Part 42

44. 令素行以教其民則民服令不素行以教其民則民不服

If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad.

The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read: 令素行以教其人者也令素行則人服令素 不行則人不服.

45. 令素信著者與衆相得也

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed,

The original text has 令素行者. 令素 is certainly awkward without 行, but on the other hand it is clear that Tu Mu accepted the T‘ung Tien text, which is identical with ours. He says: “A general ought in time of peace to show kindly confidence in his men and also make his authority respected, so that when they come to face the enemy, orders may be executed and discipline maintained, because they all trust and look up to him.” What Sun Tzŭ has said in § 44, however, would lead one rather to expect something like this: “If a general is always confident that his orders will be carried out,” etc. Hence I am tempted to think that he may have written 令素信行者. But this is perhaps too conjectural.

the gain will be mutual.

Chang Yü says: 上以信使民民以信服上是上下相得也 “The general has confidence in the men under his command, and the men are docile, having confidence in him. Thus the gain is mutual.” He quotes a pregnant sentence from Wei Liao Tzŭ, ch. 4: 令之之法小過無更小疑無中 “The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify minor blunders and not to be swayed by petty doubts.” Vacillation and fussiness are the surest means of sapping the confidence of an army. Capt. Calthrop winds up the chapter with a final mistranslation of a more than usually heinous description: “Orders are always obeyed, if general and soldiers are in sympathy.” Besides inventing the latter half of the sentence, he has managed to invert protasis and apodosis.

X. 地形篇

TERRAIN.

Only about a third of the chapter, comprising §§ 1–13, deals with 地形, the subject being more fully treated in ch. XI. The “six calamities” are discussed in §§ 14–20, and the rest of the chapter is again a mere string of desultory remarks, though not less interesting, perhaps, on that account.

1. 孫子曰地形有通者有挂者有支者有隘者有險者有遠者

Sun Tzŭ said: We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground;

Mei Yao-ch‘ên says: 道路交達 “plentifully provided with roads and means of communication.”

(2) entangling ground;

The same commentator says: 網羅之地往必掛綴 “Net-like country, venturing into which you become entangled.”

(3) temporising ground;

Tu Yu explains 支 as 久. This meaning is still retained in modern phrases such as 支托, 支演 “stave off,” “delay.” I do not know why Capt. Calthrop calls 支地 “suspended ground,” unless he is confusing it with 挂地.

(4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights;

The root idea in 隘 is narrowness; in 險, steepness.

(6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.

It is hardly necessary to point out the faultiness of this classification. A strange lack of logical perception is shown in the Chinaman’s unquestioning acceptance of glaring cross-divisions such as the above.

2. 我可以往彼可以來曰通

Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.

Generally speaking, 平陸 “level country” is meant. Cf. IX. § 9: 處易.

3. 通形者先居高陽利糧道以戰則利

With regard to ground of this nature,

The T‘ung Tien reads 居通地.