Chapter 6: Weak Points and Strong - The Art of War - Sun Tzu

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter six, Weak Points and StrongSunsu said, whoever is first in the
field and awaits the coming of theenemy will be fresh for the fight.
Whoever is second in the field andhas to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.
Therefore, the clever combatant imposes hiswill on the enemy, but does

(00:24):
not allow the enemy's will to beimposed on him. By holding out advantages
to him, he can cause theenemy to approach of his own accord.
Or by inflicting damage, he canmake it impossible for the enemy to draw
near. If the enemy is takinghis ease, he can harass him.

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If he is well supplied with food, he can starve him out. I
quietly encamped, he can force himto move. Appear at points which the
enemy must hasten to defend. Marchswiftly to places where you are not expected.
An army may march great distances withoutdistress. If it marches through country

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where the enemy is not you canbe sure of succeeding in your attacks.
If you only attack places which areundefended, you can insure the safety of
your defense if you only hold positionsthat cannot be attacked. Hence, that
general is skillful in attack whose opponentdoes not know what to defend, and

(01:30):
he is skillful in defense whose opponentdoes not know what to attack. O
divine art of subtlety and secrecy.Through you, we learn to be invisible.
Through you inaudible, and hence wecan hold the enemy's fate in our
hands. You may advance and beabsolutely irresistible. If you make for the

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enemy's weak points. You may retireand be safe from pursuit if your moved
movements are more rapid than those ofthe enemy. If we wish to fight,
the enemy can be forced to anengagement, even though he be sheltered
behind a high rampart and a deepditch. All we need do is attack

(02:15):
some other place that he will beobliged to relieve. If we do not
wish to fight, we can preventthe enemy from engaging us, even though
the lines of our encampment be merelytraced out on the ground. All we
need do is to throw something oddand unaccountable in his way. By discovering

(02:36):
the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated while
the enemies must be divided. Wecan form a single united body while the
enemy must split up into fractions.Hence there will be a hole pitted against
several parts of a hole, whichmeans that we shall be many to the

(03:00):
enemies few. And if we areable thus to attack an inferior force with
a superior one, our opponents willbe in dire straits. The spot where
we intend to fight must not bemade known, for then the enemy will
have to prepare against a possible attackat several different points, and his forces

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being thus distributed in many directions,the numbers we shall have to face at
any given point will be proportionately few. For should the enemy strengthen his van,
he will weaken his rear. Shouldhe strengthen his rear, he will
weaken his van. Should he strengthenhis left, he will weaken his right.

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Should he strengthen his right, hewill weaken his left. If he
sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywherebe weak. Numerical weakness comes from having
to prepare against possible attacks. Miraclestrength from compelling our adversary to make these
preparations against us. Knowing the placeand the time of the coming battle,

(04:09):
we may concentrate from the greatest distancesin order to fight. But if neither
time nor place be known, thenthe left wing will be impotent to succor
the right, the right equally impotentto succor the left. The van unable
to relieve the rear. Are therear to support the van? How much
more so if the furthest portions ofthe army are anything under a hundred lee

(04:33):
apart, and even the nearest areseparated by several lee. Though according to
my estimate the soldiers of Huai exceedour own in number, that shall advantage
them nothing in the matter of victory. I say then, that victory can
be achieved though the enemy be strongerin numbers. We may prevent him from

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fighting scheme so as to discover werehis plans and the likelihood of their success.
Rouse him and learn the principle ofhis activity or in activity. Force
him to reveal himself so as tofind out his vulnerable spots. Carefully compare
the opposing army with your own,so that you may know where strength is

(05:18):
superabundant and where it is deficient.In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch
you can attain is to conceal them. Conceal your dispositions, and you will
be safe from the prying of thesubtlest spies, from the machinations of the
wisest brains. How victory may beproduced for them out of the enemy's own

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tactics. That is what the multitudecannot comprehend. All men can see the
tactics whereby I conquer, But whatnone can see is the strategy out of
which victory is evolved. Do notrepeat the tactics which have gained you one
victory, but let your methods beregulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.

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Military tactics are like unto water.For water, in its natural course runs
away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war the way is to
avoid what is strong and to strikeat what is weak. Water shapes his
course according to the nature of theground over which it flows. The soldier

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works out his victory in relation tothe foe whom he is facing. Therefore,
just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no
constant conditions. He who can modifyhis tactics in relation to his opponent and
thereby succeed in winning, may becalled a heaven born captain. The five

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elements water, fire, wood,metal, earth are not always equally predominant
before sea seasons make way for each. In turn, there are short days
and long The moon has its periodsof waning and waxing. End of Chapter six