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Sun Tzu said: Those who used to be good at using troops must first be defeated by the enemy, and then they can seize the opportunity to defeat the enemy. The initiative that will not be defeated by the enemy should be in your own hands, and whether you can defeat the enemy depends on whether the enemy has a gap to use. Therefore, people who are good at fighting will certainly be able to create conditions that will not be defeated by the enemy. But it is impossible to absolutely defeat the enemy. So victory is predictable, but it cannot be forced.
If you don't want to be defeated by the enemy, you must do a good job of strict defense and appropriate attack. Defense is due to insufficient strength; There were more troops, so they attacked. People who are good at defending hide their troops as if they were buried deep in the ground; People who are good at attacking can often catch the enemy off guard by deploying their own troops. So only in this way can we save ourselves and win.
It is not clever to foresee victory without exceeding the knowledge of ordinary people. Winning through fierce fighting, even if the whole world says yes, is not the best. It's like it's not great strength to lift autumn hair, it's not good eyes to see the sun and the moon, and it's not good ears to hear thunder. In ancient times, people who were good at fighting always defeated those enemies who were easy to win. Therefore, people who are good at fighting have won the battle, showing neither a reputation for wisdom nor heroic exploits. If they win, there will be no mistakes. The reason why there will be no mistakes is that their combat measures are based on victory and can defeat those enemies who are already in a failed position.
People who are good at fighting always ensure that they are in an invincible position, and at the same time, they will not miss any opportunity to defeat the enemy. So the victorious army always creates the conditions for victory first. Then seek a decisive battle with the enemy; But the defeated army always goes to war with the enemy first, and then hopes to win by luck. Those who are good at directing wars must understand politics and ensure the rule of law in order to master the decision-making power of winning or losing wars.
Sun Tzu's art of war has five basic principles: first, degree; Second, quantity; Third, numbers; Fourthly, weighing; Fifth, victory.
Both the enemy and I have land, and with land, there will be problems of different sizes of land; The difference in land area between the two sides will lead to the problem of "quantity" of materials; The difference in the "quantity" of materials between the two sides will lead to the problem of "number" that can be mobilized and supplied to the team; The difference in the "quantity" of the two sides' forces has produced a "name" for the comparison of the light and heavy military forces; The difference in the "balance" of strength between the two sides will lead to victory or defeat.
The victorious army has an absolute advantage over the defeated army, just like "Thai baht", and vice versa. Winners command troops to fight, just like a mountain stream on a cliff breaking water, invincible. This is the "shape" of military strength.
typical
At the end of the Warring States period, the successful example of the Qin general Wang Jian defeating the Chu army proved that the principle of using troops proposed in this paper is a time-tested truth.
In 225 BC, the king of Qin, bent on unifying the Central Plains, plotted to attack the State of Chu. Before the invasion, the King of Qin asked General Li Xin how many troops he needed to attack Chu. Li Xin is brave and good at fighting, and has repeatedly made meritorious military service. It is enough to say that 200,000 troops slightly underestimated your enemy. The king of Qin asked veteran Wang Jian, who answered that there were 600,000 troops. The king of Qin thought that Wang Jian was old and timid, so he appointed Li Xin as general and Wu Meng as lieutenant, and attacked Chu with 200,000 soldiers and horses. Li Xin won the first battle, captured Pingyu in one fell swoop, and attacked Tiancheng in the west, so he led his troops to attack Wu Meng, the father of Gentiana macrophylla, and marched in depth.
At that time, Chu saw that Chi had gone deep into Chu's hinterland, so he sent Xiang Yan as the general, led the troops with two hundred thousand troops, went hand in hand by land and water, met in Xiling, and sent his lieutenant machetes to set seven ambushes in Lutai Mountain area. Qin Chu's two armies met with Xiling, and the fighting was fierce. When Qin Jun's progress was blocked and inextricably linked, Qu Ding's ambush on all sides suddenly appeared, and Qin Jun was attacked on both sides, caught off guard and fled in defeat. Xiang Yan attacked Qin Jun and killed seven people and countless foot soldiers until Pingyu recovered all the lost land. Li Xin was defeated, but Wu Meng, who had not yet reached the city father, quickly retreated, and the battle with Chu was a complete failure.
