- 懸權而動
- 先知迂直之計者勝此軍爭之法也
- 軍政曰言不相聞故爲金鼓視不相見故爲旌旗
it.” It is by acting on this principle, and harvesting the lands they invaded, that the Chinese have succeeded in carrying out some of their most memorable and triumphant expeditions, such as that of 班超 Pan Ch‘ao who penetrated to the Caspian, and in more recent years, those of 福康安 Fu-k‘ang-an and 左宗棠 Tso Tsung-t‘ang.
21. Ponder and deliberate
Note that both these words, like the Chinese 懸權, are really metaphors derived from the use of scales.
before you make a move.
Chang Yü quotes 尉繚子 as saying that we must not break camp until we have gauged the resisting power of the enemy and the cleverness of the opposing general. Cf. the “seven comparisons” in I. § 13. Capt. Calthrop omits this sentence.
22. He will conquer who has learnt the artifice of deviation.
See supra, §§ 3, 4.
Such is the art of manœuvring.
With these words, the chapter would naturally come to an end. But there now follows a long appendix in the shape of an extract from an earlier book on War, now lost, but apparently extant at the time when Sun Tzŭ wrote. The style of this fragment is not noticeably different from that of Sun Tzŭ himself, but no commentator raises a doubt as to its genuineness.
23. The Book of Army Management says:
It is perhaps significant that none of the earlier commentators give us any information about this work. Mei Yao-Ch‘ên calls it 軍之舊典 “an ancient military classic,” and Wang Hsi, 古軍書 “an old book on war.” Considering the enormous amount of fighting that had gone on for centuries before Sun Tzŭ’s time between the various kingdoms and principalities of China, it is not in itself improbable that a collection of military maxims should have been made and written down at some earlier period.
