt
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 be- lieve 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.
The Tung Tien has the bad variant ||j for $jj& . 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'iian, Tu Mu and Chia Lin certainly seem to understand it thus. The other commentators, however, take |jj (or J^ ) as the enemy, and ^j& as equivalent to ^|& ~^ or %jj&
Hk "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 ^ and J\^. The latter would almost certainly denote the enemy. Ch'en Hao alludes to ^ -^ JS? L* Kuang-pi's night ride to
W HI? Ho-yang at the head of 500 mounted men; they made such an imposing display with torches, that though the rebel leader ifl JB^ M Shih Ssu-ming had a large army, he did not dare to dispute their pas- sage. [Ch'en Hao gives the date as ^ =j^ ^j^ A.D. 756; but according
to the ffi )!* ||£ New T'ang History, ^|J ^j| 61, it must have been later than this, probably 760.]
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 ardour 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,
5
66
28. 29.
year 10, § i) of Ifj J||j Ts'ao Kuei, & protege of Duke Chuang of Lu. The latter State was attacked by Ch'i, and the Duke was about to join battle at -M J\\ 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 after- wards 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." J^. -^ (chap. 4) puts "spirit" first among the "four important influences" in war, and continues: =
— ' .A. x£ §11 HH t^Sl "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. Capt. Calthrop goes woefully astray with "defeat his general's ambition." Chang Yu says: tf $• ft £ ft ± -& -£ ^ £ * '!* % ± J^ Ao* "Presence of mind is the general's most important asset. It is the quality which enables him to discipline disorder and to inspire cour- age into the panic-stricken." The great general d^5 ij{| Li Ching (A.D.
571-649) has a saying: ^^^^lt^S^$S|$ff3
B *)k ^ ?& S ^ £ $3 Oil "Attacking does not merely consist in assaulting walled cities or striking at an army in battle array; it must in- clude the art of assailing the enemy's mental equilibrium." [ ^jjj ^f , pt. 3.]
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, Iv. i 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,
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30.
82. M g IE IE z m to * £ ^ 2 it ft 7c? n ^ *
The jjgjjf , which certainly seems to be wanted here, is omitted in the Tu Shu.
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.
The Tlung Tien, for reasons of ^ gj|[ "avoidance of personal names
of the reigning dynasty," reads jfjt for £p in this and the two next paragraphs.
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
The Tlung Tien has ^ for /^ . The two characters are practically synonymous, but according to the commentary, the latter is the form always used in Sun Tzu.
while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished: - - this is the art of hus- banding one's strength.
32. To refrain from intercepting
*|£ is the reading of the original text. But the J£ 1jj> |g |j£
quotes the passage with 4§£ yao1 (also meaning "to intercept"), and this is supported by the Pei T'ang Shu Cfrao, the Yu Lan, and Wang Hsi's text.
an enemy whose banners are in perfect order, to refrain from attacking an army drawn up in calm and confident array:
For this translation of ^ 'jg* , I can appeal to the authority of Tu Mu, who defines the phrase as 3&E ||^ . The other commentators mostly follow Ts'ao Kung, who says -^ , probably meaning "grand and
imposing". Li Ch'iian, however, has ^ Jfr "in subdivisions," which is somewhat strange.
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33. 34.
— this is the art of studying circumstances.
I have not attempted a uniform rendering of the four phrases yj^ ^ , '/p Aj) i */p J] and yjpf ^ » though y|^ really bears the same meaning in each case. It is to be taken, I think, not in the sense of "to govern" or "control," but rather, as K'ang Hsi defines it, = fj|j ^ "to examine and practise," hence "look after," "keep a watchful eye upon." We may find an example of this use in the Chou Li, XVIII. fol. 46 : yj=f fi -fc fljH . Sun Tzti has not told us to control or restrain the quality which he calls ^pj?, but only to observe the time at which it is strongest. As for j(^», it is important to remember that in the present context it can only mean "presence of mind." To speak of "controlling presence of mind" is ab- surd, and Capt. Calthrop's "to have the heart under control" is hardly less so. The whole process recommended here is that of VI. § 2 :
33. It is a military axiom not to advance uphill against the enemy, nor to oppose him when he comes downhill.
" " The Yii Lan reads ^fe for -£T .
lr"» 14
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'iian 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 Yii carefully point out that the saying has a wider application. The T'ung Tien reads ^ "to covet" instead of ^ . The similarity of the two characters sufficiently accounts for the mistake.
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 Yii quotes the words of Han Hsin:
3& 'S» 3|C §li ^& i 'fcf )9f ^P >nL "Invincikle is the soldier who hath his desire and returneth homewards." A marvellous tale is told of
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Ts'ao Ts'ao's courage and resource in ch. i of the San Kuo Chih, j|f* *$* $E : *n *9^ A.D., he was besieging EM ||| Chang Hsiu in ;js|| Jang, when :§||J =^j? Liu Piao sent reinforcements with a view to cutting off Ts'ao's retreat. The latter was obliged to draw off his troops, only to find himself hemmed in between two enemies, who were guarding each outlet of a narrow pass in which he had engaged himself. In this des- perate plight Ts'ao waited until nightfall, when he bored a tunnel into the mountain side and laid an ambush in it. Then he marched on with his baggage-train, and when it grew light, Chang Hsiu, finding that the bird had flown, pressed after him in hot pursuit. As soon as the whole army had passed by, the hidden troops fell on its rear, while Ts'ao him- self turned and met his pursuers in front, so that they were thrown into confusion and annihilated. Ts'ao Ts'ao said afterwards: Jjjj- j^ 3f- ^
to check my army in its retreat and brought me to battle in a desperate position: hence I knew how to overcome them."
36. When you surround an army, leave an outlet free.
This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to escape. The object, as Tu Mu puts it, is ^ J^j[ J^ ffifr -A> ifllE jj£\ ^ ^ j(^ "to
make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus prevent his fighting with the courage of despair." Tu Mu adds pleasantly : |Jj fjjj ||
Do not press a desperate foe too hard.
For *Q, the T'u Shu reads j[|| "pursue." Ch'en Hao quotes the
saying: ^ |p| j||J ^jj( 1& |p| |J|J [^g "Birds and beasts when brought to bay will use their claws and teeth." Chang Yii says: ||£ ^jjf ^£ ^£j-
^ "if? T^t — ' Hfe fW >F* "Pf *§ IS ?$> "^ y°ur 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." The phrase jj| ^g doubtless originated with Sun Tzti. The /*« Wen Yun Fu gives four examples of its use, the earliest being from the Ch'ien Han Shu^ and I have found another in chap. 34 of the same work. Ho Shih il- lustrates the meaning by a story taken from the life of ^J j|* ^|J Fu Yen-ch'ing in ch. 251 of the -^ jjj . That general, together with his colleague ^jrj^ |J Jg£ 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
;o
37. ft flj :H 2 ft fc
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 exclained : "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 north- east and darkening the air with dense clouds of sandy dust. Tu Chung- wei was for waiting until this had abated before deciding on a final at- tack; but luckily another officer, ^* ^J* jl 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. [Certain details in the above account have been added from the g ^ 4 , ch. 78.]
37. Such is the art of warfare.
Cheng Yu-hsien in his jjj^ g^ inserts jfp after ^, I take it that these words conclude the extract from the S jffr which began at § 23.