;

The ground on which

Critical Text

吾	所	與	戰	之	地
wo	suo	yu	zhan	zhi	di
I	by-which	with	battle	's	ground

不	可	知	則	敵	之
bu	ku	zhi	ze	di	zhi
not	able	know	then	enemy	's

所	備	者	多	所	備
suo	bei	zhe	duo	suo	bei
which	prepare	one-who	many	which	prepare

者	多	則	所	戰	者
zhe	duo	ze	suo	zhan	zhe
one-who	many	then	which	battle	one-who

寡	矣	備	前	者	後
gua	yi	bei	qian	zhe	hou
few	!	prepare	front	one-who	rear

寡	備	左	者	右	寡
gua	bei	zuo	zhe	you	gua
few	prepare	left	one-who	right	few

無	不	備	者	無	不
wu	bu	bei	zhe	wu	bu
without	not	prepare	one-who	without	not

寡	寡	者	備	人	也
gua	gua	zhe	bei	ren	ye
few	few	one-who	prepare	people	(period)

眾	者	使	人	備	己
zhong	zhe	shi	ren	bei	ji
many	one-who	cause	people	prepare	self

者	也
zhe	ye
one-who	(period)

Yinqueshan Text

。。。地不可知則適之所備者多所備者多則所戰者寡矣備前。。。者右寡無不備者無不寡寡者備人也眾者使人備己者也

Shiyijia zhu Text

吾所與戰之地不可知不可知則敵所備者多敵所備者多則吾所與戰者寡矣故備前則後寡備後則前寡備左則右寡備右則左寡無所不備則無所不寡寡者備人者也眾者使人備己者也

Translation

The ground on which I do battle with him cannot be known. Then the enemy's preparations are many. When his preparations are many, I battle the few! Prepare the front and the rear has few. Prepare the left and the right has few. Everywhere prepared, everywhere few. The few are those who prepare against others. The many are those who make others prepare against them.

Annotations

This section has several obvious instances of graphs and phrases added by the later tradtion to clarify grammatical relationships. Not all our corrections are based on clear readings of the Yinqueshan strips. In some instances we rely on measurements by Li Ling and others of how many graphs can fit into the spaces between surviving strip fragments. These strips generally contain marks where their silk binding threads had been, making it easier to measure missing text.