Zhang Yining, the big devil in the table tennis world, has a famous saying: "Sometimes the moment you shake hands with your opponent, you should feel it in your heart. Sometimes with such a handshake, that person feels that he has lost."

This statement may seem mysterious, but in fact there is a profound truth behind it.

Let’s take war as an example. Fighting is similar to playing ball: for top players, the outcome is actually decided as soon as they meet.

Why is it so mysterious? Because a real master will formulate a strategy based on the opponent's characteristics and make corresponding preparations before fighting. In a formal fight, after just a little trial and error, you can already figure out the strength of your opponent, and your opponent will be unstoppable from behind.

This process is called measuring the enemy and making decisions.

Let’s use Sima Yi’s two battle examples to explain. Why choose Sima Yi? Because Sima Yi is particularly good at this move. Therefore, when watching Sima Yi fight and encountering ordinary opponents, it feels like the weapons and oars are being wiped out in the middle of the conversation and laughter. That's the truth.

His process is actually not complicated:

1) Make a decision and then act.

2) The test of meeting.

If you cannot pass these two levels, it means that someone has seen through the truth. After the meeting, they were naturally picked up like melons and vegetables.

Meng Da was in Xincheng, secretly communicating with Zhuge Liang to prepare for rebellion.

Zhuge Liang was afraid that he would not rebel, so he deliberately leaked the news. Sima Yi got the news. Determined to put down the rebellion.

The above is the background of the battle.

When fighting, Sima Yi likes to make plans and then act. The so-called effort lies outside poetry.

1. Make a decision and then act

To make a decision and then act actually has two meanings:

1) Determine the strategy.

2) Make preparations before war.

When the actual war begins, the grand strategy has been decided and the pre-war preparations have been completed. That’s why it’s so easy to fight. Just like a duck swimming.

As the saying goes: Only when you try your best will you appear effortless.

So, what is Sima Yi’s grand strategy?

Block Wu and Shu, delay the response, use the fast to defeat the slow, and solve Mengda.

The core of this strategy is the word "fast".

2. What is Mengda’s nature?

Why did Sima Yi formulate the strategy of using fast to defeat slow? This was tailor-made by him based on Meng Da's personal character.

Sima Yi had a secret method of observing people, through which he understood the essence of Meng Da. Knowing who Meng Da is, the strategy will be targeted.

So, who is Meng Da? Observe his most important past experiences.

Former Liu Zhang's subordinates, together with Fazheng, welcomed Liu Bei into Sichuan and took refuge in Liu Bei's position as prefect.

When Guan Yu was defeated, he did not save Guan Yu because he was afraid of harming himself.

After Guan Yu died, he was afraid that Liu Bei would be held accountable and directly defected to Wei. Cao Pi treated him well and promoted him, making him a regular servant of Sanqi, General Jianwu, and the title of Marquis of Pingyang Ting. The three counties of Shangyong, Xicheng and Xicheng were combined into Xincheng. He was appointed as the prefect of Xincheng and was entrusted with the responsibility of southwest.

This is his general experience. We can see that his first principle in making choices is to protect himself. It can be seen that fear of death is his first characteristic. Judging from the results, the choices he made have brought benefits to himself. It can be said that he cannot afford to be early without benefit. It can be seen that greed is his second characteristic.

Therefore, the reason why Meng Da surrendered was because Cao Pi was dead, and his backers in the court, Huan Jie and Xia Houshang, were also dead. He has no backer and is in danger.

Meng Da is a master of risk control and management, and it is impossible for him to put himself in danger.

When something happens, his first thought is to save his life, so he must defect.

The reward for every betrayal whetted his appetite. The conditions for his defection that he proposed to Zhuge Liang must be very harsh. Unfortunately, he is now a high-ranking member of the party, with a high official and a generous salary. Zhuge Liang can give him He really doesn't have much, and his appetite must be so big that Zhuge Liang is not willing to accept it, so he has to release the news, taking away his bargaining chip, and prompting him to rebel.

