Everyone can say "Soldiers are more valuable and faster", but there are very few people who can do it, and there are probably even fewer people who understand the reason why Sun Wu said this. Many people only look at "Soldiers are more valuable and faster" from a tactical perspective, thinking that Sun Wu meant nothing more than to say that combat should pursue surprise, attack the enemy unprepared, and defeat the enemy before it can react.
This understanding is not wrong, but it is not comprehensive, and may not even be the fundamental reason why Sun Wu wrote it down in The Art of War. The core essence of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" is actually "calculation", which is the calculation of accounts. Therefore, his saying that "soldiers are more valuable and faster" must also come from "calculation".
Liu Wei's past understanding of "soldiers are valuable and speed is valuable" was at the tactical level. It was not until he received Gao's pragmatic guidance during the Korean War that he began to understand what "soldiers are valuable and speed is valuable" at the strategic level, and he also understood "calculation" importance.
Sun Tzu said: Any method of using military force, including thousands of chariots, thousands of leather chariots, a hundred thousand armors, and food supplies for thousands of miles, requires a thousand gold per day for internal and external expenses, guests, glue and paint, and chariots and armor. Then a hundred thousand troops were raised.
The literal translation of this passage is Sun Tzu: The general rule of war is to use thousands of tanks, thousands of baggage vehicles, a total of 100,000 soldiers, and transport military supplies thousands of miles away. So the expenses at the front and rear, diplomacy The cost of envoys, the replenishment of combat equipment, and the maintenance of vehicles and armor all cost thousands of gold every day before an army of 100,000 could operate.
The simple statement is: fighting war is fighting money.
According to military books, transporting food thousands of miles away is called "twenty people need to serve one person", and it takes 20 people's rations to feed one soldier. This is just about transporting food. Soldiers' armor, weapons, horses, etc., which ones don't cost money, and which ones cost less?
Therefore, the Art of War says: The most important thing is to win by fighting, but if the troops are blunt for a long time, the enemy will be defeated, if the city is attacked, the strength will be weakened, if the troops are violent for a long time, the country will be short of resources.
Using troops to fight requires a quick victory. If it takes a long time, weapons and equipment will be worn out and the morale of the army will be dampened. Attacking a city will deplete the military strength. Long-term military operations outside the country will cause financial difficulties for the country.
Americans should have a deep understanding of this. From 1961 to 1975, the US military fought in Vietnam for more than ten years, sending more than 2.5 million people to Vietnam, of which more than 540,000 were ground troops. Except for the use of atomic bombs, all high-precision weapons were used.
However, the United States not only failed to win the final victory, but instead lost 58,000 lives, injured more than 100,000 people, and consumed a total of 7.6 million tons of ammunition—equivalent to three times what it consumed during World War II and nearly 300 billion yuan. Finally, they had to withdraw their troops under the pressure of the anti-war wave sweeping the country.
In the Vietnam War, the United States won most of the battles, but ultimately lost the entire war.
The Art of War also goes like this: If a blunt soldier frustrates a sharp enemy, and if he loses his strength and sacrifices goods, then the princes will take advantage of the disadvantages and rise up. Even if there are wise men, they will not be able to take care of them. Therefore, soldiers are quick to hear clumsiness, but they do not see skill for a long time.
When weapons and equipment are worn out, army morale is dampened, military strength is exhausted, and the country's economy is depleted, other princes will take the opportunity to launch an attack. By then, even the most resourceful people will have no way to save the situation. Therefore, when it comes to military warfare, we have only heard of honest and quick decisions, but never of clever and lasting ones.
There are many explanations for the saying, "The old soldier hears that the enemy is clumsy, but the enemy is quick, but it is not as long as he is clever", but the core idea is to fight quickly because he cannot afford to delay.
When Gao pragmatic first told Liu Wei these truths, Liu Wei was actually not very convinced, because he felt that Gao pragmatic commanded the army several times and did not implement the concept of "soldiers are more valuable and speed is faster". It was just a matter of quelling the rebellion in the northwest.
Only in that battle did Gao pragmatism master the magic weapon descending from the sky. In other battles, Liu Wei felt that Gao pragmatism played very "uprightly", just within the rules, and focused on stability.
However, before the Western Expedition, as Gao Pingshi continued to give him some advice and analyzed the preparations for the Western Expedition to him one by one, he suddenly understood. What Gao pragmatic said about "soldiers are more valuable and faster" was at the strategic level, which was completely different from his previous understanding.
First of all, Gao Pragmatic never fights a second time - meaning, he either doesn't take action, or when he does, he must solve the problem once and for all, leaving no chance for the enemy to cause trouble again.
It was very common for a battle to be fought this year but the problem was not completely solved, and the battle would have to be continued next year, but Liu Wei found that such a thing had never happened to Gao Pragmatic's men.
