Chapter 8 Chapter Two

Sun Tzu is a great military strategist in ancient my country, and is regarded as "the originator of military science" and "the originator of military science" by later generations.His "Sun Tzu's Art of War" was listed as the first of the "Seven Books of Wu Jing", which had a profound influence on later generations. Sun Wu was from Le'an (now Huimin, Shandong) in the state of Qi.The date of birth and death is unknown, but it was probably active from the end of the 6th century BC to the beginning of the 5th century BC.His ancestor was Wan, the son of Chen State. In the fifth year of King Hui of Zhou (672 BC), he fled to Qi State to avoid disaster and changed his name to Tian Wan.Tian Shu, the fifth grandson of Tian Wan, named Zizhan, was the grandfather of Sun Wu. He served as a doctor when he was Duke Jing of Qi.In the summer of the thirteenth year of King Jing of Zhou (532 BC), the "Rebellion of the Four Surnames" occurred in Qi State, where Tian and Bao jointly defeated Luan and Gao.Afterwards, Sun Wu left the state of Qi and went to the newly emerging state of Wu in the south. He lived in seclusion near the capital Gusu (now Suzhou), devoted himself to sorting out and studying the military knowledge he had learned from his grandfather, and fled to the state of Wu under the persecution of the king of Chu. Wu Zixu (that is, Wu Yuan) became friends.

In the fourth year of King Jing of Zhou (516 BC), Prince Guang of Wu State sent people to assassinate King Liao of Wu and made himself king, that is, King Helu of Wu in the late Spring and Autumn Period (?—496 BC).He Lu worked hard, determined to reform and strengthen himself, and determined to make the backward state of Wu catch up with the countries in the Central Plains and get rid of the bullying of Chu state.For this reason, he sought talents widely in order to achieve his great cause of enriching the country and strengthening the army.Wu Zixu was well aware of Helu's ambition and thirst for talents, as well as Sun Wu's extraordinary military talent, so he recommended the talented Sun Wu to Helu seven times in one day.The great time for Sun Wu to display his talents has finally arrived.

When King Wu summoned him, Sun Wu presented 13 chapters of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" written in advance.The King of Wu then selected 180 concubines from the harem, and asked Sun Wu to practice the formation, and he wanted to see the effect of the exercise for himself.Sun Wu divided the concubines into two teams, and asked King Wu's two most beloved beauties to be the captains, each with a halberd.Sun Wu explained to them the directions of left, right, front and back, and asked them to look in the designated direction according to the order, and not to violate the military law.The concubines all said "OK!" After the arrangement was completed, Sun Wu beat the drum and ordered to go to the right.The concubines were laughing and laughing, not obeying orders.Sun Wu said: "If the regulations are not clear and the order is not clear, this is the responsibility of the commander." So he reiterated the order, and then beat the drum to send the order to the left.The concubines laughed as before.Sun Wu said: "Since the order has been reiterated, it is the fault of the captain and the soldiers if you still do not implement it." After speaking, he ordered the left and right captains to be pushed out and beheaded.Standing on the high platform watching the exercise, the King of Wu broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly sent an order to intercede with Sun Wu, saying: "I already know that the general is good at using troops. I don't have these two concubines, and I don't even know how to eat. I hope I don't kill them." " Sun Wu said: "Since the minister has been ordered to be a general, he will perform his duties in the army, and some orders from the monarch may not be accepted." After finishing speaking, he killed the two concubines and made the next two maids serve as captains. Beat the drum to give the order.The palace ladies were all well-behaved, obeying orders in every move, and the team was neat and tidy, no one dared to make a sound.Sun Wu then sent someone to report to the King of Wu: "The military formation has been drilled. What the King wants them to do, even if they go through fire and water, they can do it." He is a general.

After Sun Wu became a general, he not only lectured on martial arts for the hard-working King Wu to govern the army, but also drew a blueprint for a prosperous country and a strong army. Ying, the capital of the country (now south of Jicheng in the northwest of Jiangling, Hubei).In the thirty-sixth year of King Jing of Zhou (484 BC), he also assisted King Wu to severely damage the Qi army in the battle of Ai Ling (now northeast of Laiwu, Shandong).In the thirty-eighth year of King Jing of Zhou (482 B.C.), King Wu invited Jin Dinggong and other vassal states to meet in Huangchi (southwest of Fengqiu, Henan Province), and King Wu became the leader of the alliance on behalf of Jin.This is what it said in the "Biography of Sun Tzu Wuqi" in Volume 65 of "Historical Records" that Sun Wu helped King Wu "break through Chu in the west, enter Ying, and strengthen Qi and Jin in the north".After that, King Fuchai of Wu came to power, and the state affairs were in chaos.Sun Wu's deeds have disappeared from historical records.According to "Yue Jue Shu", outside the east gate of Wu County, Jiangsu Province, there is a tomb of Sun Wu.It seems that Sun Wu probably retired to the mountains and forests and died of old age.

