Attack Where They Are Not

Appear at points the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected. An army may march great distances without distress if it marches through country where the enemy is not.

The path of least resistance is not the path of weakness. It is the path of intelligence. Why fight through fortified positions when you can go around them? Why confront the opponent's strength when you can target their weakness? The art is not in overpowering — it is in finding the empty spaces and moving through them.

Chapter 6 is titled 'Weak Points and Strong' and develops the concept of xu (emptiness, weakness) and shi (fullness, strength). Sun Tzu's strategist avoids the enemy's strength and strikes at their emptiness. The image of marching a thousand li without fatigue by traveling through unoccupied territory is a metaphor for finding the path of least resistance in any endeavor. The modern equivalent is the startup that disrupts an industry not by attacking incumbents head-on but by serving customers the incumbents ignore. Normal and extraordinary are not fixed categories but perspectives that shift with context. Chapter 6 contrasts places an enemy must defend with routes where no enemy is waiting. The advantage comes from shaping the encounter, not from overpowering a stronger position head-on. ‘Empty’ here means unoccupied or unprepared ground in a military landscape; it does not mean that any easy path is morally better. A modern reader can ask whether a problem has been framed too narrowly and whether cooperation or redesign would reduce resistance. Going around an obstacle should not mean evading accountability or shifting the burden to someone else. Finding an unguarded route requires patience and observation, not contempt for resistance. A path that looks empty may be empty because someone else has been excluded or because its costs are hidden. Redesign the encounter where possible, and make sure the route around a problem does not export harm to bystanders.