- 故兵有走者有弛者有陷者有崩者有亂者有北者凡此六者非天之災將之過也
- 夫勢均以一擊十曰走
- 卒强吏弱曰弛吏强卒弱曰陷
14. Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes,
The T‘u Shu reads 天地之災.
but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganization; (6) rout.
I take exception to Capt. Calthrop’s rendering of 陷 and 崩 as “distress” and “disorganisation,” respectively.
15. Other conditions being equal, if one force is hurled against another ten times its size, the result will be the flight of the former.
Cf. III. § 10. The general’s fault here is that of 不料力 “not calculating the enemy’s strength.” It is obvious that 勢 cannot have the same force as in § 12, where it was equivalent to 兵力. I should not be inclined, however, to limit it, with Chang Yü, to 將之智勇兵之利銳 “the wisdom and valour of the general and the sharpness of the weapons.” As Li Ch‘üan very justly remarks, 若得形便之地用奇伏之計則可矣 “Given a decided advantage in position, or the help of some stratagem such as a flank attack or an ambuscade, it would be quite possible [to fight in the ratio of one to ten].”
16. When the common soldiers are too strong and their officers too weak, the result is insubordination.
弛 “laxity” — the metaphor being taken from an unstrung bow. Capt. Calthrop’s “relaxation” is not good, on account of its ambiguity. Tu Mu cites the unhappy case of 田布 T‘ien Pu [Hsin T‘ang Shu, ch. 148], who was sent to 魏 Wei in 821 A.D. with orders to lead an army against 王廷湊 Wang T‘ing-ts‘ou. But the whole time he was in command, his soldiers treated him with the utmost contempt, and openly flouted his authority by riding about the camp on donkeys, several thousands at a time. T‘ien Pu was powerless to put a stop to this conduct, and when,
