5 Energy - 6 Weak Points and Strong (The Art of War)

01V.

02ENERGY Sun Tzu said, The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men.

03It is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.

04Fighting with a large army under your command is no wise different from fighting with a small one.

05It is merely a question of instituting signs and signals.

06To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy's attack and remain unshaken, this is effected by maneuvers direct and indirect.

07That the impact of your army may be like a grindstone dashed against an egg, this is effected by the science of weak points and strong.

08In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

09Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as heaven and earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams.

10Like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew.

11Like the four seasons, they pass away to return once more.

12There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.

13There are not more than five primary colors, blue, yellow, red, white, and black, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever be seen.

14There are not more than five cardinal tastes, sour, acrid, salt, sweet, bitter, yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.

15In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack, the direct and the indirect, yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.

16The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn.

17It is like moving in a circle.

18You never come to an end.

19Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?

20The onset of troops is like the rush of a torrent, which will even roll stones along in its course.

21The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon, which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

22Therefore, the good fighter will be terrible in his onset, and prompt in his decision.

23Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow, decision to the releasing of a trigger.

24Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder, and yet no real disorder at all.

25Amid confusion and chaos, your array may be without head or tail, yet it will be proof against defeat.

26Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline.

27Simulated fear postulates courage.

28Simulated weakness postulates strength.

29Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision.

30Concealing courage under their show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy.

31Masking strength with weakness is to be affected by tactical dispositions.

32Thus, one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act.

33He sacrifices something that the enemy may snatch at it.

34By holding out baits, he keeps him on the march.

35Then, with a body of picked men, he lies in wait for him.

36The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.

37Hence his ability to pick out the right men and utilize combined energy.

38When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become, as it were like, unto rolling logs or stones, for it is the nature of a log or stone to remain motionless on level ground and to move when on a slope, if four-cornered, to come to a standstill, but if round-shaped, to go rolling down.

39Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height.

40So much on the subject of energy.

41End of Part 5 Part 6 Weak Points and Strong Sun Tzu said, Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight.

42Whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

43Therefore, the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him.

44By 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.

45If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him.

46If well supplied with food, he can starve him out.

47If quietly encamped, he can force him to move.

48Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend.

49March swiftly to places where you are not expected.

50An army may march great distances without distress if it marches through country where the enemy is not.

51You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.

52You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked.

53Hence, the general 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.

54Oh, divine art of subtlety and secrecy!

55Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible, and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.

56You may advance and be absolutely irresistible if you make for the enemy's weak points.

57You may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.

58If 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.

59All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve.

60If 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.

61All we need do is throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.

62By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated while the enemies must be divided.

63We can form a single united body while the enemy must split up into fractions.

64Hence, there will be a hole pitted against separate parts of a hole which means that we shall be many to the enemy's few.

65And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.

66The spot where we intend to fight must not be made known.

67For then the enemy will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points.

68And his forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face at any given point will be proportionately few.

69For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear.

70Should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van.

71Should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right.

72Should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left.

73If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.

74Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks.

75Numerical strength from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.

76Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.

77But if neither time nor place be known, then the left wing will be impotent to secure the right, the right equally impotent to secure the left, the van unable to relieve the rear, or the rear to support the van.

78How much more so if the furthest proportions of the army are anything under a hundred li apart, and even the nearest are separated by several li.

79Though, according to my estimate, the soldiers of Yue exceed our own in number, that shall advantage them nothing in the matter of victory.

80I say then that victory can be achieved.

81Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting.

82Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success.

83Rouse him and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity.

84Force him to reveal himself so as to find out his vulnerable spots.

85Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.

86In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.

87Conceal your dispositions and you will be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies from the machinations of the wisest brains.

88How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics, that is what the multitude cannot comprehend.

89All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

90Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.

91Military tactics are like unto water, for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards.

92So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

93Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows.

94The soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.

95Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, in warfare there are no constant conditions.

96He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning may be called a heaven-born captain.

97The five elements water, fire, wood, metal, earth, are not always equally predominant.

98The four seasons make way for each other in turn.

99There are short days and long.

100The moon has its periods of waning and waxing.

101End of Part 6 Recorded in Toronto, Ontario by Moira Fogarty October 2006