In order to preserve the parallelism with § 11, I should prefer to follow the _T‘u Shu_ text, which inserts 雖 before 畫地. This extremely concise expression is intelligibly paraphrased by Chia Lin: 雖未修壘壍 “even though we have constructed neither wall nor ditch.” The real crux of the passage lies in 乖其所之也. 之 of course = 至. Ts‘ao Kung defines 乖 by the word 戾, which is perhaps a case of _obscurum per obscurius_. Li Ch‘üan, however, says: 設奇異而疑之 “we puzzle him by strange and unusual dispositions;” and Tu Mu finally clinches the meaning by three illustrative anecdotes—one of 諸葛亮 Chu-ko Liang, who when occupying 陽平 Yang-p‘ing and about to be attacked by 司馬懿 Ssŭ-ma I, suddenly struck his colours, stopped the beating of the drums, and flung open the city gates, showing only a few men engaged in sweeping and sprinkling the ground. This unexpected proceeding had the intended effect; for Ssŭ-ma I, suspecting an ambush, actually drew off his army and retreated. What Sun Tzŭ is advocating here, therefore, is nothing more nor less than the timely use of “bluff.” Capt. Calthrop translates: “and prevent the enemy from attacking by keeping him in suspense,” which shows that he has not fully grasped the meaning of 乖. 13. 故形人而我無形則我專而敵分 By discovering the enemy’s dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy’s must be divided. The conclusion is perhaps not very obvious, but Chang Yü (after Mei Yao-ch‘ên) rightly explains it thus: “If the enemy’s dispositions are visible, we can make for him in one body; whereas, our own dispositions being kept secret, the enemy will be obliged to divide his forces in order to guard against attack from every quarter.” 形 is here used as an active verb: “to make to appear.” See IV, note on heading. Capt. Calthrop’s “making feints” is quite wrong. 14. 我專爲一敵分爲十是以十共其一也則我衆而敵寡 We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, The original text has 以敵攻其一也, which in accordance with the _T‘ung Tien_ and _Yü Lan_ has been altered as above. I adopt the more plausible reading of the _T‘u Shu_: 是以十攻其一也, in spite of having to refer 十 to ourselves and not to the enemy. Thus Tu Yu and Mei Yao-ch‘ên both regard 十 as the undivided force, consisting of so many parts, and 一 as each of the isolated fractions of the enemy. The alteration of 攻 into 共 can hardly be right, though the true text might conceivably have been 是以十共攻其一也. which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few. 15. 能以衆擊寡者則吾之所與戰者約矣 And if we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.