Book 14 · 备穴 · Chapter 48
禽子再拜再拜，曰：“敢问古人有善攻者，穴土而入，缚柱施火，以坏吾城，城坏，或中人为之柰何？”子墨子曰：“问穴土之守邪？备穴者城内为高楼，以谨候望适人。适人为变，筑垣聚土非常者，若彭有水浊非常者，此穴土也，急堑城内穴亓土直之。穿井城内，五步一井，傅城足，高地，丈五尺，下地，得泉三尺而止。令陶者为罂，容四十斗以上，固幎之以薄皮革，置井中，使聪耳者伏罂而听之，审知穴之所在，凿穴迎之。
Master Qin bowed twice and again twice, saying: "May I venture to ask—among the ancients there were those skilled at attack who would tunnel through the earth and enter, lashing posts and setting fire to them so as to ruin our city wall; and when the wall has collapsed, with men perhaps in its midst, what is to be done about it?" Master Mozi said: "Are you asking about defense against earth-tunnelling? For one who prepares against tunnelling, within the city build a high tower in order to watch carefully and observe the enemy. When the enemy makes some move—piling up earth to build a rampart in an unusual quantity, or where water becomes turbid in an unusual way—this means earth-tunnelling. Quickly dig a trench within the city, tunnel toward their earthworks, and confront them head-on. Sink wells within the city, one well every five paces, running them up against the foot of the wall. Where the ground is high, dig to a depth of one zhang and five chi; where the ground is low, stop when you have reached the spring water at three chi. Order the potters to make large jars holding forty dou and more, sealing them tightly with thin leather hide, and place them in the wells. Have a man of keen hearing crouch over the jar and listen, so as to determine exactly where the tunnel lies, and then bore a counter-tunnel to meet it.
令陶者为月明，长二尺五寸六围，中判之，合而施之穴中，偃一，覆一。柱之外善周涂，亓傅柱者勿烧。柱者勿烧柱善涂亓窦际，勿令泄。两旁皆如此，与穴俱前。下迫地，置康若灰亓中，勿满。灰康长五窦，左右俱杂相如也。穴内口为灶，令如窑，令容七八员艾，左右窦皆如此，灶用四橐。穴且遇，以颉皋冲之，疾鼓橐熏之，必令明习橐事者勿令离灶口。连版以穴高下、广陜为度，令穴者与版俱前，凿亓版令容矛，参分亓疏数，令可以救窦。穴则遇，以版当之，以矛救窦，勿令塞窦，窦则塞，引版而却，过一窦而塞之，凿亓窦，通亓烟，烟通，疾鼓橐以熏之。从穴内听穴之左右，急绝亓前，勿令得行。若集客穴，塞之以柴涂，令无可烧版也。然则穴土之攻败矣。
Order the potters to make 'crescent-moon' tiles, two chi five cun long and six in girth, split through the middle; join them together and lay them within the tunnel, one laid concave-up and one laid concave-down. The outside of the supporting posts should be well plastered all around, but the posts that prop them up should not be burned. Do not burn the posts; plaster well the joints of the flue, so as not to let it leak. Both sides should be done likewise, advancing along with the tunnel. At the bottom, pressing close to the ground, place chaff or ash within the flue, but do not fill it. The ash and chaff should run the length of five flues, the same on left and right and mixed alike. At the mouth inside the tunnel make a furnace, fashioned like a kiln, made to hold seven or eight bundles of mugwort; the left and right flues should both be like this, and the furnace uses four bellows. When the tunnel is about to break through to the enemy, ram it with a counterweighted swing-beam, and quickly work the bellows to smoke them out; you must have a man well-versed in the bellows and not let him leave the furnace mouth. Join boards together, taking the height, breadth, and narrowness of the tunnel as the measure, and have the tunnellers advance together with the boards. Bore holes in the boards large enough to admit a spear, spacing them in thirds, sparse or dense, so that they can be used to relieve the flues. When the tunnel breaks through to the enemy, block it with the board and relieve the flues with spears, but do not let the flue be stopped up; if the flue is stopped, draw back the board and withdraw, pass beyond one flue and stop that one up, bore through its flue to open its smoke-passage, and when the smoke passes through, quickly work the bellows to smoke them. From within the tunnel listen to the left and right of the enemy's tunnel, and urgently cut them off in front so that they cannot proceed. If you encounter the enemy's tunnel, block it with brushwood and plaster, so that there is nothing for them to burn the boards with. In this way the attack by earth-tunnelling is defeated.
寇至吾城，急非常也，谨备穴。穴疑有应寇，急穴穴未得，慎毋追。
When the enemy reaches our wall and the urgency is unusual, prepare carefully against tunnelling. If a tunnel is suspected and there are means of responding to the enemy, but you have not yet succeeded in completing your counter-tunnel, take care not to pursue them rashly.
