Sun Tzu's art of war is the cornerstone of China's ancient art of war. In this sacred book of military science, Sun Wu systematically reveals the objective laws of war and puts forward a set of very complete military ideological system and strategic and tactical principles.
First of all, Sun Tzu has a very scientific and comprehensive understanding of the outcome of the war. He believes that war is a "national event", which is related to the survival of the country and the safety of the people and must be treated with caution. Sun Tzu believes that to wage war, we should proceed from political, economic, military, natural and climatic conditions, base ourselves on the overall situation of the country, and carefully analyze the advantages and disadvantages of war. "It's good to move, but not to stop." Before the war, we should make ourselves invincible through this analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the warring parties. In order to illustrate the relationship between war and the overall situation of the country, Sun Tzu discussed in detail the importance of measuring and comparing the "five things" and "seven plans" before the war in Sun Tzu's Art of War, and pointed out: "The temple was the winner before the war and was excessive; If the temple did not win before the war, it would be too little. " It is required that the decision-makers of the war must first find out the basic situation of the enemy and ourselves before the war, so as to grasp the overall situation of the war. In addition, Sun Tzu realized that the victory or defeat of the war depends on the close cooperation between the army and the country (monarch). Sun Tzu believes that what the monarch should do is to practice the law and protect the law; The monarch should not "get angry" or interfere in military affairs at will. If the monarch "does not know about the affairs of the three armed forces, but takes charge of the affairs of the three armed forces" and "does not know about the rights of the three armed forces, but takes charge of the affairs of the three armed forces", the result can only be chaos. It can be seen that Sun Tzu has a profound and comprehensive understanding of the influence of many factors that determine the outcome of the war.
Secondly, Sun Tzu has a profound understanding of the relationship between war and economy. Sun Tzu realized that the war must be based on the country's economic strength. Without strong economic strength as the backing, the war cannot be won. At the same time, war will also cause damage to the national economy and add a heavy burden to the people. Based on this understanding, Sun Tzu put forward three important viewpoints: 1. Being a soldier is more important than a long time. War needs "a thousand chariots and a thousand chariots, a hundred thousand Li of grain", and its "internal and external expenses, the use of customers, the material of glue paint, and the battle of chariots and armor cost thousands of dollars a day, and then hundreds of thousands of teachers will lift it." Therefore, in order to minimize the burden of war on the national economy, we should strive for a quick decision. 2. Because of food, the enemy. Sun Tzu pointed out that the country would be poor because of long-distance transportation in the war. Therefore, in the war, it is necessary to levy grain on the spot and solve the problem of grain supply. 3. Ride a car with sundries and care for them. Sun Tzu pointed out that in order to make up for the shortage of materials and soldiers in the war, we can mix the captured enemy chariots with our vehicles, give preferential treatment to the captured enemy troops, and let them be used by us to supplement our troops. From the above three points, we can see that more than 2,500 years ago, Sun Tzu had a considerable understanding of the relationship between war and economy.
In addition, Sun Tzu also has unique views on the relationship between war and politics. War will do harm to the economy, which is the disadvantage of war; But at that time, the grandson of a military strategist saw not only the harmful side of war, but also the beneficial side of war. The victory of the war can achieve political goals, make up for the shortage of national land and resources, and temporarily solve the contradictions among countries, nationalities and political groups. In a word, the final victory of the war is closely related to politics. Enlightened political views and political opinions that can be supported by most people will lay a solid foundation for the victory of the war. Therefore, in Sun Tzu's Art of War, Sun Tzu listed Tao as the first of the "five things" and pointed out that a monarch mainly wants to win the war and needs to "win the hearts of the people and win the consent of the world." Sun Tzu also said, "Those who are good at using soldiers can cultivate and protect the law, so they can be the winning or losing strategy." It can be seen that Sun Tzu not only realized the relationship between war and economy, but also realized the relationship between war and politics.
In Sun Tzu's Art of War, Sun Tzu also discussed the relationship between the outcome of the war and the subjective and objective with a simple dialectical point of view. On the one hand, Sun Tzu pointed out that the victory or defeat of a war is limited by objective conditions and is independent of human will. Therefore, in the war, we must respect the objective laws and be invincible first, because "invincible to ourselves, better than the enemy." Therefore, a good soldier can be in an invincible position and cannot let the enemy be in an invincible position. Therefore, it is said that knowing wins and not doing it. "... here, Sun Tzu pointed out that the key to defeating the enemy lies in objective conditions and whether the enemy has a gap to take advantage of. What we can do is to make ourselves invincible, wait and capture favorable fighters; On the other hand, Sun Zi-you pointed out that objective conditions can be changed if people's subjective initiative is brought into full play in the war and "making people but not making people" is achieved. "The enemy can endure hardships, be hungry and take the initiative", "I want to fight, and the enemy must fight with me" and "I don't want to fight, but I want to defend, and the enemy can't fight with me". Therefore, "victory can be achieved. Although there are many enemies, there can be no fighting." Here, Sun Tzu also discussed the importance of exerting people's subjective initiative in the war, pointing out that if people master the initiative in the war and can successfully exert their subjective initiative, then the objective conditions can also be changed, and the unfavorable conditions can also be turned into favorable conditions. Sun Tzu summed up the dialectical relationship between victory and defeat in which various factors influence and transform each other. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Sun Tzu's military thoughts are always full of philosophical wisdom and brilliance.
