Chapter IV
Teaches securing victory through positioning and calculation before battle, not during combat.
5 argumentative units
- 01Securing against defeat before seeking victory
The good fighter first makes himself impossible to defeat, then waits for the enemy to give him an opportunity. Defense lies in our hands; offense depends on the enemy.
- 02Hidden defense, sudden attack
Sun Tzŭ contrasts defensive concealment ('hides under the ninth earth') with offensive surprise ('flashes from the topmost heights of heaven'). Defense indicates insufficient strength; attack a superabundance.
- 03Quiet excellence — winning before the battle
True excellence is invisible: the clever fighter wins so easily he gets no reputation for it. He wins by making no mistakes, conquering an enemy already defeated by his own preparations.
- 04Position first, battle second
Sun Tzŭ inverts the natural order: the victorious strategist seeks battle only after victory has already been secured by his preparations. The defeated commander fights first and looks for victory afterward.
- 05Five steps from earth to victory
Sun Tzŭ chains his five-step method — Measurement, Estimation, Calculation, Balancing, Victory — from physical earth up through quantitative analysis. A victorious army is to a routed one as a pound is to a single grain.