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Chapter VI. WEAK POINTS AND STRONG
1. Sun Tzu said: Whoever is first in the
field and awaits the coming of the enemy,
will be fresh for the fight; whoever is
second in the field and has to hasten to
battle will arrive exhausted.
2. Therefore the clever combatant imposes
his will on the enemy, but does not allow
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 own
accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can
make it impossible for the enemy to draw
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
hasten to defend; march swiftly to places
where you are not expected.
6. An army may march great distances
without distress, 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 advance 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 wish to fight, the enemy can be
forced to an engagement even though he be
sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep
ditch.
All we need do is attack some other place
that he will be obliged to relieve.
12. If we do not wish to fight, we can
prevent the enemy from engaging us even
though the lines of our encampment be
merely traced out on the ground.
All we need do is to throw something odd
and unaccountable in his way.
13. By discovering the enemy's dispositions
and remaining invisible ourselves, we can
keep our forces concentrated, while the
enemy's must be divided.
14. We can form a single united body, while
the enemy must split up into fractions.
Hence there will be a whole pitted against
separate parts of a whole, which means that
we shall 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 dire straits.
16. The spot where we intend to fight must
not be made known; for then the enemy will
have to prepare against a possible attack
at several different points; and his forces
being thus distributed in many directions,
the numbers we shall have to face at any
given point will be proportionately few.
17. For should the enemy strengthen his
van, he will weaken his rear; should he
strengthen his rear, he will weaken his
van; should he strengthen his left, he will
weaken his right; should he strengthen his
right, he will weaken his left.
If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he
will everywhere be weak.
18. Numerical weakness comes from having to
prepare against possible attacks; numerical
strength, from compelling our adversary 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 be known,
then the left wing will be impotent to
succor the right, the right equally
impotent to succor the left, the van unable
to relieve the rear, or the rear to support
the van.
How much more so if the furthest portions
of the army are anything under a hundred LI
apart, and even the nearest are separated
by several LI!
21. Though according to my estimate the
soldiers of Yueh exceed our own in number,
that shall advantage them nothing in the
matter of victory.
I say then that victory can be achieved.
22. Though the enemy be stronger in
numbers, we may prevent him from fighting.
Scheme so as to discover his plans and the
likelihood of their success.
23. Rouse him, and learn the principle of
his activity or inactivity.
Force him to reveal himself, so as to find
out his vulnerable spots.
24. Carefully compare the opposing army
with your own, so that you may know where
strength is superabundant and where it is
deficient.
25. In making tactical dispositions, the
highest pitch you can attain is to conceal
them; conceal your dispositions, and you
will be safe from the prying of the
subtlest spies, from the machinations of
the wisest brains.
26. How victory may be produced for them
out of the enemy's own tactics--that is
what the multitude cannot comprehend.
27. All men can see the tactics whereby I
conquer, but what none can see is 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 infinite
variety of circumstances.
29. Military tactics are like unto water;
for water in its natural course runs away
from high places and hastens 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 in
relation to the foe whom he is facing.
32. Therefore, just as water retains no
constant shape, so in warfare there are no
constant conditions.
33. He who can modify his tactics in
relation to his opponent and thereby
succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-
born captain.
34. The five elements (water, fire, wood,
metal, earth) are not always equally
predominant; 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.