The second chapter "Fighting Chapter" discusses the importance of quick decision. Because sending troops to fight will consume a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources of the country. If it is delayed for a long time, the army will be exhausted, bruised and exhausted, and other vassal States will take the opportunity to attack. Starting from the idea of winning as soon as possible, Sun Wu opposed the use of crude combat weapons at that time to conquer solid cities and villages, and also opposed the repeated recruitment and deployment of military supplies at home. Instead, he advocated solving food and grass on the spot in enemy countries, rewarding soldiers with goods, giving preferential treatment to prisoners, and supplementing and strengthening himself with prisoners. He believes that only in this way can we defeat the enemy quickly.
The third article "Attack the Map" is about winning the enemy with strategy. Sun Wu believes that "to defeat the enemy without fighting" is the best of the good, and "the whole country", "the whole army", "the whole brigade", "the whole pawn" and "the whole army" are the most ideal operational plans to force the enemy to surrender, and "to break the country", "Pojun", "to break the brigade" and "Pojun".
How can we "defeat the enemy without fighting" Sun Wu believes that the best policy is to "cut down the accumulation", followed by "cut down the enemy" and "cut down the soldiers", that is, he advocates conquering the enemy through political offensive, diplomatic means and armed forces. When fighting against the enemy, if the enemy is strong and we are weak, we must concentrate our superior forces to defeat the enemy, so as to achieve the goal of "encircling the enemy with ten troops, attacking the enemy with five troops, trying to disperse the enemy with twice the strength, being good at defeating the enemy with equal strength and being good at retreating with less than the enemy". In this article, Sun Wu put forward the brilliant idea of "know yourself and know yourself, and fight every battle", and thought that the strategy must be based on understanding the situation of both sides.
The fourth chapter discusses that in fighting with troops, we must first create conditions for ourselves not to be defeated by the enemy, so as to wait for the opportunity when the enemy can be defeated by us and make ourselves invincible. Sun Wu believes that the victory or defeat of the war depends on the strength of the enemy and ourselves. If we want to defeat the enemy, we must make ourselves in an absolute advantage in the balance of power, thus creating a rapid and irresistible trend. In addition, we should wait for the favorable opportunity for the enemy to be defeated by us and be good at grasping the enemy's weaknesses, so as to defeat the enemy easily. Sun Wu believes that if you want to win in the battle, you must be good at dealing with the problems of attack and defense. Defend when the troops are insufficient, and attack when the troops are excessive. When defending, you should hide yourself very tightly, and when attacking, you should take it by surprise. Only in this way can we achieve the goal of "self-protection and victory".
The fifth "situation" discusses that leading troops to fight will create a rapid trend that can overwhelm the enemy, and we should make good use of this rapid trend. What is the potential? Sun Tzu said that this trend is like a torrent that can make stones float, like a crossbow that is on the verge of exploding, like a boulder rolling down from a towering mountain, and it has irresistible power. If we use this power to attack the enemy, we can be invincible.
How to create this situation? First of all, we should create conditions for ourselves and give ourselves a powerful force to defeat the enemy. Second, we must "select and employ people and guide them according to the situation." Choose a general who is familiar with the military situation, knows people well and is good at commanding soldiers to fight flexibly and freely. He is good at confusing the enemy with illusions, mobilizing the enemy with small profits, luring the enemy into traps, and then attacking the enemy with ambushes.
Chapter VI, Virtual Reality, discusses that the principle of "avoiding the real and attacking the virtual" must be adopted in leading troops to fight. How can we avoid reality and attack emptiness? First, put us in an active position, put the enemy in a passive position, and take the initiative in the war into our own hands. Those who are good at fighting can mobilize the enemy as much as possible without being mobilized by the enemy. Second, take it by surprise, attack it unprepared, and attack its emptiness. Third, concentrate our own strength and disperse the enemy's strength, resulting in tactical outnumbering.
Sun Wu pointed out that to apply the operational policy of avoiding reality and attacking the virtual, we should start with the analysis of the enemy's situation and change with the change of the situation, because the relationship between quantity, strength, attack and defense, advance and retreat in the war process is changing rapidly. "So soldiers unpredictable, unpredictable water. Being able to win because of the change of the enemy is called God. "
The seventh chapter, "Military Argument", discusses how to compete for the favorable conditions to win the battle, so that you can take the initiative in the battle. Sun Wu thinks: First of all, we should understand the political trends of vassal States, be familiar with the terrain, and make the situation clear with guides. Secondly, we should act in concert and keep pace with each other, so as to achieve "its disease is like the wind, its Xu Rulin is like fire, its potential is like a mountain, it is difficult to know its shadow, and its potential is like Lei Zhen", and "the brave cannot advance alone, and the fearful cannot retreat alone". Third, it requires correct command and flexibility, and "avoid its spirit and hit its ground." Only by doing the above can we be in a favorable position in the war.
