Chapter 25 The Eleventh Strategy

It is bound to be detrimental, and detrimental to yin to benefit yang. When the development of the war situation will inevitably lead to losses, it is necessary to be willing to part with local losses in exchange for overall victory. The balance of two benefits should be the most important, and the balance of two evils should be the least important. If you lose one part, you can keep the rest. It is not only a strategy problem, but also a strategic problem. During the Warring States Period, Qi’s general Tian Ji 1. Adopt Sun Bin's strategy in horse racing, using low-grade horses against the opponent's high-grade horses, high-grade horses against the opponent's middle-grade horses, and middle-grade horses against the opponent's low-grade horses, resulting in one local disadvantage and two local advantages Written, and finally won two to one.

Li Daitao is stiff, from "Yuefu Poetry Collection: Chicken Crowing": "Peaches grow on the well, and plum trees grow beside peaches. Insects come to eat peach roots, and plum trees replace peaches. Trees replace each other, and brothers still forget each other?" Used in military affairs, there is a car lost. The meaning of Baoshuai. In ancient and modern China and abroad, in political, military, and diplomatic struggles, whenever a situation arises that cannot achieve complete victory, the parties involved often adopt the method of Li Daitao, voluntarily giving up some small local interests, in order to obtain overall or most of the victory, the Warring States Period During the period, many small countries faced the attack of powerful enemies and took the initiative to cede their cities to save the country. The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, in order to preserve the seeds of revolution, voluntarily withdrew from the base areas established with blood and lives under the armed encirclement and suppression of hundreds of thousands of troops of Chiang Kai-shek. , carrying out strategic shifts, etc., can all be called the successful use of Li Daitao's rigidity.Replacing "peach" with "li" is not necessarily a set policy, but often a contingency measure. As for whether "peach" is valuable and whether it can achieve the expected goal, it depends on the situation and adaptability of the parties involved. It's up to you.

At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Tian Chengzi, a doctor of Qi State, monopolized the power of Qi State. At that time, Qi State was facing internal and external difficulties. There is no good plan. Misfortunes never come singly. The State of Yue sent troops to attack the State of Qi on the pretext of usurping power. Tian Chengzi panicked and hurriedly summoned his staff to discuss countermeasures. You can mobilize the army and the people of the whole country to meet the enemy together." Some said: "At present, the hearts of the people in the country are fluctuating, and many subjects have not had time to enjoy the favor of the king. If they are all out, I am afraid that it will be hard to win the hearts of the people and it will be difficult to convince the people." Some suggested: "Your Majesty Why not follow the example of other countries and cede a few cities and lands to the Yue country. Maybe you can avoid fighting." Tian Chengzi felt that it was not a good way to defeat the enemy after fighting. A group of good warriors lead the common people to fight, but they may not be able to win. Now their position is not stable, and if things go wrong, there will be a counterattack. It is not the best policy to cede the city. It is difficult to establish prestige, and there will be endless troubles."

While he was thinking hard, his elder brother Wanzi suggested to him: "I ask the king to allow me to lead a group of virtuous ministers out of the city to meet the enemy. To meet the enemy, we must fight, and we must be defeated. Not only defeated, but all of them must be killed." In this way, the Vietnamese soldiers can be withdrawn and the country can be preserved." As soon as this remark came out, everyone sitting there was shocked, and Tian Chengzi asked in puzzlement: "It seems that it is allowed to go out of the city to fight, but the battle must be defeated, and if you lose, you must die. I don't understand, why is that so?"

Wanzi couldn't answer calmly: "My brother is now occupying the state of Qi. The common people don't understand your ability to govern the country, and they haven't seen your political achievements. Some people are talking about it in private. They say that you are a thief who steals the country, but they may not be willing to fight for you. Now the country of Yue is coming to invade, and among the virtuous there are many brave ministers who think that we have suffered disgrace, and are eager to send troops to fight. In my opinion, this situation is already very worrying for our country of Qi "What Brother Wang said is very true, but why do you have to take the initiative to fight to the death in order to save the country? Is there no other way?" Tian Chengzi was still puzzled by his loving and brave brother.Wanzi said: "The purpose of sending troops from the Yue Kingdom is nothing more than to shake off its prestige in front of the princes and gain a reputation for justice. Besides, it is impossible to completely annex us with its own strength. I will lead a group of virtuous soldiers to meet the enemy. Defeating in battle, dying in defeat, this is called martyrdom, the country of Yue saw the death of the king's elder brother, and the purpose of 'teaching' our country was achieved. And those who died with me also did their filial piety for the country, Those who have not died in battle dare not return to Qi, so that the hearts of the people in the country will be stabilized, so, in my opinion, this is the only way to save the country."

