but acquiring life provisions of the army from the enemy territory.’’
Chapter 3proposes complete victory as another strategic objective,
which means taking the enemy in complete and intact units (be they
state, army, battalion, or squad) rather than destroying or breaking
them. Furthermore, Sunzi advocates winning by strategy instead
of direct physical combat and offers the famous saying of ‘‘know
yourself and know your enemy [and] you will be invincible.’’
Chapters 4and 5 , on ‘‘Disposition’’ (xing) and ‘‘Momentum’’ (shi),
are about the formational and positional determinants of war out-
comes. Victory or defeat depends on the relative position and strength
of the opposing parties. Victorious leaders are those who create
advantages for their troops or place their troops in the advantageous
positions and those who vary strategies and tactics through different
configurations of action and non-action, conventional and surprise
actions, and offense and defense.Chapter 6on ‘‘Strengths and weak-
nesses’’ is about the strategic use of strength and weakness including
focusing on one’s own strength, avoiding the opponent’s strength,
and matching one’s own strengths with the opponent’s weaknesses.
Of course, concealing one’s own real strengths and weaknesses, con-
fusing the opponent with configuration, and discovering true
strengths and weaknesses of the opponent are all part of the strategies
and tactics.
Chapter 7on ‘‘Maneuvering’’ goes into details about gaining advan-
tage over the opponent in morale, positioning, strength, and timing
and emphasizes further the importance of attacking the opponent’s
weakness with one’s strength.Chapter 8on ‘‘Adaptations’’ explores
ways of responding to various emergent conditions and warns against
uniformity and predictability. ‘‘There are routes not to be followed,
armies not to be attacked, citadels not to be besieged, territory not
to be fought over, and orders of sovereignty not to be obeyed.’’
In decision-making, leaders must consider both favorable and
unfavorable factors so as to be fully prepared and positioned to win.
InChapters 9–11 we see Sunzi’s systematic attention to physical
and situational factors and his situational perspectives on warfare.
InChapter 9, Sunzi deals with issues of a marching army, and offers
advice on how to observe and assess the enemy. In Chapters 10 and
11, Sunzi passes his deep knowledge of various terrains and grounds,
their effects on the emotion and morale of the soldiers, and strategies
and tactics in dealing with the situations.
150 Hai-fa Sun, Chao-chuan Chen, and Shi-he Zhang