Method is ordering divisions

Critical Text

Yinqueshan Text

。　。　。　曲制官道主用也

Shiyijia zhu Text

法者曲制官道主用也

Translation

Method is ordering divisions, the dao of ranking, and principal supply.

Annotations

This is a difficult passage. All texts essentially agree on its graphic constituents, but there is considerable dispute on whether these are six separate words or three pairs. The first two are read by Cao Cao as the regulations appropriate to a division of soldiers, but they could also be interpreted as "organization and regulations." The next pair, guandao, might equally be "officers' ranks" and "routes." "Zhuyong ," it seems, must be read as a compound. In the end we have been persuaded by Li Ling's arguments that these are three pairs. See his "Du Sunzi zhaji zaixu" 讀孫子札記再續 , in Sunzi tansheng 孫子探勝 (Beijing: Junshi kexue, 1993[?]), pp. 171-75.

What is fa? In Warring States times it usually means a model to be copied. By the late fourth century it was increasingly applied to a model in governance--a method of ruling, sometimes hard to distinguish from shu 術 . By Han times it could also mean "law." Here the text speaks of organizational matters, including logistics and differentiation of ranks. We have therefore rendered fa as "methods"--the organizational means by which a general orders his army.