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Sun Tzu said: War is a national event, which is related to the life and death of the country. We can't help observing and treating it seriously.
Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the enemy and ourselves from five aspects and compare the seven situations of both sides to discuss the outcome of the war. (These five aspects) First, politics, second, timing, third, geographical location, fourth, generals, and fifth, the rule of law. Politics is to make people agree with the wishes of the monarch, so it can be called dying for the monarch and living for the monarch without second thoughts. Weather refers to the change of day and night, sunny and rainy, cold and summer, and four seasons. Geographical location refers to the terrain conditions such as high mountains and depressions, long-distance shortcuts, smooth risks, width and dead corners. General means resourcefulness, honesty, kindness, courage and strictness. The legal system refers to the organization of the army, the management of generals and the control of military supplies. All these five aspects, the generals need to know. Those who fully understand these conditions can win the battle, but those who do not know these conditions cannot win the battle. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the outcome of the war by comparing seven situations between the two sides. (These seven situations) are: Which monarch is politically enlightened? Which side is more talented? Which time and place is better? Which party's laws can be enforced? Which side is equipped with weapons? Which side of the soldiers are well trained? Which side rewards and punishments are fair and strict? Based on these, we can judge who wins and who loses.
If the general agrees and carries out my war plan, he will win and stay and use it; If you don't agree and carry out my war plan, you will fail. You should let him go.
After the strategic plan is determined and adopted, the problem of "potential" should be considered in order to make full use of external conditions. The so-called "potential" means to be flexible according to favorable conditions.
Fighting with soldiers is actually a strange fraud. Therefore, we must do it: have the ability, pretend not to have the ability; Take action and pretend not to take action; When you are close to each other, let them feel far away, and when you are far away, let them feel close. If the other party is greedy for profits, he will seduce him with small profits; If the other party is in chaos, take the opportunity to capture him; When the other side is strong, pay attention to guard against him; If the opponent's soldiers are strong, they will temporarily avoid him; When the morale of the other party is strong, try to crush it; When the other person is humble and quiet, try to make him arrogant and ignorant; If the other person has a good rest, try to make him tired; When the other party is United, they try to create contradictions and alienate him. Attack when the other party is unprepared and unprepared, and take unexpected actions. This is the secret of the strategist's victory, which cannot be explained in advance. Sun Tzu's art of war and the way of managers' command. Appendix III: Translation of Sun Tzu's Art of War
Before the war, if we can win after careful calculation, we will have more chances of winning; If you still can't win after careful calculation, your chances of winning are even smaller. The more carefully you plan, the better your chances of winning. The more careless you plan, the less chance you have of winning, let alone not planning at all. According to these observations, we can judge the outcome of victory or defeat. Operation article
Sun Tzu said: to fight with soldiers, you need thousands of light cars, thousands of heavy cars, 100 thousand troops, and even thousands of miles to transport grain across the border. Then the front and rear expenses, the expenses of entertaining envoys and tourists, the expenses of combat equipment, and the maintenance expenses of vehicles and armored vehicles will be tens of thousands every day, and then hundreds of thousands of troops can be dispatched.
Fighting with soldiers, if it drags on for too long, will hinder military action and dampen the spirit of the army. Siege will exhaust the troops, and long-term fighting outside the army will make the country financially difficult. If military action is blocked, the morale of the army is frustrated, the military strength is exhausted, and the national economy is exhausted, then some governors and countries will take the opportunity to make trouble. At that time, even with a wise commander in chief, there was nothing they could do. So militarily, I have only heard of using clumsy methods to make a quick decision, but I have never seen using clever methods to prolong the war. There has never been a situation in which the war dragged on for a long time and was beneficial to the country. Therefore, people who don't fully understand the harmful aspects of using military force can't fully understand the beneficial aspects of using military force.
