Chapter 10 God of War Wu Qi

At this moment, a man named Wu Qi appeared in front of him. Wu Qi is a native of Wei.According to "Historical Records", when Wu Qi was young, his family was not bad.If he is content with the status quo, he may be able to live a simple and happy life in the countryside as a pampered rich man for the rest of his life.But the troubled times of the Warring States period gave him a restless heart, and he began to travel around the world with his sword in his hands, traveling around the world, trying to get a job in an official position and get ahead. The reality is cruel. A few years later, Wu Qi, who had lost all his money, returned to Weiguo with his exhausted body.The people in the same village are full of gloating and disdain for this ambitious young man. In their view, it is undoubtedly an act of overestimation to go abroad for a good life. To squander all the little family property accumulated by the ancestors, it will be difficult to even eat!

One day, someone deliberately teased Wu Qi: "Hey, Wu Qi, sell me your sword, you are starving to death, what do you need that crap for?" Wu Qi changed color angrily: "Say it again!" "Yo, the beggar is quite airy!" As soon as the words fell, blood splattered, the man's head rolled to the ground, and his eyes were still wide open.He didn't understand until his death, was it worth Wu Qi's murderous intention to make a small joke? The people around were terrified, because they usually laughed at Wu Qi.By the time they realized that the situation was not good, the killing had already begun.I saw Wu Qi waving his bloody sword and rushing towards the crowd like a leopard. Wherever he went, he screamed again and again. After a while, there were already more than 30 corpses lying on the ground.

A soldier can be killed, but not humiliated, especially when he has a sword pinned to his waist. That night, Wu Qi packed up some clothes, put the little money left at home in his bag, and left quietly.Wu Qi's old mother was over seventy years old, and she went to the village entrance to see him off on crutches.He rolled up his sleeves in front of his mother, bit his own arm hard, and swore, "If I can't become a chancellor, I won't go back to Weiguo!" Then he turned and left without looking back. He didn't even think about it, no matter how lucky he was, it would take at least ten or twenty years to become a minister, and when he returned to Weiguo, would his old mother still be alive?Besides, his luck has not been very good.

Going here is not life and death, but death! But Wu Qi couldn't take care of these anymore. Years of setbacks and the resulting shame ignited a raging fire in his heart.He wants to be successful, he wants to be famous, he wants to make the world tremble before him! With such a purpose in mind, Wu Qi came to the State of Lu and defected to Zeng Shen's sect. As mentioned earlier, Zeng Shen was a disciple of Bu Shang and a teacher of Li Kui. Zeng Shen's father was Bu Shang's fellow apprentice, the famous Zeng Shen, who was honored as Zeng Zi by later generations. Somehow, Wu Qi had already had some kind of connection with Weiss.But at this time, he didn't think of following Zeng Shen's route to defect to Weiss, but hoped to find his own market in the country of Lu.

Soon after, news came from Weiguo that Wu Qi's mother had passed away.When Zeng Shen heard about it, he immediately gave Wu Qi a holiday and gave him some money to go back to the funeral.But Wu Qi rejected Zeng Shen's kindness - the tooth marks on his arm were still there, how could he forget his oath?Zeng Shen lost his temper. You must know that Confucianism places great emphasis on filial piety. His father, Zeng Shen, also wrote a "Book of Filial Piety". "Even if there are a thousand reasons, you must go back to bury your mother!" Zeng Shen said to Wu Qi. "No. I made an oath. I will never return to the country of Wei if I don't achieve success. I can't break my oath."

This short period of master-student friendship ended. Wu Qi's saying one thing is not an excuse, but it should be due to his paranoid personality.According to "Han Feizi" records: When Wu Qi was still in Weiguo, one day he brought back a belt and asked his wife to weave one accordingly.After the belt was woven, Wu Qi asked his wife, "I want you to weave exactly the same one. Why do you weave it so beautifully?" It took a lot of thought to weave it like this. Tie it up and show me, and I’ll make changes if there’s anything I’m not satisfied with.” I thought Wu Qi would be moved, but Wu Qi said coldly: “Who told you to make up your own mind? , don’t do what I ask?” Then he ordered her to pack her clothes and go back to her mother’s house—who is this?His father-in-law came to intercede, Wu Qi said: "I always say what I say, and I don't make jokes." He insisted on getting the woman divorced.

