- 三軍之衆可使必受敵而無敗者奇正是也
One must be careful to avoid translating 鬥衆 “fighting against a large number,” no reference to the enemy being intended. 形 is explained by Ts‘ao Kung as denoting flags and banners, by means of which every soldier may recognise his own particular regiment or company, and thus confusion may be prevented. 名 he explains as drums and gongs, which from the earliest times were used to sound the advance and the retreat respectively. Tu Mu defines 形 as 陳形 “marshalling the troops in order,” and takes 名 as the flags and banners. Wang Hsi also dissents from Ts‘ao Kung, referring 形 to the ordering of the troops by means of banners, drums and gongs, and 名 to the various names by which the regiments might be distinguished. There is much to be said for this view.
3. To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy's attack and remain unshaken — this is effected by manœuvres direct and indirect.
For 必, there is another reading 畢, “all together,” adopted by Wang Hsi and Chang Yü. We now come to one of the most interesting parts of Sun Tzŭ’s treatise, the discussion of the 正 and the 奇. As it is by no means easy to grasp the full significance of these two terms, or to render them at all consistently by good English equivalents, it may be as well to tabulate some of the commentator’s remarks on the subject before proceeding further. Li Ch‘üan: 當敵爲正傍出爲奇 “Facing the enemy is chêng, making lateral diversions is ch‘i.” Chia Lin: 當敵以正陳取勝以奇兵 “In presence of the enemy, your troops should be arrayed in normal fashion, but in order to secure victory abnormal manœuvres must be employed.” Mei Yao-ch‘ên: 動爲奇靜爲正靜以待之動以勝之 “Ch‘i is active, chêng is passive; passivity means waiting for an opportunity, activity brings the victory itself.” Ho Shih: 我之正使敵視之爲奇我之奇使敵視之爲正正亦爲奇奇亦爲正 “We must cause the enemy to regard our straightforward attack as one that is secretly designed, and vice versâ; thus chêng may also be ch‘i, and ch‘i may also be chêng.” He instances the famous exploit of Han Hsin, who when marching ostensibly against 臨晉 Lin-chin (now 朝邑 Chao-i in Shensi), suddenly threw a large force across the Yellow River in wooden tubs, utterly disconcerting his opponent. [Ch‘ien Han Shu, ch. 34.] Here, we are told, the march on Lin-chin was 正, and the surprise manœuvre was 奇. Chang Yü gives the following summary of opinions on the words: “Military writers
