- 是故政舉之日夷關折符無通其使
- 厲於廊廟之上以誅其事
mentioned by Ts‘ao Kung, is 巧攻成事. Capt. Calthrop omits this sentence, after having thus translated the two preceding: “Discover the enemy’s intentions by conforming to his movements. When these are discovered, then, with one stroke, the general may be killed, even though he be one hundred leagues distant.”
63. On the day that you take up your command,
政舉 does not mean “when war is declared,” as Capt. Calthrop says, nor yet exactly, as Ts‘ao Kung paraphrases it, 謀定 “when your plans are fixed,” when you have mapped out your campaign. The phrase is not given in the P‘ei Wên Yün Fu. There being no causal connection discoverable between this and the preceding sentence, 是故 must perforce be left untranslated.
block the frontier passes,
夷 is explained by Mei Yao-ch‘ên as 滅塞.
destroy the official tallies,
The locus classicus for these tallies is Chou Li, XIV. fol. 40 (Imperial edition): 門關用符節貨賄星璽節道路用旌節. The generic term thus appears to be 節, 符 being the special kind used at city-gates and on the frontier. They were tablets of bamboo or wood, one half of which was issued as a permit or passport by the official in charge of a gate (司門 or 司關. Cf. the 封人 “border-warden” of Lun Yü III. 24, who may have had similar duties.) When this half was returned to him, within a fixed period, he was authorised to open the gate and let the traveller through.
and stop the passage of all emissaries.
Either to or from the enemy’s country.
64. Be stern in the council-chamber,
Show no weakness, and insist on your plans being ratified by the sovereign. 廊廟 indicates a hall or temple in the Palace. Cf. I. § 26. It is not clear if other officers would be present. Hardly anything can be made of 勵, the reading of the standard text, so I have adopted Tu Mu’s conjecture 厲, which appears in the T‘u Shu.
so that you may control the situation.