If that woman knew the fate of her successor, she would definitely not cry because she was divorced, but should be grateful. In the state of Lu, Wu Qi married another woman from the state of Qi. In 412 BC, the State of Qi attacked the State of Lu and pulled out two cities.Someone recommended Wu Qi to Lu Yuangong, saying that he was good at using troops and could be a general.When Duke Yuan of Lu heard that Wu Qi's wife was from Qi, he hesitated, fearing that Wu Qi's arm would be abducted.After Wu Qi heard about it, he killed his wife when he returned home, and went to see Lu Yuangong with his head raised to show his loyalty.This is the notorious "killing his wife and asking for a general" in history.

Wu Qi set an example for all those who are eager for quick success and unscrupulous. Wu Qi is indeed shameless, but he can't stop Wu Qi from using soldiers like a god.Lu Yuangong worshiped Wu Qi as a general and ordered him to lead troops to attack the Qi army. As a result, Wu Qi "broke it" and quickly regained the lost ground. The Qi people begged for mercy and asked for negotiations. Duke Yuan of Lu was very happy and wanted to use Wu Qi again.Someone said to Lu Yuangong: "Wu Qi is suspicious and cruel. He even killed his own wife to win fame. What else can he not do?" One sentence cut off Wu Qi's official career in the state of Lu.

When Wu Qi was disheartened, news of Li Kui's reform reached the state of Lu.The elders and children of the Lu State scoffed at this, thinking that the Wei family was deviant and would lead to chaos.Wu Qi saw a light in the darkness. Let's go, anyway, there is nothing worth nostalgic about Lu Guo. Wu Qi finally left the country of Lu and came to Anyi, which was in full swing, and met Weiss through Zhai Huang's introduction. Weiss didn't know much about Wu Qi, but he knew that Wu Qi was once a student of Zeng Shen, and he and Li Kui were regarded as the same school.So he asked Li Kui, "Do you know anything about Wu Qi?"

Li Kui said: "I have heard about him for a long time, he is a greedy and lustful person. But if he is asked to lead troops to fight, I am afraid that even Sima Rangju will not be able to compare with him." Sima Rangju is Tian Rangju, a famous strategist in Qi State in the late Spring and Autumn Period.Comparing Sima Rangju is equivalent to telling Weiss that Wu Qi is the number one strategist in the world. Weiss was overjoyed when he heard this: "Then I will use him as a general." This hero who has the courage to change is deeply influenced by the practical thinking of businessmen and businessmen, and never sticks to the old concept of selecting talents by virtue.This is not to say that he doesn't love virtue, there are already enough virtuous people in Anyi City, Bu Shang, Tian Zifang, Duan Ganmu are all erudite scholars with both ability and virtue.What he needs now is a general who is good at fighting, a military strategist who can drive the people of Qin back to the west, and make Qi and Chu dare not act rashly. As for the character of this person, it is not within the scope of his consideration.In other words, when he needs a dog, he only cares about whether the dog can guard the house and guard against thieves, and he doesn't care whether it is a white dog or a black dog, a black back or a husky.

