After Gou Jian, the king of Yue, returned to power, he was cautious and walked on thin ice. His life was simple and simple, never extravagant. King Gou Jian of Yue wanted to take revenge on Wu, but it could not be accomplished overnight. So Gou Jian worked hard and worked day and night. When your eyes are tired, use polygonum to stimulate them; when your feet are cold, soak them in cold water; hold ice in winter and fire in summer. Gou Jian was so worried that he hung gall in the house. He would taste the gall when he came in and out, and the bitter taste never left his mouth.
In addition to "sleeping on fuel and tasting courage", Gou Jian also farmed by himself, his wife weaved, he ate without meat, and wore clothes without ornaments. He lived an extremely frugal life, just like ordinary people. At the same time, he also saved Yue's various expenses and focused on adopting the policy of enriching the country and strengthening its army.
The first is to develop production and multiply the population. Gou Jian encouraged people to work hard and reduced taxes, and gradually achieved "everyone has enough food for three years." At the same time, men and women of appropriate age are encouraged to get married, and violators will be punished. This policy greatly stimulated the population growth of Vietnam. In addition, King Goujian of Yue also gave special care to the widowed and lonely, and at the same time relaxed the criminal law to win over people's hearts, so that the country of Yue gradually became socially stable and the people were prosperous.
Secondly, the King of Yue actively rectified internal affairs and introduced talents. With the assistance of his two important advisers Wen Zhong and Fan Li, Gou Jian established a new mechanism for recruiting talents, recruited talented people from all over the world, and used them according to their talents, which made the Yue Kingdom's politics, economy, and culture flourish in all fields. It can operate efficiently and provides a favorable political environment for the prosperity of Vietnam.
Finally, King Gou Jian of Yue strengthened the military construction and army training of the Yue State. During this period, the State of Yue implemented administrative organizations such as Anluli to recruit troops for units, and used the unique metallurgical technology of the State of Yue to forge a large number of strong bows and swords in preparation for war. In addition, the Yue State also trained the "Xi Liu" navy, and on the one hand, it severely tortured and educated the soldiers, and on the other hand, it rewarded the soldiers who had the courage to obey orders and were willing to make meritorious deeds. At the same time, the King of Yue also rebuilt the city and strengthened the national defense.
The above are basically the famous "ten years of gatherings, ten years of lessons" in history. It was under Gou Jian's diligent rule that the State of Yue gradually came out of its trough and began to recover. However, Yue's strength was not enough to defeat Wu. Yue's effective diplomatic strategy should also be an important reason for Vietnam's revival in the past two decades.
Facing the state of Wu, the state of Yue adopted a strategy of retreating in order to advance. On the one hand, they recuperate their strength at home and show weakness to Wu without showing any signs of it. Gou Jian, the king of Yue, once wanted to take advantage of the Wu Kingdom's continuous campaign to the north, which resulted in heavy casualties among soldiers and the exhaustion of the country's strength, to attack the Kingdom of Wu in order to avenge the humiliation of the country's subjugation. However, Feng Tong, a senior official of the State of Yue, advised the King of Yue: "The State of Yue has just become a little wealthy. If we reorganize our armaments and attack the State of Wu now, we may not be able to conquer the State of Wu in one fell swoop. Instead, the State of Wu will see our strength. The State of Wu When they are afraid, they will definitely turn their attention to the country of Yue, and then the country of Yue will suffer."
"Besides, the ferocious bird must hide its shape before attacking the target, and then seize the opportunity to attack suddenly. Now the Wu State is preparing to attack Qi and Jin, and at the same time it has formed deep ties with Chu and Yue. The reputation of the state of Wu has also hindered the prestige of the Zhou royal family. With less morality and more martial arts, they will definitely become arrogant and arrogant. For the Yue state, it is better to make friends with the state of Qi, get closer to the state of Chu, rely on the state of Jin, and treat Wu well. Wu If a country is bound to start a war easily, then we will contact these countries and let them attack Wu together, and then we will take advantage of Wu's fatigue to wipe out Wu in one fell swoop." After hearing Feng Tong's words, King Gou Jian of Yue agreed, and then Slowed down the plan to conquer Wu.
