- 我可以往彼可以來者爲交地
- 諸侯之地三屬先至而得天下之衆者爲衢地
nearer. The cunning and resource of 子房 Tzŭ-fang himself [i.e. 張良] would be expended in vain against the enormous strength of these two positions.” Liang Hsi, refusing to act on this advice, was overwhelmed and swept away by the invader. [See 晉書, ch. 122, fol. 3 ro, and 歴代紀事年表, ch. 43, fol. 26.]
5. Ground on which each side has liberty of movement is open ground.
This is only a makeshift translation of 交, which according to Ts‘ao Kung stands for 交錯 “ground covered with a network of roads,” like a chess-board. Another interpretation, suggested by Ho Shih, is 交通 “ground on which intercommunication is easy.” In either case, it must evidently be 平原 “flat country,” and therefore 不可杜絶 “cannot be blocked.” Cf. 通形, X. § 2.
6. Ground which forms the key to three contiguous states,
我與敵相當而旁有他國也 “Our country adjoining the enemy’s and a third country conterminous with both.” [Ts‘ao Kung.] Mêng Shih instances the small principality of 鄭 Chêng, which was bounded on the north-east by 齊 Ch‘i, on the west by 晉 Chin, and on the south by 楚 Ch‘u.
so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command,
天下 of course stands for the loose confederacy of states into which China was divided under the Chou dynasty. The belligerent who holds this dominating position can constrain most of them to become his allies. See infra, § 48. 衆 appears at first sight to be “the masses” or “population” of the Empire, but it is more probably, as Tu Yu says, 諸侯之衆.
is ground of intersecting highways.
Capt. Calthrop’s “path-ridden ground” might stand well enough for 交地 above, but it does not bring out the force of 衢地, which clearly denotes the central position where important highways meet.
