array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: "Begin
by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be
amenable to your will."
[Opinions differ as to what Sun Tzŭ had in mind. Ts’ao Kung thinks it
is "some strategical advantage on which the enemy is depending." Tu Mu
says: "The three things which an enemy is anxious to do, and on the
accomplishment of which his success depends, are: (1) to capture our
favourable positions; (2) to ravage our cultivated land; (3) to guard
his own communications." Our object then must be to thwart his plans in
these three directions and thus render him helpless. [Cf. III. § 3.] By
boldly seizing the initiative in this way, you at once throw the other
side on the defensive.]