Sun Wuzhi enjoys a high reputation not only because of his military exploits, but more importantly because he left the earliest surviving military book in our country "Sun Tzu's Art of War".The book was completed at the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with a total of 13 chapters and more than 5,900 words. Since the publication of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", there have been hundreds of Chinese and foreign editions.The "Sun Tzu's Art of War" unearthed from Yinque Mountain is the earliest military book so far. Unfortunately, it is a fragmentary slip and it is difficult to see the whole picture.The most important surviving ones are the Southern Song "Eleven Family Notes on Sun Tzu", the Song engraved and copied "Martial Arts Seven Books", and the Western Xia and Manchu texts (see Figures 7 and 8).Overseas, there are more than 20 translations in Japanese, English, Russian, German, Czech, etc.

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" is complete in content and complete in structure.The book divides war and military issues into 13 chapters for discussion, and each chapter can be an independent chapter and closely related to form a complete system.Its content focuses on war, strategy and operational guidance, and discusses other issues one by one.The book believes that war (Sun Tzu uses the word "soldier" to express it) is a major national event, which is related to the survival of the country and the life and death of the people, and must be treated with caution.This idea is reflected in the combat guidance, which is expressed as the theory of "total victory", which is also the essence of the whole book.It requires those in power to be certain of victory when conducting a war; only general certainty is not enough, and they must strive to achieve complete victory at the lowest cost and fastest speed, that is, they must have the certainty of "total victory" .

"Victory first and then war" is the prerequisite for achieving "total victory".The so-called "victory first" means that before the battle, the commander of the war must have a good understanding of the five things that determine the outcome of the war, such as Tao, heaven, earth, general, and law, as well as who has the way, who is capable, and who wins the world. Do a comprehensive analysis and comparison of the seven strategies, which is the law and order, which is the strongest in the army, which is the training of the soldiers, and which is the reward and punishment.This is the idea of ​​"knowing the enemy and knowing yourself" as Sun Tzu said.In order to "know the enemy and know yourself", in addition to being good at observing and analyzing various phenomena and movements of the enemy army (Sun Tzu called it "the enemy"), you must also obtain the enemy's information by "using time" (that is, sending spies) , He mentioned "Yongjian" to the status of "the three armies rely on it to move".On the basis of observing, analyzing, and comparing the enemy's situation, on the one hand, the war director must strive to create the conditions for victory; attack.In this way, the enemy has no gap to take advantage of and is invulnerable.At the same time, it is also necessary to draw up a careful plan in terms of military deployment, and consider a variety of combat plans to defeat the enemy, so that you will not be afraid of the enemy's sudden attack.This is Sun Tzu's idea of ​​"Being invincible first, waiting for the enemy to be victorious", that is, to avoid being defeated by the enemy first, and to wait for the opportunity to defeat the enemy.

Striving for the initiative is a necessary condition for achieving "total victory".Sun Tzu pointed out: "Those who are good at fighting are able to serve people but not others", that is to say, those who are good at commanding battles are required to be able to mobilize the enemy without being mobilized by the enemy.To gain the initiative and avoid being passive in a war is not difficult for an army with a greater strength advantage.As long as the command is correct and the officers and soldiers are good at fighting, they can grasp the initiative in the war.For an army that is not at an advantage in strength, it is not so easy.However, if the war director can command correctly, properly deploy and use troops, accumulate and cultivate combat power, and create a situation that is beneficial to himself and unfavorable to the enemy, it is like a full bow and crossbow waiting to be launched by the enemy.Then capture the fighters, let this combat power burst out in a very short time and distance in a sudden form, just like boulders in the water, eagles fighting birds, winning by surprise, making the enemy unprepared and restrained.This is what is referred to in "Sun Tzu's Art of War", that is, to put one's own troops in a "dangerous" and "short-term" favorable situation to attack the enemy, and to secure the initiative to win.

