762: V. Troops

Sun Tzu said: Where the people are governed by the widows, the score is also; Fighting the crowd is like fighting widows, and the name is also; The crowd of the three armies can make those who are bound to be defeated by the enemy and not defeated, and it is strange and true; The addition of soldiers, such as those who cast eggs with stone segments, is also virtual and real.

Those who fight, with the right fit, with the odd victory. Therefore, those who are good and surprising are as infinite as heaven and earth, and inexhaustible as rivers. In the end, the sun and the moon are also; Resurrection from the dead, four o'clock is also. The sound is not more than five, and the change of five voices is unpleasant. The color is not five, and the change of five colors is not impressive. The taste is not five, and the change of the five flavors is not to be tasted. The battle situation is not strange, and the change of Qizheng is invincible. Odd and positive are born together, such as the gratuitous cycle, who can be poor?

The disease of the torrent, as for the drifters, the potential is also; The disease of the bird, as for the destroyer, the festival also. It is a good fighter, its potential is dangerous, and its knots are short. The momentum is like a crossbow, and the knots are like a start.

One after another, the fight is chaotic and not chaotic; Chaotic, round and undefeatable. Chaos is born in governance, cowardice is born in bravery, and weakness is born in strength. Chaos control, number also; Courage and cowardice, momentum also; Strength and weakness, shape also. Therefore, those who are good at moving the enemy will follow the form; Give it, and the enemy will take it. Move it with profit, and treat it with a pawn.

Therefore, those who are good at fighting seek it from the situation, and they are not valuable to others, so they can choose people and let them be powerful. Those who are in power are also their fighters, such as turning wood and stone. The nature of wood and stone, peace is quiet, danger is moving, square is stopped, and circle is lined. Therefore, the momentum of good fighters, such as turning a round stone in the mountain of a thousand people, is also powerful.

Cao Gong said: Use soldiers to make use of power. (Soldiers should be good at using 'potential'.) ）

Cao Gong said: The trilogy is divided, and the Shiwu is counted.

Cao Gong said: The flag is called the shape, and the golden drum is called the name.

Cao Gong said: The first out of the battle is positive, and the second out is amazing. (The first troops to fight head-on are called positive, and then the troops are called strange from the side.) ）

Cao Gong said: Even the real attack is virtual. (Use your strongest forces to attack the enemy's weakest link.) It can break a thousand miles. ）

Cao Gong said: The righteous should be the enemy, and the strange soldiers are unprepared from the side. (Resist the enemy head-on, and surprise soldiers take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to attack from the flanks.) ）

Cao Gong said: Since 'infinity is like heaven and earth', it has been infinite, and it is infinite to Yu Qizheng.

Cao Gong said: Launch an attack on the enemy. (Cao Cao said: knot, refers to a fierce attack on the enemy.) ）

Cao Gong said: The danger is still sick.

(Its knots are short.) Cao Gong said: Short, close.

Cao Gong said: It is not far away, and the hair is also in the middle.

Cao Gong said: The flag is chaotic, the enemy is chaotic, and the golden drum is all together, the car ride turns into a circle, and there is a neat way in and out.

Cao Gong said: They are all ruined and hidden.

Cao Gong said: Take the part, the division, the name, and the number as it, so it is not chaotic.

Cao Gong said: The situation is appropriate. (The strength and momentum of the army should be handled appropriately.) ）

Cao Gong said: See the shape of the tree. (This is a deliberate attempt to pretend to be weak in order to lure the enemy.) ）

Cao Gong said: Lure the enemy with profit, and the enemy will stay away from its base, and so as to attack its emptiness and loneliness.

Cao Gong said: Move the enemy with profit.

Cao Gong said: Those who seek it from the power will also have the right to appoint; Those who are not responsible for others will have the right to become clear.

Cao Gong said: Let nature be strong. (This means going with the flow and taking advantage of the situation.) ）

"The famous example of the military situation is the battle of Guandu that took place in the late Eastern Han Dynasty before the formation of the situation of the Three Kingdoms. In 200 AD, the armies of Yuan and Cao fought in Guandu. In this battle, Cao Cao was good at capturing fighters, and was able to flexibly change tactics according to the development of the battlefield situation, resisting the attack of the Yuan army with regular soldiers, attacking the grain depot of the Yuan army with surprise soldiers, and burning all the grain and grass of the Yuan army.

The reason why Cao Cao was able to defeat the strong with the weak was first of all that he was superior to Yuan Shao in strategy. When Yuan Shao attacked him with an absolutely superior force, he was able to objectively analyze the advantages and disadvantages of both the enemy and us, and formulated a combat principle and policy of waiting for work at ease and striking at the rear. In the specific implementation, it can also grasp the key points. This can be seen from Cao Cao's choice of Guandu as the main battlefield. From the very beginning, Cao Cao placed the main force in Guandu, rather than fortifying it along the Yellow River, because Guandu was located in the upper reaches of the chasm and was on the verge of Bianshui. The chasm canal connects Hugao, Gong and Luoyao Pass in the west, and goes down to Huaisi in the east, which is the barrier of Xuchang in the north and east. Therefore, Guandu was a battleground for Yuan Shao to seize Xuchang. Defending Guandu will be able to hold its throat, so that Yuan will not be able to advance, and will create favorable conditions for the counterattack and annihilation of the enemy. Secondly, Cao Cao's victory also lies in his mastery of the art of war and his ability to use it flexibly. In the outpost battles of Baima and Yanjin, Cao Cao showed his form to the enemy with a feint, mobilized Yuan's army and dispersed their forces; When the White Horse won the first battle and led the troops to retreat, he was able to lure the enemy and treat the enemy with pawns, and finally defeated Yuan's army and successfully retreated to Guandu. In the decisive battle, Cao Cao was good at listening to the correct opinions and suggestions of his subordinates, and understood that in a situation where the enemy was strong and we were weak, only by flexibly changing tactics and using both positive and strange things could we change from passive to active. Therefore, he actively created a strategic situation favorable to himself, and after learning the information that Yuan's army had gathered all the grain and grass in Wuchao and neglected to defend, he seized this favorable opportunity in time, and decisively decided to send elite troops to attack the Wuchao grain depot, burning all the grain and grass of Yuan's army in one fell swoop, so that Yuan's army ran out of ammunition and food, and the army's morale was shaken, laying a solid foundation for Cao's main force to defeat the enemy.

The Battle of Guandu is an excellent proof of Sun Tzu's Art of War that the use of soldiers to fight 'with the right fit and win with the odd'. From the reasons for Yuan Shao's defeat in the Battle of Guandu, we can also confirm the rationality and correctness of the main points in "The Art of War: Soldiers" from the negative side. Yuan Shao's defeat was due to his ignorance of the choice of people and the change of tactics. He only knows how to fight below, and he doesn't know how to use both right and strange; At the same time, they are arrogant and conceited, unable to listen to the correct opinions of their subordinates, so that they often miss good opportunities, and finally lose their original military superiority. These lessons and lessons of the Battle of Guandu have always been concerned by soldiers, and they can still give us deep inspiration. ”