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The cruelty and wisdom of ancient wars

The Cruelty and Wisdom of Ancient War

01. Introduction

It is better to be a peace dog than a people in troubled times. ——Proverb

It is better to be a peace dog than a troublemaker. ——Ming Dynasty Feng Menglong's "Eternal Words to Awaken the World"

I don't know whether you agree or not. Even if you are a dog in peacetime, it is better to be a human being in the midst of war.

02. The cruelty of ancient wars

Have you ever heard of "exchanging children and eating them"? Once a war starts, it is no joke. If you are surrounded for a few months, when there is no more rice to put into the pot, some parents will want to eat their children. But as the saying goes, "Tiger poison cannot eat its children." No matter how ferocious the tiger is, it will not have the heart to eat its own children, let alone humans? What to do?

If you happen to have children at home, let’s exchange them! ——Yi Zier What to do with the remaining bones after eating meat? Then remove the frame and use it to make fire and cook! ——Is it true that something as horrifying as dissecting a body and cooking it up is really possible?

The authenticity cannot be verified now, but Chapter 15 of "Xuan Gong" in "The Legend of Gongyang in the Spring and Autumn Period" tells about a war, in which "Yi Zi eats it, and the body is analyzed." And cook it" records.

I have to mention here a man named Shen Wuwei (some say Wu Ju), because this war was started through him. If you don't know him well, you must have heard of King Chuzhuang who "doesn't make a sound, but makes a blockbuster", right? There is a story between them that has been passed down to this day.

It is said that after King Chuzhuang ascended the throne, he did nothing for three years. He often hunted, sang KK songs during the day, and held parties at night. In short, he only focused on eating, drinking and having fun.

When ministers are anxious, people often come to tell them some ideals of life and some principles of life.

"Your Majesty, if a young man doesn't work hard, his boss will be miserable!!"

"Your Majesty, look at how dedicated Lao Jin is at 996 every day"

"Your Majesty, you have younger brothers who have gone to hang out with Lao Jin. People say that life should be lived meaningfully instead of just killing time all day long."

"Your Majesty, do you have ideals?"

The King of Chuzhuang became impatient and gave an order to kill anyone who complained again. Now his world finally became quiet.

Shen Wuwei is a flexible and adaptable person. He even understands some psychology and fully grasps the psychology of "people are always willing to be inspired, but unwilling to be persuaded", and everyone They are all willing to listen to stories.

One day, he told King Zhuang of Chu in a story-telling tone: "Your Majesty, have you heard that there is a strange big bird in Chu State?"

" Oh? This is happening. Where is it? Tell me quickly!"

"This big bird has been in one place for three years, neither flying nor singing. Isn’t it strange?”

King Chuzhuang was originally prepared to listen to the story with great interest, but he did not expect to be tricked by Shen Wuwei, but he was more moved by his loyalty.

He thought for a moment and thought it was time to express his feelings to his loyal minister, so he also said in a story-telling tone: "This is not an ordinary bird! It has stayed still for three years because it is looking for Secondly, the direction of flight is to distinguish which birds are good and which are bad birds in the forest. If it is not flying, it will soar into the sky; if it is not singing, it will be amazing."

Shen Wuwei listened! He was overjoyed: "It turns out that my king is the real Kunpeng!"

Since then, King Chuzhuang began to work hard to govern, promote and appoint those good birds who dared to remonstrate directly, and kept away (or maybe (Knife) Those bad guys who flattered him, many of them must have been guys who had sex with him. These guys never dreamed that they would risk their own lives. This is really a companion. Tiger!

Now, let’s go back to this war.

The goal of the Chu State was to dominate the Central Plains, but when it wanted to attack the Song State, it came out of nowhere. If a wolf wanted to eat a sheep, it would have to find a reason, such as saying to the sheep drinking water downstream: "Why are you doing this?" Dirty the water I want to drink?”

One day, Gongzi Yingqi came up with a plan: “The king can send people to Qi through the Song Dynasty, but don’t give the envoys documents. You can anger the Song Dynasty. If they dare to be unreasonable to the envoy, won't you find a reason?"

But who should be allowed to complete this glorious task? In order to successfully provoke Song State, it is best to be someone who has enmity with Song State.

"That's right! Let Shen Wuwei go. He once offended the king of Song Dynasty." King Chuzhuang's eyes lit up.

After Shen Wuwei found out, he immediately became anxious and went to remind the king of Chuzhuang: "Your Majesty, the Song Dynasty hates me to death. How can I dare to borrow the road?"

"You want to Why don't you change your name to Shen Zhou?"

"How can I change my name? They will definitely kill me!" Shen Wuwei is still making his final struggle.

"Then I will destroy them and avenge you!" King Chuzhuang said decisively.

Later, things developed like a well-arranged plot, and Shen Wuwei was killed by the Song State. So King Chuzhuang also found a reason to send troops to attack the Song State, and launched the Battle of Shangqiu. During this war, the Song State was besieged by the Chu State for nine months. When there was no more food to eat in the city, the cruel incident of "changing children to eat, dissecting the corpses to cook" occurred. Therefore, once the war starts, it will be very cruel. Many people will definitely die, and they may even be eaten by their own people!

03. The wisdom of the ancients in using troops

You must have heard of a book called "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. "The Art of War" is the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancients in using troops. Anyone who wants to read this book People who read this book always hope to find in it the magic strategy of "defeating the strong with the weak, and defeating the many with the few".

But everyone knows that "The Art of War" is not about how to go to war, but how to avoid war; it is not about how to defeat the opponent, but about how to avoid failure; it is not about how to defeat more with less, but how to defeat more with less. Talk about how to defeat less with more.

Sun Tzu said: In the art of military use, the whole country is the best, and the destruction of the country is second; the whole army is the best, and the destruction of the army is second; the whole brigade is the best, and the destruction of the brigade is second; the whole army is the best, and the destruction of the country is second Death is second; the whole army is the highest, and the broken army is second. Therefore, winning a hundred battles is not a good thing; subduing the enemy's troops without fighting is a good thing. Therefore, the first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, and the third is to attack the city. The method of siege is a last resort. Therefore, the method of using troops is to surround an enemy at ten, attack it at five, divide it when doubled, fight the enemy if it is small, flee from it if it is small, and avoid it if it is weak. Therefore, if the small enemy is strong, the big enemy can be captured. ——"The Art of War by Sun Tzu." "Strategy for Attack"

Sun Tzu in "The Art of War." It is said in "Strategic Attack Chapter" that it is best to surrender the enemy without fighting. The best military action is to defeat the opponent's strategy, and siege is the worst strategy. If you want to attack a city, do it only if it is absolutely necessary.

So, the principle applied in actual combat is: if we are ten times outnumbered by the enemy, we will carry out encirclement and annihilation; if we are five times outnumbered by the enemy, we will carry out an attack; if we are twice outnumbered by the enemy, we will work hard to defeat the enemy; Spread them out and defeat them one by one. If your troops are weaker than the enemy, you should avoid fighting. If the weak party fights to the death, it will become a prisoner of the powerful enemy.

04. Written at the end

Looking back on the long history, from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, we have experienced countless wars and brought countless disasters to mankind. Looking back at history, it has only been a few decades since we had enough food and clothing. Human beings have always longed for peace. The Chinese nation is a peace-loving nation, and the Chinese people are peace-loving people!