孫 子 兵 法 Sun Zi – The Art of War

Chinese strategy explained : know yourself and the ennemy, use deception, spies, and "win with ease". Tr. Giles (en, annotated) and Amiot (fr).

Introduction
I. Laying Plans
II. Waging War
III. Attack by Stratagem
IV. Tactical Dispositions

V. Energy
VI. Weak Points and Strong
VII. Maneuvering
VIII. Variation in Tactics
IX. The Army On The March

X. Terrain
XI. The Nine Situations
XII. The Attack By Fire
XIII. The Use of Spies

作戰第二

Waging War

Ts`ao Kung has the note: "He who wishes to fight must first count the cost," which prepares us for the discovery that the subject of the chapter is not what we might expect from the title, but is primarily a consideration of ways and means.

Sunzi II. 6.


財竭則急於丘役	近師者貴賣貴賣則百姓財竭	國之貧于師者遠輸遠輸則百姓貧

Poverty of the State exchequer causes an army to be maintained by contributions from a distance. Contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes the people to be impoverished.1

On the other hand, the proximity of an army causes prices to go up; and high prices cause the people's substance to be drained away.2

When their substance is drained away, the peasantry will be afflicted by heavy exactions.

1. The beginning of this sentence does not balance properly with the next, though obviously intended to do so. The arrangement, moreover, is so awkward that I cannot help suspecting some corruption in the text. It never seems to occur to Chinese commentators that an emendation may be necessary for the sense, and we get no help from them there. The Chinese words Sun Tzu used to indicate the cause of the people's impoverishment clearly have reference to some system by which the husbandmen sent their contributions of corn to the army direct. But why should it fall on them to maintain an army in this way, except because the State or Government is too poor to do so?

2. Wang Hsi says high prices occur before the army has left its own territory. Ts`ao Kung understands it of an army that has already crossed the frontier.

Giles II.10,11,12.

Ils n'ignorent point, et vous devez le savoir aussi, que rien n'épuise tant un royaume que les dépenses de cette nature ; car que l'armée soit aux frontières, ou qu'elle soit dans les pays éloignés, le peuple en souffre toujours ; toutes les choses nécessaires à la vie augmentent de prix, elles deviennent rares, et ceux même qui, dans les temps ordinaires, sont le plus à leur aise n'ont bientôt plus de quoi les acheter.

Amiot

Sun Zi II. 6.