Sun Tzu's military thoughts are profound and profound, and his strategic and tactical principles are also highly respected by the people. In the Art of War, Sun Tzu summarized the strategy and tactics as follows.
1.
Sun Tzu pointed out in Sun Tzu's Art of War that the arrangement of forces in a war is determined by the commander-in-chief of the war according to the actual situation, and its forces are bound to be strong and weak. In combat, we should avoid the strong enemy and concentrate on dealing with the weak enemy, so as to win the battle. This point was fully expounded by Sun Tzu in his Art of War "Virtual and Real". Sun Tzu said, "A soldier is like water, walking in the water, avoiding heights and descending; The shape of a soldier, avoiding reality is empty. At the same time, Sun Tzu's Art of War also puts forward some concrete methods on how to implement the principle of "One China" operation. Such as concentrating superior forces and attacking them; Avoid its spirit and kill it. In short, the key to this principle is to concentrate on finding weaknesses and attack quickly.
2. Causes people, not others.
Another operating point of Sun Tzu's Art of War is: creating people without creating people. "Making people" means mobilizing the enemy to act according to my intention; "To people" means to be mobilized by the enemy. Sun Tzu pointed out that in a war, the most important thing is to take the initiative in fighting. Without the initiative, the enemy will lead you by the nose, and you will be passive, passive defense and even beaten everywhere. Grasping the initiative in fighting can change the unfavorable situation and make the enemy "able to endure hardships, be hungry and take the initiative", which is a necessary condition for winning.
3. Win first and then fight.
Sun Tzu wrote in the first article of Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Soldiers, the important events of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of life and death must be guarded." Because Sun Tzu realized that war is a major event related to the survival of the country and the nation, he put forward the view of cautious war. Sun Tzu suggested that before the war, we should carefully analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and ourselves and strive to make ourselves invincible. People who are good at fighting always fight a sure battle, not an uncertain one. Sun Tzu said, "Therefore, a good fighter is in an invincible position without losing to the enemy's defeat", "The first winner wins and then strives for victory, and the first loser fights and then strives for victory", and "The so-called good fighter in ancient times is better than easy victory". This is the meaning and intention of these words.
4. Know yourself and yourself.
Sun Tzu pointed out that if we want to be invincible in the war, we must know ourselves and ourselves. Only by knowing ourselves and ourselves can we implement the plan of avoiding reality and attacking the virtual, master the initiative in the battlefield, turn unfavorable factors into favorable ones, and finally defeat the enemy. At the same time, Sun Tzu also pointed out that if we really want to "know ourselves and ourselves", we must be willing to make great efforts to explore and master the enemy's situation, which is the basic premise of "temple calculation".
5. Win by right and wrong.
Sun Tzu put forward a "strange" proposition in his art of war theory, that is, in the tactical deployment of combat, he adopted the strange tactics of frontal combat and attack, encirclement and detour; It is right to be the main force to contain the enemy, to array the enemy and to attack openly; It is strange to take a surprise attack, but it is strange to use maneuver, sneak attack or special tactics. Sun Tzu pointed out that in order to win the initiative, there must be a change in "righteousness and strangeness" in combat, and it is necessary to "win with righteousness and strangeness." Sun Tzu's military thoughts were used by many later military strategists. Examples of winning wars under the guidance of this strategy and tactics are almost everywhere.
6. Those who are outnumbered win.
In Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Sun Tzu also summed up the different usages of "Bing Duo" and "Serenade". On the one hand, Sun Tzu pointed out the general law of the number of soldiers used in combat. Sun Tzu said, "If you use the method of fighting, ten generals will encircle it, five generals will attack it, and if you multiply it, you will divide it. The enemy can fight, but few can defend. If not, it can be avoided. " This is the general principle of using troops. On the other hand, Sun Tzu's Art of War also said: "Soldiers stand by and bully, take advantage of others and become teachers." He pointed out that when fighting and using troops, we should flexibly disperse or concentrate our troops according to different situations. When our troops are inferior to the enemy, we should try to disperse them. In this way, the relative advantage of "I specialize in one, the enemy divides into ten, and I attack one with ten" has been created locally, giving the enemy a powerful blow. After summing up the usage of multi-soldiers and serenade in Sun Tzu's Art of War, Sun Tzu pointed out: "Many soldiers are useless, but without Wujin, they are enough to join forces, guard against the enemy and take people." It can be seen that Sun Tzu advocated that the deployment of troops should be based on the comparison between the enemy and ourselves, and that flexible strategies and tactics should be adopted in combat to preserve oneself and destroy the enemy.
From the above-mentioned strategies and tactics put forward by Sun Tzu, it can be seen that the essence of Sun Tzu's strategic thought lies in his viewpoint of "avoiding reality and attacking emptiness", and the foothold of his military tactics lies in how to effectively attack the enemy. Sun Tzu stressed that it is necessary to choose the appropriate combat form and win by surprise on the premise of fully understanding the enemy's situation and the geographical conditions of combat. These strategic and tactical ideas have had a wide and far-reaching impact on later generations. (End)