凡杀以穴攻者，二十步一置穴，穴高十尺，凿十尺，凿如前，步下三尺，十步拥穴，左右横行，高广各十尺杀。
In general, to kill those who attack by tunnelling: set a tunnel-shaft every twenty paces, the tunnel ten chi high and bored ten chi, bored as before; descend three chi per pace; at every ten paces enclose the tunnel, running crosswise left and right, each ten chi in height and breadth, to slay the enemy.
俚两罂，深平城置板亓上，连板以井听。五步一密。用梓若松为穴户，户穴有两蒺藜，皆长极亓户，户为环，垒石外埻，高七尺，加堞亓上。勿为陛与石，以县陛上下出入。具炉橐，橐以牛皮，炉有两缶，以桥鼓之百十，每亦熏四十什，然炭杜之，满炉而盖之，毋令气出。适人疾近五百穴穴高若下，不至吾穴，即以伯凿而求通之。穴中与适人遇，则皆圉而毋逐，且战北，以须炉火之然也，即去而入壅穴杀。有鼠窜，为之户及关龠独顺，得往来行亓中。穴垒之中各一狗，狗吠即有人也。
Sink two jars; place a board upon them level with the bottom of the wall, joining the boards so as to listen by the well. Every five paces make one such device. Use catalpa or pine wood for the tunnel-door; the doorway of the tunnel has two caltrop-spikes, both as long as the door's full extent, and the door has a ring. Pile stones for an outer earthen wall seven chi high, and add battlements upon it. Do not make a stairway with stone, but use a hanging ladder to go up and down, in and out. Provide a furnace and bellows, the bellows of ox-hide; the furnace has two earthen pots; work it with a swing-beam a hundred-and-ten times. Each time also smoke with forty bundles of fuel; ignite the charcoal and stop it up, fill the furnace and cover it, not letting the gas escape. When the enemy presses near—five hundred [paces?]—whether the tunnel be high or low, if it does not reach our tunnel, then use a pick to bore and seek to break through to it. When in the tunnel you meet the enemy, then all stand on guard and do not pursue; if you must fight and retreat, do so in order to wait for the furnace-fire to take hold; then withdraw and enter, blocking the tunnel, and slay them. There is a 'rat-hole': make for it a door with bolt and lock that opens one way only, so that one may pass to and fro within it. Within the tunnel-ramparts place one dog at each point; when the dog barks there are men.
斩艾与柴长尺，乃置窑灶中，先垒窑壁迎穴为连版。
Cut mugwort and brushwood one chi long, and place them in the kiln-furnace; first build up the kiln walls to face the tunnel, making them into joined boards.
凿井传城足，三丈一，视外之广陜而为凿井，慎勿失。城卑穴高从穴难。凿井城上，为三四井，内新甀井中，伏而听之。审之知穴之所在，穴而迎之。穴且遇，为颉皋，必以坚材为夫，以利斧施之，命有力者三人用颉皋冲之，灌以不洁十馀石。
Sink wells reaching the foot of the wall, one every three zhang; observe the breadth or narrowness of the outside and accordingly sink the wells—take care not to err. If the wall is low and the tunnel is high, then defending against the tunnel is difficult. Sink wells upon the wall, three or four wells, set a new earthen jar within the well, crouch and listen by it. Examine it to learn where the tunnel lies, and tunnel to meet it. When the tunnels are about to meet, make a counterweighted swing-beam, using necessarily hard timber for its frame, fit it with a sharp axe-head, and order three strong men to ram with the swing-beam, while pouring in more than ten dan of filth.
趣伏此井中，置艾亓上，七八员，盆盖井口，毋令烟上泄，旁亓橐口，疾鼓之。
Quickly have men crouch in this well, place mugwort upon it, seven or eight bundles, cover the well-mouth with a basin so as not to let the smoke escape upward, set the bellows-mouth to the side, and quickly work it.
以车轮为轀。一束樵，染麻索涂中以束之。铁锁，县正当寇穴口。铁锁长三丈，端环，一端钩。
Use a cartwheel as a frame. Take a bundle of firewood, soak hemp rope and smear it with mud to bind it. An iron chain is hung directly facing the enemy's tunnel-mouth. The iron chain is three zhang long, with a ring at one end and a hook at the other.
鼠穴高七尺，五寸广，柱闲也尺，二尺一柱，柱下傅舄，二柱共一员十一。两柱同质，横员士，柱大二围半，必固亓员士，无柱与柱交者。
The 'rat-hole' tunnel is seven chi high and five cun broad; the spacing between posts is one chi, with one post every two chi. Beneath the posts attach footing-blocks; two posts share one cross-beam (?), eleven [...]. Two posts on the same base, a horizontal beam above them; the posts are two-and-a-half in girth; you must make the cross-beam firm, and let no post cross with another post.
