Art of War 9.9

The Art of War (孫子兵法), The Army On The March 行軍篇

平陸處易而右背高前死後生此處平陸之軍也

In dry, level country, take up an easily accessible position

with rising ground to your right and on your rear,

so that the danger may be in front, and safety lie behind.

So much for campaigning in flat country.

Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.

Lionel Giles's notes

This is doubtless the force of 易, its opposite being 險. Thus, Tu Mu explains it as 坦易平穩之處 “ground that is smooth and firm,” and therefore adapted for cavalry; Chang Yü as 坦易無坎陷之處 “level ground, free from depressions and hollows.” He adds later on that although Sun Tzŭ is discussing flat country, there will nevertheless be slight elevations and hillocks.

The Yü Lan again reads 倍 for 背. Tu Mu quotes T‘ai Kung as saying: “An army should have a stream or a marsh on its left, and a hill or tumulus on its right.”

Wang Hsi thinks that 後生 contradicts the saying 視生 in § 2, and therefore suspects a mistake in the text.

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Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.