Tian Chengzi wept while listening, so he had to follow his elder brother's advice and bid him farewell in tears.Sure enough, Wanzi died in martyrdom and saved the state of Qi. In this story, after weighing the pros and cons of all aspects, Wanzi decisively made the determination to protect the country's security with his own death. In the early 1990s, a famous modern war broke out—the Gulf War.In this war, the multinational force led by the United States won the victory.Although Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was defeated by the multinational forces, the series of strategies he used before and after the war are enough to prove that he is not a "coward". Western countries headed by the United States are at a loss, let's look at an example:

After the Iraqis invaded Kuwait, it aroused condemnation from all over the world, especially the Western countries led by the United States were very angry, and gathered multinational troops and quickly marched into the Gulf.A strong barrier was formed in the south and west of Iraq in an attempt to force Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait. At the same time, most countries in the world also imposed severe economic sanctions on Iraq. The international community's strong reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was unexpected by Saddam Hussein, and Iraq faced more difficulties than imagined.

Before Iraq invaded Kuwait, Iraq had fought a bitter battle with its eastern neighbor Iran for eight years. Although the two countries had ended the war two years before Iraq invaded Kuwait, the relationship was still very tense. After the war Many remaining issues remain unresolved. The presence of multinational forces in the Gulf puts Iraq in the predicament of being besieged by enemies from both front and back, and there is a great danger of extinction. Faced with this situation, there are also disputes within the Iraqi Revolutionary Council. Some advocate desperate and resist the attack of multinational forces. Saddam carefully analyzed the situation and thought that "the multinational force is already a strong enemy. If Iran takes advantage of the fire to rob and stab it in the back, wouldn't it be completely finished?" The scheming Saddam quickly came up with a deadlock. diplomatic strategy.

He told the members of the Revolutionary Committee: "Currently, the multinational force is the most dangerous enemy. After all, Iran and we have already reached a truce. If we can concentrate on eliminating the threat of the multinational force, then we will be the ones who will dominate the Gulf in the future. Now, not only can we not Continue confrontation with Iran, and take the initiative to reconcile and strive for Iran's neutrality or even friendship. In this way, even if part of the national interests must be sacrificed, it can change the current passive situation of being attacked by enemies. Concentrate the main forces against multinational forces."

On August 15, 1990, less than two weeks after Iraq invaded Kuwait, Saddam began his diplomatic strategy.On this day, Saddam suddenly stopped all activities in his busy schedule and wrote a letter to his old enemy, Iranian President Rafsanshu Jani, in which he said: "Everything you want...has come true." This "Everything" refers to the issue of the border between the two countries after the ceasefire, the withdrawal of Iraq from the territory occupied by Iran, and the exchange of prisoners of war.In this letter, Saddam fully agreed to Iran's request; first, with regard to the "Treaty of Algiers", Iraq stated that it would re-recognize it, thereby withdrawing the requirement that "the entire waters of the Shatt al-Arab River belong to Iraq", and Iran and Iran redefined the With the central line of the main waterway of the Shatt al-Arab River as the border between the two countries, secondly, Iraq unconditionally withdraws its troops from the more than 1,000 square kilometers of Iranian territory that Iraq occupied during the Iran-Iraq War. Thirdly, Iraq immediately agreed to exchange prisoners of war unconditionally.