Those who are good at using soldiers can't levy again, and food can't be sent many times. Weapons and equipment will be taken away from home, and food and feed will be replenished in enemy countries. In this way, the army's grain and grass supply will be sufficient. The reason why the country is poor because of the war is because of the expedition and long-distance transportation of the army. Army expeditions and long-distance transportation will plunge people into poverty. Prices in places near the garrison are bound to soar, which will dry up the national finance. Due to financial exhaustion, the country is eager to increase taxes. Military strength is exhausted on the battlefield, the country is empty, and people's property is consumed by seven tenths. Due to vehicle damage, horse fatigue, the production of armor, crossbows, halberds and shields, and the requisition of bullock carts to transport the trench, the government's financial resources will also lose six tenths. Therefore, wise generals will find ways to solve the problem of food and grass supply in enemy countries. Consuming one minute (China's ancient unit of measurement) of food from the enemy country is equivalent to transporting it from China for 20 minutes; Using one stone feed from an enemy country is equivalent to transporting 20 stones from China. To make the army kill the enemy bravely, it is necessary to boost the morale of the army; If the army wants to seize the enemy's munitions, it must rely on the rewards of materials. Therefore, in the battle of chariots, whoever captures more than ten chariots will be rewarded to the first person who wins the chariot, and the captured chariot will be replaced with our flag and mixed into the ranks of our own chariots. For prisoners of war, we should be kind to them and use them for us. This is what we mean by defeating the enemy and making ourselves stronger.
Therefore, it is more important to make a quick decision than to delay it for a long time. Therefore, a general who understands the characteristics of war is the master of people's life and death and the master of national security. Planning and attacking articles
Sun Tzu said: the guiding principle of war is: victory is the best policy to preserve the enemy's "country", and victory is the second; It is the best policy to save the enemy's "army" and win, followed by breaking the enemy's "army"; Being able to save the enemy's "brigade" and win it is the best policy, and breaking the enemy's "brigade" and winning it is the second; It is the best policy to save the enemy's "pawn" and win it, followed by breaking the enemy's "pawn"; Being able to keep the enemy's "Wu" and win is the best policy, and breaking the enemy's "Wu" and winning is the second. Therefore, winning every battle can not be regarded as the elite of the elite; A soldier who conquers without fighting is a wise man among the wise.
Therefore, the best policy is the enemy's strategic defeat, followed by the enemy's diplomatic defeat, the enemy's army defeat, and finally the enemy's city attack. The method of siege is the last resort. It takes several months to make big shields and wagons for siege and prepare siege equipment. It will take several months to complete the construction of the besieging earth mountain. The general couldn't control his anger and drove his soldiers to climb the ladder like ants to attack the city. As a result, one-third of the soldiers were killed or injured, but the city still failed to conquer. This is the disaster caused by the siege.
People who are good at fighting will make the enemy yield instead of fighting hard, capture the enemy's castle instead of storming, and destroy the enemy's country instead of fighting for a long time. We must use the strategy of total victory to win the world and get all the benefits without losing too much strength. This is the law of plotting to attack the enemy.
The principle of using troops is: surround the enemy with ten times the enemy's strength, attack the enemy with five times the enemy's strength, attack the enemy with twice the enemy's strength, try to disperse the enemy with equal strength, stick to the defense when the strength is less than the enemy, and try to avoid the enemy when the enemy cannot. Therefore, if a weak army stubbornly persists, it will become a prisoner of a powerful enemy.
The so-called generals are like Kuninosuke. If the auxiliary wood is thin and reliable, the country will be strong. If the auxiliary wood is not reliable, the country will be weak. In ancient China, auxiliary wood was an important equipment installed on vehicles, and "auxiliary" and "vehicle" must be closely linked to make vehicles run normally and safely. Therefore, the ancients in China had the saying that "auxiliary vehicles depend on each other". Here, Sun Tzu used a metaphor to illustrate the relationship between the general and the country and the important position of the general in national security.
