Create a precedent for winning more battles with less

Background of the times

When I first read the Battle of Makino, I was still in elementary school, and because I was young, I didn't understand what it was about, and the name of the text at that time was not called "The Battle of Makino", but it seemed to be called "King Wu's Killing of Merchants". The most impressive thing is an illustration in the text, which shows a group of ragged men holding weapons and fighting well-dressed soldiers. When I grew up, I realized that it was a war more than 3,000 years ago. The hero of the story is a little king named "Zhou". The 11th century BC was the century of the rise of the Zhou. Prior to this, a dynasty called Shang had ruled China for more than 600 years. For 600 years, they have created a glorious splendor that they can be proud of, casting fine bronzes, improving writing, innovating the system, and it seems that everything will continue to be business as usual, and everything will go according to plan. But one woman changes everything, and she is Daji. Under her confusion, Xin, the last king of the Shang Dynasty, began to embark on a road of no return that brought disaster to the country and the people. He set up wine pools and meat forests for his own enjoyment, looted the people's wealth to build luxurious palaces, and tortured loyal ministers, all of which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people of the world, and a revolutionary storm was brewing that was about to sweep the Shang Dynasty. At this time, the small vassal state "Zhou" in the northwest border of the Shang Dynasty, after 50 years of hard work by King Wen of Zhou, the national strength gradually became stronger, and the world returned to the center, and when King Wen of Zhou died, the actual control area of the Zhou Dynasty had reached two-thirds of the world at that time, so "Zhou" became the most important force to overthrow the rule of the Shang Dynasty. After Ji Fa, the king of Zhou Wu, succeeded to the throne, he reused virtue internally and made allies externally. He took Lü Wang as his military advisor, his younger brother Ji Dan as the minister of state, and recruited Zhao Gong, Bi Gong, Kang Shu, Dan Ji and other talents into his team, for a time, the power center of the Zhou Dynasty appeared a talent pool, a thriving political situation, they adopted the strategy of uniting the vassal states and isolating the Shang Dynasty. During this period, the Shang Emperor Xin became more debaucherous and cruel, poor and extravagant, so that the people rebelled and left, and the people were resentful. King Wu of Zhou quickly seized this favorable opportunity and moved the capital from Feng to Ho (Hào) (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), and used it as a base to prepare for an all-out attack on Yin Shang.

Character Analysis

In the 90 version of the TV series "Fengshen Bang", Jiang Shang Jifa, played by the famous actor Lan Tianye, the second son of King Ji Chang of Zhou Wen, and the first emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Following on from his father's legacy, he eliminated the Shang dynasty in the 11th century BC, seized power throughout the country, and established the Western Zhou Dynasty, during which time his military and political prowess made him one of the most famous monarchs in Chinese history. The Zhou Dynasty is one of the longest surviving dynasties in Chinese history, from the establishment of the Western Zhou Dynasty by King Wu of Zhou to the destruction of the Eastern Zhou by the Qin State in 256 BC, the Zhou Dynasty experienced a total of 37 generations of emperors and more than 800 years of rule. It should be noted that in 770 BC, King Ping of Zhou moved the capital to Luoyi (now Luoyang, Henan). The history is called "Eastern Zhou", so people habitually call the Zhou Dynasty before 770 BC "Western Zhou", and later called "Eastern Zhou".

Lu Wang, is the well-known Jiang Ziya, fame, the word Ziya, the number Flying Bear, also known as Lu Shang. There are different theories about his birth date, one theory is that he was born in the eighth year of Gengding of the Yin Dynasty (1211 BC); In the sixth year of King Kang of Zhou (1072 BC), he died in the national capital of Hojing at the age of 139. According to legend, he is the 54th grandson of Emperor Yan Shennong and the 36th grandson of Boyi. Its ancestor Siyue Boyi was sealed in Lu for assisting Dayu in controlling the water, so he got the surname "Lu". When Jiang Ziya was born, his family was already in ruin, so Jiang Ziya worked as a butcher and opened a hotel when he was young to subsidize his family. However, he has always diligently studied astronomy, geography, military strategy, and the way to govern the country and secure the country, hoping to display his talents for the country. There is a Zhou Dynasty He was a veteran of the four dynasties of King Wen of Zhou, King Wu, King Cheng and King Kang, and at the same time, he was also an outstanding strategist, military strategist and politician with a long influence in ancient times. The classics of the past dynasties have recognized his historical status, Confucianism, Taoism, law, soldiers, vertical and horizontal all pursue him as their own figures, and are respected as "the master of a hundred schools", and his work "Taigong Art of War" is known as a strange book, which has a great influence on the art of war in later generations.

