Asked if an army can be made to imitate the shuai-jan,
That is, as Mei Yao-ch‘ên says, 可使兵首尾率然相應如一體乎 “Is it possible to make the front and rear of an army each swiftly responsive to attack on the other, just as though they were parts of a single living body?”
I should answer, Yes. For the men of Wu and the men of Yüeh are enemies;
Cf. [VI. § 21].
yet if they are crossing a river in the same boat and are caught by a storm, they will come to each other’s assistance just as the left hand helps the right.
The meaning is: If two enemies will help each other in a time of common peril, how much more should two parts of the same army, bound together as they are by every tie of interest and fellow-feeling. Yet it is notorious that many a campaign has been ruined through lack of co-operation, especially in the case of allied armies.
31. 是故方馬埋輪未足恃也
Hence it is not enough to put one’s trust in the tethering of horses,
方 is said here to be equivalent to 縛.
and the burying of chariot wheels in the ground.