[Ts’au Kung defines this as: "Our country adjoining the enemy’s and a third country conterminous with both." Meng Shih instances the small principality of Cheng, which was bounded on the north-east by Ch’i, on the west by Chin, and on the south by Ch’u.]
so that he who occupies it first has most of the Empire at his command,
[The belligerent who holds this dominating position can constrain most of them to become his allies.]
is ground of intersecting highways.
- When an army has penetrated into the heart of a hostile country, leaving a number of fortified cities in its rear, it is serious ground.
[Wang Hsi explains the name by saying that "when an army has reached such a point, its situation is serious."]
- Mountain forests,
[Or simply "forests."]
rugged steeps, marshes and fens—all country that is hard to traverse: this is difficult ground.
- Ground which is reached through narrow gorges, and from which we can only retire by tortuous paths, so that a small number of the enemy would suffice to crush a large body of our men: this is hemmed in ground.
- Ground on which we can only be saved from destruction by fighting without delay, is desperate ground.
[The situation, as pictured by Ts’ao Kung, is very similar to the "hemmed-in ground" except that here escape is no longer possible: "A