Today's Guan Yu's ability to command and manage troops cannot be compared with that of twenty years later.
It's not that Guan Yu's basic skills are not solid, but that he has not yet had the qualifications to command tens of thousands of people in combat - Liu Bei's family has a weak background and started late. In the original history, Guan Yu would not have such an opportunity until after the Battle of Chibi.
Now the opportunity given by Zhuge Jin should be regarded as setting a new record for the scale of Guan Yu's troops.
The specific number is: twelve thousand people.
Although the total strength of the previous battle at Huaiyin was slightly more than this, it was commanded by Liu Bei and Guan Yu together, and Guan Yu was not the commander-in-chief of the entire army.
After the reception banquet that night, Guan Yu returned to the place where he stayed. Although he was drunk, he quickly figured this out in the dead of night:
Although Ziyu needed him to train, why didn't he himself need such an opportunity to improve and challenge himself?
This is a matter of mutual benefit, so you must cherish the opportunity and do it well!
…
Even Guan Yu thought of this, and with Zhuge Liang's IQ, of course he had already thought of it.
At the same time, in the Chaisang Mansion, the Zhuge brothers were also having a long talk.
Before his younger brother officially "trains" with Guan Yu, Zhuge Jin felt that he had to explain a few things:
"Ah Liang, just before the reception banquet, I said that General Guan is a rare military training general in the world. I asked you to be more humble in your words during the dinner. You seemed a little unconvinced?"
Zhuge Liang knew that his performance could not be concealed from his elder brother, so he sincerely admitted:
"Indeed, but seeing is believing. How can I be dissatisfied with someone who has real talent and hard work? I just think that my brother's statement that he is 'rare in the world' is a bit exaggerated.
For the time being, I think Cao Cao is far more talented than him. In terms of future potential, Sun Ce is only a weak champion, but he has such an ambitious strategy that cannot be limited. After all, General Guan lacked the qualifications to command an army.
What's more, the three heroes of Pinghuangjin all died not long ago. If it had not been for the civil war between Zhongjue and Si, which led to the loss of a large number of Chang'an's important ministers, the great talents in the world might not have had their turn yet. "
Zhuge Jin listened quietly without interrupting his brother.
He knew that what Zhuge Liang said was very consistent with today's actual situation, and he could not force the other party to predict the future.
But Zhuge Jin had already expected that his brother would have such doubts, so he specifically wanted to emphasize:
"Ah Liang, there is some truth. You are still young, so you don't understand. You are so smart that you think others are becoming more sophisticated and sophisticated as they get older."
But in fact, that’s not how the world works. For many talented people, after choosing a goal when they were young, after ten or twenty years of hard work, their skills have reached the pinnacle of their lives, and may go downhill after that——
I'm not just referring to martial arts, but also to resourcefulness. After people grow old, only experience continues to grow, while reactions and ingenuity will become slow.
Some older people seem to be becoming more and more successful, but in fact they rely on coordinating subordinates, discerning people, being a gentleman, and increasing their status and prestige. Just as Emperor Gao was not good at generals, he was good at generals.
The prestige, connections, and mediation skills of older people are exactly what we young people cannot learn. Therefore, when we learn something, we should not blindly look for the most successful elders in this field to learn from, but rather learn from those in their thirties and forties who do have unique expertise.
General Guan is such a genius. In addition to his insufficient resume, he has no experience in large-scale corps operations. But his basic military training skills are definitely among the best in the world. "
These words indeed caused Zhuge Liang to fall into deep contemplation. At the age of seventeen, he had never thought about this problem at all.
Zhuge Liang chewed over and over again and suddenly understood:
"What the elder brother said... is really inspiring. I used to have a sense of arrogance and felt that no matter what I wanted to learn, it was best to find the strongest person in the world.
Unexpectedly, there is such a truth in it. Brother, how did you guess that I would be dissatisfied? You are not much older than me. "
Zhuge Jin smiled, of course he could guess it.
He has more than ten years of experience as a gold medal lecturer, how could he not understand the pride of his students.
Moreover, Zhuge Jin is very sober and knows that his vision on this issue is unmatched by any ancients.
This is not a problem of any particular ancient, but that the pace of the ancients was too slow, and the updates and iterations of technology and skills were too slow.
In the world before industrial revolution, the term "midlife crisis" did not exist at all.