Fear of death prompted him to rebel, and greed made him hesitate between Wei and Shu.

This was the fundamental reason for his delay in making a decision and hesitation.

At the same time, Meng Da's erratic behavior several times, which exposed Guan Yu's dark history, made Zhuge Liang of Shu and Lu Xun of Soochow doubt whether he really surrendered.

The psychological mutual suspicion between the three parties is reflected in the hesitation in action: Meng Da is reluctant to part with wealth. Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun were worried that he would fake a surrender but actually dig holes for his troops, so they did not dare to give full support.

And hesitation in action is what military strategists call "slowness".

If the enemy is slow, we should be fast and catch all three parties by surprise. If you hesitate and let Zhuge Liang and Meng Da get in touch, Meng Da will be helpless. You should know that Xincheng is close to Wushu and far from Wancheng. If it's not fast, Meng Da's side still has the advantage in terms of time, but this hesitant mentality just slows down the pace.

The reason why Sima Yi won was because he saw through Meng Da's essence and formulated strategies based on Meng Da's essential characteristics.

3. Preparation before the war

After formulating the grand strategy, the next step is to prepare for the war. Sima Yi also divided it into two steps:

1) Write Letter to Confuse Mengda

His full text means very clearly: I know that your surrender is a fake news sent by Zhuge Liang, and we trust you. It just aggravated Mengda's hesitation and made him think there was still time.

This letter is both confusing and tempting. On the one hand, it creates smoke and delays Mengda. On the other hand, we also want to see how Meng Da reacted after receiving the letter, so that we can determine the degree and progress of Meng Da's collusion with Shu Han and Soochow.

2) Send troops to block Zhuge Liang and Lu Xun

At the same time, send generals to block reinforcements from Wu and Shu.

The above two tasks both delay each other. Slow the other person down to give yourself enough time.

His strategy was very successful:

Meng Da wrote to Zhuge Liang,

This is what he wrote and what he did. His city defenses were all The repairs are carried out within a period of about one month.

After Sima Yi wrote the letter, he led the army and traveled 1,200 miles in eight days to reach Shangyong, catching Mengda off guard. The objectives of the first phase of the strategy were perfectly achieved.

4. The moment we met, the victory was decided.

When we read the Book of Jin, we saw that this battle was described very briefly. In fact, there is a great mystery hidden in a few words.

Shangyong City faced water on three sides, and Mengda set up wooden fences outside the city to strengthen its defense. If given the chance, he would adjust the city defense system and send more personnel to guard Muzha. In this way, it would be difficult to conquer Shangyong, and the longer it was delayed, the more passive he would be.

How to break the situation?

Test.

After Sima Yi's army arrived, he crossed the river first and attacked the fence without any hesitation.

All the previous planning was to catch Meng Da off guard. So, what is the actual preparation status of Mengda? A verification is needed. By attacking the fence, Sima Yi wanted to test the preparedness of the city's defense.

You must know that when an army travels a long distance, its combat effectiveness is severely reduced. It usually takes two days to rest and recover before it can fight. But Sima Yi wanted to let the army travel long distances to fight.

Why? On the one hand, maximize the effect of surprise. Otherwise, after two days, Meng Dajun will have time to adjust the city defense. Muzha will be difficult to fight with reinforcements. On the other hand, we must also see whether the early confusion has worked. , what is the strength of Meng Dajun's city defense, is the wooden fence strong, and are there sufficient personnel to guard the wooden fence? If not, it means that the early predictions are all accurate.

This is a test and a verification.

The result of "breaking the fence" made Sima Yi know: all the early preparations were not in vain, Meng Da was not prepared for defense. Meng Da's falsehood has been revealed by him.

That's why there are "directly building the city" and "eight ways to attack it".

