the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.
3. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his ownaccord[6]; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to come near.
4. If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him; if well supplied with food, he can starve him out; if quietly encamped, he can force him to move.
5. Appear at points which the enemy must hurry to defend; go quickly to places where you are not expected.
6. An army may go great distances without stress, if it marches through country where the enemy is not.
7. You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.
8. Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
9. O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.
10. You may move forward 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.
11. If we want to fight we can force the enemy to engage in fighting even if he is in his hidey-hole. All we need to do is attack some other place that he will be forced to defend.
12. If we don’t want to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our camping are merely traced out on the ground. All we need to do is to throw something odd and unexpected in his way.
13. By discovering the enemy’s positions and staying invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s will be divided.
14. We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into parts. Thus we will be many to the enemy’s few.
15. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in major trouble.
16. The spot where we intend to fight must be hidden. Thus the enemy won’t be able to prepare against a possible attack at several different points; his forces will be spread in many directions, and at any given point we will face the numbers that are proportionately small.
17. For if the enemy increases his forces at the front, he weakens his back; if he increases his forces at his left, he will weaken his right; if he increases his forces at his right, he will weaken his left. f he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
18. Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from making our enemy to make these preparations against us.
19. Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.
20. But if neither time nor place is known, then the left wing won’t be able to help the right, the right won’t be able to help the left, the front unable to relieve the back, or the back to support the front. How much more so if the furthest portions of the army are anything under a hundred li[7] apart, and even the nearest are separated by several li!
21. Though according to my estimate the soldiers of Yüeh exceed your own in number, that will not help them in the matter of victory. I say then that victory can be achieved.
22. Through the enemy is stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting. You need to discover his plans and the probability of their success.
23. Rouse him, and learn the pattern of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his weak spots.
24. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is extra and where it is not enough.
25. When making tactical positions the most important things is to hide them. Thus you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the wisest brains.
26. How victory may be achieved for them out of the enemy’s own tactics-that is what most people cannot understand.
27. Everyone can see the tactics whereby I win, but few can see the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the endless variety of circumstances.
29. Military tactics are like water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and rushes downwards.
30. So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
31. Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory depending on the enemy he is facing.
32. Therefore, just as water has no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions.
33. He who can change his tactics depending on what opponent he is facing and thereby win, may be called a heaven-born captain.
34. The five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, earth) are not always equally presented; the four seasons make way for each other in turn. There are short days and long; the moon has its periods of waning and waxing[8].
VII. Maneuvering
1. Sun Tzŭ said: In war, the general receives his commands from the sovereign[9].
2. After creating an army and concentrating his forces, he must blend and harmonise the different elements of it before setting up his camp.
3. After that, comes tactical maneuvering. This is the most difficult thing. The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the indirect into the direct, and misfortune into fortune.
4. Thus, taking a long and roundabout route and making the enemy go out of the way shows knowledge of the art of deviation. This knowledge helps to reach the goal before your enemy even if you started after him.
5. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude[10], most dangerous.
6. If you send a fully equipped army to march[11] in order to snatch an advantage, you probably will be too late. On the other hand, you have to sacrifice your baggage and stores to detach a flying column[12] so it can move quickly.
7. Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff-coats[13], and make forced marches without resting day or night, covering double the usual distance at a stretch, doing a hundred li in order to gain an advantage, the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy.
8. The stronger men will be in front, the exhausted ones will fall behind, and on this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its destination.
9. If you march fifty li in order to overtake the enemy, you will lose the leader of your first division, and only half your force will reach the goal.
10. If you march thirty li with the same object, two-thirds of your army will arrive.
11. We may take it then that an army without its baggage-train is lost; without provisions it is lost; without bases of supply it is lost.
12. We cannot enter into alliances until we learn the plans of our neighbours.
13. We can’t lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country-its mountains and forests, its pitfalls