Liu Bowen is a legendary person, and later generations believe that he was not harmed by Hu Weiyong, but faked his death and left the center of the court and became a wandering god operator.

This statement is mainly from "The Legend of Liu Bowen", but Zhang Jiashi thinks that this statement is not very credible, as the so-called good doctor does not treat himself, although Liu Bowen is a legendary figure, but whether his own fate can be speculated, this is a question for Zhang Jiashi.

But no matter what, in addition to Liu Bowen's legend being highly respected in terms of fate divination, it is said that it is also written by him, and the book "Hundred Battles and Strange Strategies", which is as famous as "Baked Cake Song", is the embodiment of Liu Bowen's military ability.

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The Hundred Battles Strategy, as an ancient military theory monograph with the main purpose of expounding the principles and methods of operations, was rare before and after the Song Dynasty. Therefore, since its inception, it has been valued and respected by soldiers, given high praise, and has been published again and again and widely circulated.

The relevant content is as follows:

"Fighting":

The rule of using troops to fight is to put strategic planning in the first place. Before going to war, it is necessary to determine whether the generals are wise or dull, whether the enemy's strength is strong or weak, whether the number of soldiers is large or small, whether the terrain in the war zone is steep or flat, and whether the supply of food and grass is poor or sufficient. If we have clearly judged these situations on both sides of the enemy and then sent troops to attack, there will be no one who will not be victorious. As the Art of War says: "Judging the reality of the enemy's situation, studying the plan for victory, examining the dangers of the terrain, and calculating the distance of the road are the laws that a wise general must master in guiding a war." ”

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Liu Bei was stationed in Xinye, he went to Zhuge Liang three times in person to ask for advice on the plan to revive the Han dynasty and unify the world. Zhuge Liang said to him: "Since Dong Zhuo's dictatorship and rebellion, heroic people have taken the opportunity to raise troops to dominate the party, and there are countless separatists across states and counties. Compared with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao has a low reputation and weak troops, but Cao Cao can finally defeat Yuan Shao and change from a weak to a strong, which is not only a favorable time, but also a correct plan. Now Cao Cao has millions of troops, and he has held the emperor hostage and issued orders to the princes, which is really not a direct competition with him. Sun Quan occupied the Jiangdong region, and his rule had lasted for three generations, where the terrain was dangerous, the people were subordinate, and the virtuous people were willing to assist him, which could be an alliance to help, but not to plot against him. Jingzhou has Han River and Weishui as a barrier in the north, and rich resources can be used to the sea in the south, connecting Wu County and Huiji County in the east, Tongba County and Shu County in the west. It was a strategic place to use troops, but its ruler, Liu Biao, was unable to defend it. This is probably a gift from heaven to the general, can the general be interested in this? Yizhou has a dangerous terrain, fertile land, and is a naturally rich land, and it is here that Han Gaozu (Liu Bang) achieved the imperial cause. Now, Liu Zhang, the pastor of Yizhou, was dim and incompetent, and Zhang Lu was against him in the north, and despite its large population and abundant resources, because of its inability to caress the people, talented people were eager for a wise monarch. If the general occupies Jing and Yi'er Prefectures, controls the danger and is important, and the west is in harmony with the people, and the south is to appease the people of Sui and Yiyue, form an alliance with Sun Quan externally, and cultivate politics internally; once the situation in the world changes, he will wait for the opportunity to send a general to lead the Jingzhou troops to march to the Nanyang and Luoyang areas, and the general will personally lead the troops of Yizhou to the north of Qinchuan, and the people in the area who have passed through will not bear the rich wine and food to meet the general! If this can indeed be done, then the great cause of reunification can be successful, and the rule of the Han Dynasty can be revived. ”

After hearing this, Liu Bei said happily: "It's so good!"

The later development was basically carried out according to Zhuge Liang's plan.

Later generations have roughly understood the above as follows:

"Strategy" is the first chapter of "A Hundred Battles and Strategies", which is taken from "The Art of War: Strategy", and focuses on expounding the importance of on-the-ground war planning for winning combat victory from a strategic perspective. The "count" here is the same as the "counting" under it, which means analyzing and judging the situation. It believes that before engaging the enemy, it is necessary to find out the superiority and disadvantage of the generals on both sides, the strength of the troops, the number of soldiers, the danger of the terrain, and the lack of food and grass. Only when we first analyze and judge the above-mentioned situations accurately and clearly, and then send troops to attack, there is no one who will not win the war. War is a kind of struggle in which the two opposing sides use subjective guidance under certain objective conditions to settle the victory or defeat by force.