Annan, Dingbei, Pingxi, and Zhengdong. As long as Gao Pragmatic takes action personally, he will definitely solve all the problems and resolutely not give a chance to resurrect. This is the strategic level of "soldiers are more valuable and speed" - the "speed" here may not be It only refers to playing fast, but the overall time required to solve one thing is short enough.
It is true that this kind of thing may only be done by important civil servants like Gao Pragmatic, because the so-called "not giving a chance for resurgence" often requires political means after the war, and military generals like Liu Wei obviously do not have enough authority.
However, this understanding still greatly improved Liu Wei, because only by understanding the truth can he be able to coordinate the subsequent political strikes militarily and know what the outcome should be.
According to some forecast data Gao Jingshi gave him before the war, the cost of this Western Expedition is huge. The court will need to spend tens of millions of taels of silver just before the army is dispatched. If the war cannot be carried out smoothly and quickly, If it ends, then for every three months of delay, the court will spend an additional six to seven million taels of money.
Every extra month of delay will cost an additional two million taels. What is the concept? Even though Liu Wei didn't care much about this in the past, he was still frightened by this number. Therefore, he now fully understands the great responsibility of his own. If he can fight faster, he must fight faster and finish faster; if he can use less troops, he should not send more people.
Eight thousand cavalry and about 2,500 Weilubao mine protection team quickly set off. Because it was still a hundred miles away from Suzhou City, Liu Wei's troops still maintained their horses and marching status. According to his plan, he would switch to riding mode when he was only about thirty miles away from Suzhou, enter the battlefield at a slow pace, and then change to a fast pace when he was within a visual distance of the Suzhou city leader, in order to win before it was too late in Suzhou. Directly destroy the city when reacting.
There is good news at this time. The Weilubao mine protection team actually has horses. Although the horses in the fort are not war horses, but draft horses originally purchased from the western Tumut tribe through trade, totaling 5,000, they are still used temporarily for riding and hauling artillery. owned.
Of course, the deployment of this batch of draft horses required Liu Wei to stamp his customs seal, because Gao He, the deacon of Weilubao Copper Mine, and Gao Duo, the captain of the mine protection team, did not have enough authority to control these horses. They originally Our mission is only to protect the Group's assets.
Liu Wei was different. Gao Pragmatic gave Liu Wei a lot of power, allowing him to mobilize all the people, materials and financial resources of Jinghua in Gansu when he thought it was necessary, so naturally these "merely" thousands of draft horses were not a problem.
The addition of Weilubao mine protection team gave Liu Wei's troops, who were attacking with light cavalry, the most urgently needed artillery support. The two sides formed a coalition and rushed towards Suzhou City in the southwest.
Liu Ping's subordinates were worried at first whether the Weilubao mine protection team could keep up with their marching speed, but they finally felt relieved after walking for ten or twenty miles. Gao Duo didn't brag. It's hard to say how the mine protection team will fight, but they are indeed iron-clad. The weapons and supplies they carried were even heavier than those of Liu Jiajun's cavalry soldiers, but none of them fell behind. It seemed that the physical fitness of people who could work as miners was really good.
Of course, such an important march was not just a stupid march straight to Suzhou. Liu Wei once again sent Ye BuZhou, divided into five groups, to scout the situation ahead in a fan shape.
This time, Liu Wei let go of all the Ye Bu Sui he had, and the orders he issued were also very strict. For example, when he found a small group of enemy troops probing the horses, Ye Bu Sui could choose to annihilate them all on the spot - as long as you were sure of annihilating them all. That’s it.
Facts have proved that this order is very necessary, because after the five troops were dispersed at night, two of them encountered small groups of Chahar Mongolian army's exploration horses. One of the Mongolian army's exploration horses had more than 200 horses. It was originally I plan to come to Weilubao to investigate the situation.
As mentioned before, after the Mongolian army could not take the large fortress of Weilu Fort, they no longer attacked it by force, but instead sent people to monitor it. Their surveillance does not mean sending people to stay outside the fort for a long time, but sending a group of cavalry to patrol every day. What Liu Qing's troops encountered all night long was the group of Mongolian troops who were going to inspect Weilu Fort today.
Ye Bushou, who encountered this Mongolian army, did not have an advantage in terms of troop strength, because the opponent had about 200 cavalry, while his own side only had 120 cavalry. According to Liu Wei's order, the battle can only begin when there is a certainty of annihilating the opponent. If it were ordinary Ming army cavalry, most of the time they would have to retreat as covertly as possible.
However, this night is a bit unusual. They actually decided to annihilate these Mongolian exploration horses.
It stands to reason that if the Mongolian cavalry is not the best at fighting on the grassland, it should at least be the best at running on the grassland. Even if it is extremely difficult to become a top scout like "Ye Bu Shu" in the Ming army, I am afraid that they are at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. At that time, it was impossible to guarantee the complete annihilation of the superior Mongolian cavalry.
