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crevasses.]
should be left with all possible speed and not
approached.
16. While we keep away from such places, we should
get the enemy to approach them; while we face
them, we should let the enemy have them on his
rear.
17. If in the neighborhood of your camp there should be
any hilly country, ponds surrounded by aquatic
grass, hollow basins filled with reeds, or woods with
thick undergrowth, they must be carefully routed out
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and searched; for these are places where men in
ambush or insidious spies are likely to be lurking.
[Chang Yu has the note: "We must also be on our guard
against traitors who may lie in close covert, secretly spying
out our weaknesses and overhearing our instructions."]
18. When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet,
he is relying on the natural strength of his position.
[Here begin Sun Tzu's remarks on the reading of signs,
much of which is so good that it could almost be included in
a modern manual like Gen. Baden-Powell's "Aids to
Scouting."]
19. When he keeps aloof and tries to provoke a battle,
he is anxious for the other side to advance.
[Probably because we are in a strong position from
which he wishes to dislodge us. "If he came close up to us,
says Tu Mu, "and tried to force a battle, he would seem to
despise us, and there would be less probability of our
responding to the challenge."]
20. If his place of encampment is easy of access, he is
tendering a bait.
21. Movement amongst the trees of a forest shows that
the enemy is advancing.
[Ts`ao Kung explains this as "felling trees to clear a
passage," and Chang Yu says: "Every man sends out scouts
to climb high places and observe the enemy. If a scout sees
that the trees of a forest are moving and shaking, he may
know that they are being cut down to clear a passage for the
enemy's march."]
The appearance of a number of screens in the midst
of thick grass means that the enemy wants to make
us suspicious.
[Tu Yu's explanation, borrowed from Ts`ao Kung's, is as
follows: "The presence of a number of screens or sheds in
the midst of thick vegetation is a sure sign that the enemy
has fled and, fearing pursuit, has constructed these hiding-
places in order to make us suspect an ambush." It appears
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that these "screens" were hastily knotted together out of any
long grass which the retreating enemy happened to come
across.]
22. The rising of birds in their flight is the sign of an
ambuscade.
[Chang Yu's explanation is doubtless right: "When birds
that are flying along in a straight line suddenly shoot
upwards, it means that soldiers are in ambush at the spot
beneath."]
Startled beasts indicate that a sudden attack is
coming.
23. When there is dust rising in a high column, it is the
sign of chariots advancing; when the dust is low, but
spread over a wide area, it betokens the approach of
infantry.
["High and sharp," or rising to a peak, is of course
somewhat exaggerated as applied to dust. The
commentators explain the phenomenon by saying that
horses and chariots, being heavier than men, raise more
dust, and also follow one another in the same wheel-track,
whereas foot-soldiers would be marching in ranks, many
abreast. According to Chang Yu, "every army on the march
must have scouts some way in advance, who on sighting
dust raised by the enemy, will gallop back and report it to the
commander-in-chief." Cf. Gen. Baden-Powell: "As you move
along, say, in a hostile country, your eyes should be looking
afar for the enemy or any signs of him: figures, dust rising,
birds getting up, glitter of arms, etc." [1] ]
When it branches out in different directions, it
shows that parties have been sent to collect
firewood. A few clouds of dust moving to and fro
signify that the army is encamping.
[Chang Yu says: "In apportioning the defenses for a
cantonment, light horse will be sent out to survey the
position and ascertain the weak and strong points all along
its circumference. Hence the small quantity of dust and its
motion."]
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24. Humble words and increased preparations are signs
that the enemy is about to advance.
["As though they stood in great fear of us," says Tu Mu.
"Their object is to make us contemptuous and careless, after
which they will attack us." Chang Yu alludes to the story of
T`ien Tan of the Ch`i-mo against the Yen forces, led by Ch`i
Chieh. In ch. 82 of the SHIH CHI we read: "T`ien Tan openly
said: 'My only fear is that the Yen army may cut off the noses
of their Ch`i prisoners and place them in the front rank to
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