The Art of War by Sun Tzu (elon musk reading list TXT) 📕

enormous advantage which a disciplined force, flushed with victory, has over one demoralised by defeat. Legge, in his note on Mencius, I 2 IX 2, makes the 鎰 to be 24 Chinese ounces, and corrects Chu Hsi’s statement that it equalled 20 oz. only. But Li Chʽüan of the Tʽang dynasty here gives the same figure as Chu Hsi. ↩

The construction here is slightly awkward and elliptical, but the general sense is plain. The Tʽu Shu omits 民也. A 仞 = 8 尺 or Chinese feet. ↩

埶 here is said to be an older form of 勢; Sun Tzǔ, however, would seem to have used the former in the sense of “power,” and the latter only in the sense of “circumstances.” The fuller title 兵勢 is found in the Tʽu Shu and the modern text. Wang Hsi expands it into 積勢之變 “the application, in various ways, of accumulated power;” and Chang Yü says: 兵勢以成然後仼勢以取勝 “When the soldiers’ energy has reached its height, it may be used to secure victory.” Cf. X (“If you are situated at a great distance⁠ ⁠…”), where 勢 is translated “strength,” though it might also be “conditions.” The three words 執, 埶 and 勢 have been much confused. It appears from the Shuo Wên that the last character is post-classical, so that Sun Tzǔ must have used either or in all senses. ↩

That is, cutting up the army into regiments, companies, etc., with subordinate officers in command of each. Tu Mu reminds us of Han Hsin’s famous reply to the first Han Emperor, who once said to him: “How large an army do you think I could lead?” “Not more than 100,000 men, your Majesty.” “And you?” asked the Emperor. “Oh!” he answered, “the more the better” (多多益辦耳). Chang Yü gives the following curious table of the subdivisions of an army:⁠—5 men make a 列; 2 列 make a 火; 5 火 make a 隊; 2 隊 make a 官; 2 官 make a 曲; 2 曲 make a 部; 2 部 make a 校; 2 校 make a 裨; 2 裨 make a 軍. A 軍 or army corps thus works out at 3200 men. But cf. note 218. For 曲, see note 175. It is possible that 官 in that paragraph may also be used in the above technical sense. ↩

One must be careful to avoid translating 鬥衆 “fighting against a large number,” no reference to the enemy being intended. 形 is explained by Tsʽao Kung as denoting flags and banners, by means of which every soldier may recognise his own particular regiment or company, and thus confusion may be prevented. 名 he explains as drums and gongs, which from the earliest times were used to sound the advance and the retreat respectively. Tu Mu defines 形 as 陳形 “marshalling the troops in order,” and takes 名 as the flags and banners. Wang Hsi also dissents from Tsʽao Kung, referring 形 to the ordering of the troops by means of banners, drums and gongs, and 名 to the various names by which the regiments might be distinguised. There is much to be said for this view. ↩

For 必, there is another reading 畢, “all together,” adopted by Wang Hsi and Chang Yü. We now come to one of the most interesting parts of Sun Tzǔ’s treatise, the discussion of the 正 and the 奇. As it is by no means easy to grasp the full significance of these two terms, or to render them at all consistently by good English equivalents, it may be as well to tabulate some of the commentators’ remarks on the subject before proceeding further. Li Chʽüan: 當敵為正傍出為奇 “Facing the enemy is chêng, making lateral diversions is chʽi.” Chia Lin: 當敵以正陳取勝以奇兵 “In presence of the enemy, your troops should be arrayed in normal fashion, but in order to secure victory abnormal manoeuvres must be employed.” Mei Yao-chʽên: 動為奇靜為正靜以待之動以勝之 “Chʽi is active, chêng is passive; passivity means waiting for an opportunity, activity brings the victory itself.” Ho Shih: 我之正使敵視之為奇我之奇使敵視之為正正亦為奇奇亦為正 “We must cause the enemy to regard our straightforward attack as one that is secretly designed, and vice versa; thus chêng may also be chʽi, and chʽi may also be chêng.” He instances the famous exploit of Han Hsin, who when marching ostensibly against 臨晉 Lin-chin (now 朝邑 Chao-i in Shensi), suddenly threw a large force across the Yellow River in wooden tubs, utterly disconcerting his opponent. (Chʽien Han Shu, ch. 34.) Here, we are told, the march on Lin-chin was 正, and the surprise manoeuvre was 奇. Chang Yü gives the following summary of opinions on the words: “Military writers do not all agree with regard to the meaning of chʽi and