Chapter forty-seven: to lead the enemy and flee tactics
In the Yanshi County Government Hall, Zhang Cheng continued: "Since ancient times, there have been countless bandits who have rebelled, but there have been very few people who succeeded in rebelling, except Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, and Zhu Hongwu, the great ancestor of our dynasty.
Others, such as Chen Sheng and Wu Guang in the late Qin Dynasty, Huang Jin Zhang Jiao in the late Han Dynasty, Huang Chao in the late Tang Dynasty, etc., when they first emerged, they also gathered together, and their momentum was not small. They attacked cities and plundered territory everywhere, but in the end it was difficult to achieve great things.
, why is this?”
After hearing Zhang Cheng's words, all the generals in the hall fell into deep thought and didn't know how to answer.
Zhang Cheng continued: "Let's start with the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the late Han Dynasty. When the three Zhang Jiao brothers first started, they were so powerful, but they were completely defeated in just a few months.
Although in the following years, there were still some people who started rebellions in this name, but because Zhang Jiao's brothers were all dead, they could not do anything bigger. According to you and others, why did the Yellow Turban uprising fail so badly?
How fast?"
Although Wang Yuanjing read a lot on weekdays, he had done it for scientific research before and did not know much about this type of books. It was not until he followed Zhang Cheng in the 11th year of Chongzhen that he began to dabble in this type of books. Therefore,
He didn't know how to answer for a while, so he couldn't help but cast his eyes on Wei Zhice.
Wei Zhice had been a student before. He had loved wielding swords and sticks since he was a child. Therefore, he was quite fond of ancient wars, the rise and fall of dynasties, and military methods. But when Zhang Cheng suddenly raised this question, he suddenly also
I don't know how to answer.
But he and Wang Yuanjing were the only two people in the room who could be regarded as scholars. Now that Wang Yuanjing was looking at him, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and said: "Although there were thirty-six squares when the Yellow Turban first emerged, there were more than ten thousand people in the small square.
There are six or seven thousand people in Fang, but they are a mob after all.
Although the fortunes of the Han Dynasty were in decline at that time, they were far from defeated. Moreover, Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and others were all rare generals. Therefore, in just a few months, the Yellow Turban Rebellion was defeated one by one.
Although there was a resurgence in the future, it was difficult to become a phenomenon again."
Although Wang Yuanjing had only begun to pay attention to the historical books on the victory and defeat of ancient wars in the past two years, he had not seriously thought about the issue of the Yellow Turban Rebellion being quickly quelled.
He obviously agreed with Wei Zhice's view, but added: "The Yellow Turban thieves started revolting in many places at the beginning, but they fought independently. Although there were many people and horses, they could not unified command and dispatch, work together, and support each other.
, and Zhang Jiao died early, so it was defeated quickly."
He thought for a while and then continued: "Another point is that someone went to Luoyang to report something, which caused the rebellion to break out, so the Zhang Jiao brothers had to start the rebellion in a hurry. This lack of preparation was naturally an important reason for their failure.
Reason."
When Wei Zhice saw Zhang Cheng sitting at the top, he did not nod, but looked thoughtful. He hurriedly asked: "Commander, what the general and Counselor Wang said are very general, and they may not be accurate.
The key point is to ask the commander-in-chief to teach you clearly."
Only then did Zhang Cheng speak: "One of Zhang Jiao's disciples called Tang Zhou, and he wrote to the court to inform the court, so that Dafang Ma Yuanyi was killed in Luoyang. Among the insiders in Luoyang, Chang served Feng Xu, and Xu Feng was also arrested and killed.
This is indeed a major source of frustration.
From ancient times to the present, the most hateful thing is rebellion and surrender to the enemy, but as far as Zhang Jiao's rebellion is concerned, he did not suffer fatal losses as a result.
Although the three Zhang Jiao brothers started the rebellion in a hurry, they were extremely powerful at the time. Their various ministries burned the government offices and plundered the cities, causing the Han Dynasty to lose its prefectures and counties. Within ten months, the whole country responded and the capital was shaken.
You see, how good this situation is! Unfortunately, after only more than half a year, it was defeated and unable to recover. What is the reason?"
The generals in the hall didn't know why for a while, so Wei Zhice boldly asked: "In the commander's opinion, what is the reason?"
Zhang Cheng smiled and said: "From my perspective, the main reason why the Yellow Turbans failed so quickly was not that there were famous generals like Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun in the Han Dynasty at that time, but that the leaders of the Yellow Turbans did not know how to fight. , lacks real strategic vision.”
"Ah?" Wei Zhizhi leaned forward and said solemnly, "Commander, please explain in detail to clear up our doubts!"
Zhang Cheng smiled. It is a good thing that his generals know how to learn and grow. Although he can still control everything now, what about the future?
He knows that as his power expands, his territory, military strength, and manpower will expand outwards. At that time, he will need someone to sit in all directions for him, and he will even need a general to lead the army on his behalf and take charge of the battle on his own!
At the same time, there are other forces that are destroying one's own internal unity, such as carrying out counterintuitive schemes on one's own side, and even dividing and co-opting one's own subordinates.
But Zhang Cheng knows better than to give up eating because of choking, and he doesn't want to do that unreasonable thing. What he wants to do now is to make his subordinates grow up quickly, be able to share more tasks for him, and even be able to take charge of their own affairs.
As for the obstacles and troubles that are destined to arise in the future, he has also estimated that he will try his best to resolve them one by one. After all, it is not that he cannot give them the benefits that their enemies can give them, not to mention their families and reputations. It's all in your own hands.
Zhang Cheng smiled and said to Wei Zhice and the generals: ""Sun Tzu·Xu Shi Pian" says, 'The shape of a soldier is like water, and the shape of water avoids heights and goes down; the shape of soldiers avoids reality and hits the weak. Water follows the ground. To control the flow, soldiers can win because of the enemy. Therefore, soldiers have no constant momentum, and water has no constant shape. Those who can win due to the changes of the enemy are called gods.'
Therefore, this battle must be fought alive, and we should not stick to the situation and fight to the death, but should avoid the reality and attack the weakness.
In the past, when thieves and bandits started their rebellion, even though they were huge in force and large in number, they were not like our officers and soldiers, who were fully equipped with armor, well-trained, and unified in their orders. They were able to fight tough battles, and were especially good at battle formation duels.
Therefore, most of them adopt the roving combat strategy of "moving towards the enemy". Their purpose is very simple, which is not to give the officers and soldiers a chance to eliminate them in one fell swoop.
The reason why rogue thieves are called rogue thieves is because they always fight if they can beat them, run away if they can't be beaten, rob wherever they go, and then come back to beat the officers and soldiers when they are slow.
The central content of its operations can be summed up as the movement combat method of "when the enemy advances, we retreat, when the enemy is stationed, we harass, when the enemy is tired, we attack, and when the enemy retreats, we pursue".
Therefore, as a general, you should always remember to "control the enemy but not control the enemy." When you are weak, it is the worst policy to defend a city. The more tenaciously you defend, the more likely your entire army will be destroyed.
As it is said in the Art of War, 'The small enemy is strong, and the big enemy can be captured.'
But if reinforcements are coming, it is not impossible to hold on to the fortified city, just like Luoyang City today. If we can hold on for more than a month, when the army of intruders is exhausted, most of our officers and soldiers will fight to the bottom of the city, and we will be able to defeat them by cooperating inside and outside.