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06 Weak Points and Strong - The Art of War - Lao Tzu · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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  Chapter six, Weak Points and Strong Sunsu said, whoever is first in the
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  field and awaits the coming of the enemy will be fresh for the fight.
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  Whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
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  Therefore, the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does
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  not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. By holding out advantages
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  to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord.
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  Or by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw
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  near. If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him.
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  If he is well supplied with food, he can starve him out. It
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  quietly encamped, he can force him to move. Appear at points which the
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  enemy must hasten to defend, more swiftly to places where you are not expected.
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  An army may march great distances without distress. If it marches through country
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  where the enemy is not you can be sure of succeeding in your attacks.
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  If you only attack places which are undefended, you can ensure the safety of
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  your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked. Hence, that
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  general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend, and
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  he is skillful in defense, whose opponent does not know what to attack,
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  O divine art of subtlety and secrecy. Through you, we learn to be
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  invisible. Through you inaudible, and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in
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  our hands. You may advance and be absolutely irresistible. If you make for
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  the enemy's weak points. You may retire and be safe from pursuit if your
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  mood movements are more rapid than those of the enemy. If we wish to
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  fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement, even though he be
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  sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is
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  attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve. If we do
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  not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us, even
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  though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All
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  we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way. By
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  discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated
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  while the enemies must be divided. We can form a single united body while
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  the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a hole pitted
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  against several parts of a hole, which means that we shall be many to
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  the enemies few. And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force
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  with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits. The spot
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  where we intend to fight must not be made known, for then the enemy
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  will have to prepare against a possible attack at several different points, and his
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  forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we shall have to face
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  at any given point will be proportionately few. For should the enemy strengthen his
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  van, he will weaken his rear. Should he strengthen his rear, he
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  will weaken his van. Should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his
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  right. Should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If
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  he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak. Numerical weakness comes from
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  having to prepare against possible attacks. Miracle strength from compelling our adversary to make
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  these preparations against us. Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle,
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  we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight. But if
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  neither time nor place be known, then the left wing will be impotent to
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  succor the right, the right equally impotent to succor the left. The van
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  unable to relieve the rear, or the rear to support the van. How
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  much more so if the furthest portions of the army are anything under a hundred
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  lee apart, and even the nearest are separated by severallee. Though according to
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  my estimate the soldiers of Huay exceed our own in number, that shall advantage
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  them nothing in the matter of victory. I say, then, that victory
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  can be achieved though the enemy be stronger in numbers. We may prevent him
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  from fighting scheme so as to discuss for his plans and the likelihood of their
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  success. Rouse him and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force
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  him to reveal himself so as to find out his vulnerable spots. Carefully compare
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  the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is
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  superabundant and where it is deficient. In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch
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  you can attain is to conceal them. Conceal your dispositions, and you will
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  be safe from the prying of the subtlest spies, from the machinations of the
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  wisest brains. How victory may be produced for them out of the enemy's own
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  tactics. That is what the multitude cannot comprehend. All men can see the
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  tactics whereby I conquer, But what none can see is the strategy out of
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  which victory is evolved. Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one
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  victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
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  Military tactics are like unto water. For water, in its natural course runs
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  away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war the way is to
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  avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak. Water shapes its
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  course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows. The soldier
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  works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing. Therefore,
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  just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no
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  constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and
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  thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven born captain. The five
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  elements water, fire, wood, metal, earth are not always equally predominant
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  before reasons make way for each in turn. There are short days and long
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  The moon has its periods of waning and waxing. End of Chapter six