Cf. IX. § 42. We read in the 陰符經, pt. 2: 害生于思 “Injury comes out of kindness.” Li Ching once said that if you could make your soldiers afraid of you, they would not be afraid of the enemy. Tu Mu recalls an instance of stern military discipline which occurred in 219 A.D., when 呂蒙 Lü Mêng was occupying the town of 江陵 Chiang-ling. He had given stringent orders to his army not to molest the inhabitants nor take anything from them by force. Nevertheless, a certain officer serving under his banner, who happened to be a fellow-townsman, ventured to appropriate a bamboo hat (笠) belonging to one of the people, in order to wear it over his regulation helmet as a protection against the rain. Lü Mêng considered that the fact of his being also a native of 汝南 Ju-nan should not be allowed to palliate a clear breach of discipline, and accordingly he ordered his summary execution, the tears rolling down his face, however, as he did so. This act of severity filled the army with wholesome awe, and from that time forth even articles dropped in the highway were not picked up. [_San Kuo Chih_, ch. 54, f. 13 _r_^o. & _v_^o.]. 27. 知吾卒之可以擊而不知敵之不可擊勝之半也 If we know that our own men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the enemy is not open to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. That is, as Ts‘ao Kung says, “the issue in this case is uncertain.” 28. 知敵之可擊而不知吾卒之不可以擊勝之半也 If we know that the enemy is open to attack, but are unaware that our own men are not in a condition to attack, we have gone only halfway towards victory. Cf. III. § 13 (1). 29. 知敵之可擊知吾卒之可以擊而不知地形之不可以戰勝之半也 If we know that the enemy is open to attack, and also know that our men are in a condition to attack, but are unaware that the nature of the ground makes fighting impracticable, we have still gone only halfway towards victory. I may take this opportunity of pointing out the rather nice distinction in meaning between 擊 and 攻. The latter is simply “to attack” without any further implication, whereas 擊 is a stronger word which in nine cases out of ten means “to attack with expectation of victory,” “to fall upon,” as we should say, or even “to crush.” On the other hand, 擊 is not quite synonymous with 伐, which is mostly used of operations on a larger scale, as of one State _making war_ on another, often with the added idea of invasion. 征, finally, has special reference to the subjugation of rebels. See Mencius, VII. 2. ii. 2. 30. 故知兵者動而不迷舉而不窮 Hence the experienced soldier, once in motion, is never bewildered; once he has broken camp, he is never at a loss.