There are three situations in which the monarch endangers the army: he does not understand that the army cannot advance and forces the army to retreat, and he does not understand that the army cannot retreat. It's called binding the army. Intervening in the management of the army without knowing the internal affairs of the army will confuse the soldiers; If you don't understand military expediency, but interfere with the command of the army, it will make soldiers suspicious. The army was confused and suspicious, and the vassal state took the opportunity to invade. This is the so-called self-destruction.
There are five ways to predict victory: those who know whether they can fight or not can win; Only those who know the law of power application can win; One heart and one mind can win; Those who are prepared for themselves and unprepared for the enemy can win; A general can command without being bound by the monarch, and he can win. These five rules are the way to predict victory.
Therefore, know yourself and know yourself. Do not know yourself, or win or lose; If you don't know yourself and yourself, every battle will be dangerous. In this passage, "danger" means "danger". Star film
Sun Tzu said: A man who is good at fighting must be invincible first, and then stand by and defeat the enemy. The initiative that will not be defeated by the enemy is in your own hands. Whether you can defeat the enemy depends on whether the enemy has a gap to use. Therefore, people who are good at fighting can not be defeated by the enemy, but there is no absolute guarantee that they will defeat the enemy. Therefore, victory can be predicted, but it cannot be forced.
If you don't want to be defeated by the enemy, you must organize your defense; If you want to defeat the enemy, you must take offensive action. Take defense because the enemy has many troops; Because the enemy was short of troops, they launched an attack. People who are good at defense hide their troops like deep underground; Those who are good at attacking, deploying their own troops is like falling from the sky. Only in this way can we save ourselves and achieve the goal of total victory.
He who foresees victory without exceeding ordinary people's knowledge is not the smartest wise man. Victory after fierce fighting, even if the whole world says yes, is not the elite of the elite. It's like being able to lift feathers is not great strength, seeing the sun and the moon is not good eyes, and hearing thunder is not good ears. In ancient times, people who were good at fighting always defeated those who were easy to be defeated. Therefore, people who are good at fighting have won the battle, with no surprising victory, no reputation for wisdom and no heroic feats. They strive for victory without making mistakes; The reason why there will be no mistakes is that their combat measures are based on winning, in order to defeat those enemies who have already failed. People who are good at fighting always make themselves invincible and never miss the opportunity to defeat the enemy. Therefore, the victorious army first has the assurance of victory, and then seeks to engage with the enemy; Defeated troops often take risks to engage the enemy first, and then hope to win by luck. Those who are good at directing wars must master the laws and principles of "self-protection and total victory" in order to decide victory or defeat on their own initiative.
There are five basic principles to win: first, the degree of land area, second, the quantity of resources, third, the number of soldiers, fourth, the balance of forces, and fifth, the outcome of the victory. The geographical areas of the enemy and ourselves are different, and the land area of the two sides is different; The difference in the "degree" of the land area between the enemy and us has resulted in a somewhat different "quantity" of the property resources of both sides; The difference in the "quantity" of property resources between the enemy and ourselves leads to the difference in the "number" of troops between the two sides; The difference in the number of forces between the enemy and ourselves leads to the difference in the name of the strength comparison between the two sides; The difference in the "balance" between the enemy and ourselves ultimately determines the outcome of the war. Compared with the defeated army, the victorious army has an absolute advantage as a "Thai baht"; Compared with the victorious army, the defeated army is at an absolute disadvantage, just like using "baht" to call "Yi". A strong winner commands troops to fight, just like a mountain stream cut off from water on a cliff. This is the "shape" of military strength. Potential article
Sun Tzu said: to manage all people as one person depends on the management system; Mobilizing thousands of troops into one army depends on command and control; Leading the whole army to defeat the enemy without fighting depends on the use of "odd and correct" tactics; Defeating the enemy is like hitting a stone with an egg, which is the embodiment of the idea of avoiding reality and being empty.