People of the Han Dynasty have always felt that all intellectual jobs "become more popular as you get older."
Because experience will not be invalidated, skills will not be eliminated, and what you learn can be used for a lifetime. This has been the case since ancient times.
But modern people have experienced brutal social progress and transformation. Even doctors and lawyers don’t dare to say that the older you get, the more popular you become, and even coders were optimized by bloodbath at the age of 35.
Therefore, Zhuge Jin's understanding of "which abilities of intellectual workers can increase with age, and which abilities cannot increase with age" is obviously better than that of all people on earth before the advent of industrialization.
Han Xin was not as thorough on this issue as he was, so Han Xin could only give a special explanation of "When people get old, they are not good at generals, but good at generals", but could not give a general answer.
Now, when he saw his second brother's disbelief and suspicion, of course he wanted to give him a heads-up.
This is also the first purpose of Zhuge Jin's teaching and educating people: before learning knowledge and skills, you must first correct your attitude and understand why you should learn and why you should not learn.
However, these inner activities of his were not enough for his second brother, so he had to find other excuses.
Zhuge Jin thought about it for a while and found that a passage he had memorized while studying was very suitable for Zhuge Liang's current state of mind, so he changed the subject and said:
"The sage is impermanent. Confucius taught Tanzi, Shixiang, and Laodan. Tanzi was not as wise as Confucius, but Confucius said: When three people walk together, there must be my teacher. Therefore, the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher, and the teacher does not need to be wiser than the disciple. Wen There is a sequence of Taoism, there is a specialization of skills, that's all.
General Guan doesn't know how to fight with a large army, so you can learn other parts from him. As long as he is the best in the world in one thing, he is worth learning. "
"I will follow the teachings of my elder brother!" Zhuge Liang promised sincerely from the bottom of his heart, and decided to write down these words at the end of his last letter to encourage students when he returned.
…
In the next two days, due to the Chinese New Year, everything in Chaisang City was safe and nothing major happened.
No matter how eager Guan Yu was to train his troops, he would not train on a day like this.
However, even if he is not training soldiers, his journey of bringing Zhuge Liang to gain knowledge has already begun.
He took Zhuge Liang around and got to know the soldiers in each camp.
Zhuge Liang was a little confused at first, thinking that Guan Yu was going to be a favor and give rewards to the soldiers to boost morale as soon as possible.
But Guan Yu didn't take any measures to win over him. At most, he just picked some soldiers to talk to.
He didn't even come forward in person, but asked his confidant, the small colonel, to secretly inquire about the concerns and needs of the soldiers in each battalion.
If according to Zhuge Liang's original temperament, there was no effect in two days, he would probably have to rush to ask questions - the higher the IQ, the less likely it is to delay gratification. They are always used to doing a little bit of work by themselves, and immediately see the effects and feedback. .
Fortunately, he had just been taken care of by his elder brother this time, and Zhuge Liang repeatedly warned himself, "There are priorities in learning, and there are specialties in skills. Take a closer look and don't be impatient." Only then did he survive.
A few more days passed, and finally after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Guan Yu began to restore a certain intensity of training, starting with military discipline and formation, supplemented by certain rewards and punishments.
Zhuge Liang humbly wrote down everything Guan Yu did, and then went back and slowly figured it out, whether he understood it or not. If you don’t understand, compare it with the Art of War you’ve read and try to confirm your understanding.
After another three or five days of formal practice, Zhuge Liang finally felt that he had figured out something.
He took advantage of his free time after a military discipline training to ask Guan Yu several questions:
"General Guan, I watched you improve military discipline and inspire military morale. You shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, sympathized with their poor diet, improved their meals, and even ate with ordinary primary school soldiers.
But sometimes you don't want to show mercy at will, but practice strictly and set the standards so high that few people can complete them, and at the same time give heavy rewards to those who complete them.
I speculate that you have learned both Li Guang's "share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers" and Huo Qubing's "just seek clear rewards and punishments so that those who have made meritorious deeds will have a bright future." However, the application of the two seems very casual and cannot be seen. When to use what method, which one do you believe in? "
Zhuge Liang's words can be regarded as a public case about how to unite soldiers in the Han Dynasty.
As early as the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Li Guang felt that sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers was the most effective.