From the moment Meng Da saw Sima Yi at the top of the city, he had actually lost: he was confused by Sima Yi and acted too slowly; the fence under the city was broken and was peeped through again. The city defense is not perfect, it is a virtual reality.

It can be said that when Sima Yi attacked the city on the Eighth Route Army, the outcome of Mengda was already decided. Sure enough, sixteen days later, under the strong pressure created by Sima's attack, Meng Da, who failed to unify his internal thoughts and clean up his personnel, was captured by his nephew Deng Xian and general Li Fu. Shangyong City was destroyed.

A major change that could have shaken the defense was accomplished so lightly.

We can see that we must first observe people to determine the strategy, then explore the reality, understand the reality, and take direct action.

This is the secret of Sima Yi's victory.

1. Sima Yi completely grasped Gongsun Yuan’s psychology and strategy

In the first year of Jingchu (237), Gongsun Yuan, the former prefect of Liaodong in Wei, betrayed Wei and established himself as King of Yan. He appointed hundreds of officials and established the capital at Xiangping (today's Liaoyang, Liaoning). Gongsun Yuan sent envoys to Sun Quan in the south to pay homage to the border people and lure Xianbei to invade the north.

Sima Yi once again led the army on an expedition. Before the expedition, his exchange with Cao Rui showed that he had actually planned for this battle.

Reject the Liao River first, then defend Xiangping

This was Sima Yi's strategy that predicted Gongsun Yuan's strategy. This is also Gongsun Yuan's strategy for fighting later, word for word.

Why is it so accurate?

Is Sima Yi a time traveler? No. He saw through Gongsun Yuan's nature through several incidents.

2. What is Gongsun Yuan’s nature?

Unlike Meng Da, Gongsun Yuan was a landowner. The Gongsun family has ruled Liaodong for three generations. The advantage of land-based households is a solid foundation, but the disadvantage is that there are too many bottles and cans. So Sima Yi was worried that he was using guerrilla tactics and went to the deep mountains and forests to play hide-and-seek with Sima Yi's army. That's why it is said: Yuan abandoned the city and fled, which was a good plan.

You must know that Sima Yi spent astronomical amounts of food and grass every day when he sent troops. In addition, Cao Rui built a palace at that time, which caused the treasury to be empty. The army cannot hold out for long, and if this happens, Sima Yi will most likely return without success.

But Gongsun Yuan’s personality decided that he would not do this. Why? Unlike Mengda who is afraid of death and greedy, he is arrogant and greedy.

1) Gongsun Yuan was originally the governor of Wei State, but now he has established himself as king. Who gave him the courage? So arrogant

It turns out that Gongsun Yuan has always been a semi-independent force in Liaodong, and later he colluded with Sun Quan. Early in the first year of Jingchu, Emperor Wei Ming sent Guan Qiujian, the governor of Youzhou, and others to recruit Gongsun Yuan with letters and seals. After Gongsun Yuan heard the news, he immediately sent troops to stop Guanqiu Jian at Liao Tunnel and started a fierce battle with him. Seeing that the situation was not favorable to him, Guanqiu Jian withdrew his troops.

It was this battle that gave Gongsun Yuan the confidence to rely on Liao's water and geographical advantages to fight against Wei.

People all have inertia of thinking. With the previous example of successfully resisting the Wei army in Liao River, it is natural to want to copy it again.

And set up hundreds of officials, making Xiangping the capital. It can be seen that he is arrogant and values ??false reputation. Otherwise, wouldn't it be good to be a prefect and make a fortune in silence? He insisted on becoming the king. Firstly, he felt that he had the strength after defeating the Wei army, and more importantly, he wanted to enjoy being the king.

He was so arrogant that he couldn't understand the situation. I heard that Sima Yi only came with 40,000 troops and his strength was not enough to crush him. How could he be willing to lose the capital and flee into the deep mountains and forests? Do you still want the reputation?