All battles are fought with "right" and won with "odd". Therefore, generals who are good at winning by surprise will have endless changes in tactics like heaven and earth, and will not be exhausted like rivers. Finally, like the sun and the moon; Go and come again, just like the change of seasons. There are only five scales of sound, but these five scales can change infinite actions; Colors are only five pigments, but these five pigments can change endless pictures; There are only five flavors, but these five flavors can be exchanged for endless delicious food; The battle plan is not "odd and positive", but "odd and positive" tactics that can change endlessly. "Odd and right" are transformed into each other, just like a circle, which has no beginning and no end. Who can exhaust it?
Fast flowing water can float stones, which is the role of "potential"; Birds of prey in the sky can kill birds, which is the role of "knots". A man who is good at fighting creates a steep "potential" and grasps a "knot" in a hurry. The steep "potential" is like a bow, and the rapid "knot" is like an arrow that has just been shot.
Maduo, with flags, should keep himself in order in the chaos; Muddy car dealers, chaotic people running, we must keep ourselves unbeaten in complex deployment maneuvers. Show that the enemy's confusion is due to strict organization; Showing the enemy's cowardice is because of his brave quality; Showing the enemy's weakness is due to its great strength. Tightness and chaos are determined by the quality of the organization; Courage and cowardice are caused by the favorable and unfavorable situation; Strength is revealed in the contrast between strength and weakness. Be good at mobilizing the enemy's generals, disguise the illusion and confuse the enemy, and the enemy will listen to the mobilization; Lure the enemy with a small profit, and the enemy will come and take it. Mobilize the enemy to submit in this way, and then destroy them with heavy troops.
A man who is good at fighting can win with the help of favorable situation, which is not limited to his own strength, so he can combine his own strength with clever borrowing. Generals who are good at creating favorable situations command troops to fight, just like rolling wood and stones. Characteristics of wood and stone: it stands in a stable place and rolls in a steep place; Square is easy to stand, round is easy to turn. Therefore, the favorable situation caused by people who are good at commanding operations is like rolling down a boulder from a mountain. This is the so-called "potential" virtual and real article.
Sun Tzu said: those who take advantage of the battlefield first, treat the enemy, take the initiative to be comfortable, and those who arrive at the favorable position in a hurry on the battlefield are passive and tired. Therefore, people who are good at commanding operations can mobilize the enemy without being mobilized by the enemy.
What allows the enemy to automatically enter my predetermined area is the result of small profits; What can prevent the enemy from reaching its predetermined area is the result of creating difficulties to stop it. Let the enemy be tired when he is resting, hungry when he is full, and move when he is stationed safely. The key is to touch the place where he wants to move for me.
Marching thousands of miles is not tiring, because you are walking where the enemy has not deployed; The attack is bound to succeed, because the attack is where the enemy is unprepared; The defense must be stable, because the defense is where the enemy will attack. Therefore, people who are good at attacking make the enemy not know how to defend; People who are good at defense let the enemy not know how to attack. Subtle Too subtle to see; It's amazing! It's amazing, I can't hear the sound; So you can be the master of the enemy's fate.
What the enemy can't resist is because it has hit its empty space; Retreat, so that the enemy can not pursue, because the action is fast, so that the enemy can not catch up. So I want to fight, even if the enemy is in a deep ditch, I have to leave the position to fight. This is because I have hit the key point that the enemy will save. I have no stomach for a fight. Although I have built such a meaningless defense as "drawing the ground as a prison", the enemy will not attack because I have moved the enemy in other directions.
Show yourself to the enemy, expose the enemy, but not our army, concentrate our troops, and the enemy forces have to be dispersed. Our army is concentrated in one place and the enemy is scattered in ten places. I can attack the enemy with ten times the enemy's strength, which forms a favorable situation that I am outnumbered. If we can defeat the few with more, there will be very few enemies fighting head-on with our army.
Where our army is going to attack, the enemy's situation is unknown, so there are more places for him to guard against; The more places the enemy defends, the fewer enemies our army will attack. Therefore, the front guard, the rear force is weak; Defending the rear, the troops in front will be weak; If you guard against the left, the strength on the right will be weak; Guard against right deviation, and the left-leaning forces will be weak; If you look out everywhere, you will be weak everywhere. The reason why the troops are weak is because they are wary of others everywhere; The reason why the troops are sufficient is that the enemy is forced to guard against himself everywhere.
