This passage introduces four ways to probe enemy intelligence: analyzing schemes, provoking movements, feigning deployments and small skirmishes. The supreme stratagem is invisible troop formations, hiding all plans and flexibly adapting tactics to endless shifting battlefield conditions.
This section of The Art of War stresses knowing the exact time and battlefield to coordinate troops seamlessly. Without clear plans, army units cannot support each other. Skillful strategy can neutralize large enemy forces and seize victory regardless of their numerical strength.
This article analyzes Sun Tzu’s rule valuing swift victories over drawn-out wars. Long campaigns drain funds, troops and invite rival invasions. King Helü’s prolonged occupation of Chu illustrates the peril of delay, enabling Yue’s sneak attack and Wu’s costly retreat.
This article explains Sun Tzu’s temple calculation principle: thorough pre-war planning secures victory. It contrasts Wu Zixu’s well-devised exhaustion strategy against Chu with Cao Jiu’s reckless, unplanned battle defeat, extending the wisdom to modern business and life decisions.
Sun Tzu states hiding your battlefield forces foes to spread defenses thin everywhere. Troops weaken when passively guarding all fronts. Wu Zixu’s rotating border raids on Chu perfectly embody this logic, exhausting Chu’s scattered army and paving Wu’s final victory.
Among the Twelve Deceptive Stratagems recorded in The Art of War · Initial Estimations, Sun Tzu put forward a lethal psychological warfare tactic: Divide the united enemy (親而離之).