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

burn all their baggage and fled for two days and nights without stopping. (See 晉書, chap. 99, fol. 13.) Chang Yü tells a somewhat similar story of 趙嬰齊 Chao Ying-chʽi, a general of the Chin State who during a battle with the army of Chʽu in 597 BC had a boat kept in readiness for him on the river, wishing in case defeat to be the first to get across. ↩

I fail to see the meaning of Capt. Calthrop’s “which brings insult.” Tu Mu tells us that 姚襄 Yao Hsiang, when opposed in 357 AD by 黃眉 Huang Mei, 鄧羌 Têng Chʽiang and others, shut himself up behind his walls and refused to fight. Têng Chʽiang said: “Our adversary is of a choleric temper and easily provoked; let us make constant sallies and break down his walls, then he will grow angry and come out. Once we can bring his force to battle, it is doomed to be our prey.” This plan was acted upon, Yao Hsiang came out to fight, was lured on as far as 三原 San-yüan by the enemy’s pretended flight, and finally attacked and slain. ↩

This need not be taken to mean that a sense of honour is really a defect in a general. What Sun Tzǔ condemns is rather an exaggerated sensitiveness to slanderous reports, the thin-skinned man who is stung by opprobrium, however undeserved. Mei Yao-chʽên truly observes, though somewhat paradoxically: 徇名不顧 “The seeker after glory should be careless of public opinion.” ↩

Here again, Sun Tzǔ does not mean that the general is to be careless of the welfare of his troops. All he wishes to emphasise is the danger of sacrificing any important military advantage to the immediate comfort of his men. This is a shortsighted policy, because in the long run the troops will suffer more from the defeat, or, at best, the prolongation of the war, which will be the consequence. A mistaken feeling of pity will often induce a general to relieve a beleaguered city, or to reinforce a hard-pressed detachment, contrary to his military instincts. It is now generally admitted that our repeated efforts to relieve Ladysmith in the South African War were so many strategical blunders which defeated their own purpose. And in the end, relief came through the very man who started out with the distinct resolve no longer to subordinate the interests of the whole to sentiment in favour of a part. An old soldier of one of our generals who failed most conspicuously in this war, tried once, I remember, to defend him to me on the ground that he was always “so good to his men.” By this plea, but he but known it, he was only condemning him out of Sun Tzǔ’s mouth. ↩

The contents of this interesting chapter are better indicated in the first paragraph than by this heading. ↩

The discussion of 處軍, as Chang Yü points out, extends from here down to 伏姦之所藏處也 (“If in the neighborhood⁠ ⁠…”), and 相敵 from that point down to 必謹察之 (“If the enemy’s troops march up angrily⁠ ⁠…”). The rest of the chapter consists of a few desultory remarks, chiefly on the subject of discipline. ↩

For this use of 絕, cf. note 437. See also 荀子, ch. 1 fol. 2 (standard edition of 1876): 絕江河; Shih Chi, ch. 27 ad init.: 後六星絕漢. ↩

Tu Mu says that 依 here = 近. The idea is, not to linger among barren uplands, but to keep close to supplies of water and grass. Capt. Calthrop translates “camp in valleys,” heedless of the very next sentence. Cf. Wu Tzǔ, ch. 3: 無當天竈 “Abide not in natural ovens,” i.e. 大谷之口 “the openings of large valleys.” Chang Yü tells the following anecdote: “武都羗 Wu-tu Chʽiang was a robber captain in the time of the Later Han, and 馬援 Ma Yüan was sent to exterminate his gang. Chʽiang having found a refuge in the hills, Ma Yüan made no attempt to force a battle, but seized all the favourable positions commanding supplies of water and forage. Chʽiang was soon in such a desperate plight for want of provisions that he was forced to make a total surrender. He did not know the advantage of keeping in the neighbourhood of valleys.” ↩

Not on high hills, but on knolls or hillocks elevated above the surrounding country. ↩

視生 = 面陽. Tu Mu takes this to mean “facing south,” and Chʽên Hao “facing east.” Cf. infra, “All armies prefer high ground⁠ ⁠…” and “When you come to a hill⁠ ⁠…” ↩

隆 is here simply equivalent to 高. The Tʽung Tien and Yü Lan read 降. ↩

After 山, the Tʽung Tien and Yü Lan insert 谷. ↩

“In order to tempt the enemy to cross after you,” according to Tsʽao Kung, and also, says Chang Yü, “in order not to be impeded in your evolutions.” The Tʽung Tien reads 敵若絕水 “If the enemy crosses a river,” etc. But in