King of Shang, named Shou, year name Di Xin, the youngest son of Shang King B, later generations called "King Yin". "King Xu" is not his official imperial title, it is a vicious title imposed on him by later generations, and it is an insulting title. According to the explanation of "Shuowen Jie Zi": "Cruel donation is said to be righteous". In modern parlance, vicious villains. According to the official history, the king of Shang was well-informed, quick-thinking, tall, and powerful. He had two main opponents, the Zhou state in the west and the Yiren tribe in the east (known as "Renfang" in oracle bone inscriptions). After Emperor Xin succeeded to the throne, he attached great importance to agriculture and mulberry, developed social productive forces, and made the country strong. Later, he used troops against Dongyi, repelled Dongyi's expansion to the Central Plains, and expanded the Shang Dynasty's influence to the Jianghuai area, and expanded its territory to the coastal areas of present-day Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian. In the later period of his reign, he was arrogant, self-serving, did not listen to the advice of his ministers, used torture such as cannon branding, suppressed the people, killed Bigan, imprisoned the basket, fought every year, and lost the hearts of the people. Emperor Xin ascended the throne in 1075 BC and died in 1046 BC, reigning for nearly 30 years.

The course of the engagement

On January 26, 1046 B.C., King Wu of Zhou led 300 chariots, 3,000 elite warriors, and tens of thousands of infantry to the east. On February 21 of the same year, this force arrived at a place called Mengjin on the banks of the Yellow River, and began to join up with the Yong, Lu, Peng, Pu, Shu, Qiang, Wei, and Máo tribes that had been discussed in advance, forming a combined force of 45,000 men. On 26 February, the allied forces continued their eastward march in the rain, crossing the Yellow River (the Yellow River from Mengjin) from Bidi (present-day Bishui Town, Xingyang City, Henan Province), and then heading north to Baiquan (northwest of present-day Huixian County, Henan Province) and turning east. In the early morning of the 27th, not far from Chaoge, the capital of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou ordered the troops to stop advancing, and he wanted to do the last pre-war general mobilization here. This oath is recorded in the extant text, the Book of Shang, which reads:

When Jiazi was shuang, the dynasty was sworn by the Shang suburbs. The king left cane Huang Yue, and the right bingbai (máo) to lead, said: "Kui, people of the western soil!" The king said, "Whew! My friend Tsukasa Jun Yushi, Situ, Sima, Sikong, Yalu, Shi, Qianfu, Centurion, and Yong, Shu, Qiang, Ji, Wei, Lu, Peng, Puren. Call Ergo, Bilgan, Lier spear, and swear to it. The king said: "The ancients had a saying: 'The chicken has no morning; The morning of the rooster is the only way to find home. 'Today, the king of Shang is only used by the woman's words, fainting and worshipping the Buddha, fainting and leaving the king's parents and brothers, but only the many sins of the Quartet (bū) escape, whether it is worship or long, whether it is a letter or an envoy, and it is a doctor and a minister. tyrannized the people and used treachery (guǐ) in Shangyi. Today, I will only pay tribute to the punishment of heaven. Today's things are not 愆 (qiān) in six steps, seven steps, but to stop at Qiyan. O Master! Don't be afraid of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh fells, but stop at the same time. O Master! Shang Huanhuan is like a tiger, such as a pi (pí), such as a bear, such as a pí, in the suburbs of Shang Fu Keben, to serve the western soil, and to help the master! Ersofu, he bowed and killed!

Translated into modern Chinese, it is: At the dawn of Jiazi Day, King Wu of Zhou led his army to Muye on the outskirts of the capital of the Shang Kingdom to take the oath. King Wu held a golden axe in his left hand and brandished Bai Xuan in his right hand, saying, "It's hard work, all the soldiers who followed me to fight the war!" King Wu said, "Ah! The kings and ministers gathered here for the great cause of the merchants, Situ, Sima, Sikong, Yalu, Shishi, Qianmu, Centurion, and comrades from Yong, Shu, Qiang, Ji, Wei, Lu, Peng, Pu and other friendly countries, raise your Ge, line up your shields, erect your spears, and we officially swear! King Wu said, "The ancients said, 'The hen does not report the dawn; If the hen announces, it means that the family is about to decline. Now the king of Shang only listened to the woman's words, and contemptuously abandoned her sacrificial duties, and turned a blind eye to the great rites of sacrifice, and contemptuously abandoned his subordinate brothers of the same kindred, and did not appoint them; For those fugitives who have committed serious crimes, they are respected and trusted, and let them be doctors and secretaries. These people are cruel to the people, and they are unlawful. Now, I, Ji Fa, are punished by the mandate of Heaven. In today's decisive battle, the distance between the front and rear of our array must not exceed six or seven steps, and it must be kept neat and not dragged out. Soldiers, work hard! The distance between the left and right of our array, not more than four, five, six, and seven, should be kept neat and not cowering. Do your best, soldiers! I hope you will be majestic and majestic, like a tiger and a bear, and move forward, and move forward to the outskirts of the commercial capital. In battle, do not stop those who come to surrender, use them to strengthen ourselves. Do your best, soldiers! If you do not try, you yourselves will be punished by the enemy. ”

