صفحة 39 من 266

[As Ts'ao Kung remarks, "the thing is to see the plant before it

has germinated," to foresee the event before the action has

begun. Li Ch'uan alludes to the story of Han Hsin who, when about

to attack the vastly superior army of Chao, which was strongly

entrenched in the city of Ch'eng-an, said to his officers:

"Gentlemen, we are going to annihilate the enemy, and shall meet

again at dinner." The officers hardly took his words seriously,

and gave a very dubious assent. But Han Hsin had already worked

out in his mind the details of a clever stratagem, whereby, as he

foresaw, he was able to capture the city and inflict a crushing

defeat on his adversary."]

9. Neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight and conquer

and the whole Empire says, "Well done!"