So, if you can predict the place and time of the battle, you can fight the enemy even if you are thousands of miles away. If we can't predict when and where to fight, then the left wing can't save the right wing, the right wing can't save the left wing, the front can't save the rear, and the rear can't save the front, let alone dozens of miles away, near a few miles away. According to my analysis, although Vietnam has a large number of troops, what good is it for winning the war? Therefore, victory can be caused. Although there are many enemy troops, they can't compete with us.
Therefore, it is necessary to carefully plan and analyze the gains and losses of the enemy's battle plan; It is necessary to anger the enemy and let them know their own activities; Reconnaissance the situation and know where it is beneficial and where it is unfavorable; It takes a small battle to understand the enemy's strength.
So, if you pretend to be the best, you can't see the trace; You can't see the trace, even if there are hidden spies, you can't see the details of our army, and smart enemy generals can't figure out how to deal with our army. Flexible use of tactics according to changes in the enemy's situation, even if victory is in front of everyone, everyone still can't see the mystery. People only know the methods I used to defeat the enemy, but they don't know how I won by these methods. So every victory is not a repetition of the old method, but an adaptation to different situations and endless changes.
Fighting is like running water, because it avoids the high and flows to the low; Winning by war is because we avoid the enemy's "reality" and attack the enemy's "emptiness." Because of the height of the terrain, the flow direction of water is limited, and different tactics are decided according to different enemy situations in the battle. Therefore, there is no fixed and rigid battlefield situation and no fixed way of fighting soldiers. Those who can win according to the changes of the enemy's situation are called fighting like gods. None of the five elements is fixed and always wins, and none of the four seasons is fixed. The days are short and long, and the moon is short and round. Military dispute
Sun Tzu said: In the general process of using troops, there is nothing more difficult than gaining the upper hand. The most difficult thing is to turn detours into shortcuts and turn disadvantages into advantages. Therefore, we can use the detour feint to lure the enemy with small profits, so as to get ahead of the enemy and reach the important place we want to compete for. This is the way to know how to take a detour and go straight.
Military struggle has its advantages, but it also has its dangers. If the whole army is prepared to compete for profits, it will not be able to reach the scheduled position on time; If you travel light for profit, the trench will be lost. Therefore, if the generals of the three armies put away their armor and travel hundreds of miles day and night for profit, they may be captured by the enemy; Qiang Bing went first, followed by weak soldiers, and only one-tenth of the troops arrived; Walking 50 miles for profit, the generals who joined the army will be frustrated, and only half of the troops will arrive; Only two-thirds of the troops arrived on foot for 30 miles. Therefore, the army can't live without the trench, can't live without food and can't live without material reserves.
People who don't understand the strategic intentions of other governors can't make friends; Not familiar with mountains, obstacles, water networks, swamps and other terrain, can not March; If you don't reuse the wizard, you can't get the correct location. Therefore, we should be good at using "fraud" in combat, taking action by "profit" and changing deployment and tactics through centralization or decentralization. Therefore, when the army moves fast, it is like a gust of wind, when it moves slowly, it is like a forest, when it attacks, it is like a fire, when it defends, it is like a cloudy day, and when it charges, it is like thunder. We should divide our troops and plunder the war materials in enemy-occupied areas, and send troops to guard the favorable terrain in the expanded area to weigh the gains and losses. Those who know in advance how to take detours as a direct method will win. This is the law of military struggle.
"Military Affairs" said that it is difficult to convey command information in words in combat, so the golden drum was set up; It is difficult for soldiers to see the command signal clearly through their actions, so they set a standard. Therefore, golden drums are used for fighting at night and flags are used for fighting during the day. The golden drum and the banner unified the action of the whole army. Since the whole army acts as one, brave soldiers will not advance alone, and timid soldiers will not shrink back. This is the way to command large troops to fight.