After the oath was completed, the coalition forces continued to advance. At dawn on the 28th, the coalition forces arrived in Makino. The "Book of Songs" records: "Muye Yangyang, Shiwei Yingyang." King Liang Biwu, ravaging big businessmen, will be clear during the meeting. The Shang king Emperor Xin was shocked to hear that the Zhou army was coming, and he suddenly had no idea, because, at this time, the main force of the Shang army was far away in the southeast to quell the rebellion, and he could not be requisitioned immediately, so he had to gather a large number of slaves and prisoners of war together with the army guarding the national capital, and set off to Muye to meet the battle. The situation at that time was recorded in the "Yi Zhou Shu Ke Yin" as follows: the Zhou army was first challenged by Lu Shang with hundreds of elite soldiers to shock the Shang army and disrupt its position, and then, the main force led by King Wu of Zhou followed up and killed, completely disrupting the opponent's formation. The slaves and prisoners of war in the merchant army were all demoralized and defected, and the merchant army quickly collapsed. Seeing that the general trend had gone, Zixin returned to the court, climbed the deer platform, "clothed himself with pearls and jade, and burned himself to death in the fire", and the Shang Dynasty officially ended. When King Wu of Zhou arrived at Lutai, he struck the corpse of Zi Xin with "Light Lu", and personally cut off his head and hung the flag for public display.

▲ In the Battle of Makino, the merchant army organized by slaves turned against each other on the battlefield and attacked Chaoge with the Zhou army to defeat the influence of the war against the unscrupulous Shang king

The Battle of Makino was one of the largest battles in the process of dynastic change in early history in China; It is also the first time in the history of Chinese warfare that fewer victories are more, the weak defeat the strong, and the first strike is a famous example. It is also a famous example of the early stage of ancient car warfare in China; The Battle of Makino overthrew the decaying Shang Dynasty and established the Western Zhou Dynasty, pushing history forward. It opened the way for the comprehensive prosperity of the slavery and ritual music civilization in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and had a profound impact on the development of China's later history.

Strategy analysis

In the first battle of Makino, the Zhou army won a complete victory and quickly occupied Chaoge, the capital of Yin Shang. From a modern point of view, however, this victory was not an accident, but was clearly the result of long-term preparation and planning. The Shang Dynasty established by Shang Tang had entered the abyss of a full-scale crisis by the time Emperor Xin ascended the throne, after going through various stages such as initial prosperity, middle decline, recovery, prosperity, and weakness. Under the rule of Di Xin, the Yin Shang Dynasty was politically corrupt, punished harshly, and used troops abroad for many years, and the people were burdened and miserable; The aristocracy was divided into internal contradictions, which led to a chaotic situation of unrest throughout society. In stark contrast to the Shang dynasty was the rapid rise of his vassal state, the "Zhou". In dealing with the relationship between Shang and Zhou, King Wen was superficially submissive to the business in order to paralyze the king. After all the preparations were basically ready, King Wen, with the assistance of Lü Shang, formulated a correct military strategic policy for the war. Then, he crossed the Yellow River to the east, successively destroyed the subject states of Li, Yu, Chong and other Shang, and opened the way to Chaoge. It was only a matter of time before the merchants were destroyed.

The fundamental reason for the rapid fall of the Shang Dynasty was naturally because of the political decay of the Yin Shang ruling group, their rampant tyranny, and harsh punishments, which led to the loss of the people's support and the rebellion of the people. The second is a long war of plundering in the East, which weakens forces and creates an imbalance in military deployments. In addition, the rulers of Yin Shang lacked vigilance against the strategic intentions of the Zhou people, relaxed their guards, and reaped the consequences; Finally, there is passivity and inaction in operational command. Coupled with the revolt of those slaves in the army who were temporarily and hastily recruited, a counterattack was blown, and the end of its defeat was inevitable.

☆☆ War Archives ☆☆

Campaign Name: Battle of Makino

Occurred: January 26, 1046 BC

Warring Parties: Zhou Dynasty VS Shang Dynasty

Place of battle: Muye (now south of Qi County, Hebi City, Henan Province)

Comparison of strength: 450,000 VS 700,000 (one way)

The result of the war: 180,000 merchant soldiers were killed and 330,000 were taken prisoner

Nature of war: offensive warfare

Intelligence Level: ☆☆☆