Wang Yangming and Sun's "Wen"

Wang Yangming is a rare all-rounder in the history of China.

One of Wang Yangming's labels is a strategist.

Let's take a look at his military and political achievements: pacify the riots that have plagued Jiangxi for decades, pacify the rebellion of Wang Zhu in Hongdu, pacify the rebellion of Si 'en and Tu Yao in Southwest Tianzhou, and pacify the thieves in Duanteng Gorge.

Obviously, Wang Yangming's contribution and achievements are the work of an ordinary commander in chief.

In addition, where did Wang Yangming's military thought come from? Of course, it comes from the study of predecessors, which inevitably includes the military ideological influence of Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Qi Jiguang, an outstanding strategist and anti-Japanese star who was a little later than Wang Yangming, admired Sun Tzu's Art of War. He once said:

After reading Sun Wu's books for several years, East Zhejiang has been short of them, but I know that Sun Wu's methods and procedures are exquisite. The first is to start with detailed plans, none of which is meaningful, and the excellent teaching of Zen people is also excellent.

Compared with Sun Wu, Wang Yangming holds more titles of thinker and educator.

As we all know, his main achievement lies in his philosophical thought.

However, this is not his initiative. The academic circles have long recognized that Chen Xianzhang is the real godfather of Wang Yangming's mind, and Wang Yangming is a master of mind in Ming Dynasty.

It is true that Wang Yangming occupies an important position in the history of China's thoughts. However, is he regarded as a prince, philosopher and the originator of philosophy like Sun Wu? !

In fact, as far as its position in the ideological circle is concerned, Wang Yangming is one level behind Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty 300 years ago.

Let's talk about Wang Yangming's "educator" label.

Wang Yangming widely accepted his disciples and advocated ideas, which was called "Yangming studies" in history.

However, although Sun Wu did not have the title of "educator", Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Wu's position, influence and followers in the military field have been spread around the world for more than 2,000 years, which can be described as the uncrowned king.

In addition, Wang Yangming is quite accomplished in literature and calligraphy, but he is far from being a master of literature and calligraphy. How many people have enjoyed his masterpiece Mo Bao?

Sun Wu's theoretical contribution lies in the military aspect, which is embodied in Sun Tzu's Art of War.

In ancient times, the military was the top priority of the country, which was related to the life and death of the country and the people. This is an objective phenomenon of human society. Modern society is generally called national defense.

This is as mentioned at the beginning of Sun Tzu's Art of War:

"Soldiers, state affairs, places of life and death, and ways of survival must be observed."

The Art of War inherits and develops the military theories of predecessors, reveals the laws of war, and discusses the principles and laws of war debate, army management theory, victory theory and so on.

As a result, in terms of ideological and academic aspects, Sun Wu is juxtaposed with Confucius and Laozi and is known as the three stars in the ideological circle at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period.

Excuse me, how many people can keep pace with Confucius and Laozi in the ideological and cultural circles of China and even the world?

At the same time, Sun Tzu's Art of War, as the earliest military work in the world, is also the most famous model work of military science, which spreads all over the world.

It is profound in content, rich in ideological connotation and incisive in dialectical philosophy. Therefore, it has attracted the attention of military strategists and politicians at home and abroad, and has been widely used in the fields of economy and sports.

Moreover, Sun Tzu's Art of War has simple materialism and dialectics, and its logic is rigorous.

In addition, in literature, the language of Sun Tzu's Art of War is concise and the metaphor is vivid and concrete. Therefore, Liu Xie, a literary theorist in the Southern Dynasties, praised "Sun Classic, whose words are like pearls and jade" in his masterpiece of literary and historical criticism "Wen Xin Diao Long".

Although Sun Wu is not as good as Wang Yangming in philosophical depth and literary achievements, Sun Wu was a figure more than 2,000 years ago. The Art of War is a military work, so it is already excellent.

Summary:

In literature, Wang Yangming's industry influence is not as good as Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Wu's.

What's more, Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Wu have long crossed time and space, national boundaries and industry fields.

Of course, one factor is that Wang Yangming suffered a loss. Military affairs are prominent, while philosophical thoughts make people feel mysterious and obscure, especially in China.