However, this group of people who led the troops at night turned out to be a fierce man - Liu Zhaosun.
Liu Zhaosun was originally the one with the most outstanding personal martial arts under Liu Wei. In the past years, he had served as both a vanguard and a leader of his own soldiers. His riding skills were unquestionable. This time the troops were sent to attack Suzhou. At this time, it had entered the most critical moment, so he took the initiative to ask Ying to be responsible for this "fire reconnaissance", so he was actually the top person in charge of the five night troops sent by Liu Wei.
How can we annihilate two hundred Mongolian cavalry if we don't stop them for one hundred and twenty nights? If it were on the endless prairie, Liu Zhaosun would also have no idea, because the reason is obvious: even if the Mongolian cavalry cannot be defeated, at least they can still run. As long as they choose to flee in all directions, Ye Bushou, who is inferior in strength, will not be able to guarantee that they will keep all of them. You can't keep them all, even if only one escapes, it means the battle has failed.
However, this is not an endless prairie, this is already the Hexi Corridor!
He was traveling all night along the Beida River, and at this time he was near the later Yuanyangchi Reservoir [Note: The reservoir was built in 1943 and does not exist yet, but in the past, the Beida River turned here, forming a A shallow depression and reed marsh similar to a tidal flat. ].
There is not only a reed marsh here, but also a hilly land with ravines on the east side of the reed marsh. This is a sparse hill - that is, there are some sparse trees, but they are not dense. They can provide some cover, but they do not hinder the movement of war horses in it.
Liu Zhaosun also had "further training" at Erdemutu and knew what the Mongolian cavalry would do if they entered such an environment. He judged that this Mongolian cavalry would definitely wade across the river directly from the shallows out of the mentality of "saving trouble" nearby, and would not go to the deep water area to "cross the river with leather bags" to find trouble for themselves. At the same time, the Mongolian cavalry will definitely drink their horses here and let their war horses replenish water nearby.
The only question is whether this Mongolian cavalry intends to drink their horses first and then cross the river on the west side of the Beida River, or do they intend to cross the river first and then drink their horses east of the river?
If it is the former, there is nothing to say. We can only wait for their opportunity to cross the river and launch a surprise attack after they have just completed the crossing. You cannot attack halfway across the river at this time, because you cannot completely annihilate them by attacking halfway across the river. You must wait for them. They have all crossed the river but their footing has not yet stabilized and they need to start again as a whole team. The time must be grasped just right. It doesn't matter if it's earlier or later.
Earlier, the Mongolian cavalry who had not crossed the river might turn around and run away, going back to report to the Mongolian army in Suzhou; later, the entire team would have been completed, and launching a surprise attack would be less effective, or at least lead to increased losses.
This is a situation where the horse drinks first and then crosses the river. Another situation is where the Mongolian cavalry crosses the river first and then drinks the horse. In this case, Liu Zhaosun did not have to rush to start. Instead, he could wait for them to choose the position where the horses were drinking, completely break up the team, and let everyone lead their horses to drink before they started.
This kind of opportunity is better than having a stable footing after crossing the river, because although it is bad to not have a stable footing, at least the people are on the horse and the team is relatively concentrated. If you encounter the person leading the team who reacts quickly and has high prestige, there is still a chance to start immediately. To counterattack and try to save some situation.
However, drinking horses is different. No matter how prestigious your commander is, it is objectively difficult to get everyone to gather together immediately to launch a counterattack. The place where horses are drunk will not choose the shoal or tidal flat where they just crossed the river. Because at that time, the water source had already turned into mud after running wild horses, so you couldn't drink it randomly. You had to go upstream to a place with deeper water.
It is possible to let the war horses drink water in a place like this, but since the water is deep, they will not be able to wade back to the west of the river in the event of a surprise attack, and the probability of being annihilated will be greatly increased.
Liu Zhaosun led more than 120 of his men to hide in the ravines of the sparse hills at night. He held a telescope and wore a helmet deliberately filled with weeds, nervously staring at the movements of the Mongolian cavalry ahead.
When they arrived at the river, they chose a shallow tidal flat. They made a path among the reeds, and they... crossed the river.
Liu Zhaosun took a deep breath and punched the loess barrier in front of him: "Very good. These Tatars are going to drink horses in the east of the river. Let's be patient and wait for a while until they break up. North, The east and south routes are outflanking, be sure to wipe out all of them, no one... No, you have to leave a few tongues to ask about the situation in Suzhou City!"
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PS: My son has been positive for the past two days and is currently having a fever, but maybe his constitution is similar to mine, with obvious symptoms but still negative antigens. However, today's holiday may be of great significance to children. They have to go out to play despite being sick with a fever. All I can say is... I hope happiness can alleviate the pain. I also wish all readers who have children at home to stay away from the epidemic and have a happy family, and that both adults and children will be happy today:)
(End of chapter)
