VI. WEAK POINTS AND STRONG

VI. WEAK POINTS AND STRONG
- 1. Sun Tzu said:
- [Time of Attack]
  - Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight;
  - whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
  - 2. Therefore the clever combatant
    - [Impose Will]
      - imposes his will on the enemy,
      - but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.
    - [Advantage and Damage]
      - 3. By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord;
      - or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.
    - 4.Therefore
      - If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him;
      - if well supplied with food, he can starve him out;
      - if quietly encamped, he can force him to move.
- [Success of Attack]
  - [Unexpected]
    - 5. Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend
    - march swiftly to places where you are not expected.
  - 6. An army may march great distances without distress,
    - if it marches through country where the enemy is not.
  - [Attack and Defense]
    - 7. You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.
    - You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.
    - 8. Hence
      - that commander is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend;
      - and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
  - [Hold Fate]
    - [Invisible and Inaudible]
      - 9. O divine art of subtlety, through you we learn to be invisible
      - O divine art of secrecy, through you inaudible;
    - and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.
  - [Advance and Retire]
    - 10. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible,
      - if you make for the enemy's weak points;
    - you may retire and be safe from pursuit
      - if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.
- [Fighting]
  - 11. If we wish to fight,
    - the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered
      behind a high rampart and a deep ditch.
      - All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.
  - 12. If we do not wish to fight,
    - we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground.
    - All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.
  - 13. By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves,
    - we can keep our forces concentrated,
      - while the enemy's must be divided.
    - We can form a single united body,
      - while the enemy must split up into fractions.
    - Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole,
      - which means that we shall be many to the enemy's few.
  - 15. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one,
    - our opponents will be in dire straits.
- [Place of Attack]
  - 16. The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known;
    - then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points;
    - and his forces being thus distributed in many directions,
    - the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.
  - [Therefore]
    - 17. Should the enemy strengthen his front,
      - he will weaken his rear;
    - Should he strengthen his rear,
      - he will weaken his front;
    - Should he strengthen his left,
      - he will weaken his right;
    - Should he strengthen his right,
      - he will weaken his left.
    - If he sends reinforcements everywhere,
      - he will everywhere be weak.
  - [Number]
    - 18. Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks;
    - numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.
  - [Knowledge]
    - 19. Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle,
      - we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.
    - 20. But if neither time nor place be known,
      - then the left wing will be impotent to succor the right,
      - the right equally impotent to succor the left,
      - the front unable to relieve the rear,
      - or the rear to support the front.
      - How much more so if the furthest portions of the army are anything under a hundred LI apart, and even the nearest are separated by several LI!
- [Tactical Dispositions]
  - 21. Though according to my estimate the soldiers of Yueh exceed our own in number,
    - that shall advantage them nothing in the matter of victory.
    - I say then that victory can be achieved.
  - 22. Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting.
    - Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success.
  - [Learn]
    - 23. Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity.
    - Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.
  - 24. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own,
    - so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.
  - 25. In making tactical dispositions,
    - the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them;
    - conceal your dispositions, and you will be safe
      - from the prying of the subtlest spies,
      - from the machinations of the wisest brains.
    - 26. How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics
      - that is what the multitude cannot comprehend.
    - 27. All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer,
      - but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
    - 28. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory,
      - but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
- [The Way in War]
  - 29. So in war, the way is like water
    - Water avoids what is high and strikes what is low
      - Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows.
        
        Water retains no constant shape
    - Soldiers avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak.
      - Soldiers work out their victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.
        
        Soldiers retain no constant way to victory
  - 33. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent
    and thereby succeed in winning,
    - may be called a heaven-born captain.
  - [Summary]
    - The five elements (water, fire, wood, metal, earth) are not always equally predominant;
    - the four seasons make way for each other in turn.
    - There are short days and long;
    - the moon has its periods of waning and waxing.