without delay, is desperate ground.
[The situation, as pictured by Ts’ao Kung, is very similar to the
"hemmed-in ground" except that here escape is no longer possible: "A
lofty mountain in front, a large river behind, advance impossible,
retreat blocked." Ch’en Hao says: "to be on ‘desperate ground’ is like
sitting in a leaking boat or crouching in a burning house." Tu Mu
quotes from Li Ching a vivid description of the plight of an army thus
entrapped: "Suppose an army invading hostile territory without the aid
of local guides:—it falls into a fatal snare and is at the enemy’s
mercy. A ravine on the left, a mountain on the right, a pathway so
perilous that the horses have to be roped together and the chariots
carried in slings, no passage open in front, retreat cut off behind, no
choice but to proceed in single file. Then, before there is time to
range our soldiers in order of battle, the enemy is overwhelming
strength suddenly appears on the scene. Advancing, we can nowhere take
a breathing-space; retreating, we have no haven of refuge. We seek a
pitched battle, but in vain; yet standing on the defensive, none of us
has a moment’s respite. If we simply maintain our ground, whole days
and months will crawl by; the moment we make a move, we have to sustain
the enemy’s attacks on front and rear. The country is wild, destitute
of water and plants; the army is lacking in the necessaries of life,
the horses are jaded and the men worn-out, all the resources of
strength and skill unavailing, the pass so narrow that a single man
defending it can check the onset of ten thousand; all means of offense
in the hands of the enemy, all points of vantage already forfeited by
ourselves:—in this terrible plight, even though we had the most valiant
soldiers and the keenest of weapons, how could they be employed with
the slightest effect?" Students of Greek history may be reminded of the
awful close to the Sicilian expedition, and the agony of the Athenians
under Nicias and Demonsthenes. [See Thucydides, VII. 78 sqq.].]