Everyone can say "Soldiers are more valuable and speed is 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 speed is faster" from a tactical level.
I think what Sun Wu meant was nothing more than to say that in combat, we 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", and the calculation of accounts is inevitable, so he said that "soldiers are more valuable and faster".
Comes from "calculation".
Liu Wei's previous 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's saying: The general rule of war is to use thousands of chariots and thousands of baggage vehicles, a total of one hundred thousand soldiers, and to transport military supplies thousands of miles away. So the expenses in 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 can operate.
The simple statement is: fighting a war is fighting for 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 the transport of food, the soldiers' armor, weapons, horses, etc.
, which one doesn’t cost money, and which one costs 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 you attack the city, 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 exhaust 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 American army fought in Vietnam for more than ten years and sent more than 2.5 million people to Vietnam, of which more than 540,000 were ground troops. Except that they did not use atomic bombs, there was nothing
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, which cost nearly 300 billion yuan.
Finally, under the pressure of the anti-war wave sweeping the country, the troops had to withdraw.
During 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 defeats the sharp one and uses his strength to destroy goods, then the princes will take advantage of the disadvantage and rise up. Even if there are wise men, they will not be able to follow them well. Therefore, the soldiers know the clumsy speed, but they do not see the cleverness 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, using troops to fight can only
I've heard of honest and quick solutions, but I've never seen clever ones that last.
There are many explanations for the saying "An old soldier hears that a soldier is clumsy and quick, but he never sees a clever one", 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 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 art of magic weapons falling 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 Jingshi continued to give him a small start and analyzed the preparations for the Western Expedition to him one by one, he suddenly understood. What Gao Jingshi said was "soldiers are more valuable and faster".
The strategic level is completely different from his previous understanding.
First of all, Gao Pragmatic never strikes 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 in person, he will definitely solve all the problems and resolutely not give a chance to resurrect. And 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.
Admittedly, this kind of thing may only be done by important civil servants like Gao Jingshi, 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 given to him by Gao Jingshi before the war, the cost of this Western Expedition is huge. The imperial court will need to spend tens of millions of taels of silver just before the army is dispatched. If the war does not go smoothly, it will be quickly
If it ends, then for every three months of delay, the court will spend a huge sum of six to seven million taels.
What is the concept of spending an extra two million taels for every extra month of delay? Even though Liu Wei didn't care much about this in the past, he was still frightened by this number. Therefore, he now knows the great responsibility of his life.
If you can fight faster, you must fight faster and retreat faster; if you can use less troops, don't send an extra person.
Eight thousand cavalry and about 2,500 Weilubao mine protection team were quickly assembled and set off. Because it was still a hundred miles away from Suzhou City, Liu Wei's troops still maintained their horse-drawn marching status. According to his plan, they waited for Suzhou City to leave Suzhou City.
When Suzhou is only about thirty miles away, he will switch to riding mode and enter the battlefield at a slow pace. When he is within a visual distance of the Suzhou city leader, he will switch to a fast pace and try to break the city directly before Suzhou has time to react.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! There is good news at this time. The Weilu Fort mine protection team actually also has horses. Although these horses in the fort are not war horses, but originally obtained from the soil through trade.
The western tribe of Meute purchased a batch of draft horses, totaling 5,000, but in any case, they could be temporarily used for riding and hauling artillery.
Of course, the deployment of this batch of draft horses required Liu Wei to stamp his customs seal, because Gao He, the deacon of Weilupu 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. Naturally, this "merely" a few thousand draft horses was not a problem.
The addition of Weilubao mine protection team allowed Liu Wei's troops, who were attacking with light cavalry, to receive the most urgently needed artillery support. The two sides formed a coalition and rushed toward Suzhou City in the southwest.
Liu Ping's subordinates were worried about whether the Weilubao mine protection team could keep up with their marching speed at first. After walking for ten or twenty miles, they finally felt relieved. Gao Duo didn't brag. How would the mine protection team fight?
It's hard to say for now, but they are indeed made of iron. The weapons and supplies they carry are even heavier than those of Liu Jiajun's cavalry soldiers, but none of them are left behind. It seems that the physical fitness of people who can be miners is 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 conduct a fan-shaped reconnaissance of the situation ahead.
This time, Liu Wei let go of all the Ye Bu Sui in his hands, 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.
Just fine.
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 stopped attacking by force. Instead, they sent people to monitor. Their monitoring did not mean sending people to stay outside the fort for a long time, but sending a group of people every day.
The cavalry scouts came to patrol. Liu Wei's troops stayed up all night and encountered this group of Mongolian scouts 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, he had to completely annihilate the opponent.
Only when you are sure can you start the battle. If you were replaced by ordinary Ming army cavalry, you would probably have to retreat as covertly as possible at this time.
However, there was something extraordinary about this group of Mongolian exploration horses.
It stands to reason that if the Mongolian cavalry is not the most capable of fighting on the grassland, it should at least be the most capable of 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 numerical disadvantage.
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 force 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. By this time, when he sent troops to attack Suzhou, he had already
Entering the most critical moment, he took the initiative to ask Ying to take charge of this "fire reconnaissance", so he was actually the top person in charge of the five night troops sent by Liu Wei.
How to annihilate two hundred Mongolian cavalry if they don't stop for one hundred and twenty nights? If it were on the endless prairie, Liu Zhaosun would also have no idea, because the truth is obvious: even if the Mongolian cavalry cannot be defeated, at least they can still run. As long as they
If you choose to flee in all directions, Ye Bugui, who has a weaker force, cannot guarantee that you will keep all the opponents. If you cannot keep them all, even if only one escapes, it will mean that the battle will fail.
However, this is not an endless prairie, this is already the Hexi Corridor!
He stayed up all night and was originally traveling along the Beida River. 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 crisscrossed ravines on the east side of the reed marsh. This is a sparse tree hill - that is, there are some trees sparsely, but not densely. They can provide some cover, but they are not dense.
How to prevent the horses from marching 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 attack directly nearby out of the mentality of "saving trouble"
Wading across the river from the shallows will not cause trouble for yourself and go to the deep water area to "cross the river in leather bags". At the same time, the Mongolian cavalry will definitely drink their horses here and let their 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's the former, there's 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 can't attack halfway across the river at this time, because you can't annihilate them all by attacking halfway across the river. You have to wait for them
They have all crossed the river but their footing has not yet stabilized and they need to start again as a 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 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 increase their own losses.
This is a situation where the horses drink first and then cross the river. Another situation is that the Mongolian cavalry crosses the river first and then drinks the horses. In this case, Liu Zhaosun does not have to rush to start, but can wait for them to pick the position of the horses and completely defeat the team.
Disperse, let everyone lead their horses to drink, and then start again.
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, you still have the opportunity 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 the running of the 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 wiped out 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, and nervously stared at the movements of the Mongolian cavalry ahead.
They arrived at the river, they chose the shallow tidal flat, they made a path in 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,
Outflank the three routes from the east and south, 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, who have to go out to play even if they have a fever.
All I can say is... I hope happiness can alleviate the pain. I also wish all readers with children at home to stay away from the epidemic, have a happy family, and that both adults and children will be happy today:)