|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apply Extraordinary Force |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
That the whole army can sustain the enemy's all-out attack without suffering defeat is due to operations of extraordinary and normal forces. Troops thrown against the enemy as a grindstone against eggs is an example of the strong beating the weak. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Generally, in battle, use the normal force to engage and use the extraordinary to win. Now, to a commander adept at the use of extraordinary forces, his resources are as infinite as the heaven and earth, as inexhaustible as the flow of the running rivers. They end and begin again like the motions of the sun and moon. They die away and then are reborn like the changing of the four seasons. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are not more than five musical notes, but the various combinations of the five notes bring about more melodies than can ever be heard. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are not more than five basic pigments, yet in blending them together it is possible to produce more colors than can ever be seen. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
There are not more than five cardinal tastes, but the mixture of the five yields more flavors than can ever be tasted. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In battle, there are not more than two kinds of posturesoperation of the extraordinary force and operation of the normal force, but their combinations give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. For these two forces are mutually reproductive. It is like moving in circle, never coming to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combinations? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Translators offer a variety of meanings for what this version calls the normal and the extraordinary: |
|
|
|
|
| One translates the Chinese ideograms as meaning direct and indirectthat is, use the direct to engage, the indirect to win. | | Another calls the normal force regular operations and the extraordinary force surprise. | | Still another says, In fighting you engage the foe with the main body and defeat him with the reserves. |
|
|
|