The Art of War Sun Tzu (most read books of all time txt) 📖

The Tʽung Tien and Yü Lan read 度 for 濟, without change of meaning. Wu Tzǔ plagiarises this passage twice over:⁠—ch. II ad fin., 涉水半渡可擊; ch. V, 敵若絕水半渡而擊. Li Chʽüan alludes to the great victory won by Han Hsin over 龍且 Lung Chü at the 濰 Wei River. Turning to the Chʽien Han Shu, ch. 34, fol. 6 verso, we find the battle described as follows: “The two armies were drawn up on opposite sides of the river. In the night, Han Hsin ordered his men to take some ten thousand sacks filled with sand and construct a dam a little higher up. Then, leading half his army across, he attacked Lung Chü; but after a time, pretending to have failed in his attempt, he hastily withdrew to the other bank. Lung Chü was much elated by this unlooked-for success and exclaiming: ‘I felt sure that Han Hsin was really a coward!’ he pursued him and began crossing the river in his turn. Han Hsin now sent a party to cut open the sandbags, thus releasing a great volume of water, which swept down and prevented the greater portion of Lung Chü’s army from getting across. He then turned upon the force which had been cut off, and annihilated it, Lung Chü himself being amongst the slain. The rest of the army, on the further bank, also scattered and fled in all directions.” ↩

For fear of preventing his crossing. Capt. Calthrop makes the injunction ridiculous by omitting 欲戰者. ↩

See supra (“Camp in high places, facing the sun.”). The repetition of these words in connection with water is very awkward. Chang Yü has the note: 或岸邊為陳或水上泊舟皆須面陽而居高 “Said either of troops marshalled on the riverbank, or of boats anchored in the stream itself; in either case it is essential to be higher than the enemy and facing the sun.” The other commentators are not at all explicit. One is much tempted to reject their explanation of 視生 altogether, and understand it simply as “seeking safety.” (Cf. 必生 in note 425 on VIII, and note 446 on the current chapter.) It is true that this involves taking 視 in an unusual, though not, I think, an impossible sense. Of course the earlier passage would then have to be translated in like manner. ↩

Tu Mu says: “As water flows downwards, we must not pitch our camp on the lower reaches of a river, for fear the enemy should open the sluices and sweep us away in a flood. This is implied above in the words 視生處高. Chu-ko Wu-hou has remarked that ‘in river warfare we must not advance against the stream,’ which is as much as to say that our fleet must not be anchored below that of the enemy, for then they would be able to take advantage of the current and make short work of us.” There is also the danger, noted by other commentators, that the enemy may throw poison on the water to be carried down to us. Capt. Calthrop’s first version was: “Do not cross rivers in the face of the stream”⁠—a sapient piece of advice, which made one curious to know what the correct way of crossing rivers might be. He has now improved this into: “Do not fight when the enemy is between the army and the source of the river.” ↩

Becuase of the lack of fresh water, the poor quality of the herbage, and last but not least, because they are low, flat, and exposed to attack. ↩

Li Chʽüan remarks that the ground is less likely to be treacherous where there are trees, while Tu Yu says that they will serve to protect the rear. Capt. Calthrop, with a perfect genius for going wrong, says “in the neighbourhood of a marsh.” For 若 the Tʽung Tien and Yü Lan wrongly read 為, and the latter also has 倍 instead of 背. ↩

This is doubtless the force of 易, its opposite being 險. Thus, Tu Mu explains it as 坦易平穩之處 “ground that is smooth and firm,” and therefore adapted for cavalry; Chang Yü as 坦易無坎陷之處 “level ground, free from depressions and hollows.” He adds later on that although Sun Tzǔ is discussing flat country, there will nevertheless be slight elevations and hillocks. ↩

The Yü Lan again reads 倍 for 背. Tu Mu quotes Tʽai Kung as saying: “An army should have a stream or a marsh on its left, and a hill or tumulus on its right.” ↩

Wang Hsi thinks that 後生 contradicts the saying 視生 above (“Camp in high places, facing the sun.”), and therefore suspects a mistake in the text. ↩

Those, namely, concerned with (1) mountains, (2) rivers, (3) marshes, and (4) plains. Compare Napoleon’s Military Maxims, no. 1. ↩

Mei Yao-chʽên asks, with some plausibility, whether 帝 is not a mistake for 軍 “armies,” as nothing is known of Huang Ti having conquered four other Emperors. The Shih Chi (ch. I