18
Regulating Mailed Troops

Fragments

“If you want to engage in battle, act as if deranged.”

“Select your troops in accord with (the situation).”

“When the left and right flanks attack by rapidly converging, this is termed a ‘sharp hooking strike.’

“If you entice them far off, the enemy will roll up their armor to race forward.”

“Control and isolate their general, rattle his mind, and then strike.”

COMMENTARY

This chapter is so badly fragmented that most editions do not even include it, while the others fail to provide any notes. Among the twenty or so partial sentences, only the five salvaged above can be abstracted. However, the first is remarkable, not otherwise seen in the early military writings.