Ma Su and Wang Ping lead their troops to Jieting. Ma Su looks over the lie of the land and laughs. Why does the chancellor worry so much? How would the Wei army dare come to a remote mountain spot like this?
Wang Ping speaks. Even if the Wei army dares not come, we must camp on this road where five ways meet. Have the soldiers cut timber and put up a stockade, and prepare to hold it a long time. Ma Su shakes his head. How is the middle of a road a place to camp? That hill beside it is cut off on every side and thick with trees, a stronghold given by heaven.
Wang Ping speaks again. If we camp on the road and build walls, the enemy cannot get past even with a hundred thousand. If we abandon this road and climb the hill, and the Wei army surrounds it on every side, how will we hold out?