2) Greed

Gongsun Yuan had befriended Sun Quan before, and Sun Quan sent someone to bring him treasures and titles. He coveted the treasures sent by Soochow, so he killed Wu envoys and devoured Wu's "military resources." This shows his greed.

This time Sima Yi brought a large army. He had been running Xiangping for three generations and had accumulated a lot of treasures. How could he be willing to give up these to fight guerrillas? So he will stick to Xiangping himself, because he cares about these things the most and would not trust others to guard them.

So, although it seems very mysterious, in fact, Sima Yi made an accurate judgment based entirely on Gongsun Yuan's past history and his prediction of his character.

We haven’t sent out troops yet. Gongsun Yuan knew nothing about Sima Yi's thoughts, and Sima Yi knew exactly what strategy Gongsun Yuan wanted to adopt. This is the scary thing about top masters - judging people and deciding strategies.

3. The first battle test

When Sima Yi arrived in Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan followed suit and asked Bei Yan and Yang Zuo to lead a large force to guard the Liao Tunnel on the edge of the Liao River.

When Sima Yi arrived at Liao Tunnel, what he saw was tens of thousands of troops forming a large camp spanning dozens of miles. The camp was surrounded by antlers for more than 20 miles. It seemed that Gongsun Yuan planned to retaliate against Sima Yi in the same way that Sima Yi had killed Zhuge Liang.

Moreover, Gongsun Yuan also asked Bei Yan to send troops to challenge. Sima Yi sent Hu Zun to fight against him.

Note: This is still a test.

Sima Yi wanted to see the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Army, and at the same time, he wanted to take a look at the strength of this camp.

As a result, Beiyan was defeated.

Although there is no record in the history books, Sima Yi must have seen from this battle that the camp was very strong and it would not be easy for the Wei army to win.

He used reverse thinking at this time: Gongsun Yuan's total military strength is constant, and the camp here is full of troops, then Xiangping's old base must be empty of troops, and Gongsun Yuan's presence in Xiangping is necessary for the enemy. save.

In such a contact battle, Sima Yi once again saw through Gongsun Yuan's reality: the Liao Tunnel Camp was the reality, while Xiangping was the reality. And there was Gongsun Yuan in Xiangping, with his court and treasures. It is Gongsun Yuan's key point.

The way to use troops is to avoid reality and focus on emptiness.

4. Change of subject and object, reversing passivity

He immediately sent people to make a big fanfare, set up more flags, and gave the illusion of a breakthrough to the southeast. When Beiyan focused on the southeast , he sent the main force to cross the river from the upper reaches of the northeast of the Liaohe River and penetrate directly into Xiangping.

Gongsun Yuan was shocked when he saw it, and could only order Bei Yan to lead the main force to come back for reinforcements. At this time, the host and guest changed positions. Sima Yi waited for work at Huishou Mountain and defeated Bei Yan's main force who hurriedly returned for reinforcements.

It can be said that when Gongsun Yuan decided to guard Xiangping himself, he had already lost.

Sima Yi is still the same: Observe people to formulate strategies, observe the enemy's weakness and reality, avoid the reality and use the weakness, and hit the key point.

Sima Yi is undoubtedly a master. He is good at using his time before the battle to carefully analyze the strengths of the enemy and ourselves. He is especially good at observing people and tailoring strategies according to the enemy's nature. Later, his first test battle can help him determine the truth and falsehood. After two steps, the opponent had already read the lines on his palm and opened the door to him. How could we not win?

To borrow the words of the big devil Zhang Yining again: Some opponents feel like they have lost as soon as they shake hands before the game.

It seems mysterious, but its subtlety is revealed through this article. Zhang Yining did a lot of speculation and adaptive training on his opponents before the game, and planned out strategies in a targeted manner. Only when he has a clear plan in mind and smiles when he meets can he be able to lift the ball with ease.

So, what inspiration has this article brought to you in life and work? Everyone is welcome to express their opinions.