Seeing this letter, the Iranian President was overjoyed, and the Iranian Foreign Minister said that this was the biggest victory Iran has ever achieved. Saddam was not bluffing. In the face of a serious crisis that may arise, it is really impossible for him not to come. On August 17, Iraq unilaterally released Iranian prisoners of war. At the same time, within a few hours, Iraq withdrew all its troops from the 1,020-kilometer border.The unresolved issues of the 8-year war disappeared instantly. On September 9, Iraqi Foreign Minister Aziz visited Iran again. This was the first visit to Iran by a senior Iraqi official in 11 years. In just one day, The two sides reached a multi-faceted agreement with each other: first, Iraq will use oil to pay Iran certain war compensation; second, Iraq itself should bear the responsibility in launching the Iran-Iraq War; third, Iraq agrees in principle Iraqi prisoners of war may remain in Iran; iv.Iraq restricted Iran's largest opposition group, the "People's Mujahideen", from operating within its territory. In exchange, Iran also made gestures; first, Iran promised Iraq not to attack Iraq when it was at war with multinational forces and Arab armies.Second, Iran agreed not to block the delivery of food to Iraq through the Iranian region, providing a "lifeline" for Iraq. Saddam's strategy of "replacing the dead with peaches" has achieved the expected goal. Not only did Iran and Iran reconcile, but they also got Iran's attitude. On September 12, 1990, Iran's religious leader Ali Khamenei made a speech, condemning the United States and saying: "We regard the struggle against the aggression, greedy acts, and various plans and policies of the United States in Persia as a jihad carried out by Allah. Anyone who dies in jihad will become a martyr." At the same time, Iranian officials also stated that they cannot tolerate the presence of the United States in the Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia, where Islam's holiest temple is located; Providing food and medicine, this is the first time that Iran has publicly stated that it will stand by Lark in the wave crisis. In this way, by reconciling with Iran, Saddam not only changed the passive situation of being attacked by enemies, but also gained a wartime ally.The bigger harvest is yet to come—without any worries, Saddam was able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops from the east to the south to concentrate on dealing with multinational forces. The "Desert Shield" plan of the multi-national force has played an important role in gaining time for combat preparation and delaying the outbreak of the war. After the U.S. Congress passed antitrust laws restricting economic monopoly.Many large companies were disbanded. Naturally, the Mobil Oil Company under the Rockefeller Consortium, one of the largest companies in the United States at that time, was also sued. However, through the efforts of the company, the political and judicial circles were opened up, and the case was not established. Mobil Oil Company was able to continue to operate . Due to the great reputation of the Mobil Oil Company, it has always attracted people's attention. Rockefeller's opponents were very jealous that the Mobil Oil Company was lucky enough not to be disbanded. Under such circumstances, after 20 years of tenacious operation, the U.S. Congress, under the pressure of public opinion, finally filed a lawsuit against Mobil Oil Company again.This time, Rockefeller also felt that he was doomed. Facing huge economic losses, Rockefeller was depressed and listless all day long.He convened the board of directors many times to study countermeasures, and used various relationships to dredge, but there was no good solution. Just when Rockefeller was at a loss and was about to listen to Congress, a young lawyer named Duller in the law firm owned by Mobil Oil wanted to see Rockefeller. Les met. As soon as he met Dulles, he said: "I have a wonderful way to save the company." When Rockefeller saw that he was a young lawyer, he didn't take it seriously at first, but seeing the young man's self-confidence, he couldn't bear to pour cold water on him, so he said absent-mindedly, "Let's hear what you can do. !" Dulles said: "Antitrust is nothing more than restricting large companies. Can't we let each branch operate independently?" Rockefeller heard some reason, and then asked: "All the branches are independent, what should we do? Doesn't that mean I'm empty?" Dulles smiled, thinking that the old Rockefeller was also a smart man, and he was confused for a moment. He said unhurriedly: "The declaration of independence by each branch will not affect your power in the slightest. It is just a change of appearance. The company will not have any What is the loss? I’m afraid the loss is your title as president.” After taking a sip of water, Dulles went on to say: “We have changed the oil companies in each state into sub-companies, such as New York Standard Oil Company, New Jersey Standard Oil Company, Canada Rivonia Mobil Oil Company, Indiana Mobil Oil Company, etc., each of these branch companies has a nominal boss, but in fact they are still controlled by you. In this way, although American Mobil Oil Company no longer exists in name Now, the reality still exists, and I think that now we can only take this method of losing name and preserving reality to tide over the difficulties." Rockefeller listened and nodded in agreement, praising again and again: "OK! OK! The younger generation is awesome, the younger generation is awesome." Determined to act immediately, Rockefeller immediately convened the board of directors, adopted Dulles' suggestion, and began to "independent" the branch.Americans are famous for their efficiency. Rockefeller personally led his right-hand assistants to work day and night to draw up independent accounts for each company for Senate review. In less than a week, a huge American Mobil Oil Company ceased to exist and was replaced by a blink of an eye. The State Standard Oil Company, which has sprung up like mushrooms after rain, has been in the state for a long time, and the Senate has nothing to say, and it no longer wants to prosecute. Dulles' face-changing technique is actually a practice of sacrificing the superficial reputation and preserving the actual content. In commercial competition, it is inevitable to encounter various setbacks. When some sacrifices must be made, we must grasp the pros and cons. Don't be confused by superficial problems, but actively strive for the initiative, sacrifice superficial things and preserve essence.