On the other hand, the State of Yue began to bribe the State of Wu according to Feng Tong's strategy, encouraging the King of Wu's arrogance and extravagance. The State of Yue sent the King of Wu jade silk, delicacies, valuable materials, and beauties Xi Shi and Zheng Dan. It also tried to continuously consume the people and financial resources of the State of Wu, deepening the conflict between Bo Pu and Wu Zixu, the important ministers of the King of Wu. It was under this cruel political struggle that Wu Zixu, a far-sighted and loyal minister of the Wu State, was framed to death, which relieved a great worry for the Yue State. At the same time, Yue also actively contacted Qi, Chu, and Jin, striving to unite the three countries to defeat Wu. Since Wen Zhong, Fan Li and other Yue officials were all from Chu, the relationship between Yue and Chu was even closer.
King Gou Jian of Yue even led his ministers to the Wu Dynasty to congratulate King Wu when he attacked Qi, which further encouraged King Wu's ambition to dominate. Wu's national power was constantly being depleted in this struggle for hegemony, so Wen Zhong, a senior official of the Yue State, saw the opportunity and proposed to King Gou Jian of Yue to borrow grain from Wu to test King Wu's attitude towards the Yue State. King Wu's husband did not listen to Wu Zixu's advice and lent grain to the country of Yue, which showed the complacency and arrogance of King Wu. Under this situation, the Yue State boldly planned to destroy Wu and was ready to give Wu a fatal blow at any time.
King Gou Jian of Yue relied on twenty years of painstaking efforts to gradually make the country stronger and stronger. His correct way of governing the country made the country rich and its people strong, and he could win countless soldiers. The reason why King Gou Jian of Yue was able to achieve such an achievement was, on the one hand, influenced by his firm will and his determination for revenge, which allowed him to accept any valuable suggestions; on the other hand, important advisers such as Fan Li and Wen Zhong who followed Gou Jian gave him advice. , enabling King Gou Jian of Yue to make correct decisions. It can be said that the success of King Gou Jian of Yue was mainly based on the above two points, and ultimately achieved the great cause of "Gou Jian destroyed Wu" and became the last overlord in the Spring and Autumn Period.
In the thirteenth year of Duke Ai of Lu (482 BC), King Wu Fucha and Duke Dingg of Jin held an alliance in Huangchi. In order to realize his ambition of domination, King Wu brought all the elite troops from Wu to Huangchi. Before the King of Wu led his troops to leave, Fu Chai's son Prince Youze followed Wu Zixu and once again advised the King of Wu. Prince You told the King of Wu a story about a mantis stalking a cicada and an oriole behind it. It said that the Wu State used all the military and material resources of the country to fight, but did not know that the Yue State behind it used its elite soldiers to eliminate itself. This is the most dangerous thing in the world. Dangerous things. However, King Wu Fu Chai couldn't listen to the prince's words at all, so he led his own troops northward, determined to conquer the Central Plains. In this way, only the crown prince friends and some remnant soldiers and veterans were left in Wu's country.
Seeing this situation, King Gou Jian of Yue asked Fan Li if he could attack Wu now. Fan Li said to King Yue: "The time is ripe now." So King Gou Jian of Yue and Fan Li made a plan to attack Wu. When King Wu led all the troops After arriving at Huangchi, Yue immediately attacked Wu. The State of Yue mobilized 40,000 well-trained soldiers, 2,000 sailors, plus 6,000 members of the King of Yue's Guards and more than 1,000 officers. A total of nearly 50,000 elite troops were divided into three groups to attack the State of Wu. Fan Li and Hou Yong led their troops into Huaihe by sea, cutting off the Wu army's return route from Huangchi; Chu Wuyu and Yu Yang led their troops from the southern border of Wu to Gusu; King Gou Jian of Yue personally led the Chinese army to follow. Wu Jun fought hard under the leadership of Prince You, Wang Zidi, Wang Sunmiyong and Shou Yuyao.
The Vietnamese army captured Gusu, killed the prince friend, burned the city, and captured Wu's ships. After Wu Wangfu Chai, who was meeting in Huangchi, heard the news, he blocked the news and immediately returned home after the meeting. After returning home, the King of Wu immediately asked for peace from the State of Yue. The State of Yue knew that it could not destroy Wu in one fell swoop, so it agreed to make peace. However, in fact, the State of Yue was still stepping up its preparations to destroy Wu.
Four years later, in the seventeenth year of Duke Ai of Lu (478 BC), a famine occurred in the Wu State, and the Yue State decided to take this opportunity to attack and destroy the Wu State. Therefore, after repeated planning by Gou Jian, Fan Li and others of the Yue State, they believed that the social stability and popular will of the Yue State must be ensured first in order to ensure the success of destroying Wu. Therefore, Gou Jian went from the palace to the court, and strictly ordered his concubines, palace officials, and left-behind officials to be loyal to their duties, saying: "No one can get out of domestic affairs, and no one can get in foreign affairs." Then he once again affirmed military discipline and beheaded the guilty. The whole city and the whole army were brought to justice. At the same time, Gou Jian also called on the Chinese people to actively respond to the country's call and send their children to join the army, and told the sergeants to serve with peace of mind, and the country would comfort and care for the military families. Under this series of measures, the country of Vietnam strengthened domestic stability, united the people, and eliminated worries for the Vietnamese army to go on an expedition.
