Literally, “after a thousand li.”
in killing the commander-in-chief.
Always a great point with the Chinese.
62. 此謂巧能成事者也
This is called ability to accomplish a thing by sheer cunning.
The T‘u Shu has 是謂巧於成事, and yet another reading, mentioned by Ts‘ao Kung, is 巧攻成事. Capt. Calthrop omits this sentence, after having thus translated the two preceding: “Discover the enemy’s intentions by conforming to his movements. When these are discovered, then, with one stroke, the general may be killed, even though he be one hundred leagues distant.”
63. 是故政舉之日夷關折符無通其使
On the day that you take up your command,
政舉 does not mean “when war is declared,” as Capt. Calthrop says, nor yet exactly, as Ts‘ao Kung paraphrases it, 謀定 “when your plans are fixed,” when you have mapped out your campaign. The phrase is not given in the P‘ei Wên Yün Fu. There being no causal connection discoverable between this and the preceding sentence, 是故 must perforce be left untranslated.
block the frontier passes,