ABSTRACT
Whenever you and an enemy oppose each other along opposite banks of a river, it you want to ford the river far off, you should prepare numerous boats and oars to show that you intend to cross nearby. The enemy will certainly mass troops in response and you can then effect a crossing at some vacuous point. If you lack boats and oars, you can employ such things as bamboo, reeds, large wine vessels, cooking utensils, or spears and lances lashed together to serve as rafts and thereby cross the river. A tactical princi169ple from the Art of War states: "When your objective is distant, make it appear as if nearby."
