Chapter 26 2. The way of war and the art of war

Indeed, Laozi is like a grandson. Sun Tzu is Sun Wu, the author of "The Art of War".It is said that he was the military advisor, instructor and general of King Helu of Wu, and he was earlier than the author of the book "Lao Tzu", so it is said that Lao Tzu is like a grandson, not that a grandson is like Lao Tzu. Lao and Sun both like water.The grandson said—— The image of soldiers is water. The soldier mentioned here refers to the use of troops to fight; the form refers to strategy, tactics, methods and methods.Therefore, the shape of soldiers is the shape of soldiers, that is, commanding battles; the image is pictographic, that is, imitation and imitation.The so-called "soldiers are like water", that is, the way of using soldiers and the method of forming soldiers should be learned from water.

It is also easy to learn.For example, if water "avoids heights and tends to descend", soldiers must "avoid reality and attack weak areas"; water "controls the flow due to the ground", and soldiers must "conquer victory due to the enemy".Water does not necessarily have to flow, nor does battle have to be fought.This is called "soldiers have impermanent potential, water has impermanent shape". Therefore, Sun Tzu believes that the highest state of war should be like flowing clouds and flowing water, letting nature take its course and being unpredictable.As long as you can lead the enemy by the nose, you will use your soldiers like a god (those who can win because of the enemy's changes are called gods).

Then the grandson said—— The ultimate form of soldiers, as invisible. Hehe, he also advocates nothingness. However, is "the best kindness is like water" the same as "soldiers are like water"? no the same. On the surface, both Lao and Sun advocated that "water flows to a lower place".However, Lao Tzu's "below" is really low-profile, and even really aloof from the world.What Sun Tzu meant was to pick out where the enemy was weak.Just like water, where it is low and where there is a gap, it will go there. So, where is the gap? Sun Tzu listed five.

The first one is called "Death can be killed", that is, it is not difficult for such a person to die before the war starts.The second is called "Must be born and captured", that is, before killing the enemy, you want to survive first.Such a person is sure to catch one.The third is "Anger can be insulted quickly", which means that anyone who is impatient, irritable, and irritable can be teased.The fourth is "honesty and humiliation", which means that those who cherish their feathers and value their reputation can be tricked by humiliating methods.The fifth is "loving the people can be annoying", that is, you can take advantage of the soft heart of the other party to harass and threaten.

Similar words, Lao Tzu also said. But, it's the other way around. Laozi said, those who are good at being soldiers are not brave; those who are good at fighting are not angry; those who are good at defeating the enemy are not confronting the enemy.This is called "those who are good at being soldiers do not use force, those who are good at fighting do not get angry, and those who are good at defeating the enemy do not fight". Why don't you fight, don't get angry, don't fight? If you follow Sun Tzu's thinking, of course you won't give the enemy a chance.Sun Tzu has a famous saying, "Invincibility lies in oneself, victory lies in the enemy".In other words, it is up to you to be undefeated.Victory is invincible against the enemy.If you don't make mistakes, you won't fail.If the enemy does not make mistakes, it is impossible for our side to win.Winning or losing depends not on who has the ability, but on who makes mistakes.

This means you can't fight, you can't be angry, you can't fight.Because of Wu, it is "death and can be killed"; anger, it is "insane and insultable";In this way, don't you give the victory to the enemy and leave the failure to yourself? If Sun Tzu came to explain, it should be so. Is that what I mean too? no. In Lao Tzu's view, the key to the problem is not strategy, nor strategy, or even strategy, but how to view war and bravery.Of course war requires bravery.It is almost common sense that the two armies face each other and the brave wins.However, Lao Tzu told us that there are two kinds of bravery in the world, one is "courage to dare" and the other is "courage not to dare".Lao Tzu said——

If you dare, you will kill; if you dare not, you will live. This passage can easily be interpreted as a philosophy of survival: those who dare to rush up will die, and those who dare not rush up will live.But if this is the original intention, then the original text should be "If you dare, you will kill, if you dare not, you will live."So, why did Lao Tzu add the word "courage" in front of these two sentences? Because real bravery is not "dare to do", but "dare not".Not daring is of course timid, but not daring requires more courage.In fact, daring not to be more than instinct, daring not to be is the realm.Obviously, the courage to dare is the greatest courage.In Su Dongpo's words, it is called "be as brave as you are timid".

This is not the art of war, but the way of war. Therefore, Lao Tzu understands soldiers but does not use them.His point of view is very clear: Those who assist the monarch with the righteous way will not be aggressive, do not strive for power, and do not strive for hegemony in the world by force.Because soldiers are "unlucky weapons", they can only be used "as a last resort".Therefore, there is a way in the world, and war horses will be used to plow the fields, which is called "but the horses are used for dung".If there is no way in the world, pregnant mares will be requisitioned, and foals will be born on the battlefield, which is called "army horses are born in the suburbs".

This is not only the way of war, but also the way of kingship. The kingly way is the way of the king, and it is also the way of war of the king's teacher.Its core, one is compassion, the other is frugality, and the third is not daring to be the first in the world.Compassion is kindness, thrift is temperance; not daring to be the first in the world is actually "not firing the first shot".In the words of Lao Tzu, I dare not take the initiative to attack, but only dare to defend passively; I dare not advance an inch, but only dare to retreat a foot. This is Master Wang, and God will help.

It is not surprising that Lao Tzu said this.Because his proposition was originally "natural selection, survival of the weak".Therefore, in war, whoever is weak, God loves and protects whoever is.This is called "Heaven will save them and protect them with kindness", and it is also called "If the soldiers are similar, the mourners will win." The kingly way is the way of heaven.Heaven prefers mourning soldiers, isn't it very kind? No, ruthless and unjust.

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