The king of Qin, who was full of confidence in winning, was furious and ordered Li Xin's office to be removed. By this time, Wang Jian had retired and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion. The king of Qin personally visited Wang Jian to clean up the mess. However, Wang Jian evaded and promised to send troops, but insisted on the original proposal. Without 600,000 troops, it is not enough to defeat the Chu army. The king of Qin still didn't understand and asked the general why he wanted to pay 600 thousand. Wang Jian said: "In ancient times, the date was agreed in advance, the formation was arranged, and certain rules and etiquette were followed in fighting, so there were not many soldiers used in fighting at that time. Now the situation has changed fundamentally. The country bullies the weak and attacks the few with more. Every time there is a war, tens of thousands of people are killed and besieged for years. In some countries, everyone has to perform military service, and the number of troops has greatly increased. The number of soldiers used in the war far exceeds that in the Spring and Autumn Period. What's more, in today's Chu state, there are vast cities in the southeast, with a large population and rich resources. At your command, you can mobilize millions of people to participate in the war. If you want to conquer, I am afraid that 600,000 soldiers and horses are still too few. " Wang Jian's analysis is very reasonable, and Qin Wang is convinced of it. Finally, he agreed to the request and ordered Wang Jian to lead 600,000 troops to conquer Chu.
Wang Jian led an army to the border of Chu. The Chu army immediately sent troops to resist the enemy. When the two armies confront each other, war is imminent. However, Wang Jian's army was bound under the mountain, tied for ten miles and defended the city wall. Whenever Xiang Yan challenged before the war, he ignored it and refused to go to war. Day after day, the war-free card was hung high. Xiang Yan thought that Wang Jian was old and useless, and he was afraid of the Chu army. He gradually became proud and despised the enemy. In Qinying, Wang Jian ordered people to kill pigs and sheep every day to improve the soldiers' diet; The general lives with the soldiers, asking for warmth and care from the soldiers, and the officers and men are in harmony and unity.
Wang Jian discouraged foot soldiers from going out to war, while teaching them to play the game of throwing stones and jumping. Improve soldiers' physique and skills through games. At the same time, he ordered Qin Jun not to cross the border of Chu to cut wood. Anyone who captured the border of Chu should treat each other with wine and meat and put them home. Qin Jun's fear of war and "friendliness" spread widely on the Chu border, and people's fear and confrontation with Qin Jun gradually stabilized and approached. So deadlocked for more than a year, Xiang Yan always can't win the first world war, so he decided that Wang Jianwei didn't dare to fight, and he was more relaxed.
In the Chu camp, the soldiers were slack and completely ignorant of the war. Qin Jun has been practicing for more than a year. He is full of energy and high morale. Wang Jian saw clearly that the time had come and the victory was in hand. So he suddenly ordered an all-out attack on the Chu army. Wang Jian chose 20,000 elite soldiers as pioneers, launched a fierce attack on the Chu army in several ways, and ordered the troops: as long as they defeated the enemy, they could fight in their own way and attack Chu in depth. Qin Jun soldiers have been rubbing their hands, suddenly launched an attack, sweeping, rapid and abnormal, invincible. However, the long-term slack and paralysis of the Chu army made it impossible to fight, and suddenly it was attacked by Qin Jun, and it was rushed to fight, with no fighting spirit and little resistance. After several rounds, they were defeated and dispersed. General Xiang Yan had to lead the troops to withdraw eastward. Wang Jian pursued the victory and went to the next city in Yong' an City. In less than a few months, Qin Jun successively captured Huaibei, Huainan, Jiangnan and other places, and captured Shouxian County (now southwest of Caoxian County, Anhui Province) in one fell swoop. Finally, the King of Chu was captured, and General Xiang Yan was forced to commit suicide. In the third year, in 223 BC, the State of Qin annexed the State of Chu.
The Battle of Qin Chu is a typical example of defeating the enemy in the history of China. Wang Jian, the main general, contributed a lot, and his superb art of operational command was a model for military strategists in past dynasties. Wang Jian is good at analyzing the situation of the enemy and himself, and then taking correct strategies and tactics to attack the enemy. It is the wisdom practice of "being in an invincible position first, waiting for the enemy to win" and the dynamic code of "hiding under nine places and attacking over nine days".