- 大吏怒而不服遇敵懟而自戰將不知其能曰崩
after some months had passed, he made an attempt to engage the enemy, his troops turned tail and dispersed in every direction. After that, the unfortunate man committed suicide by cutting his throat.
When the officers are too strong and the common soldiers too weak, the result is collapse.
Ts‘ao Kung says: 吏强欲進卒弱輒陷 “The officers are energetic and want to press on, the common soldiers are feeble and suddenly collapse.” Note that 弱 is to be taken literally of physical weakness, whereas in the former clause it is figurative. Li Ch‘üan makes 陷 equivalent to 敗, and Tu Mu explains it as 陷沒於死地 “stumbling into a death-trap.”
17. When the higher officers
大吏, according to Ts‘ao Kung, are the 小將 “generals of inferior rank.” But Li Ch‘üan, Ch‘ên Hao and Wang Hsi take the term as simply convertible with 將 or 大將.
are angry and insubordinate, and on meeting the enemy give battle on their own account from a feeling of resentment, before the commander-in-chief can tell whether or no he is in a position to fight, the result is ruin.
Ts‘ao Kung makes 大將, understood, the subject of 怒, which seems rather far-fetched. Wang Hsi’s note is: 謂將怒不以理且不知禆佐之才激致其兇難如山之崩壞也 “This means, the general is angry without just cause, and at the same time does not appreciate the ability of his subordinate officers; thus he arouses fierce resentment and brings an avalanche of ruin upon his head.” He takes 能, therefore, in the sense of 才; but I think that Ch‘ên Hao is right in his paraphrase 不顧能否 “they don’t care if it be possible or no.” My interpretation of the whole passage is that of Mei Yao-ch‘ên and Chang Yü. Tu Mu gives a long extract from the Tso Chuan, 宣公, XII. 3, showing how the great battle of 邲 Pi [597 B.C.] was lost for the 晉 Chin State through the contumacy of 先縠 Hsien Hu and the resentful spite of 魏錡 Wei I and 趙旃 Chao Chan. Chang Yü also alludes to the mutinous conduct of 欒黶 Luan Yen [ibid. 襄公, XIV. 3].
