Regarding the relationship between military and politics, Liao Wei compared it to the relationship between the trunk and seeds of plants. The so-called "a soldier, with martial arts as his plant, literature as his seed, martial arts as his face and literature as his interior, can judge the two and know the outcome." It is pointed out that there can be no strong military power without good politics, and military is the means to solve political problems. The author has repeatedly stressed the importance of developing production for the army and pointed out that military commanders should take agriculture as the foundation of governing the country. "The husband is in the field, the wife is in the machine, and the people have nothing to do to save." The people are rich and the country is strong, and the soldiers are solid, so that they can defend and attack.
Liao Wei put forward both positive and negative experiences in running the army with a simple dialectical point of view. According to the positive experience of 12, you can overwhelm the enemy; Otherwise, it will be crushed by the enemy. 12' s positive experience is: establishing prestige lies in not easily changing orders, rewarding people in time, adapting to changes in various situations when making quick decisions, and mastering the morale of both sides when defeating the enemy: winning an attack lies in surprise attack, being firm in defending fortifications, not making mistakes lies in obeying the law, not causing trouble lies in being prepared, being cautious lies in preventing minor delays, being wise lies in being able to handle major events and eliminating disasters lies in being resolute; Winning people's hearts lies in modesty.
In other words, we should attach importance to the political morality and personal exemplary role of generals, and ask them to enforce the law impartially, bite the hand that feeds them, work hard, be selfless in the face of war and set an example; Attaching importance to the administrative construction of the army and formulating relatively complete rules and regulations on operations, internal affairs, discipline, etc. are important materials for studying the history of the pre-Qin military system; Attaching importance to military training, this paper discusses the purpose, methods and steps of training and the reward and punishment system in training, and puts forward the training method of coaching step by step from the most basic level and training together at last. Attach importance to rewards and punishments, and put forward that "those who kill one person and shock the three armed forces kill them, and those who reward one person and like thousands of people will be rewarded;" The idea of "killing is the most expensive and rewarding is the lowest" has various specific rules and requirements for rewards and punishments in the book.
As a book on military science produced during the Warring States Period, Wei Liaozi's discussion on strategic and tactical issues is not as profound as Sun Tzu's Art of War written by Sun Tzu and Wu, but it also has original opinions on a series of issues.
First of all, the defenders put forward the view of war based on economy. He said in the "Rule of Curing the Root" that the foundation of governing the country lies in farming and weaving. Without food, you can't fill your stomach, and you can't cover your body without silk and hemp.
Only when agricultural weaving is not abolished can the country have reserves. And this reserve is the basis of war. He said: the land supports people, the city guards the land, and the war guards the city. Therefore, farming, guarding the city and fighting are all the responsibilities of the king. Of the three, war is the most urgent, but it also depends on farming. Even in a country with thousands of passengers, the policy of combining agriculture with war should be implemented. Based on this, Wei Liaozi emphasized that the kingdom enriched the people, and the king launched the war to punish the riots and prohibit injustice. Its ultimate goal is to keep farmers from leaving their jobs, Jia from leaving home, and literati from leaving politics, but only to punish the first offenders. This idea in Wei Liaozi obviously inherits Shang Yang's thought of agricultural warfare, so it is progressive. Of course, Wei Liaozi also noticed the role of politics in the war, arguing that a country must be polite and loyal to its love in order to satisfy its hunger; The country should have the custom of filial piety and honesty, so it is easy to die, so it also attaches importance to political education.
Secondly, the Guardian also put forward some valuable strategic and tactical ideas. We advocate concentrating superior forces, waiting to see what happens, winning with one heart and one mind, losing when dispersed (the order of war), and winning when calm and firm (the power of war). Advocating the first move, suddenly attacking, saying: soldiers first. Better than this, better than that; If you are better than this, you will be better than that. Advocate the use of political power in the war, saying: whoever adds power first, the enemy will be unable to pay. Advocate confusing the enemy with false and real tactics. He inherited Sun Tzu's thought of strangeness and righteousness, and put forward that strangeness should be emphasized first, then strangeness, or first or later, in order to defeat the enemy. In particular, he put forward a set of strategies to attack and defend the city in combination with the practice of siege fighting during the Warring States period. It is advocated that siege must be sure of victory, and there is no victory in war and no chance of winning in war; You don't have to pull out the attack, you can't attack it with words. Finally, go deep into the enemy's territory, take it by surprise, cut off the enemy's grain route, isolate the enemy city, and take advantage of the weakness to conquer it. Siege to choose these targets:
(1) Some cities are unguarded: Jinliang has no combat readiness facilities, the fortress has not been repaired, the city defense has not been built, and thistle grass has not been set up;
(2) Some people are absent: the garrison in the distant fortress has not returned, and the garrison has not been transferred back;
(3) although there is capital, there is no capital: livestock are not concentrated in cities, food is not harvested, and financial materials are not collected in place;
(4) cities are empty and wealth is exhausted. For these cities, we must take advantage of the virtual attack and never be soft.
