Speaker 1: Chapter six of the Art of War. This is a
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Speaker 1: The Art of War by Swindsor Chapter six, Weak Points
Speaker 1: and strong One. Swinzer said, whoever is first in the
Speaker 1: field and awakes the coming of the enemy will be
Speaker 1: fresh for the fight. Whoever is second in the field
Speaker 1: and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted. Two. Therefore,
Speaker 1: the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but
Speaker 1: does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. Three.
Speaker 1: By holding out advantages to him, he can cause the
Speaker 1: enemy to approach of his own accord. Or by inflicting damage,
Speaker 1: he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near. Four.
Speaker 1: If the enemy is taking his ease, he can harass him.
Speaker 1: If well supplied with food, he can starve him out.
Speaker 1: If quietly encamped, he can force him to move. Five.
Speaker 1: Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend.
Speaker 1: March swiftly to places where you are not expected. Six.
Speaker 1: An army may march great distances without distress. If it
Speaker 1: march through country where the enemy is not. Seven, you
Speaker 1: can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you
Speaker 1: only attack places which are undefended. You can ensure the
Speaker 1: safety of your defense if you only hold positions that
Speaker 1: cannot be attacked. Eight. Hence, that general is skillful in
Speaker 1: attack whose opponent does not know what to defend, and
Speaker 1: he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know
Speaker 1: what to attack. Nine, Oh, divine art of subtlety and secrecy.
Speaker 1: Through you, we learn to be invincible through you inaudible,
Speaker 1: and hence we can hold the enemy's faith in our hands. Ten.
Speaker 1: You may advance and be absolutely irresistible. If you make
Speaker 1: for the enemy's weak pawts. You may retire and be
Speaker 1: saved from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than
Speaker 1: those of the enemy. Eleven. If we wish to fight,
Speaker 1: the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though
Speaker 1: he be sheltered behind a high rampart at a deep ditch.
Speaker 1: All we need do is attack some other place that
Speaker 1: he will be obliged to relieve. Twelve. If we do
Speaker 1: not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from
Speaker 1: engaging us, even though the lines of our encampment be
Speaker 1: merely traced out on the ground. All we need do
Speaker 1: is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way. Thirteen.
Speaker 1: By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we
Speaker 1: can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemies must be divided. Fourteen,
Speaker 1: We can form a single united body, while the enemy
Speaker 1: must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a
Speaker 1: hole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means
Speaker 1: that we shall be many to the enemy's fuel. Fifteen.
Speaker 1: If we are able thus to attack an inferior force
Speaker 1: with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire strects. Sixteen.
Speaker 1: The spot where we intend to fight must not be
Speaker 1: made known, for then the enemy will have to prepare
Speaker 1: against a possible attack at several different points, and his
Speaker 1: forces being thus distributed in many directions, the numbers we
Speaker 1: shall have to face at any given point will be
Speaker 1: proportionately fuel Seventeen. For should the enemy strengthen his van,
Speaker 1: he will weaken his rear. Should he strengthen his rear,
Speaker 1: he will weaken his van. Should he strengthen his left,
Speaker 1: he will weaken his right. Should he strengthen his right,
Speaker 1: he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere,
Speaker 1: he will everywhere be weak. Eighteen. Numerical weakness comes from
Speaker 1: having to prepare against possible attacks. Numerical strength from compelling
Speaker 1: our adversary to make these preparations against us. Nineteen. Knowing
Speaker 1: the place and the time of the coming battle, we
Speaker 1: may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.
Speaker 1: Twenty But if neither time nor place be known, then
Speaker 1: the left wing will be impotent to succor to right,
Speaker 1: the right equally impotent to succor the left. The van
Speaker 1: unable to relieve the rear, or the rear to support
Speaker 1: the van. How much more so if the furthest portions
Speaker 1: of the army are anything under a hundred lee apart,
Speaker 1: and even the nearest are separated by several lee twenty One.
Speaker 1: Though according to my estimate, the soldiers of Yeux exceed
Speaker 1: our only number, that shall advantage them nothing in the
Speaker 1: matter of victory, I say then that victory can be achieved.
Speaker 1: Twenty two. Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we
Speaker 1: may prevent him from fighting scheme, so as to discover
Speaker 1: his plans and the likelihood of their success. Twenty three
Speaker 1: rouse him and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity.
Speaker 1: Force him to reveal himself so as to find out
Speaker 1: his vulnerable spots. Twenty four. Carefully compare the opposing army
Speaker 1: with your own, so that you may know where strength
Speaker 1: is superabundant and where it is deficient. Twenty five. In
Speaker 1: making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is
Speaker 1: to conceal them. Conceal your dispositions, and you will be
Speaker 1: safe from the prying of the subtlest spies from the
Speaker 1: machinations of the wisest brains. Twenty six. How victory may
Speaker 1: be produced for them out of the enemy's own tactics,
Speaker 1: That is what the multitude cannot comprehend. Twenty seven. All
Speaker 1: men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what
Speaker 1: none can see is the strategy out of which victory
Speaker 1: is evolved. Twenty eight. Do not repeat the tactics which
Speaker 1: have gained you one victory, but let your methods be
Speaker 1: regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances. Twenty nine. Military
Speaker 1: tactics are like unto water, For water its natural course
Speaker 1: runs away from high places and hazens downwards thirty So
Speaker 1: in war the way is to avoid what is strong
Speaker 1: and to strike what is weak. Thirty one. Water shapes
Speaker 1: its course according to the nature of the ground over
Speaker 1: which it flows. The soldier works out his victory in
Speaker 1: relation to the foe whom he is facing thirty two. Therefore,
Speaker 1: just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare
Speaker 1: there are no constant conditions. Thirty three. He who can
Speaker 1: modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby
Speaker 1: succeed in winning, may be called a heaven born captain.
Speaker 1: Thirty four. The five elements water, fire, wood, metal, earth
Speaker 1: are not always equally predominant. The four seasons make way
Speaker 1: for each other. In turn. There are short days and
Speaker 1: long The moon has its periods of waning and waxing.
Speaker 1: End of Chapter six