穴二窑，皆为穴月屋，为置吏、舍人，各一人，必置水。塞穴门以车两走，为轀，涂亓上，以穴高下广陜为度，令入穴中四五尺，维置之。当穴者客争伏门，转而塞之为窑，容三员艾者，令亓突入伏尺。伏傅突一旁，以二橐守之，勿离。穴矛以铁，长四尺半，大如铁服说，即刃之二矛。内去窦尺，邪凿之，上穴当心，亓矛长七尺。穴中为环利率，穴二。
The tunnel has two kilns, both made as crescent-moon chambers within the tunnel; appoint an officer and an attendant, one each, and be sure to provide water. Block the tunnel-door with two running carts; make a frame, plaster its top, taking the height, breadth, and narrowness of the tunnel as the measure, drive it four or five chi into the tunnel, and fasten it in place. Those manning the tunnel and the enemy vie to seize the door; turn it and block it up to make a kiln that holds three bundles of mugwort, and have it project inward, crouching one chi. Crouch close to one side of the projection, and guard it with two bellows, not leaving it. The tunnel-spear is of iron, four chi and a half long, as thick as an iron [...]—that is, a spear edged at the tip. Inward from the flue one chi, bore obliquely; the upper tunnel-spear, set toward the heart [of the enemy], is seven chi long. Within the tunnel make a sharp ring-pulley; two to a tunnel.
凿井城下，俟亓身井且通，居版上，而凿亓一遍，已而移版，凿一遍。颉皋为两夫，而旁狸亓植，而数钩亓两端。诸作穴者五十人，男女相半。五十人。攻内为传士之口，受六参，约枲绳以牛亓下，可提而与投，已则穴七人守退，垒之中为大庑一，藏穴具亓中。难穴，取城外池唇木月散之什，斩亓穴，深到泉。难近穴为铁鈇。金与扶林长四尺，财自足。客即穴，亦穴而应之。
Sink a well at the foot of the wall; wait until your own well is about to break through, stand on a board and bore one stretch; then move the board and bore another stretch. The swing-beam is made with two frame-arms, with its upright buried to the side, and several hooks at its two ends. The workers making the tunnel are fifty men, half male and half female—fifty men. For the attack-tunnel make a vessel for conveying earth, holding six [measures], bound with hemp rope and fastened below, so that it can be lifted and tossed up; that done, seven men of the tunnel keep guard and withdraw. In the midst of the ramparts make one large shelter to store the tunnelling gear within. To obstruct the [enemy's] tunnel, take logs from the edge of the moat outside the city and scatter crescent-tiles [?] in tens; cut into their tunnel, digging deep down to the spring. To obstruct one drawing near in a tunnel, make iron axe-heads; the metal blades with their handles four chi long—let there be just enough. When the enemy tunnels, then tunnel likewise to respond to them.
为铁钩钜长四尺者，财自足，穴彻，以钩客穴者。为短矛、短戟、短弩、虻矢，财自足，穴彻以斗。以金剑为难，长五尺，为銎、木柄；柄有虑枚，以左客穴。
Make iron hooks and saws four chi long—let there be just enough; when the tunnel breaks through, hook the enemy's tunnellers with them. Make short spears, short halberds, short crossbows, and gadfly-arrows—let there be just enough; when the tunnel breaks through, fight with them. Make a metal sword for obstructing, five chi long, with a socket and wooden handle; the handle has a guard-knob, in order to strike the enemy's tunnellers.
戒持罂，容三十斗以上，狸穴中，丈一，以听穴者声。
Be ready to hold jars, holding thirty dou and more, buried in the tunnel, one every zhang, in order to listen for the sound of the tunnellers.
为穴，高八尺，广，善为傅置。具炉牛皮橐，皮及缶，卫穴二，盖陈靃及艾，穴彻熏之以。
Make a tunnel eight chi high and [broad], well prepared for laying out [the apparatus]. Provide a furnace and an ox-hide bellows, hide and earthen pot; two for guarding the tunnel; cover and lay out parched fuel and mugwort, and when the tunnel breaks through, smoke them with it.
斧金为斫，柯长三尺，卫穴四。为垒，卫穴四十，属四。为斤、斧、锯、凿、瞿、财自足。为铁校，卫穴四。
Make an axe of metal for chopping, the haft three chi long—four for guarding the tunnel. Make ramparts—forty for guarding the tunnel, in sets of four. Make adzes, axes, saws, chisels, and picks—let there be just enough. Make iron stocks (?)—four for guarding the tunnel.
为中橹，高十丈半，广四尺。为横穴八橹，盖具稿枲，财自足，以烛穴中。
Make a central watchtower-screen, ten zhang and a half high and four chi broad. Make eight tower-screens for the cross-tunnels, and cover them; provide straw and hemp—let there be just enough—in order to give light within the tunnel.
益持醯，客即熏，以救目，救目分方鼓穴，以盆盛醯置穴中，大盆毋少四斗。即熏，以目临醯上及以洒目。”
Increase the holding of vinegar; when the enemy smokes you, use it to relieve the eyes. To relieve the eyes, divide into squads to work the tunnel, putting vinegar in a basin set within the tunnel, the large basin no less than four dou. When smoked, hold the eyes over the vinegar and also bathe the eyes with it."