Chapter 12 Section Five: Jiang Ziya, who prospered Zhou and destroyed Zhou, and "Six Secret Teachings"

Jiang Ziya was a military strategist and statesman during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and has always been respected by people. Some works before the Qin and Han Dynasties often entrusted (that is, borrowed, pretended) his name to increase their prestige. The book of war is no exception. Jiang Ziya, the date of birth and death is unknown, his original name was Lu Wang, also known as Lu Shang, Jiang surname, Lu family, Ziya is his character, the ancestor of Qi State, called Taigong Wang, people also respect him as Jiang Taigong.In the last years of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou was fatuous and innocent, he doted on Daji, the people suffered, he punished the ministers, and ruined the loyal and good.Jiang Ziya, who lived in seclusion in the mountains and studied the art of war, was invited by King Wen of Zhou, who was thirsty for talents, to help him prosper Zhou and destroy Zhou.King Wen of Zhou adopted Ziya's strategy, surrendered to Shang Zhou, secretly accumulated strength, actively fought for the kingdom, and took advantage of the gap to cut off Shang Zhou's wings, forming a situation where there were two thirds of the world, and laid the foundation for destroying Zhou.After the death of King Wen, King Wu succeeded to the throne, respecting Ziya as "teacher and father".In order to make preparations for defeating Zhou, Jiang Ziya sneaked into Chaoge (now Qi County, Henan Province) to inquire about the situation, and formulated a combat strategy to take advantage of the situation and attack Chaoge.In late December, the fourth year of King Wu of Zhou's accession to the throne (1057 BC, or 1027 BC), Ziya assisted King Wu to lead 3,000 tigers, 45,000 armored soldiers, and 300 chariots to Mengjin ( Northeast of Mengjin in present-day Henan Province), joined forces with the armies of the eight vassal states against King Zhou of Shang, and then marched into Muye (the area north of Qishui and south of Weihe River in present-day Henan Province) to fight fiercely with the Shang army.The Shang army was defeated, and King Zhou set himself on Lutai and burned himself to death.Zhou Jun occupied Chaoge.Jiang Ziya helped Zhou succeed in destroying Zhou, and his military achievements were praised and deified by later generations.After King Cheng of Zhou came to power, Jiang Ziya was granted the title of Qi (now northeastern Shandong) as the founding minister of the Zhou Dynasty.The historical biography "Six Secret Teachings" was written by him, but after research by scholars, it is really hard to trust it.

"Six Secret Teachings" is a famous military book in ancient China, and is listed as one of the "Seven Books of Martial Arts". "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi" notes that "Zhou Wen Wang Shi Jiang Shang wrote it." Later generations of scholars examined and determined the date of its writing, and most of them believed that it would not be earlier than the late Warring States period.Its editions include the Ying Song version of "Xu Gu Yi Cong Shu" (see Figure 11), and the "Seven Books of Wu Jing" in Ming and Qing Dynasties.The book has six volumes and 60 chapters. It is rich in content and discusses many issues of war and military affairs, which has exerted a profound influence on later generations. After the 16th century, it began to be translated into foreign languages ​​and spread in Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other countries.

Although "Six Secret Teachings" is a military book, it can elucidate the thinking of defeating the enemy from the height of political victory over the enemy.It believes that "the world is not ruled by one person, but by the world (people)", that only those who are virtuous and able to govern the country can rule the world, and the only way to govern the world is to "love the people."The use of troops is nothing more than "cutting down chaos and prohibiting violence", "removing the harm of the people", and making "the people happy" is the purpose.It inherits the view of war from "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and the idea of ​​"total victory" of "surrender the enemy without fighting", and puts forward the idea of ​​"there is no war in the war", and requires war instructors to be able to control the soldiers without bloodshed and win the "war". The Art of Directing Wars with Total Victory.When guiding operations, different tactics need to be adopted due to differences in the enemy's situation, friendship, our situation, terrain, and combat style.It puts forward original insights on the different characteristics and tactics of chariot soldiers and chariot warfare, cavalry and cavalry warfare, infantry and infantry warfare, and the tactics of mutual coordinated operations.There are incisive expositions on the tactics of different types of warfare such as forest warfare, mountain warfare, crossing water warfare, and fire warfare (attack).

In terms of army management, "Six Secret Teachings" inherited and developed the basic ideas of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and "Wu Zi", advocating the appointment of generals who possess both courage, wisdom, benevolence, trustworthiness, and loyalty, leading the army with strict discipline, fair rewards and punishments, and consistent orders , A well-trained army, and put forward the idea of ​​combining soldiers in agriculture. In addition, "Six Secret Teachings" has many original contents: one is "there will be seventy-two people with arms and wings" recorded in "Dragon Tao · Wang Yi". command organization.The second is the various weapons and equipment and their uses recorded in "Tiger Tao: Military Use", which reflects the general situation that a large number of steel weapons were organized into the army in the late Warring States period.The third is the various confidential talismans and military information documents recorded in "Longtao·Yin Talisman" and "Longtao·Yin Shu", reflecting the fact that military information was conveyed by secret means at that time.