Follow us on Facebook to receive important updates Follow us on Twitter to receive important updates Follow us on sina.com's microblogging site to receive important updates Follow us on Douban to receive important updates
Chinese Text Project
Back Forward
School of the Military -> The Art of War -> Terrain -> 1

孫子Sunzi said:
We may distinguish six kinds of terrain,
to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporizing ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy.
Ground which can be freely traversed by both sides is called accessible.
With regard to ground of this nature,
be before the enemy in occupying the raised and sunny spots, and carefully guard your line of supplies. Then you will be able to fight with advantage.
Ground which can be abandoned but is hard to re-occupy is called entangling.
From a position of this sort,
if the enemy is unprepared,
you may sally forth and defeat him.
But if the enemy is prepared for your coming,
and you fail to defeat him,
then, return being impossible,
disaster will ensue.
When the position is such that neither side will gain by making the first move,
it is called temporizing ground.
In a position of this sort,
even though the enemy should offer us an attractive bait,
it will be advisable not to stir forth,
but rather to retreat,
thus enticing the enemy in his turn; then, when part of his army has come out, we may deliver our attack with advantage.
With regard to narrow passes,
if you can occupy them first,
let them be strongly garrisoned and await the advent of the enemy.
Should the army forestall you in occupying a pass,
do not go after him if the pass is fully garrisoned,
but only if it is weakly garrisoned.
With regard to precipitous heights,
if you are beforehand with your adversary,
you should occupy the raised and sunny spots, and there wait for him to come up.
If the enemy has occupied them before you,
do not follow him, but retreat and try to entice him away.
If you are situated at a great distance from the enemy,
and the strength of the two armies is equal,
it is not easy to provoke a battle,
and fighting will be to your disadvantage.
These six are the principles connected with Earth.
The general who has attained a responsible post
must be careful to study them.


Enjoy this site? Please help.Site design and content copyright 2006-2024. When quoting or citing information from this site, please link to the corresponding page or to https://ctext.org. Please note that the use of automatic download software on this site is strictly prohibited, and that users of such software are automatically banned without warning to save bandwidth. 沪ICP备09015720号-3Comments? Suggestions? Please raise them here.