But Huo Qubing felt that as long as he could lead everyone to win the battle and provide clear rewards and punishments, it would be better for the general to be extravagant. In this way, the people below will have the motivation to strive and know that "if I achieve great achievements, I can enjoy the same enjoyment as General Huo."
In the next three hundred years, the morale-boosting ideas of the generals of the Han Dynasty were nothing more than these two categories, but the details were slightly different——
Of course, if you can learn a little bit of either of these two ideas, you can barely be considered a famous general.
For example, Duan Jiong, who made great achievements in defeating the Qiang people during the Huan Ling Dynasty, is a typical example of Huo Qubing, which can arouse the greed of soldiers.
And the vast majority of ordinary generals cannot even do any of these.
Don't laugh. For example, Zhang Fei, who "loves to respect gentlemen but does not care about villains", is a typical person who fails to do even one of these things.
Of course, Zhang Fei can also lead troops and force them to fight for him, but he mainly relies on high-pressure encouragement. Whether he can change for the better in the future depends on whether he respects Brother Zhuge and whether he changes his mind with humility.
Zhuge Liang has been studying with Guan Yu for these days. He feels that he has seen the specific operation of various styles, but he just didn't understand the basis for Guan Yu's choice.
However, Guan Yu still appreciated that he could ask this question.
"Oh? You have actually seen that I am trying to learn from the strengths of others and try to have the methods of Huo Qubing and Li Guang? You are indeed a well-educated man, you can see it so quickly. My eldest brother and Yide have been in the army with me for thirteen years. They didn't ask me that question either."
Guan Yu sighed with emotion and felt a little proud at the same time. He showed off his secret knowledge and said:
"Actually, this principle is not clear. The beauty of its application lies in one intention. But generally speaking, there are several vague principles.
Based on my experience of thirteen years of fighting, Li Guang's approach of sharing the joys and sorrows with his soldiers will be more effective when you lead a group of troops and want to protect the tranquility of your hometown and repel the invading bandits.
Because only when generals and soldiers share joys and sorrows, it is easy for the soldiers to feel that "this is something we must protect together. Even the generals are suffering with us, so what do we have to worry about gains and losses?" This will inspire the common hatred and hatred of the enemy.
However, if you are leading an army on an expedition to attack foreign tribes, or if you are engaged in "unjust wars in the Spring and Autumn Period" and just want to annex other princes, then sharing the joys and sorrows is useless. Those who are willing to go on an expedition with you all want to make achievements. The greed of these soldiers is much stronger than the soldiers who protect their homes and territory.
At this time, you can learn from Huo Qubing's extravagance and strict rewards and punishments, so that they know how much they can gain after success and fame, and how much they can gain by fighting hard.
The same truth has actually been fulfilled in Xiang Yu and Gaozu. Taishi Gong said that Xiang Yu was "a woman of kindness, but she didn't know how to reward her". In fact, it had a lot to do with Xiang Yu's rise.
Emperor Gaozu started his army to protect himself at first, but later to seize the world and gain wealth. Of course, those who fought side by side must be heavily rewarded. Otherwise, why would those rural party members risk their lives and travel thousands of miles to Xianyang?
Xiang Yu is not the case. He raised his army out of hatred and did not even think about conquering the world. He only wanted to destroy Qin. The battle to protect the family and take revenge is done regardless of gains and losses. Even if Xiang Yu didn't pay his army, Chu soldiers would kill Qin on their own initiative. A woman's kindness and sympathy for the soldiers are enough.
After Qin's death, he turned from revenge to fighting for the world, but Xiang Yu did not change his mind, and gradually everyone rebelled against his relatives. Back then, those who hated Qin did not hate Han. Peng Yue and Yingbu could voluntarily kill Qin without giving rewards, but they could not voluntarily kill Han without giving rewards. "
Guan Yu's words cannot be said to be logically rigorous. They are simply summed up by a famous general and wizard who has led troops for more than ten years, based on his personal experience and experience.
Liu Bei and his troops also went through several stages. When they first raised troops to attack the Yellow Turbans in Zhuo County, the treatment conditions were very poor, but the robes never complained because they were defending their hometown.
Later, Liu Bei and Guan Yu took Xiang Yong to fight elsewhere, but soon they were defeated repeatedly because they could not keep up with the rewards and prospects. It was at that time that Guan Yu began to slowly ponder this issue.