The eighth "nine changes" discussed that the general should deal with problems flexibly according to various specific situations to avoid failure due to mechanical rigidity, and put forward requirements for the general.
Sun Wu emphasized that a general must do the following when dealing with problems: First, give consideration to both advantages and disadvantages. Think about the unfavorable factors under favorable conditions, and think about the favorable factors under unfavorable conditions. Secondly, we should adopt different means of struggle according to different goals. Third, based on full preparation, make the enemy invincible and not take any chances. Fourth, we should overcome the extreme temperament and consider the problem comprehensively, cautiously and calmly. Only by doing the above can "the land be beneficial" and "people be useful". Sun Wu believes that the general can defeat the enemy only by dealing with the problem from reality, so he can't carry out the monarch's orders against reality. So he boldly put forward the military famous saying that "your life will not be affected".
The ninth article "March" discusses how to arrange troops in the March and judge the enemy's situation. This paper also discusses the different disposal methods of the army in four kinds of terrain: mountain, river, saline-alkali swamp and plain. It also discusses the disposal methods of special terrain encountered by the army, such as ravines, patios, celestial prisons, celestial caves and celestial gaps. Sun Wu also put forward the method of 365,438+0 to observe and judge the enemy's situation. Through these methods, we can analyze all kinds of phenomena we have seen, heard and detected, grasp the real enemy situation, and thus make correct operational plans and win. In this article, Sun Wu also put forward the principle of "command by words, command by strength", that is, with moral education and a unified pace of law and discipline, such an army will surely win the battle.
The tenth "Topography" discusses how to use the terrain in combat, focusing on the benefits of going deep behind enemy lines. Sun Wu analyzed the characteristics of nine battlefields and the psychological state of soldiers in these areas, and accordingly put forward different measures to use troops in these areas. He believes that going deep into the enemy country is equivalent to throwing soldiers into danger and death, and they will be forced to fight to the death and play a greater fighting capacity. And deep into the enemy, you can replenish rations on the spot, but you can't escape because you are too far from home. You obey orders and fight wholeheartedly and win the battle.
The twelfth chapter "Fire Attack" discusses the methods, conditions and principles of using fire attack in war.
Sun Wu believes that there are five kinds of fire attacks: fire people, fire products, fire chains, fire depots and fire teams, that is, burning enemy camps, accumulation, trenches, warehouses and transportation facilities. The key point is to destroy the enemy's manpower, material resources and transportation lines. These five methods of fire attack must be changed, and both our army and the enemy can master them, so we should pay attention to prevention.
The attack must be conditional. In addition to preparing fire-fighting equipment at ordinary times, you should choose the day when setting fire, and set fire on dry and windy days. Fire attack must also cooperate with the soldiers' attack, in order to play the role of fire attack and achieve the goal of winning.
Chapter 13 discusses the significance of using spies to spy on the enemy in combat, and discusses the types and methods of using spies. Sun Wu attaches great importance to the role of spies, which he thinks is a key to winning the battle. The army relied on information provided by spies to take action. Sun Wu classified spies into five categories: cause, internal factors, reaction, death and life. The so-called causality is to use ordinary people in enemy villages as spies. The so-called inner room is to use enemy officials as spies. The so-called confrontation is to use enemy spies to our advantage. The so-called dead room is to deliberately spread false information to the outside world, let our spies know and then pass it on to the enemy. The so-called living room is the place where spies can come back to report when they are sent behind enemy lines. Of these five kinds of spies, the first three used enemy personnel, and the last two were infiltrated by us. When using these five kinds of spies, the sources of information are very extensive. It is really mysterious to wage war and make the enemy at a loss, and how to deal with it. The information in the opposite room is the most important. Therefore, we should pay special attention to confrontation, and the treatment of confrontation should be particularly generous.
Sun Wu 13' s articles on the art of war have their own emphases, ups and downs, thorough analysis, accurate opinions and strong practicality. In order to enable the prince of Wu to appoint him, he said at the beginning of Sun Tzu's Art of War: "The prince of Wu will win if he listens to my plan, and I will stay here. If I don't listen to my plan, I will lose, and I will go to other countries again. " In order to make the prince of Wu feel cordial when reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War, he often made a pertinent explanation with war examples of the conflict in wuyue at that time. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu compared himself to Yi Yin, the founding minister of Shang Dynasty, and Jiang Taigong, the founding minister of Zhou Dynasty, hoping to help the king of Wu unify the dynasty.