will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
[Chang Yu says: If he can fight, he advances and takes the offensive;
if he cannot fight, he retreats and remains on the defensive. He will
invariably conquer who knows whether it is right to take the offensive
or the defensive.]
(2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior
forces.
[This is not merely the general’s ability to estimate numbers
correctly, as Li Ch’uan and others make out. Chang Yu expounds the
saying more satisfactorily: "By applying the art of war, it is possible
with a lesser force to defeat a greater, and _vice versa_. The secret
lies in an eye for locality, and in not letting the right moment slip.
Thus Wu Tzŭ says: ‘With a superior force, make for easy ground; with an
inferior one, make for difficult ground.’"]
(3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout
all its ranks.
(4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy
unprepared.
(5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by
the sovereign.
[Tu Yu quotes Wang Tzŭ as saying: "It is the sovereign’s function to
give broad instructions, but to decide on battle it is the function of
the general." It is needless to dilate on the military disasters which
have been caused by undue interference with operations in the field on
the part of the home government. Napoleon undoubtedly owed much of his
extraordinary success to the fact that he was not hampered by central
authority.]
Victory lies in the knowledge of these five points.
[Literally, “These five things are knowledge of the principle of
victory.”]