There are three main points in the strategy of guarding the city: first, oppose the method of guarding the pavilion, that is, not guarding the outer city and the stronghold outside the city, and advocate guarding the outskirts. The second is to build battlements, so that the pool is deep and wide, the city is firm and thick, and manpower, food, firewood, crossbows and spears are all available. One foot city, ten men defending, thousands of feet city, ten thousand soldiers guarding, not counting technicians, husbands and other logistics personnel. Third, fortified cities should have reinforcements. If there is an army, it will be saved, and if there is a city, it will be guarded; If there is no army that must be saved, there is no city that must be defended. Rescue troops should be able to open the encirclement, and defenders should dare to attack and seize the fortress. Rescue troops should also be good at confusing the enemy, so as to cooperate with the defenders to defeat the besieged enemy. "Wei Liaozi" put forward the idea of attacking the city slightly, which was not talked about by predecessors and was very innovative.
Thirdly, another important contribution of Wei Liaozi is to put forward a set of military reward and punishment regulations with the characteristics of the times. As an ancient military book, Wei Liaozi not only developed in military theory, but also preserved many important military laws and regulations during the Warring States period, which is rare for other military books.
In the Warring States Policy, he said: The way to win is to examine the legal system and clearly reward and punish. In "On System", he said: It is a necessary means to ensure that foot soldiers take the lead. Defenders advocate the rule of law, and his principle of reward and punishment is that rewards must be thick and punishments must be heavy. He said: If the remuneration is not generous, the people will not persuade them. For those who have made meritorious deeds, they should be rewarded with a generous title of Tianlu, so that the people will not be rewarded for not fighting, so as to reward their achievements and support their labor.
The Guardian advocates severe punishment. He said in the "Severe Punishment Order": People are only afraid of severe punishment at home and despise foreign enemies. Therefore, they advocate that soldiers who have been defeated, surrendered and fled the Cold War should be declared as national thieves and military thieves, not only for the death of their families, but also for cutting their household registration, building ancestral graves and selling slaves. Soldiers who can't report on time and desert are punished as deserters. The doctrine of severe punishment is embodied in his "Wu" and "Shu", as well as in the penalty rules and laws of war on the battlefield. He said: People who were good at fighting in ancient times could kill half of the soldiers, followed by thirteen and eleven. Who can kill half of it, Vega Hailey; Kill thirteen and strengthen the princes; Kill eleven, make soldiers. It is believed that only in this way can the army issue orders like an axe and formulate systems like a general, and those who don't have to die will have nothing. The thought of severe punishment in Wei Lingzi is obviously exactly the same as Shang Yang's thought of reward and punishment, and it is more severe than Shang Yang's. It reflects that the relationship between officers and men in ancient military organizations was a serious class opposition. The idea of running the army according to law in Wei Liaozi is very different from that before the Spring and Autumn Period. As we said before, the principle of reward and punishment put forward by Wei Liaozi abolished the privilege of rewarding the old nobles but neglecting the punishment, and embodied the enterprising spirit of the emerging landlord class, so it was full of the spirit of the times, indicating that it was qualitatively different from the old principle of reward and punishment.
Fourthly, other important military laws and regulations preserved in "Wei Liaozi" include "Isolation Order", which is a law on the division of camps and stipulates the communication principles between defense areas and various armies; There is a Soldier Order, which is a kind of battle formation order, stipulating the unique flag signs of each army, the ranks of soldiers and their subordinate units, and different teams wearing different badges; There is a "strangulation order", which is a unified command order in the military, stipulating the role and usage of command tools such as gold, drums, flags and bells; There is a "general" who stipulates that the army and soldiers will be ordered by the monarch and only responsible to the monarch. The general has the highest military authority and unified command of the whole army; There is also the "Heel Military Order", which is the action order of the follow-up troops. To stipulate the distance, direction, tasks to be completed and the principles of safety, vigilance and disposal of deserters between the follow-up troops and the army; There is also "military education" (up and down), which is the rule of military coaches and stipulates the training methods of the army and the reward and punishment system in training. In the method of military education, it obviously inherited some principles of Woods' The Art of War. "Military Education" also puts forward twelve ways to win, which need to be mastered by the monarch. For soldiers, the requirement is: forget your family, and if you exceed the limit, forget your relatives, which means that the enemy forgets his own body, dead, alive, and winning soon. Hundreds of people were cut and thrown into chaos; Thousands of people were killed by the blade and the enemy was killed; Tens of thousands of people were hacked and rampaged around the world, hoping to train the army into an invincible iron army.
These military laws and regulations recorded in Wei Liaozi are precious materials for us to study the pre-Qin military system.