Part 22

5. 出其所必趨趨其所不意

Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.

The original text, adopted by the T‘u Shu, has 出其所不趨; it has been altered to suit the context and the commentaries of Ts‘ao Kung and Ho Shih, who evidently read 必趨. The other reading would mean: “Appear at points to which the enemy cannot hasten;” but in this case there is something awkward in the use of 趨. Capt. Calthrop is wrong of course with “appearing where the enemy is not.”

6. 行千里而不勞者行於無人之地也

An army may march great distances without distress, if it marches through country where the enemy is not.

We must beware of understanding 無人之地 as “uninhabited country.” Sun Tzŭ habitually uses 人 in the sense of 敵, e.g. supra, § 2. Ts‘ao Kung sums up very well: 出空擊虛避其所守擊其不意 “Emerge from the void [q.d. like “a bolt from the blue”], strike at vulnerable points, shun places that are defended, attack in unexpected quarters.” The difference of meaning between 空 and 虛 is worth noting.

7. 攻而必取者攻其所不守也守而必固者守其所不攻也

You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.

所不守 is of course hyperbolical; Wang Hsi rightly explains it as “weak points; that is to say, where the general is lacking in capacity, or the soldiers in spirit; where the walls are not strong enough, or the precautions not strict enough; where relief comes too late, or provisions are too scanty, or the defenders are variance amongst themselves.”

You can ensure the safety of your defence if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.

I.e., where there are none of the weak points mentioned above. There is rather a nice point involved in the interpretation of this latter clause. Tu Mu, Ch‘ên Hao, and Mei Yao-ch‘ên assume the meaning to be: “In order to make your defence quite safe, you must defend even those places that are not likely to be attacked;” and Tu Mu adds: “How much more, then, those that will be attacked.” Taken thus, however, the clause balances less well with the preceding—always a consideration in the highly antithetical style which is natural to the Chinese. Chang Yü, therefore, seems to come nearer the mark in saying: “He who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven [see IV. § 7], making it impossible for the enemy to guard against him. This being so, the places that I shall attack are precisely those that the enemy cannot defend.... He who is skilled in defence hides in the most secret recesses of the earth, making it impossible for the enemy to estimate his whereabouts. This being so, the places that I shall hold are precisely those that the enemy cannot attack.”

8. 故善攻者敵不知其所守善守者敵不知其所攻

Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defence whose opponent does not know what to attack.

An aphorism which puts the whole art of war into a nutshell.

9. 微乎微乎至於無形神乎神乎至於無聲故能爲敵之司命

O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible;

Literally, “without form or sound,” but it is said of course with reference to the enemy. Chang Yü, whom I follow, draws no sharp distinction between 微 and 神, but Tu Mu and others think that 微 indicates the secrecy to be observed on the defensive, and 神 the rapidity to be displayed in attack. The Yü Lan text differs considerably from ours, reading: 微乎微乎故能隱於常形神乎神乎故能爲敵 司命.

and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.

The T‘ung Tien has 故能爲變化司命. Capt. Calthrop’s version of this paragraph is so remarkable that I cannot refrain from quoting it in full: “Now the secrets of the art of offence are not to be easily apprehended, as a certain shape or noise can be understood, of the senses; but when these secrets are once learnt, the enemy is mastered.”

10. 進而不可禦者衝其虛也退而不可追者速而不可及也

You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy’s weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.

The second member of the sentence is weak, because 不可及 is nearly tautologous with 不可追. The Yü Lan reads 遠 for 速.

11. 故我欲戰敵雖高壘深溝不得不與我戰者攻其所必救也

If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is to attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

Tu Mu says: “If the enemy is the invading party, we can cut his line of communications and occupy the roads by which he will have to return; if we are the invaders, we may direct our attack against the sovereign himself.” It is clear that Sun Tzŭ, unlike certain generals in the late Boer war, was no believer in frontal attacks.

12. 我不欲戰畫地而守之敵不得與我戰者乖其所之也

If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.

In order to preserve the parallelism with § 11, I should prefer to follow the T‘u Shu text, which inserts 雖 before 畫地. This extremely concise expression is intelligibly paraphrased by Chia Lin: 雖未修壘壍 “even though we have constructed neither wall nor ditch.” The real crux of the passage lies in 乖其所之也. 之 of course = 至. Ts‘ao Kung defines 乖 by the word 戾, which is perhaps a case of obscurum per obscurius. Li Ch‘üan, however, says: 設奇異而疑之 “we puzzle him by strange and unusual dispositions;” and Tu Mu finally clinches the meaning by three illustrative anecdotes—one of 諸葛亮 Chu-ko Liang, who when occupying 陽平 Yang-p‘ing and about to be attacked by 司馬懿 Ssŭ-ma I, suddenly struck his colours, stopped the beating of the drums, and flung open the city gates, showing only a few men engaged in sweeping and sprinkling the ground. This unexpected proceeding had the intended effect; for Ssŭ-ma I, suspecting an ambush, actually drew off his army and retreated. What Sun Tzŭ is advocating here, therefore, is nothing more nor less than the timely use of “bluff.” Capt. Calthrop translates: “and prevent the enemy from attacking by keeping him in suspense,” which shows that he has not fully grasped the meaning of 乖.