Subsequently, the King of Yue led his troops to attack the State of Wu, and faced off across the river from the army of the State of Wu on the south bank of Lize. In order to win the victory, King Gou Jian of Yue decided to divide the Vietnamese army into left and right wings to attack the Wu army. He personally led 6,000 elite soldiers as the central army to raid the middle of the Wu army. All this was carried out under the cover of night. When night fell, King Gou Jian of Yue ordered the left and right Vietnamese troops to cross the river secretly under the cover of darkness and lie in wait there until midnight when they marched up together with noisy force. At this time, the Vietnamese army suddenly launched an attack on the left and right wings of the Wu army, and the Wu army divided into two groups to resist.
While the fierce battle between the two sides was in full swing, King Gou Jian of Yue led his army into the Wu army's formation from the middle, causing the Wu army's formation to be in chaos and return with a great defeat. The Vietnamese army pursued them closely, fighting and winning consecutive battles, until they reached the city of Gusu in the state of Wu. Since the Vietnamese army captured and burned the city of Gusu last time, the State of Wu carefully built the city of Gusu. After years of hard work, the city of Gusu is now strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is not easy for the Vietnamese army to invade Gusu in one go, so they have to return. But the victory in the Battle of Lize was of decisive significance to the Yue Kingdom. After this battle, Wu's military and financial resources were basically exhausted, and they could only deal with the Yue's attack without any means of recovery; Yue began to occupy an absolute dominant position, with sufficient military resources and financial resources. And launched a comprehensive siege against Wu State.
In 475 BC, the Yue State launched another attack on Gusu City, but it was still not conquered. Therefore, Gou Jian adopted a siege strategy for Gusu City. After the Vietnamese army besieged Gusu City for two years, Wu finally "soldiers were scattered and the city gates were not guarded." In the winter of 473 BC, the Vietnamese army launched a fierce offensive and finally invaded the city of Gusu, the capital of Wu. King Wu Fucha led his troops to escape to Gusu Terrace, where they were heavily surrounded by the Vietnamese army. In desperation, Fucha sent Wang Sunluo to kneel down before King Goujian of Yue to ask for peace: "Your helpless minister Fucha took the liberty to confide in his heart: I had offended you in Kuaiji before, and I dare not disobey your order and agree with you." Good marriage; now that you have come to punish me for my sins, I dare not disobey. I hope you can make me a subject of the King of Yue like you did in Kuaiji." After hearing these words, Gou Jian felt a little compassionate and wanted to agree. he.
Fan Li said to King Gou Jian of Yue: "At first, God's will asked Wu to destroy Yue, but Wu did not obey. Now that God wants Yue to destroy Wu, do you still want to violate God's will like Fu Cha did? Not to mention the hard work every day. I have been working hard and sleeping hard for twenty-two years to destroy the Kingdom of Wu. Do I have to give up like this? Besides, if you don’t accept the opportunity given by God, you will be punished by God. Has your Majesty forgotten? Have you suffered the humiliation of Kuaiji?" But Gou Jian said: "I also want to listen to your opinion, but I really can't bear to treat Wu's envoy like this." So Fan Li ignored Wang Sunluo's pleading, beat drums and sent out troops, and He said: "The king has entrusted me with political affairs. You should leave quickly, otherwise don't blame me for being merciless." Wang Sunluo then left in tears.
King Gou Jian of Yue finally made up his mind to destroy the state of Wu with the help of Fan Li. King Wu Fu Chai eventually became a prisoner of the Yue Kingdom. Gou Jian seemed to have some compassion, so he sent someone to tell the king of Wu that he would be granted a land in the east of Yong and manage 300 households. King Wu Fu Chai was filled with grief, anger and shame, so he shed tears and said, "I am old and can no longer serve the king. I really regret that I did not listen to Wu Zixu's words and ended up like this." After saying this, Fu Chai drew his sword. Kill yourself.
After the State of Yue conquered the State of Wu, it annexed the land of the State of Wu, making the State of Yue a powerful vassal state in the southeast of the Zhou royal family.
