第 6 章 虚实篇

Sun Tzu said: In war, the army that arrives first at the battlefield and waits for the enemy will be very composed and take the initiative.

The army that arrives late at the battlefield and hastily engages in battle will be very fatigued and very passive.

Therefore, those who are skilled at commanding operations can maneuver the enemy and are not maneuvered by the enemy.

Being able to make the enemy come on their own is the result of luring them with small benefits.

Being able to prevent the enemy from reaching where they want to go is the result of obstructing them using various methods.

Therefore, if the enemy rests well, one must try to make them fatigued.

If the enemy has sufficient food, one must try to make them hungry.

If the enemy is stationed securely, one must try to make them move.

When deploying troops, one should attack places where the enemy cannot provide relief.

Actions should be taken in directions that the enemy does not anticipate.

The army can march long distances without fatigue because they walk in places without enemies or defenses.

An attack is certain to succeed because it targets places where the enemy does not pay attention to defense or is difficult to hold.

Defense is certain to be stable because it holds places where the enemy dares not attack or is difficult to breach.

Therefore, those skilled in attack can make the enemy not know how to defend.

Those skilled in defense can make the enemy not know how to attack.

This is very subtle, so subtle that no trace can be seen.

This is very magical, so magical that no sound can be heard.

In this way, one can control the enemy's fate.

When advancing, the enemy cannot resist because they attack the enemy's weak points.

When retreating, the enemy cannot catch up because they retreat quickly, and the enemy cannot pursue.

Therefore, if I want to fight, even if the enemy hides in a strong fortress, he has to come out and fight me, because I attack a place he must rescue.

If I do not want to fight, even if I casually draw a circle on the ground to defend, the enemy cannot fight me, because I manage to change the direction of his attack.

Therefore, use illusions to deceive the enemy, make him expose his plans, while not exposing oneself, making the enemy unable to guess.

In this way, one can concentrate one's own forces and disperse the enemy's forces.

My forces are concentrated in one place, and the enemy's forces are dispersed in ten places, so I can use ten times the enemy's forces to attack him, creating a favorable situation where I have many and the enemy has few.

If one can achieve fighting many with few, then the enemies directly engaging with me are fewer.

The place we want to attack, the enemy does not know.

Since he does not know, he has to guard in many places.

The more places the enemy guards, the more dispersed his forces become.

In this way, the enemies I directly attack are not many.

Therefore, if the enemy focuses on defending the front, the forces in the rear will be weak.

If they focus on defending the rear, the forces in the front will be weak.

If they focus on defending the left side, the forces on the right side will be weak.

If they focus on defending the right side, the forces on the left side will be weak.

If they defend everywhere, then their forces will be weak everywhere.

The enemy has fewer forces because they are defending everywhere.

I have more forces because I make the enemy divide their forces to defend against me.

If you can know in advance where you will engage the enemy, and know in advance when you will engage the enemy, then even if you travel a thousand li, you can still engage the enemy.

If you neither know where to fight nor when to fight, then you will be unable to rescue the right side from the left, the left side from the right, the rear from the front, or the front from the rear.

Moreover, the far ones are tens of li away, and the near ones are also several li away.

According to my analysis, although the army of Yue is large, what help does it have in deciding the victory or defeat of the war?

Therefore, victory can be achieved.

Although the enemy's army is large, we can also make it impossible for them to use all their strength to engage with us.

Therefore, we must carefully analyze and judge, understanding the quality of the enemy's combat plans.

We must provoke the enemy to understand the patterns of their actions.

We must use illusions to lure the enemy, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of their terrain.

We must conduct combat reconnaissance to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the enemy's troop deployment.

Therefore, using the method of luring the enemy with illusions to the highest level can make people unable to detect any trace.

If no trace can be detected, even if there are deeply hidden spies, they cannot understand our weaknesses and strengths.

Even if it is a very clever enemy, they cannot think of a way to deal with me.

To achieve victory based on changes in the enemy's situation, placing the victory in front of everyone, yet everyone still cannot see it.

People only know that I achieve victory based on changes in the enemy's situation, but they do not know how I achieve victory based on changes in the enemy's situation.

Therefore, every victory is not achieved using old methods, but by adapting to different situations, with infinite variations.

The principles of using troops are like water.

The principle of water flow is to avoid high places and flow to low places.

The principles of using troops are to avoid the enemy's strong points and attack his weak points.

Water determines its flow based on the terrain's highs and lows; warfare determines the method of victory based on the enemy's situation.

Therefore, there is no fixed and unchanging method in warfare, just as water has no fixed shape.

One who can achieve victory based on changes in the enemy's situation can be said to use troops like a god.

The principles of using troops are just like natural phenomena.

Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth generate and restrain each other, spring, summer, autumn, and winter alternate in order, daytime is sometimes short and sometimes long, the moon is sometimes waning and sometimes full, always in the midst of change.