In order for either side of the war to defeat the other side, it must first analyze and study the situation of both the enemy and us in all aspects, and draw up a correct battle plan and military deployment in accordance with this objective reality. It can be seen that being familiar with and mastering the situation of both sides is the fundamental prerequisite for formulating a correct strategic plan and winning a war. This article can recognize this point, and further reveal the truth that "the way of using soldiers, the first is to calculate", which is a very valuable idea.

The "Longzhong Pair", which Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei discussed the general trend of the world in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and is said to be a historical story, is one of the outstanding examples in the history of China's ancient war planning and development. At that time, Zhuge Liang formulated a general strategy for Liu Bei's survival and development of "uniting Sun to resist Cao" based on an incisive analysis of the political, military, economic, and geographical conditions of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, as well as Liu Biao, Liu A, and other parties.

In order to realize this strategic plan, Zhuge Liang proposed that first of all, it should develop in a weak direction, seize Jing and Yi Prefectures to establish a solid base, appease all ethnic groups in the southwest, unite with Sun Quan, rectify internal affairs, and strengthen strength; and then, when the conditions are ripe, attack Cao Cao from Jing and Yi to the north, seize the Central Plains, and unify China. Obviously, this is a strategic concept that is both prudent and enterprising in line with objective reality.

Although Liu Bei later failed to realize the plan to unify China due to limited conditions, he established the Shu Han regime based on Zhuge Liang's strategic plan of "uniting his grandson to resist Cao", and became one of the three-legged rulers of a generation.

"Strategy":

Whenever the enemy begins to plot against me, I will use my strategy to pierce it in time, so that his plot will not succeed and he will have to give in. As the Art of War says, "The best strategy for using troops is to thwart the enemy's war plans by strategy." ”

During the Spring and Autumn Period, when the Duke of Jin Pinggong planned to attack the Qi State, he sent the doctor Fan Zhao to observe the political dynamics of the Qi State. Qi Jinggong held a banquet to entertain him, and when the wine was in high spirits, Fan Zhao actually proposed to use Qi Jinggong's wine cup to pour wine. Jing Gong said, "Then use my wine glass to enter the bar for the guests." When Fan Zhao finished drinking the wine in his cup and was about to change the glass of wine, Yan Zi immediately removed the Jinggong wine glass and still used the cup used by Fan Zhao to pour the wine into the guests.

Fan Zhao pretended to be drunk, danced unhappily, and said to the Grand Master of Qi Guo, "Can you play a piece of music for me?" The master replied, "The blind minister has never learned." After Fan Zhao left the banquet boringly, Qi Jinggong rebuked his subordinates and said, "Jin is a big country. Sending people to observe the political situation in our country, now that you have angered the envoys of the great powers, what can you do?" Yan Zi said confidently: "Fan Zhao is not ignorant of etiquette, he deliberately humiliated our country, so I can't obey your order and use your wine glass to give him wine." ”

The Taishi went on to say, "The music of Cheng Zhou is the music enjoyed by the Son of Heaven, and only the king can dance to it. Now Fan Zhao is just a minister, but he wants to dance with the music of the Son of Heaven, so I can't play music for him. ”

After Fan Zhao returned to the Jin State, he reported to the Jin Ping Gong: "The Qi State cannot be attacked. Because, I wanted to humiliate their king, but Yan Zi saw through it, and wanted to offend their etiquette, but their master saw through it. When Confucius heard this, he exclaimed: "Yan Zi is such a person who does not go beyond the banquet and can resist the attack of the enemy thousands of miles away." ”

(The above content is mainly due to Fan Zhao's envoys, but Fan Zhao is not strictly speaking a famous minister or an existence at the same level as Liuqing, whether it can affect the decision-making of Jin Pinggong, Zhang Jiashi expressed doubts.) ）

This article is entitled "Seeking War", and the purpose of this article is to explain how to thwart the enemy's war plots. It believes that when the enemy plans a war at the beginning, I will use my strategy in time to thwart the enemy's plan for war, so that he will submit to me because his plan has been revealed. This article is quoted from Sun Tzu's phrase "to fight and plot", which means that the best strategy for using troops is to thwart the enemy's war plans. In other words, it is to use strategy to break the enemy's war attempt and nip the war in the bud, so as to achieve the "total victory" goal of "surrendering the enemy without a fight" emphasized by Sun Tzu.

The so-called "soldiers who surrender without a fight" refer to the ability to defeat the enemy without directly engaging the enemy with military strength. It can be considered that this is the ideal goal that Sun Tzu hoped to achieve in the war. However, it must be noted that there are conditions for "surrendering the army without a fight," and only when the strength is superior, the situation is very favorable, and there is correct subjective guidance that conforms to objective reality, can it be possible to achieve the ideal goal of "total victory" without bloodshed and sacrifice.

