Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 8: 5 "On enclosed terrain, make strategic plans."

Today's verse was not a brain breaker for me like verse 2 was, but it did benefit from some of the brain breaking work I did for verse 2, for sure! And yes, we might call it a bit of a brain bruiser as well. I had to invert my thinking, and it did take a fair bit of research.

When you start diving into the commentaries and cross referencing, you pretty rapidly get led to chapter 11, verse 9 for a definition, which is kind of interesting in its own right. We're now seeing Master Sun's layers coming at us.

John Minford, #SunTzu 11: 9 "Ground reached through narrow gorges, retreated from by twisting paths, where a smaller force of theirs can strike our larger one, that is enclosed ground."

Now that helps, doesn't it? Even still, I instantly had two examples come to mind, Thermopylae and The Alamo. My problem was point of view. I think of Leonidas and Davy Crockett for each of those battles and see those battles through their eyes. That's what I had to inverse.

By the way, for all its terrible reputation, followers of this project know I use Wikipedia all the time and am most often happy with its help. So also today, if you don't know Thermopylae, or don't remember the Alamo quite well enough, look them up!

For our own tiny review, Leonidas led the Greeks at Thermopylae with has famous 300 Spartans. Davy Crockett was, at least, the most famous of the leaders at The Alamo. Santa Ana led the Mexican Army, and the Persians were under ultimate command of Xerxes I (the 1st).

The Alamo was protected by about 150 men, to Santa Ana's 1,500. The Greeks at Thermopylae were actually about 1,000, against, according to the ancients, one million Persians. Cynical modern historians place it closer to 100,000 to maybe 150,000. There are many other similarities.

I felt I had to have a couple of good examples here, but it wasn't till I flipped from Davy's point of view, to Santa Ana's, that I caught; and also, from Leonidas' to Xerxes. So, what did both Santa Ana and Xerxes have most in common?

But of course, neither of them enjoyed Master Sun's counsel from today's verse! And that brings me back to the process of study itself, and I have to show you the two books that helped me most. Ames on the left, Minford's full translation with commentary on the right.

It was Minford's commentary that led me to the chapter 11 verse, and there, oh my, what a treasure he gives us. He references Ames work in direct connection. Wait till you see the coming quote. I've not yet read Ames cover to cover, so I had no idea it was here. I will now!

To set the stage, many of you remember the story of Master Sun's interview with the King of Wu, and his 160 concubines, right? If not, look it up, it's a wonderful story. Well, little did I know that a version of the tactical questions survives (or was created later).

Our passage today is from a portion of the interview that relates directly to today's verse. Seriously, you want Ames' version, I'm telling you. Two more points are needed. First, Ames calls our beloved Master Sun by the name Sun Wu. It's technical, but it's the same person.

And second, following Giles, Ames translates the name of the type of terrain as "difficult," whereas our man Minford translates it "enclosed." I assure you; it's referring the exact same situation. Assuming you've got all that, here we go:

Roger Ames, pages 212 & 213: The King of Wu enquired of Sun Wu, saying: 'We have entered difficult terrain and, with the mountains and rivers, passes and natural hazards, the road is hard to follow. We have been pressing on for a long time, and our troops are exhausted.

"The enemy occupies the ground ahead, and has also set an ambush behind us. He has established camp to the left of our forces, and has set up defenses against our right flank. His fine chariots and elite mounted troops threaten our precarious route. What do we do?"

Forgive the teacher intrusion, but can't you feel the excitement of the moment? What would you answer? I don't know why, but I hear a snare drum beating when I read the question from the king. Okay, we dive back in...

"Sun Wu replied: 'First dispatch our light chariots to advance about ten li [aka Chinese mile] in front of the main force to keep an eye on the enemy. Prepare to engage the enemy in battle amid the passes and natural hazards of this difficult terrain.

"On the signal of the high command, select vulnerable targets and take them, with all of the men regrouping back at the main road. Break off the operation once the troops are exhausted."

I blame the King of Wu's court stenographer for it, but there's an extra bonus point for anyone who catches the logical flaw in Master Sun's response. I've very confident he did not make that mistake when answering, although he doesn't seem to want to make eye contact right now.

Today's class assignment, to be handed in by class time tomorrow morning, is simply to break Master Sun's advice down into numbered parts, and then to apply it to any appropriate situation in life or politics. Now, teacher has to go read up for tomorrow's class.

203 verses completed, 219 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.