Art of War 7.7
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Manœuvring 軍爭篇
是故卷甲而趨日夜不處倍道兼行百里而爭利則擒三將軍
Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff-coats,
and make forced marches without halting day or night, covering double the usual distance at a stretch,
doing a hundred li in order to wrest an advantage, the leaders of all your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy.
Lionel Giles's notes
卷甲 does not mean “to discard one’s armour,” as Capt. Calthrop translates, but implies on the contrary that it is to be carried with you. Chang Yü says: 猶悉甲也 “This means, in full panoply.”
The ordinary day’s march, according to Tu Mu, was 30 li; but on one occasion, when pursuing 劉備 Liu Pei, Ts‘ao Ts‘ao is said to have covered the incredible distance of 300 li within twenty-four hours.
Character glossary
- 是shìto be; indeed, right, yes; okay
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 卷juǎnbook, scroll, volume; curled up; to curl
- 甲jiǎarmor, shell; fingernails; 1st heavenly
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 趨qūto hurry, to hasten; to approach, to be
- 日rìsun; day; daytime
- 夜yènight, dark; under cover of night
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 處chùto reside at, to live in; place, locale;
- 倍bèito double; to increase or multiply
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 兼jiānboth, and; at the same time; to unite, t
- 行xíngto go, to walk, to move; professional
- 百bǎione hundred; numerous, many
- 里lǐunit of distance equal to 0.5km; village
- 爭zhēngto dispute, to fight, to contend, to str
- 利lìgains, advantage, profit, merit
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 擒qínto arrest, to capture, to seize
- 三sānthree
- 將jiāngthe future, what will be; ready, prepare
- 軍jūnarmy, military; soldiers, troops
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 7.9
- Art of War 7.10
- Art of War 7.6
- Zhuangzi The Universe
- Zhuangzi Robber Chê
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.