For the enemy, it can reduce their morale; For enemy generals, their determination can be shaken. At the beginning of the war, the morale of the army was high. After a while, I gradually slackened off, and finally my morale was low. Therefore, people who are good at fighting should avoid the enemy's spirit when he first arrives, and wait until the enemy's morale is slack and exhausted. This is the winning way to weaken the enemy's morale. Deal with the enemy's chaos with your own strictness, and deal with the enemy's noise with your own calmness. This is a way to use the enemy's psychological excitement to win. Waiting for distant enemies on the battlefield near us, waiting for tired enemies when our army is resting, and waiting for hungry enemies when our army is full, this is the way to win by consuming enemy strength. Don't try to capture the neatly arranged military flag, and don't try to attack the enemy who is in battle. This is the way to win by waiting for the enemy to change.
The rules of fighting are: when the enemy occupies the mountain, don't attack from behind, don't face the attack with his back to the high ground, pretend to be defeated, don't follow the pursuit, don't attack the elite of the enemy, don't pay attention to the temptation of the enemy, don't intercept the enemy when he returns home, leave a gap in the encirclement, and don't push him too hard when he is desperate. This is the rule of fighting. Flat wine tablets
Sun Tzu said: Generally speaking, the way to use troops is that the monarch will accept the orders of the monarch, organize troops and gather military supplies. When going out, don't camp on the impassable "land", don't make friends with neighboring countries on the "crooked land" extending in all directions, and don't stay in the "land of the Jedi" that is difficult to survive. In the "fenced-in" surrounded by the enemy, he has to plan cleverly and fall into desperate "death". Some roads should not be taken, some enemies should not fight, some cities should not attack, some places should not fight, and some monarch's orders should not be carried out. Therefore, a general can master the application of the above-mentioned machine changes, that is, he knows how to use troops. The general is not skilled in the use of the above-mentioned machines. Although he knows the terrain, he can't get to the right place. Commanding the army does not know the methods of various changes. Although it knows the advantages of the above five things, it cannot give full play to the role of the army.
A clever general must give consideration to two "interests" when considering problems. Considering "profit", we can fully estimate the favorable side; Considering the "harm", the disaster can be lifted in advance. It is necessary to force the vassals to yield through "harm", keep them busy through complicated things, and induce them to be fooled through "profit".
The law of fighting is not to hope that the enemy will not come, but to make full preparations on your own; Don't expect the enemy not to attack, but rely on your own strength to make it impossible for the enemy to attack.
A general has five fatal weaknesses: putting all your eggs in one basket may be trapped and killed, fear of death may be captured, impatience and irritability may lead to a plot of contempt by the enemy, integrity and good reputation may fall into the trap of insult by the enemy, and blind love for the people may lead to trouble and unrest. The above five points are the fault of the general and the disaster of using troops. The collapse of the army and the killing of generals must be caused by these five dangers, which cannot be fully understood. Marching articles
Sun Tzu said: When deploying troops on different terrains and observing and judging the enemy's situation, you should choose valleys with aquatic plants when crossing mountains, camp in places with high sunshine, and don't attack the enemy to occupy high ground. This is the way to deploy troops in mountainous areas. When I cross the river, I should stay away from the current. When the enemy is fighting in the water, don't fight in the water, and wait until the middle to attack, which is most beneficial. If you want to fight the enemy, don't line up at the water's edge; Camp in the river should also be in the place where the sun is high, and must not be downstream of the enemy. This is how troops are deployed in the water network. When passing through the saline-alkali swamp, pass quickly and don't stay; If you meet the enemy in the saline-alkali swamp, you must lean against the grass and turn your back to the Woods. This is the way to deploy troops in saline-alkali marshes. In order to occupy the open area on the plain, the main flank should rely on the highland, with the front low and the back high. This is the way to deploy troops in the plains. The advantages of the above four methods of "running the army" are the reasons why the Yellow Emperor was able to defeat the other four emperors.
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