He loves to read, but this does not mean that he stops reading. Guan Yu loves to summarize military experience from history books, combine it with his own practice, and compare and verify it repeatedly.
Zhuge Liang realized this repeatedly and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Does that mean that when we fight to defend our country and for revenge, we should share the joys and sorrows?
And as long as you invade other countries or princes, even if other countries are the first to attack, as long as they attack the territory of other countries, will the soldiers' desire for profit be mobilized at this time?
It’s no wonder that during Emperor Huan’s reign, he defeated the Qiang, but due to continuous battles, too many military exploits, and all the soldiers having a surplus of wealth, he stopped making progress. Duan Jiong designed a disguised Qiang people to burn the camp and destroy property, inspiring the soldiers to hate the Qiang, and once again worked hard to fight for their lives, and finally won a great victory! "
This allusion mentioned by Zhuge Liang was no longer a secret during the Jian'an period.
That was more than thirty years ago. Duan Qiao, known as one of Liangzhou's three bright stars, once said that "soldiers are afraid of losing their lives when they get too much reward for winning battles, and they are also afraid that they will lose their savings because of fighting outside the Great Wall." The reward cannot be sent back to the family immediately, and it will be in vain if he dies."
Then Duan Jiong figured out a truth: Only by giving money can soldiers fight, but if there is too much money, it will not be conducive to fighting. Therefore it is better to fake an enemy attack, burn all the money the soldiers have fought for, and return to abject poverty.
Zhuge Liang integrated what Guan Yu said, as well as the allusions of Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Li Guang, Huo and Duan Jiong, and finally felt that he had grasped the idea.
But Guan Yu advised him not to rush to conclusions: "What you said has some truth, but it is not detailed enough to make generalizations -
Let’s talk about the current battle. We have to drive our soldiers to attack Zuo Rong regardless of their own safety. How can we boost morale and enforce strict military discipline?
As for the Danyang soldiers in the army and the Xingba Jinfan soldiers, they just want to gain wealth and wealth.
As for the local county soldiers in Yuzhang, they may resent Zuo Rong for harming their hometown.
For the county soldiers from Guangling County and Danyang County, they may also resent their hometown for being harmed, but after all, they are fighting in a different place, and their mentality is subtly different.
As for those monk soldiers who found themselves deceived and repented and surrendered, it was a completely different situation.
I want to integrate these four types of soldiers with different combat purposes, but I cannot clearly use four sets of rewards and punishment incentives that are treated differently. This requires clever use, with one intention, using the same method but different uses, so that people cannot see it. Clues - In short, I am not boasting, you still have to learn the method of mastering the morale of the army. "
Zhuge Liang was completely convinced and sighed: "I am too eager to achieve success and always want to sum up the rules. Some things must be dealt with according to the situation and cannot be ignored. Otherwise, I will become like Zhao Kuo."
…
After adjusting his mentality, Zhuge Liang became more motivated to learn and his attitude towards learning became more correct.
When he saw any difficult-to-summarize practices during Guan Yu's military training, he was no longer eager to ask, but thought more about it himself and figured it out more.
After all, Zhuge Liang's intelligence is unparalleled in the world. With his elder brother's learning attitude and Guan Yu's learning methods, he can naturally get twice the result with half the effort and make rapid progress.
After the Shangyuan Festival, he felt that he had somewhat mastered the application of Guan Yu's whole set of morale-boosting methods.
After he proposed his idea to Guan Yu, Guan Yu was generous and gave him a chance to put it into practice.
Zhuge Liang directly arranged the training rewards and punishments for the next ten days, and optimized the soldiers' food and living conditions.
Zhuge Liang followed what he had observed about Guan Yu's approach and first drew the gourd in the same way. Guan Yu immediately pointed out any minor deficiencies to him and asked him to fine-tune his deployment.
After another seven or eight days of this, there were fewer and fewer places where Guan Yu needed guidance.
Seeing the speed of progress, Guan Yu couldn't help but admire: "What a genius in the world. It took me at least eight years, when my eldest brother was appointed from Pingyuan to Xuzhou, to reach the level of military morale you have today."
But don’t be proud. The further you go, the harder it will be to improve. It took you one month to complete the journey I took in the first eight years. In the next four years, I estimate that you will have to study for at least one more year. "
Zhuge Liang is not proud either: "Now I can reach the level of General Guan four years ago. I am already very satisfied."
