Delay fording swollen rivers; avoid precipitous, confined, tangled, or boggy terrain and instead lure the enemy into it or place it behind him.
By Sun Tzu, from L'Art de la guerre
Key Arguments
- Waiting for subsiding waters prevents disaster during crossings.
- Hazardous terrain degrades formations; avoiding it preserves cohesion.
- Manipulating enemy movement into bad ground creates positional advantage and endangers his rear.
Source Quotes
14. When, in consequence of heavy rains up-country, a river which you wish to ford is swollen and flecked with foam, you must wait until it subsides. 15.
15. Country in which there are precipitous cliffs with torrents running between, deep natural hollows, confined places, tangled thickets, quagmires and crevasses, should be left with all possible speed and not approached. 16.
16. While we keep away from such places, we should get the enemy to approach them; while we face them, we should let the enemy have them on his rear. 17.
Key Concepts
- you must wait until it subsides.
- should be left with all possible speed and not approached.
- we should get the enemy to approach them; while we face them, we should let the enemy have them on his rear.
Context
ix. The Army on the March — risk management at rivers and hazardous terrain