However, foreign philosophers, especially ancient Greek and German philosophers, come forth in large numbers. Wang Yangming's ranking in the field of world philosophy is certainly not as high as Sun Wu's ranking in the field of world military affairs.

On martial arts, there are two levels: one is the actual combat record, such as a man's courage and command ability; Further up is the military strategy, which is what Sun Wu said, "going to the army to cut down the accumulation."

Only those who are intelligent and courageous, courageous and resourceful are qualified military talents and qualified to be selected as military strategists.

Needless to say, Sun Wu, look at his military and political achievements.

He assisted two generations of princes, ruled the country and the army, and personally commanded Wu Jun to attack and fight. As a result, Chu, a great country at that time, was defeated, which almost destroyed it. Later, it was defeated by Yue, which made it yield.

As a result, Wu, a small country with a weak foundation, has greatly increased its national strength and military strength, stunning the world and ranking among the powerful countries. The king of Wu is honored as one of the "five tyrants in the Spring and Autumn Period".

In the Warring States period, the strategist's book "Wei Liaozi" said:

"There are hundreds of people in the world, who is the best? Duke Huan of Yue also. There are 70 thousand people who don't deserve this world. Yue Wuqi also. There are 30 thousand people who don't deserve this world. Wu Yuezi also. "

The "Woods" mentioned here is Sun Wu, which means that he is good at leading troops, winning more with less and winning by surprise.

Tian Lei, who lived a little later, was a famous soldier and an outstanding strategist in the Warring States Period.

Tian Lei is familiar with the art of war, good at fighting and distinguished himself. He served as commander in chief for more than 30 years and besieged more than 70 cities, which made great contributions to the unification of the six countries by Qin.

In this regard alone, Tian Lei is better than Sun Wu.

But one thing, Bai Qi is one of the representatives of "military strategists", and the "originator of military strategists" is Sun Wu. In other words, Tian Lei is a disciple of Sun Wu.

Bai Qi is another outstanding strategist and commander-in-chief after Sun Wu and Wu Qi in the history of China. He is also known as the four famous generals of the Warring States with Lian Po, Li Mu and Wang Jian.

Later, when he arrived in Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, he set up a Wu Temple to commend and worship celebrities of past dynasties, with the Zhou Dynasty as the main sacrifice and the Han Dynasty as the companion. Ten celebrities of past dynasties followed him and sat around like statues.

These ten people are the famous "Ten Philosophers of Wu Temple", including Sun Wu and Bai Qi.

However, two hundred years later, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the Song Dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin, Song Taizu, visited the King Wu Temple and looked at the famous soldiers painted by the two galleries. Pointing at Leitian with his staff, he said, "The killing has decreased, and it is not very martial. What enjoyment is there here? " Tell someone to go.

That is to say, Zhao Kuangyin, as the military commander, thinks that Tian Lei should not be a famous soldier in all previous dynasties. The reason is simple-killing for nothing is like killing the enemy.

Tian Lei's outstanding record is directly proportional to the number of enemies killed. For example, in the battle with Zhao Changping, he cheated and killed all of Zhao's 400,000 troops. Therefore, Tian Lei has been called the "War Massacre" by some people since ancient times.

In the history of China, the list of "Ten Philosophers in the Temple of Wu" and the list of famous soldiers in previous dynasties have been changed many times, but Sun Wu has never changed.

Even in the ranking list of the world's great military strategists released by foreign media many times, Sun Wu has always been among the top spears.

Visible Sun Wu's lofty position in China and even the world military and political circles.

Summary:

In terms of record and commanding large corps operations, Leitian made outstanding achievements, but he did not talk about "martial arts".

Sun Wu pays more attention to strategy, just like the famous saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War, "Defeat the enemy without fighting". This is the highest strategic goal and the highest realm of soldiers.

After all, the ultimate goal of the army is to use war to deter or stop war, not to kill blindly. Just like the atomic bomb and other nuclear weapons, the first is the significance of military deterrence.

To sum up, Sun Wu, who lived in the 6th century BC, can be described as a saint, sage and writer. His works and thoughts shine on the road of the development of human society and have far-reaching and extensive influence.

This is unmatched by Wang Yangming and Bai Qi.