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Ordering the manyCritical Text
Yinqueshan Text ªv²³¦pªv¹è¤À¼Æ¬O°«²³¡C¡C¡C¥i¨Ï¥²¨ü¾A¦ÓµL±Ñ©_¥¿¡C¡C¡C Shiyijia zhu Text ¤Zªv²³¦pªv¹è¤À¼Æ¬O¤]°«²³¦p°«¹è§Î¦W¬O¤]¤Tx¤§²³¥i¨Ï¥²¨ü¼Ä¦ÓµL±ððð ©_¥¿¬O¤]§L¤§©Ò¥[¦p¥H¬q§ë§ZªÌµê¹ê¬O¤] Translation Ordering the many is like ordering the few. It is division and counting. Fighting the many is like fighting the few. It is form and name. The multitude of the three armies can be made to meet all enemies without defeat. It is the extraordinary and the orthodox. How a military comes to prevail, like throwing a grindstone against an egg. It is the empty and the solid. Annotations Shu, Òcounting,Ó has the secondary meaning of "regularity," thus also "regulations." Xingming, "form and name," are key terms of Warring States epistemology, where they are used to indicate the problematical relationship between things and the words that refer to them, or referant and reference. (For discussion, see Kidder Smith, "Sima Tan and the Invention of Daoism, "Legalism," et cetera" [ms.] and John Makeham, "The Legalist Concept of Hsing-ming" [Monumenta Serica 39 (1990-91), pp. 87-114].) Here they are presented in the context of bringing large numbers of troops into battle. The solution they offer is an extension of "division and counting," generalizing from particular techniques derived from working with small groups. The text suggests using formations (xing) with clearly designated appelations (ming). In the process it provides a novel, military redefinition of the famous epistemological pair. The well-known general Cao Cao, Wu Jiulong (p. 69), and Robin Yates ("New Light") all claim that form is "pennants and flags" and that name is "bells and drums" (for these items, see Sunzi chapter 7). The latter puns on ¦W as »Ê, "the sound of bells," an early usage of the former graph. There is no basis for these identifications. The extraordinary and orthodox are the premier subjects of this chapter and will be addressed below. The empty and the solid are the ostensible topics of the eponymous chapter 6.
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