[Meng Shih says: "To make it seem that I meant to defend the position,
whereas my real intention is to burst suddenly through the enemy’s
lines." Mei Yao-ch’en says: "in order to make my soldiers fight with
desperation." Wang Hsi says, "fearing lest my men be tempted to run
away." Tu Mu points out that this is the converse of VII. § 36, where
it is the enemy who is surrounded. In 532 A.D., Kao Huan, afterwards
Emperor and canonized as Shen-wu, was surrounded by a great army under
Erh-chu Chao and others. His own force was comparatively small,
consisting only of 2000 horse and something under 30,000 foot. The
lines of investment had not been drawn very closely together, gaps
being left at certain points. But Kao Huan, instead of trying to
escape, actually made a shift to block all the remaining outlets
himself by driving into them a number of oxen and donkeys roped
together. As soon as his officers and men saw that there was nothing
for it but to conquer or die, their spirits rose to an extraordinary
pitch of exaltation, and they charged with such desperate ferocity that
the opposing ranks broke and crumbled under their onslaught.]
On desperate ground, I would proclaim to my soldiers the hopelessness
of saving their lives.
Tu Yu says: "Burn your baggage and impedimenta, throw away your stores
and provisions, choke up the wells, destroy your cooking-stoves, and
make it plain to your men that they cannot survive, but must fight to
the death." Mei Yao-ch’en says: "The only chance of life lies in giving
up all hope of it." This concludes what Sun Tzŭ has to say about
"grounds" and the "variations" corresponding to them. Reviewing the
passages which bear on this important subject, we cannot fail to be
struck by the desultory and unmethodical fashion in which it is
treated. Sun Tzŭ begins abruptly in VIII. § 2 to enumerate "variations"
before touching on "grounds" at all, but only mentions five, namely
nos. 7, 5, 8 and 9 of the subsequent list, and one that is not included
in it. A few varieties of ground are dealt with in the earlier portion
of chap. IX, and then chap. X sets forth six new grounds, with six
variations of plan to match. None of these is mentioned again, though
the first is hardly to be distinguished from ground no. 4 in the next
chapter. At last, in chap. XI, we come to the Nine Grounds par
excellence, immediately followed by the variations. This takes us down
to § 14. In §§ 43-45, fresh definitions are provided for nos. 5, 6, 2,
8 and 9 (in the order given), as well as for the tenth ground noticed
in chap. VIII; and finally, the nine variations are enumerated once
more from beginning to end, all, with the exception of 5, 6 and 7,
being different from those previously given. Though it is impossible to
account for the present state of Sun Tzŭ’s text, a few suggestive facts
maybe brought into prominence: (1) Chap. VIII, according to the title,
should deal with nine variations, whereas only five appear. (2) It is
an abnormally short chapter. (3) Chap. XI is entitled The Nine Grounds.
Several of these are defined twice over, besides which there are two
distinct lists of the corresponding variations. (4) The length of the
chapter is disproportionate, being double that of any other except IX.
I do not propose to draw any inferences from these facts, beyond the
general conclusion that Sun Tzŭ’s work cannot have come down to us in
the shape in which it left his hands: chap. VIII is obviously defective
and probably out of place, while XI seems to contain matter that has
either been added by a later hand or ought to appear elsewhere.]