The Western Rong

The previous chapter, “The Southern Barbarians,” dealt with the cost judgment of “not remaining long in the field” when the opponent’s structure is dispersed and has no center of decisive battle. This chapter points to another predicament: the opponent’s strengths are prominent enough that direct confrontation itself becomes the worst choice. The Western Rong’s “bravery, ferocity, and greed for profit” combined with “vast land and dangerous terrain” constitute a structure in which the costs of defense and offense are severely asymmetric. Its members have strong individual fighting power, are sensitive to profit, and are dispersed across a vast and dangerous territory, with no command center that can be destroyed in a concentrated blow. A direct attack means exchanging one’s own organized resources for the opponent’s strongest form of resistance—dispersed and fierce—and even if victory is ultimately won, the cost far exceeds the gain. The phrase “difficult to defeat” here is not rhetoric but a clear description of the cost structure. “Wait for external disputes and......