If we ignore the objective conditions and one-sidedly emphasize "seeking war" while negating the necessity of "military warfare," we will inevitably fall into the quagmire of unrealistic idealism and bring undue losses to ourselves. This is an issue that war instructors must pay attention to.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, in order to attack the Qi State, the Duke of Jin Ping first sent Fan Zhao to observe the political situation of the Qi State. Qi Xiangyan Ying used his wits to thwart Fan Zhao's repeated provocations between banquets and drinks, thus preventing the Jin Kingdom's imminent war plot to attack Qi.

This can be said to be an example of "a soldier who surrenders without a fight". The reason why the Jin State suppressed the war attempt to attack the Qi State was of course the result of Yan Ying's ingenuity and stratagem to thwart the Jin envoy Fan Zhao's wanton provocation, but it could not but be seen that although the hegemony created by the Qi State had been lost in the Jinggong period, the Qi State was still one of the great powers in the Central Plains.

If Jin Pinggong wants to launch a war to attack Qi, he can't help but have some scruples about this. This is also the fundamental reason why he first sent people to observe the political situation of Qi and then decided whether to attack or not.

"Intermittent War":

If you want to send troops to attack the enemy, you must send spies in advance to secretly find out the number of enemy troops, the reality of your strength, and the behavior of your troops, and then send troops to attack. As the Art of War says, "Spies can be used at all times and everywhere." ”

Wei Shuyu, a famous general of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was filial piety and wide, and he guarded Yubi City for a long time by virtue of his own virtue. He was good at soothing and managing his soldiers, and he was even supported by his subordinates. Therefore, the spies he sent to Northern Qi could do their best to gather intelligence. There were also Northern Qi people who bought him with a lot of money and sent written information from the distant Qi country.

Therefore, the Northern Zhou court knew all about the movements of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The left prime minister of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Hu Luguang, the word Mingyue, is both virtuous and brave, and is an opponent who is very jealous of Xiaokuan. Qu Yan, who joined the army, knew the art of divination, and he said to Xiaokuan: "Next year, the Northern Qi will be in chaos due to mutual killing." ”

Xiaokuan therefore ordered Qu Yan to make up a ballad, saying: "Hundred liters fly to the sky, and the bright moon shines on Chang'an." "100 liters" is a hundred. He also said, "The mountains do not push themselves, and the mistle trees do not support themselves." Then he ordered the spies to carry a large number of leaflets with good songs and ballads to distribute them to the city of Yecheng, the capital of Qi, and the left servant of the Northern Qi Shangshu shot Zu Xiaozheng and Hu Lüguang had a contradiction, and after he got this leaflet, he reported to the queen of Qi Gao Wei even more vinegaredly, and Hu Lüguang was finally killed because of this. When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, learned that Hu Lüguang had been killed, and he was so happy that he immediately issued an amnesty decree to the whole country. Later, a large army was dispatched and the Northern Qi was destroyed in one fell swoop.

(Strictly speaking, however, the fall of the Northern Qi Dynasty was mainly caused by the monarch's killing of too many capable clans.) Whether it is Gao Changgong or some Gao Qi clans with a certain strength, they cannot die well in many cases. ）

This article, entitled "The War in the Middle", aims to focus on the role of the use of espionage in warfare from a strategic perspective. It believes that if it wants to attack the enemy, it must first send spies deep into the enemy's territory to conduct strategic reconnaissance, or bribe enemy personnel to provide intelligence at a large price.

Only by finding out the number of enemy troops, the strength of the enemy, and the movement of the army through spies can we win the battle by sending troops to attack. The historical experience of war shows that in order to defeat the enemy, it is necessary to "know the enemy" and find out the enemy's situation; and in order to "know the enemy," it is necessary to use all available means to conduct thorough reconnaissance of the enemy's situation.

In ancient times, when reconnaissance technology was not developed, sending spies to reconnoiter the enemy's situation became one of the most effective means often used by soldiers. Wei Xiaokuan, the general of the Northern Zhou Dynasty during the Northern Dynasties, was famous for his good use of spies. In the confrontation between the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, he adopted methods such as sending spies into Qi and bribing Qi people to spy on them, which not only kept abreast of the internal situation and dynamics of the Northern Qi Dynasty at any time, but also separated the Empress of Qi and Qi Xiang Hu Lüguang, and induced the Empress of Qi to kill the "virtuous and courageous" Hu Lüguang, which cleared the obstacles for the Northern Zhou Dynasty to send troops to destroy the Northern Qi and unify the north.

(End of chapter)