If it was said that Li Kui was the person who made Qin State fearful, then now, the person who made Qin State tremble appeared on the stage. Wu Qi's military propositions are concentrated in "Wu Zi's Art of War".To put it succinctly—— First, Wu Qi advocated the combination of politics and military affairs, cultivating civility internally, and actively preparing for war externally.In other words, he believes that the foundation of a strong military is a well-organized government and harmonious people. Second, in terms of running the army, he also emphasized the priority of politics, using Confucian ideas such as Taoism, righteousness, propriety, and benevolence to educate soldiers to work for the ruler. Thirdly, he advocated that the number of troops should not lie in the number of troops, but in the quality of the troops. It is necessary to build an elite army that "resides with courtesy, moves with prestige, advances unstoppable, and retreats cannot be pursued".For this reason, it is necessary to recruit good talents, strengthen training, reuse warriors, and distinguish rewards and punishments. According to the above guiding ideology, after Wu Qi took office, he immediately reformed the Wei army and established the so-called "martial soldiers" system. Soldiers are professional soldiers.During the Spring and Autumn Period, professional soldiers were basically served by the aristocratic class above the soldier; civilians and slaves served as conscripts, engaged in production in normal times, and fought behind the chariots of the nobles with their own weapons when fighting. In the Warring States period, with the reform of the land system, countries have evolved from feudal society to autocratic society. The original privileges of the nobility were broken, and the path from the common people to the powerful was opened.Wu Qi keenly grasped this change. His military soldier system is actually the military’s imperial examination system—no distinction is made between high and low, and regardless of background, soldiers are selected through examinations. The basic conditions for being selected as a military soldier are harsh. According to "Xunzi", a military soldier must be able to wear the armor of three attributes (an armor made of three layers of iron sheets), handle a twelve-stone crossbow, fifty negative arrows, and Armed with a sword, carried three days' rations, ran hundreds of miles in half a day, and immediately went into battle. Once selected as a military soldier, the treatment is quite generous-the whole family is exempted from corvee service and land tax.It can be said that one person works hard, and the whole family is relaxed.In this way, Wu Qi quickly formed an elite army with super combat effectiveness. The soldiers of the Wei army soon discovered that this new general was quite different from other generals in addition to being brave.He never went home to sleep (it is estimated that no one would dare to be his wife), and he lived and ate in the barracks, down to the lowest level, and shared joys and sorrows with the lowest-ranked soldiers.He eats whatever the soldiers eat; when the soldiers lie on the ground, he never spreads mats; when marching and fighting, he does not ride in a cart or horse, but walks with the soldiers, carrying his own rations and quilts. Once, Wu Qi discovered that a soldier had an abscess on his back.This disease can be big or small, and if it is not treated, it is likely to be fatal; but if it is treated, with the medical knowledge at that time, the only way is to ask someone to suck the pus out with the mouth.But who is willing to do such a thing, not even the doctors who accompany the army.Without saying a word, Wu Qi lifted up the soldier's clothes and sucked out the pus for him himself. A few years later, the same thing happened again, this time the soldier who was rescued by Wu Qi was a young man who had just grown up.When his mother heard the news at home, she burst into tears.The neighbor felt very strange: "Your son is just an ordinary soldier, and he was lucky enough to have the general suck his abscess himself. You are too happy, why are you crying?" Pus, when you fight, you don’t care about your own life, and die on the battlefield. Now the general is sucking pus for this stupid boy, I don’t know where he will die!” Raise soldiers for a thousand days and use them for a while.In 409 BC, Wei Si sent Wu Qi to lead an army to attack Qin.After being trained by Wu Qi, the Wei army was unstoppable and powerful. It successively captured the five cities of Linjin, Yuanli, Luoyin, and Taiyang in the Qin State, and captured the Hexi area of ​​​​the Qin State (today's North of Huayin, Shaanxi Province) in the second year. , south of the Yellow Dragon, east of the Luo River, and west of the Yellow River) are all occupied.The Qin army quickly retreated to Luoshui, urgently built fortifications along Luoshui, and built Chongquan City (now Pucheng, Shaanxi Province) to strengthen the defense.It took Wu Qi less than two years to wipe out the threat of the Qin State that had kept the Wei family in his throat for a long time. Weiss then established Hexi County and appointed Wu Qi as the county governor.For the Wei regime, this battle is of great significance. The incorporation of the large fertile land in Hexi has further strengthened the Wei's economic strength, and at the same time has a broad strategic depth. has been greatly improved. This battle also brought another consequence: Stimulated by the defeat, the Qin State felt the need for reform, and in 408 BC, it quickly implemented the "first renting grain" system, which is to levy grain tax according to the area of ​​the field.This reform has lagged behind seriously compared with other countries in the East (Lu State implemented a similar "primary tax per mu" 186 years ago), but it quietly opened the prelude to the reform movement in Qin State. After taking Hexi, Weiss immediately launched a large-scale attack on Zhongshan. In fact, Wei's territory and Zhongshan have no boundary, and Zhao's territory is separated in the middle.At that time, the Jin State was still a country in name, and it was reasonable for Weiss to conquer Zhongshan as the Yaqing of the Jin State and ask the Zhao family to let the Wei army pass. At this time, the suzerain of the Zhao family was named Zhao Ji. As mentioned earlier, after Zhao Wuxie attacked the replacement land, he made Zhao Zhou, the son of his elder brother Bolu, the acting king in return for Bolu's abdication.After the three families were divided into Jin Dynasty, the Zhao family's regime was consolidated, Wu Shi refused to make his son the heir, and insisted on passing on the family business to Zhao Zhou.But Zhao Zhou was so lucky that he left without a shirt.Wuxie is really kind, and he made Zhao Zhou's son Zhao Huan the prince.In 424 BC, Zhao Wuxie died, and Zhao Huan came to the throne, and moved Zhao's residence from Jinyang to Zhongmou (now Hebi, Henan Province).In 408 BC, Zhao Huan died, and his son Zhao Ji came to the throne. When Weiss' envoy came to Zhongmou and asked for an excuse, Zhao Ji didn't want to agree at first.Minister Zhao Li advised him: "Let them pass! If they attack but fail to conquer, it will weaken their own strength, which will benefit our Zhao family; How, they are the ones who use the soldiers, and we are the ones who benefit, so why not be a favor?" Zhao Ji followed Zhao Li's suggestion and allowed Wei Jun to cross the border.