- 入人之地深背城邑多者爲重地
- 山林險阻沮澤凡難行之道者爲圮地
- 所由入者隘所從歸者迂彼寡可以擊吾之衆者爲圍地
- 疾戰則存不疾戰則亡者爲死地
7. When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear,
After 多, the T‘ung Tien intercalates the gloss 難以返.
it is serious ground.
Wang Hsi explains the name by saying that 兵至此者事勢重也 “when an army has reached such a point, its situation is serious.” Li Ch‘üan instances (1) the victorious march of 樂毅 Yo I into the capital of Ch‘i in 284 B.C., and (2) the attack on Ch‘u, six years later, by the Ch‘in general 白起 Po Ch‘i.
8. Mountain forests,
Or simply, “forests.” I follow the T‘u Shu in omitting the 行 before 山林, given in the standard text, which is not only otiose but spoils the rhythm of the sentence.
rugged steeps, marshes and fens — all country that is hard to traverse: this is difficult ground.
圮 p‘i3 (to be distinguished from 圯 i4) is defined by K‘ang Hsi (after the Shuo Wên) as 毁 “to destroy.” Hence Chia Lin explains 圮地 as ground 經水所毀 “that has been ruined by water passing over it,” and Tu Yu simply as 沮洳之地 “swampy ground.” But Ch‘ên Hao says that the word is specially applied to deep hollows—what Chu-ko Liang, he tells us, used to designate by the expressive term 地獄 “earth-hells.” Compare the 天井 of IX. § 15.
9. Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed-in ground.
10. Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.
