18. If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in
orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I
should say: "Begin by seizing something which your opponent
holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will."
[Opinions differ as to what Sun Tzu had in mind. Ts`ao Kung
thinks it is "some strategical advantage on which the enemy is
depending." Tu Mu says: "The three things which an enemy is
anxious to do, and on the accomplishment of which his success
depends, are: (1) to capture our favorable positions; (2) to
ravage our cultivated land; (3) to guard his own communications."
Our object then must be to thwart his plans in these three
directions and thus render him helpless. [Cf. III. ss. 3.] By
boldly seizing the initiative in this way, you at once throw the
other side on the defensive.]
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