War directors should also be good at using "moving the enemy", that is, mobilizing the enemy's means, so that an enemy that is not easy to destroy can become an enemy that can be wiped out.For enemies with deep ditches and high fortresses, we must adopt the tactic of "attacking them must be saved" and transfer them to the wild to destroy them; for aggressive enemies who are rushing forward, we must "avoid their vigor" and wait until they are exhausted. Destroy them; for blindly attacking enemies, induce them to choose the wrong direction of attack and destroy them.To be able to "move the enemy", it is necessary to adopt "showing appearance", that is, to create false appearances, confuse the enemy, cause them to have illusions and take wrong actions, expose the truth, and finally be wiped out by me.While exposing the enemy's truth, it is also necessary to achieve "I am invisible", that is, to conceal one's intentions, to be invisible, to maintain one's own freedom of action and the suddenness of attacking the enemy. "Avoiding the real and attacking the weak" and "Using the masses to strike the few" are wonderful expositions in "The Art of War" about concentrating forces, creating relative advantages, and defeating the enemy.Sun Tzu used the vivid metaphor of "the shape of water, avoiding heights and going down", asking commanders to direct their troops to avoid places where the enemy's defense is strong, and attack weak points of the enemy's defense, resulting in a fierce offensive of "hitting eggs with stones". , quickly wiped out the enemy.

Flexible tactics are the means to achieve "total victory".The flexible and changeable combat guidance mentioned by Sun Tzu is mainly manifested in two aspects: the correct use of troops and flexible and changeable tactics.The correct use of troops requires the commander to "know the use of the few", that is, to adopt different combat methods according to the difference in the comparison of troops.For example, "Ten will surround it, five will attack it, double it will divide it, the enemy will be able to fight it, if it is small, it will be able to escape, and if it is not enough, it will be able to avoid it" and so on.In terms of changing tactics, Sun Tzu asked the war directors to change their tactics flexibly and constantly update their strategies, so that the enemy cannot see through the secrets of my military deployment; You can't guess my intentions; you have to adopt different tactics for different weathers, regions, and terrains, as well as for water warfare, fire warfare, and mountain warfare.

Good generals and elite soldiers are the fundamental conditions for winning "total victory". "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in the "Ji Pian" of the first chapter, regards good generals who are "intelligent, trustworthy, benevolent, brave and strict", as well as well-trained soldiers with clear rewards and punishments, orders and prohibitions, and strong combat effectiveness, as important factors that determine the outcome of a war. The fundamental condition of "total victory" is also the core of Sun Wu's thinking on governing the army.Sun Tzu believes that when the two armies compete, the competition for resourcefulness is the first, and the competition for strength is second.As a wise and good general, one must have a good moral cultivation, insight into the major events related to the overall situation of the war, be familiar with the development process of the war, be familiar with the art of war guidance, understand the situation of both the enemy and ourselves, and be good at changing according to time, place, and the enemy And win.Only by appointing such a general to command well-trained soldiers with clear rewards and punishments, orders and prohibitions, and strong combat effectiveness can we win the "total victory" of the war. Sun Tzu believes that war directors use force to achieve the result of winning every battle, which is not the best "total victory".The most brilliant military strategists are good at using superb strategies to break the enemy's strategy, destroy the enemy's strategic intentions, and make it self-defeating; or use diplomatic means to disintegrate the enemy's diplomatic alliances, expand their own diplomatic influence, and strive for more The allies of the enemy, the enemy is isolated and helpless, and the enemy is defeated diplomatically.Only in this way can it be regarded as the "all-win" in the best state.It is also the thought of "subdue the enemy without fighting" as Sun Tzu said. After the publication of "Sun Tzu's Art of War", it has been widely valued and spread by the society.Han Fei said in "Han Feizi·Five Beetles" that during the Warring States period, "everyone in the territory talked about soldiers, and those who hid the books of Sun and Wu had them in their homes."Sima Qian praised: "The common people call divisions and brigades all the thirteen chapters of Sun Tzu." Cao Cao, the great military strategist who was the first to annotate and interpret "Sun Tzu's Art of War", praised "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and said: "I see that there are too many war strategies in military books. Sun Wu's writing is profound!" It guides people to understand the true meaning of "Auditing is important, and the painting is profound".Qi Jiguang, a famous anti-Japanese general in the Ming Dynasty, believed that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" is a "superior teaching" with "subtle program".Mao Yuanyi summed up the role of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" in our country's ancient military theory in inheriting the past and ushering in the future.Mr. Sun Yat-sen, the great pioneer of the democratic revolution, believed: "As far as Chinese history is concerned, there are thirteen military books for more than two thousand years, and those thirteen military books have established Chinese military philosophy." Comrade Mao Zedong said: "Sun Tzu The law of "know the enemy and know yourself, you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles" is still a scientific truth."